New Collaboration Seed Grants
We are soliciting applications for 1 year seed grants up to $20,000, funded through the USC Dornsife faculty-led initiatives program. These grants are intended to foster new collaborations, helping labs acquire preliminary data for research grant applications. We anticipate funding 3 seed grants.
***Due date 12/15/25
Target announcement of funding decisions 1/15/26
These grants require at least two PI’s to collaborate. Goal is to catalyze new research directions that did not exist before. We will measure our success by the number of new grant submissions (NSF, NIH, etc.) that these seed grants enabled.
Proposal guidelines:
1) Each proposal should be no more than 2-pages long, and contain clear descriptions of the proposed research, including the potential impact, aims, team, and budget.
2) Should include a list of target announcements for larger, long-term funding (e.g., NSF, NIH, etc.).
3) Include a proposed start date. Should be no later than 3/1/26.
4) Funds must be spent within a one-year period.
5) Proposals are due December 15.
Submission instructions:
1) Email your proposal as a PDF to Julia Schwartzman (julias21 at usc dot edu) with the title ‘CEEDseed grant applicaiton’. You will get a confirmation email acknowledging receipt. If you do not hear back within 48 hours of submission please follow up.
Eligibility requirements:
1) Each team must involve at least two PIs, at least one of which has a primary appointment in Dornsife.
2) Tenured, tenure-track, and research faculty are eligible to serve as PIs.
3) Requests can include student or postdoc support, or materials and supplies, but cannot include PI salary.
4) At least 50% of the planned funding should be spent in Dornsife investigator laboratories.
5) Non-CEED members are eligible to apply. Indeed, we hope this call identifies additional faculty aligned with the Center’s objectives.
6) Funded researchers will be expected to join our community and participate in Center events.
Please email Julia Schwartzman (julias21 at usc dot edu) with questions.