CII Fellow Grant FAQ

Compiled from the live Q&A during the August 31, 2026 RFP webinar. Contact Kristi Delaney (kldelaney@cii.utexas.edu) with any follow-up questions.

Eligibility

Q: What are the eligibility requirements? Is a full-time, non-tenure-track research professor eligible?

A: Full-time, tenure-track faculty with a terminal degree in construction engineering and management, targeting assistant/associate professors roughly within their first 10 years in the field. We made a determination that full-time research track faculty with terminal degree are also eligible. Part-time positions, adjuncts, and professors of practice are not eligible.

Q: How can applicants get complementary access to CII resources?

A: Email Daniel or Kristi Delaney. You'll need a CII account — create one on the CII website using your university email address (CII verifies the domain to grant complementary access). This access lets you download anything a member can download, with no limit on the number of reports. Available to full-time tenure-track faculty.

Proposals & Submission

Q: How many proposals can one PI submit?

A: No formal limit, but submitting many proposals will read as unfocused. Better to submit fewer, well-developed ideas than a scattershot of them.

Q: Who actually submits the proposal — the PI or a university representative?

A: Either can submit through the online Qualtrics form, but the proposal must be cleared through your Office of Sponsored Projects first, since they need to confirm they can meet CII's overhead and acknowledgment requirements. The named PI must meet the eligibility requirements regardless of who submits.

Q: Given the 3-page limit, how specific can a proposal really be?

A: Everyone faces the same constraint — be as clear and concise as possible within the page limit. Longer proposals are not alowed; supporting letters can be attached separately and don't count against the 3 pages.

Q: Do applicants need to specify which of the seven themes their proposal falls under?

A: Preferred, though not disqualifying if omitted. Explicitly tying the proposal to a theme makes the case stronger.

Q: Can a video link (e.g., demonstrating a technology) be included in the proposal?

A: Yes.

Research Design & Scope

Q: Is there flexibility to refine the research design after a proposal is selected?

A: Not much is expected or wanted. Because member support commitments are tied to what's proposed, CII wants a fairly mature, specific plan at submission. Some adjustment could happen if a real roadblock surfaces once members are engaged, but the goal is to stick close to the original plan.

Q: Can a pilot be defined locally, or does it need to be defined by CII's Board of Advisors (BOA)?

A: The applicant defines what they need piloted or tested — CII isn't handing out a pre-defined pilot. Assume you don't already have that support in place, and be explicit about what you're asking members to help with (field pilot, office pilot, etc.).

Q: Given the funding level and one-year duration, is a small (not statistically significant) sample size acceptable?

A: Yes — this is meant to be exploratory (e.g., a handful of case studies or pilots to learn something), not a statistically validated study. Keep scope narrow enough to be feasible in one year — overly broad scope is viewed negatively.

Q: What does "building on a CII best practice" mean? Can you give an example?

A: Example: front-end planning (PDRI, stage-gate process). A proposal could integrate, automate, or update part of that process, or connect it with another practice — CII has around 17 best practices (Risk Assessment, Advanced Work Packaging, Safety Excellence, quality management, etc.) that are often addressed in isolation but are really interconnected. Updating older CII research whose principles still hold but whose language/context is dated (e.g., partnering research) is another example.

Q: Will prior CII research experience be weighted in evaluation?

A: No. Since eligibility already caps at newer faculty, CII doesn't want to penalize people just starting out. Feasibility and clarity of the proposal matter more than a track record with CII.

Q: During evaluation, could this project's outcomes lead to a larger, traditional CII research project later?

A: Possible, but not promised — there's no formal pipeline commitment. A compelling case for a larger follow-on study wouldn't be turned away.

Team & Collaboration

Q: Are co-PIs allowed?

A: Not really built into the proposal or budget — the award is modest, so a single PI is preferred. If there's a compelling case for a co-PI, email CII and it will be considered depending on budget fit.

Q: Will an awardee get a CII "Research Team" of members, and what support should they expect?

A: No formal Research Team — this is intentionally a lighter, different model from the traditional 2-year, 15–20 person team. Expect some meetings with a small group of committed members, more intentional than a recurring cadence. Members can give input but aren't expected to revisit or rescope the proposal after kickoff (barring a real roadblock).

Q: If the proposal includes an industry collaborator who is not a CII member, is that a strength or a weakness?

A: Depends. Piloting a specific commercial/proprietary software product is a weakness — CII won't fund testing of commercial software due to conflict-of-interest concerns. A collaborator like an owner or contractor company already committed to supporting or piloting a concept is a strength, as long as there's no conflict of interest — include a letter documenting the commitment.

Q: If collaborating with an industry company or a national lab, is a formal letter of collaboration needed?

A: If the collaboration is critical to the project, yes, a letter is preferred. A national lab is viewed as a cleaner collaboration; a company collaboration will get more scrutiny for potential conflict of interest.

Q: If deploying a survey, must respondents come from CII member companies?

A: No. CII actively encourages going beyond the membership for surveys. CII can help promote a survey to members (e-blasts, meetings), but there's no requirement to restrict responses to members.

Budget

Q: What costs are eligible in the budget?

A: PI and/or graduate student salary and tuition. No budget for equipment (not in the template — email CII first if equipment is truly essential to the proposal). Travel should not be budgeted here; CII will reimburse travel for the PI directly and separately as mentioned in the RFP.

Q: Is there a recommended split of the $40,000 between PI support and a graduate student?

A: No formal guideline. It's the PI's call — allocate between PI compensation, student support, and tuition based on what makes the project feasible.

Q: Should the budget only cover what's needed beyond an existing startup package?

A: If you're planning to add your own startup funds or other support, mention it in the budget. This isn't scored as a bonus or matching-funds criterion, but it helps CII gauge feasibility.

Q: Will travel funding cover only the PI, or the PI and a student?

A: Budgeted for the PI only right now. Open to discussing student travel if there's a good reason.

Program Mechanics

Q: How many awards will be funded in this round?

A: One. This is CII's first pilot round of this award type; the hope is to fund more in future years if it goes well.

Q: What CV information matters most for evaluation?

A: Not much detail is needed. Journal publications and relevance to CII's areas of interest matter most. Members' meeting time is very limited, so what's actually presented to the Board of Advisors will be a short summary — problem statement, hypothesis, and the type of member support needed — not a CV deep-dive.

Q: Is the resulting research paper or report required to be published in a specific venue?

A: No. CII's standard process is to publish a final report (a Final Report or Implementation Resource) on the CII website first — free to members, paywalled for non-members. Journal publication afterward is fine and common; copyright issues are rare since CII's own materials sit behind a member paywall rather than open access. But we expect CII publications to be published before academic papers.