Institutionally Limited External Competitions
These are competitions for awards by outside agencies for which USC can nominate a limited number of candidates. Applications for any of the awards listed here must go through an internal review process and receive approval from the USC administration prior to submission to the sponsoring agency. Moreover, internal USC application deadlines are typically a number of weeks in advance of the sponsoring agency's own deadlines, given the time required for the internal review process.
Investigators interested in applying for any of the awards should contact the Office of the Vice Provost for Research Advancement and/or their research dean well in advance of the sponsor's deadline. The internal USC selection process, coordinated through each school's dean of research, typically takes place several weeks in advance of the external deadline, and faculty should indicate their interest in being considered for a given competition prior to the internal selection process being initiated.
National Science Foundation Limited Competitions Listing
NSF maintains a catalog of upcoming solicitations and grant programs that are institutionally limited competitions at its website:Visit Site
Selected List of Institutionally Limited Competitions
- American Council on Education Fellows Program
- Sponsor: American Council on Education
- Eligibility: Program supports leadership training for individuals with some leadership experience in a university setting, including deans, department chairs, vice presidents, or similar positions.
- Amount: Up to $15,000
- Due date: November 2, 2009
- Beckman Scholars Program
- Sponsor: Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
- Eligibility: Program supports research activities by exceptional undergraduates in chemistry, biochemistry, the biological and medical sciences or some combination of these subjects. Candidates for Beckman Scholars must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States at the time of application.
- Amount: $19,300
- Due date: TBA
- Beckman Young Investigators Program
- Sponsor: Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
- Eligibility: Must have 3 years of tenure-track appointments in chemical, life sciences or other comparable research; projects should show advances in research of interest to the Foundation, and innovative departures in research rather than extensions or expansions of existing programs.
- Amount: $264,000 over 3 years
- Due date: Program suspended until further notice
- Brain and Immuno-Imaging
- Sponsor: Dana Foundation
- Eligibility: Scientists, using either conventional brain imaging techniques, newly emerging cellular and molecular imaging technologies, or a combination of both, are supported to undertake pilot tests of novel hypotheses. Studies designed to refine existing imaging techniques, or to further develop new techniques to address specific clinical questions, are supported. The program focuses on providing support to faculty researchers early in their career, at the assistant professor level, or early in their associate professor career.
- Amount: Up to $200,000
- Due date: TBA November 2009
- Bridges to the Doctorate Program
- Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
- Eligibility: Awards to support programs that facilitate the transition of underrepresented minority students from associate- to baccalaureate-degree granting institutions and from master's- to doctoral-degree granting institutions in the fields of biomedical sciences.
- Amount: Varies
- Due date: September 18, 2009
- Career Award for Medical Scientists
- Sponsor: Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- Eligibility: The Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) provides medically trained individuals with bridging support in basic biomedical, disease- oriented, translational, or molecular, genetic, or pharmacological epidemiology.
- Amount: $700,000 over 5 years.
- Due date: Program suspended until further notice
- Career Awards at the Computational Biology Scientific Interface
- Sponsor: Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- Eligibility: Program is intended to foster the early career development of researchers with backgrounds in the physical/computational sciences whose work addresses biological questions and who are dedicated to pursuing a career in academic research. Awards support two years of postdoctoral research and the first three years of a faculty appointment.
- Amount: $500,000 over 5 years
- Due date: Program suspended until further notice
- Carnegie Corporation Scholars Program
- Sponsor: The Carnegie Corporation
- Eligibility: For the next few years, the Scholars Program will focus on supporting scholars whose research relates to intellectual and policy developments in Islam and Muslim communities. Applicant must hold a PhD.
- Amount: Up to $100,000
- Due date: TBA August 2010
- Clare Boothe Luce Program
- Sponsor: The Henry R. Luce Foundation
- Eligibility: Program to support the professional development of women in science, engineering and mathematics. Awards take the form of: undergraduate scholarships; graduate fellowships; and term support for tenure-track appointments at the assistant or associate professorship level.
- Amount: Up to $700,000
- Due date: March 1, 2010
- Clinical Investigators Award
- Sponsor: Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
- Eligibility: The program is to help physicians willing to devote their careers to the development and application of new diagnostic approaches and therapeutic strategies for cancer and cancer prevention through clinical investigation. Earmarked for young physicians wishing to commit themselves to substantive and innovative clinical research, the award bridges the gap between the research laboratory and patient care. The applicant must have received an M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degree from an accredited institution and be board-eligible in a cancer or cancer-related specialty (e.g., oncology, pathology, radiation therapy, surgery, or hematology).
- Amount: Up to $550,000
- Due date: March 1, 2010
- Clinical Scientist Awards in Translational Research
- Sponsor: Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- Eligibility: Program fosters the development and productivity of established independent physician-scientists who will strengthen translational research, through their own studies as well as by mentoring physician-scientist trainees. Applicants must have an MD and hold an appointment in a subspecialty of clinical medicine. Must be US citizens or permanent residents.
