This fund is designed to encourage collaborations between faculty scholars in the arts and those in the natural sciences or engineering to promote synergistic innovations, allowing experts in seemingly unrelated fields to unify and expand their respective knowledge in ways that benefit both disciplines.

PI Eligibility

Tenured and tenure-track faculty members and arts program directors in division I (Humanities), and tenured and tenure-track faculty members in divisions III (Natural Sciences) and IV (Engineering) are invited to submit proposals. Proposals should have at least two faculty co-PIs, one from division I and one from division III or IV. Submissions are limited to one proposal per faculty member. Other things being equal, preference will be given to faculty members who did not receive funding in previous rounds of this competition. 

Funding

Proposers may request up to $75,000 per year for projects lasting up to two years, $150,000 in total. Expenditures may include research assistants, graduate student stipend and tuition (where applicable), postdoctoral researchers’ salary and benefits, undergraduate student stipend, consultants, publishing charges, materials and equipment, event organization, and travel.

Faculty summer salary or release time (semester leave), preparation of textbooks and courses will not be supported through this innovation fund.

Proposal Preparation Instructions

Applicants are encourage to use this this template to compose a narrative of no more than three pages, and a separate budget with justification.  The proposal should specifically describe how the funds will be utilized to accomplish the research objectives. Include a list of other sources of funding received or pending, and explain how they relate to the research described in this proposal. When developing the proposal budget, applicants are strongly encouraged to work with Jennifer Speed ([email protected]). Consulting with a staff member in the Office of the Dean for Research, in addition to working with your regular grants manager, will ensure that a prospective budget will have all of the information needed for reviewers to assess the budget as a key component of the proposal.

If relevant to the proposed project, letters of support from collaborators may be included as an appendix to the proposal.

Submission Information

Submit proposals via email, as a single PDF, to [email protected].

Review Criteria

Proposals will be judged on the basis of quality (the soundness and persuasiveness of the concept and the elegance of the research design), originality (how the proposal brings new ideas together to suggest surprising outcomes) and potential impact (the ways in which the proposed research will shift thinking in the field towards new ideas). The proposal should make an intellectually compelling case for the close collaboration between artists and scientists or engineers, and plans for making the activity self-sustaining through competitive funding. A faculty committee will review the proposals and make funding recommendations.