Arts & Sciences is launching a new internal grant program, “Seeding Projects for Enabling Excellence & Distinction” (SPEED), focused on stimulating novel and impactful research, scholarship, and creative practice initiatives led by tenure-track and research faculty.
These yearlong seed grants range up to $50,000 and will support work that leads to various measurable outcomes, such as submissions for external grants; scholarly publications; and significant work disseminated through other methods, including presentations or performances.
“We are pleased to offer this new opportunity to support innovative and ambitious work across all areas of Arts & Sciences,” said Feng Sheng Hu, dean of Arts & Sciences. “An overarching goal of our new strategic plan is to advance our academic distinction by developing cutting-edge scholarship that pushes boundaries within and among disciplines. This program will provide the internal funding to allow our faculty to explore and develop new scholarly and creative pathways.”
Submissions will be considered semiannually, with an inaugural submission deadline of March 1, 2022. Annual deadlines will recur March 1 and September 1 for funding to begin June 1 and December 1, respectively. Proposed initiatives should not currently be supported by other internal or external grant funding.
“The SPEED program aims to seed new efforts that may not fit into the established centers or funding sources at the university, yet they represent exciting new directions with real potential for significant outcomes,” said William Tolman, vice dean of research and entrepreneurship. “This is an important opportunity to strengthen research innovation within Arts & Sciences, and it’s the result of feedback we received directly from faculty during the strategic planning process. We often heard, ‘I wish there were a way to support work that is more outside the box,’ and we now have a mechanism to do just that.”
The program will offer two categories of funding: Category A grants will provide up to $15,000 in funds, and Category B awards will range from $15,000 to $50,000. Applicants have the latitude to propose the level of support their initiative will need over the year. Overall funding for the SPEED program will be determined on a yearly basis by the dean.
A Board of Faculty Research, to be appointed by the dean, will review project proposals. Faculty interested in submitting a proposal are encouraged to review information on the program and instructions on the Inside ArtSci website.
