New Faculty Startup

FACULTY STARTUP PROGRAM

Recruiting faculty members with substantial research potential and scholarly/creative activities is highly competitive.  Binghamton University provides financial support to college/school deans to assist in attracting new and outstanding faculty who will be engaged in research and scholarly activity as a major component of their appointment. The intention of this funding is to provide the resources necessary to establish and maintain a scholarly research program that will lead to the generation of external research funding, thereby enhancing the University’s reputation and status as a Carnegie R1 institution. Although the University has research expectations for a number of faculty members, the University has increased expectations for those new faculty members who are provided with research startup funds.

Binghamton University’s robust startup program currently boasts over 110 faculty members with current startup packages.  This includes 25 new faculty who arrived on campus and received new startup packages in the Fall of 2023 alone along with six more in the Spring of 2024.

Faculty startup packages are funded through New York State funds, and are therefore subject to New York State procurement rules, regulations and processes.  The Purchasing Department at Binghamton University performs the processing of all purchases using startup funding in accordance with state guidelines.

Details on the policies governing BU faculty startup packages, sources of funding, eligibility and more can be found at the following link:
https://www.binghamton.edu/operations/policies/policy-225.html

STARTUP AND THE RF

The Research Foundation’s Accounts Payable and Purchasing Office (RF APPO) is the point of contact for faculty who have been granted startup packages and acts as a conduit between faculty and the BU Purchasing Office.  RF APPO is not authorized to handle state funds, so the BU Purchasing Office performs the procurement functions related to startup requests, such as generating purchase orders, conducting bids, etc.  RF APPO performs the role of a facilitator between startup faculty’s requests and the BU Procurement Office’s processing of those requests as well as the point of contact for questions regarding the process, balances and more.

Startup requests for purchases, balances, or any general questions can be sent to the Startup Email at:  rfstart@binghamton.edu

You can also reach out to:

Michael Walsh – Director, RF APPO – walshm@binghamton.edu

Tyler Whiting – RF APPO Startup Lead – twhiting@binghamton.edu

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR STARTUP
  • What are examples of allowable startup charges?

    - Lab Equipment and Supplies
    - Software
    - Professional memberships that relate to research
    - Science Store
    - Computers for research only
    - Liquid Nitrogen
    - Research Books
    - Travel to professional conferences or workshops, including graduate students
    - Graduate or undergraduate student support
    - Post-Doctoral Associates and reach technicians) fringe benefits will be assessed at the current state IFR rates