The purpose of these small grants, competed for at the Affiliate level, is to support projects that would enable faculty to get ready for larger grants offered by the Consortium. The NASA Space Grant Committee at each affiliate institution issues RFPs for research grants to be awarded competitively to faculty from the respective institution. Each affiliate decides on their specific criteria for these competitions. Projects must be related to science and engineering, with science being defined broadly to include any research topic of interest to NASA. Typical awards in this category range from $2,000 to $6,000, half of which is the cost share provided by the affiliate.