University of Southern California

Research

USC Research Awards

Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Advancing Scholarship program has been reconfigured, and will now be administered by Vice Provost Beth Meyerowitz in the Office of Faculty and Programmatic Development.  Questions should be directed to her office at vpfpd@usc.edu.  Full details and an application can be found at http://fpd.usc.edu.

Information regarding the earlier program, including previous awardees, is available here.

Associates Award for Creativity in Research

Annual awards are the highest honors the university faculty bestows on its members for distinguished intellectual and artistic achievements. Any faculty member can be nominated by deans or colleagues. Two awards of $7,500 are presented each year.

Program Information
Deadline: October 1, 2012

Center for International Studies – Research Clusters

CIS is calling for the formation of Research Clusters which bring together researchers from different disciplines in order to take on subjects of major scope. Approved Research Clusters will receive an award of $2500, with the potential to be renewed annually. For more information contact Patrick James, CIS Director.

Program Information
Deadline: December 17, 2012

Center for Religion & Civic Culture

The Interdisciplinary Research Group of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CCRC) is now soliciting proposals for religion-related scholarship.  Three fellowships of up to $10,000. Funds are available for research related to religion. The awards are for USC faculty members of any rank.

Call for Proposals
Deadline: November 15, 2012

Collaboration Fund

The Research Collaboration Fund supports the creation and development of expansive research collaborations among faculty and students working on broad interdisciplinary research topics, such as water, neuroscience, digital humanities, or the environment.

Program Announcement
Deadline: March 4, 2013

Collaborative Research in Regenerative Medicine

A new USC initiative will support collaborative research in regenerative medicine and stem cell biology across the university, facilitating the critical move from basic research into clinical applications.

Program Information
Deadline for LOI: March 17, 2013

College Initiative on Seedling and Seal-the-Deal Research Support

Research grants of up to $2500 intended to aid in the preparation of extramural funding proposals by New Investigators (tenured and tenure-track) in USC Dornsife. Under this initiative the Dean’s office will contribute one-time seed research funds to USC Dornsife eligible faculty who commit to submitting a nationally competitive extramural funding proposal.  This money is designed to support proposal preparation, data analysis, pilot data collection, preliminary research, or similar activities.

Program Information
Deadline: Open

Core Instrumentation Fund

The Core Instrumentation Fund supports acquisition of shared instrumentation that enables major research endeavors in the sciences, medicine and engineering. Example areas of interest include, but are not limited to: Microscopy, Genomics, Imaging and Biophysics.

Program Information
Deadlines:

Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program

The program supports and funds translational research centered on the practical clinical application of research results. Typical projects focus on applying developed technologies to solve an unmet or under served clinical need, or to change a medical practice. Project proposals from at all stages of development from concept to implementation are invited for assessment. Project proposals are evaluated on the basis of their clinical merit, their potential health care impact and significance, their timeline and pathway to commercialization, and most importantly their potential for obtaining further financial investment to translate the particular solution to healthcare. The program does not fund discovery research (the creation of new knowledge).

Program Information
Deadline: December 15, 2012

CREATE Homeland Security Center

CREATE seeks 2-3 page White Papers on research projects in risk analysis, economics and operations research.  CREATE’s mission is to use research and education to help the nation deter, prevent and mitigate attacks by adaptive adversaries and provide resilience to terrorism and natural disasters. Three awards of up to $75,000 per award are expected.

Call for White Papers
Deadline: January 15, 2013

Donald E. & Delia Baxter Foundation Faculty Fellows Program

The Keck School of Medicine is seeking junior faculty research proposals to submit to the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation. The Foundation is interested in supporting innovative, cutting-edge research that leads to the development of new therapies, diagnostic tools, and disease prevention. Two awards, ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, are presented each year.  For program information contact Kavita Munjal.

Deadline: February annually

Early Modern Studies Institute

Two faculty awards for one-semester research fellowships and for up to $4000 in research funds; and two one-year dissertation fellowships for doctoral students.
Fellowship Competition
Deadline: January 25, 2013

FAPESP- University of Southern California (USC)

USC has launched a new research partnership with the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, which supports the travel of USC faculty to Brazil (and Sao Paulo faculty to USC) to develop joint research programs.

Applicants must apply simultaneously (and jointly with their research partner) to USC and the Sao Paulo Research Foundation. Awards can be up to $10,000 for each partner.

Details can be found at the Sao Paulo Research Foundation website.
Deadline: May 31, 2013 [updated on 3/13/2013]

Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

Open to all USC students, faculty and researchers. This is an opportunity to get your business idea in front of investors and to win seed money to get you started. More than $60,000 in prizes. There are two 1st place prizes of $20,000 each!

Program Information

Mellon-USC Awards for Excellence in Mentoring

The USC-Mellon Mentoring Awards honor individual faculty for helping build a supportive academic environment at USC through faculty-to-student and faculty-to-faculty mentoring.

Call for Nominations
Deadline: February 22, 2013

METRANS Transportation Center

Annual competition funds research which address issues in metropolitan transportation. Research awards up to $90,000.

METRANS Request for Proposals
Deadline: TBD

Ming Hsieh Institute for Research of Engineering-Medicine for Cancer

The Ming Hsieh Institute seeks proposals that will initiate new nanomedicine research projects that show exceptional promise for translation into human clinical trials for treatment of cancer. Research awards of up to $85,000.

Call for Proposals
Deadline: February 22, 2013

View Featured Research of previously awarded proposals

Provost’s Initiative on Arts and the Humanities

Grants to support the engagement of USC students with the arts and humanities and confirm the university’s commitment to the central role these disciplines play in public life.

