James H. Zumberge Research and Innovation Fund
Zumberge Fund Awards
The James H. Zumberge Research and Innovation Fund is USC’s university-wide faculty research grant support mechanism. It awards several hundred thousand dollars each year through its annual James H. Zumberge Awards competition. The Zumberge Fund promotes the initiation of research at USC through two types of awards: Individual Awards and Interdisciplinary Awards.
Individual awards help newer faculty launch their research careers, and support research in areas with limited external funding opportunities through grants of up to $25,000. Interdisciplinary awards of up to $50,000 foster collaborative efforts among faculty from different schools and disciplines that lead to sustained interdisciplinary research programs and projects.
Recent recipients of Zumberge Interdisciplinary grants have gone on to receive:
• $5 million per year in support from the National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Center program, to establish the Center on Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations at USC.
• More than $4 million per year from the National Institutes of Health to bring the Bioinformatics Research Network (BIRN) to USC.
• Support from Lockheed Martin Corporation to establish the Center for Quantum Computing at USC, and to bring the D-Wave quantum computer to the university.
Interdisciplinary applicants aim to leverage their Zumberge awards for follow-on grants of this scale.
Inquiries regarding Zumberge Fund programs can be directed to Christine Lavoie in the Office of Research (clavoie@usc.edu or 213-740-6709).
Multi-School INTERDISCIPLINARY Award Program
Download the 2012 Interdisciplinary Guidelines: Zumberge Interdisciplinary 2012 RFP
Large Grant Deadlines:
- Letters of Intent due January 18, 2012.
- Full Proposals due February 22, 2012.
Small Grant Deadline: Open
INDIVIDUAL Award Program
Download the 2012 Zumberge Individual guidelines: Zumberge Individual 2012 RFP
Individual Award Application Deadline: January 18, 2012.
Application Submission
To start the application process for both Interdisciplinary and Individual grant programs you will need to log in using your USC NetID and password: Begin Online Application.
Important: You may experience problems with the online application if using the browser Internet Explorer. If you experience problems, it is advisable to access the application system through a different browser, such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
For questions regarding the proposal submission process, please contact Alisa Gonzales in the Office of Research (alisagon@usc.edu or 213-740-6709).
2011 Interdisciplinary Awards
“Entertainment Technology Innovation for Prevention, Assessment and Treatment of Head/Neck Injury in Youth Sports” David Baron, Department of Psychiatry, Keck School of Medicine Marientina Gotsis, School of Cinematic Arts
“New Challenges for Economic Decision-making: Biology, Neuroscience and Economic Models”
Isabelle Brocas, Department of Economics, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Juan Carrillo, Department of Economics, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Lian Jian, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism John Monterosso, Department of Psychology, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
“Electrical Signaling in Microbial Communities”
Moh El-Naggar, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Urbashi Mitra, Electrical Engineering Systems, Viterbi School of Engineering
“Photopolymer Development for Density-driven Separation of Blood Components”
Jane Emerson, Department of Pathology, Keck School Medicine Steven Nutt, Department of Materials Science, Viterbi School of Engineering
“Integrated Micromechanical Platform for Spatially-Targeted Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics”
Eun Sok Kim, Electrical Engineering/Electrophysics, Viterbi School of Engineering
Mitchell Gross, Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine
“Public Health in Africa: The Religious Dimension”
Patrick James, School of International Relations, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Jonathan Samet, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine
“Identification of O-GIcNAc Modified Proteins” Matthew Pratt, Department of Chemistry, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Sean Curran, Department of Bio-Gerontology, Davis School of Gerontology
2011 Individual Awards
Xiaoyi Gao
Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine
“Multiple Testing Corrections for Imputed SNPs in Latino Genome-wide Association Studies”
Erick Guerrero
School of Social Work
“Implementation of Co-occurring Disorder Treatment in Behavioral Health Services in L.A. County”
Shinwu Jeong
Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine
“A Novel Anti-inflammatory Peptide Therapeutic for Dry Eye Disease”
Rongjie Lai
Department of Mathematics, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
“Computational Geometry and Applications to Medical Imaging”
Shuanglong Liu
Department of Radiology, Keck School of Medicine
“Melanin-targeted PET imaging of Melanoma Using Quinoxaline Derivatives”
Yan Liu
Department of Computer Science, Viterbi School of Engineering
“Granger Graphical Models for Scientific Discovery in Biology, Social Science and Climate Science”
Amy Merrill-Brugger
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ostrow School of Dentistry
“Defining the Distinction between Cell Surface and Nuclear Activities of FGFR2 Signaling During Skeletal Development”
Azin Shahryarinejad
Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Keck School of Medicine
“Genetic Predictors and Epigenetics of Female Organ Prolapse”
Susumu Takahashi
Department of Chemistry, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
”Towards Single Spin Detection Using Diamond Nanocrystals: Sensitivity Enhancement via Manipulating Spin Coherence Using High Magnetic Field”
Terry Takahashi
Department of Chemistry, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
“Engineering RNA Binding Proteins with Novel Specifics”
Heather Volk
Department of Environmental Health, Keck School of Medicine
“A Birth Records Based Analysis of Autism and Air Pollution in Anaheim”
Hsiao Huei (Juli) Wu
Department of Cell & Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine
“MET/HGF Signaling in Hearing Development and Autism”
Previous Awardees
A list of previous recipients of the Zumberge Individual and Interdisciplinary Awards is available to download.