Visions and Voices Awards
Deadline: Proposals due October 5, 2012

Rose Hills Foundation Science and Engineering Fellowships

Each undergraduate student funded by the program will receive a stipend in the amount of $5000 to support full-time research in science or engineering for a period of not less than eight weeks during the summer. Each faculty supervisor will receive $2000 for his or her research account for each student supervised.

Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program Call for Proposals
Deadline: March 29, 2013

Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI)

$1M/yr available in pilot awards to support a wide range of research needs—from initial research planning activities, to large, multi-disciplinary research projects! The awards also equip USC faculty with the critical funds they need to move their basic, clinical, or population findings through the research pipeline and into clinical or community health applications. For questions, please contact SC-CTSI at ord@sc-ctsi.org or 323.442.8188.

Program Announcement

Applications Open: February 1, 2013
Full proposal deadline: March 1, 2013
Award start: July 2013

Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center

The Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center (SCEHSC) is seeking applications for their 2013 Environmental Health Research Pilot Project Grants. The SCEHSC awards one-year pilot projects (up to $35,000) that aim to promote the understanding of environmental exposures, host factors, and human disease. The goal of the program is to provide investigators with an opportunity to collect preliminary data and/or validate the utility of specific methods or techniques to establish the feasibility of larger-scale research projects and ultimately seek external, especially NIEHS funding.

Eligible applicants include faculty or graduate students/postdoctoral researchers with a faculty sponsor. Young investigators are particularly encouraged to apply, and with all other factors equal, will receive funding priority. Applicants should submit a one-page Letter of Intent describing their proposed projects by Wednesday, September 5, 2012 to Ms. Lisa Grossman. Applications must be electronically received by Monday, September 17, 2012. For more information, contact Lisa Grossman at (323) 442-2750.

Program and Application Details

LOI Due: September 5, 2012

Southern California Research Center for ALPD & Cirrhosis

The USC Southern California Research Center for ALPD & Cirrhosis funds approximately four pilot projects each year. Awards of approximately $23,000 are available to support junior faculty with an existing research interest in the Center’s theme; junior faculty with an interest in basic or translational research; or for investigators interested in transitioning to alcohol or cirrhosis research.

Pilot Project Funding
Deadline: LOI due first Friday in October annually; Proposals due first Friday in November annually

USC Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program

The USC Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program promotes, develops, and supports innovations to improve patient care. The program provides mentoring, project management, and funding to promising translational projects with the goal of moving innovative technologies to clinical application through commercialization. Grants are awarded for a one year period, and may be submitted for renewal. The average size of the grant is $100K.

Program Announcement
Deadline: December 15, 2012

USC-Johnson & Johnson Translational Innovation Partnership Program

The program seeks to sponsor groundbreaking research in a wide range of therapeutic areas and should involve emerging technology or innovations of high potential impact in healthcare or healthcare delivery. It is a matching fund program with Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Office of Science and Technology (JNJ COSAT) and USC designed to improve the development speed and relevance to industry of early stage USC technologies that hold the greatest potential to benefit patients and the healthcare system.

Program Information
Deadline: TBD

USC Stevens Center for Innovation

The Ideas Empowered Program supports groundbreaking projects emerging from USC research that, with the right amount of funding, support, and guidance, could “spin out” of the university within a year or two. The program successfully bridges the gap between ideas and the marketplace through mentoring, connections to resources, and grants for validation of technical feasibility through proof-of-concept experiments and prototype development. For more information, application forms, and a highlight video, please visit: Ideas Empowered Program page. Or follow-up directly with the program director Juan Felipe Vallejo.

Ideas Empowered Program Announcement
Deadline: June 27, 2012

Undergraduate Research Associates Program

Supports faculty engaging in collaborative research with undergraduate students. Awards up to $10,000 for multiple student stipends to participate in scholarly research with faculty investigators.

Undergraduate Research Associates Program Grants
Deadline: February 19, 2013

Viterbi Research Innovation Fund

The Viterbi Research Innovation Fund program is aimed at fostering novel strategic research directions, projects, and activities in the school. Faculty with novel ideas and collaborations are encouraged to apply. Up to $50,000 in Fund support across multiple awards is expected to be awarded.

Call for Proposals
Deadline: Spring and Fall of each year

Women in Science and Engineering

This competitive program offers awards of up to $25,000 and is aimed at offsetting subtle biases, barriers, and career interruptions that have been shown to hinder the advancement of women faculty in science and engineering at research universities.

Major Support for Current Faculty
Deadline: January 28, 2013

Wright Foundation Research Awards

The Keck School of Medicine announces the Robert E. and May R. Wright Foundation Award to promote faculty research in three general areas: arthritis, cancer, and heart disease. Proposals that initiate a new research program or direction and those that are interdisciplinary or have translational potential are highly encouraged. Awards range from $50,000 to $100,000.

Wright Foundation Research Awards
Deadline: April 16, 2012

Zumberge Faculty and Research Innovation Fund

Individual research awards support junior faculty in developing research programs and securing external funding; funds up to $25,000 per award.

Individual Grants and Interdisciplinary Grants

Deadline (Individual Program): January 18, 2013

Interdisciplinary research awards support cooperative efforts between multiple faculty across different schools and disciplines to build durable collaborative research programs and secure external funding. Small Research Grants provide up to $10,000 for projects lasting three months or less; Large Research Grants provide up to $50,000 for projects lasting up to one year.

Deadlines (Interdisciplinary Program):
Letters of Intent due December 14, 2012
Full Proposals due February 25, 2013

Research Calendar

See all events in the USC Research Calendar.