- Amount: $750,000 over 5 years
- Due date: Program suspended until further notice
- Clinical Scientist Development Award
- Sponsor: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
- Eligibility: The award provides grants to junior physician-scientists to facilitate their transition to independent clinical research careers. Applicants must be a physician-scientist conducting clinical research in any disease area and who have been appointed to their first full-time faculty level position between January 1, 2004, and January 1, 2009.
- Amount: $405,000
- Due date: TBA November 2009
- Collaborative Research Grants
- Sponsor: National Endowment for the Humanities
- Eligibility: Grants support collaborative research projects by two or more scholars in the humanities.
- Amount: Up to $100,000
- Due date: October 29, 2009
- Curatorial Research Grants
- Sponsor: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
- Eligibility: Supports scholarship in the field of British art and architectural history and to disseminate knowledge through publications, exhibitions and education. The program is intended to assist with travel, subsistence and other research costs, such as photography. They are offered to scholars already engaged in research involving the study of British art or architectural history.
- Due date: January 15, 2010
- Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award
- Sponsor: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
- Eligibility: Recognizes outstanding mid-career physician-scientists who are applying the latest scientific advances to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of disease, and enables them to support and mentor the next generation of physician-scientists conducting clinical research. Candidates may be nominated in each of the following four disease areas: Cardiovascular diseases, Cancer, AIDS, Sickle cell anemia or other blood disorders. All nominees must be a physician-scientist with an established translational clinical research program in any disease area and have been appointed to their first full-time faculty-level position no earlier than January 1, 1993.
- Amount: $1,500,000
- Due date: TBA
- Distinguished Young Scholars
- Sponsor: W.M. Keck Foundation
- Eligibility: Supports new scholars who focus on emerging areas of research at the forefront of science, engineering and medicine, or whose research has the potential to lead to breakthrough technologies in these areas.
- Amount: $1,000,000 over 5 years
- Due date: TBA December 2009
- Dreyfus New Faculty Awards Program
- Sponsor: The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation
- Eligibility: Junior faculty who start their first full-time tenure track appointments in the year of nomination.
- Amount: $25,000
- Due date: Program suspended until further notice
- Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award Program
- Sponsor: The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation
- Eligibility: Junior faculty in the first five years of their academic careers. Supports research in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering and closely related sciences.
- Amount: $60,000
- Due date: February 11, 2010
- Ethics Education in Science and Engineering
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: Program considers proposals for research and educational projects to improve ethics education in all of the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports, especially in interdisciplinary or inter-institutional contexts. Open to both graduate students as well as undergraduates.
- Due date: March 1, 2010
- Fletcher Jones Foundation Grant
- Sponsor: Fletcher Jones Foundation
- Eligibility: Support for charitable, scientific, literary and educational areas within institutions of higher learning in California.
- Due date: Revolving review of grant proposals; no deadlines.
- Geoscience Education Competition
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: Program supports projects to improve the quality of geoscience education, increase the number of students enrolling in geoscience education, and to raise the participation of underrepresented groups in geoscience learning.
- Amount: Up to $500,000
- Due date: TBA November 2009
- Grant Scholars Program
- Sponsor: William T. Grant Foundation
- Eligibility: Program supports promising early career researchers from diverse disciplines. Priority research areas focus on the effects of contexts on youth development; improving the systems, organizations, and programs affecting young people; and adults' use of scientific evidence and their views of youth. Applicants must be no more than seven years removed from their terminal degree.
- Amount: $350,000 over 5 years
- Due date: TBA 2010
- Harriett G. Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship Program
- Sponsor: NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship Program
- Eligibility: Nominees must be students within the first three years of graduate study OR be in process of applying to graduate programs in science, technology, or engineering.
- Amount: Up to $24,500
- Due date: TBA February 2010
- High Performance Computing Competition
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: Program solicits applications from institutions committed to the development of comprehensive, balanced high-performance computing systems
- Due date: TBA November 2009
- Instrumentation for Materials Research – Major Instrumentation Projects (IMR-MIP)
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: The IMR-MIP program provides support for the design and construction of major instruments costing more than $4 million but less than $20 million. The program also supports the development of detailed conceptual and engineering design for new tools for materials preparation or characterization at major user facilities. The program supports two types of awards: Conceptual and Engineering Design (CED) awards and Construction (CNST) awards.
- Amount: Up to $4,000,000
- Due date: TBA June 2010
- Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT)
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: The IGERT program is a graduate interdisciplinary traineeship program funded by NSF for the purpose of educating and training Ph.D. students in engineering and the sciences by building on the foundations of their disciplinary knowledge along with interdisciplinary training.
- Amount: Up to $400,000
- Due date: TBA March 2010
- Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award
- Sponsor: Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- Eligibility: The Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease program provides opportunities for assistant professors to bring multidisciplinary approaches to the study of human infectious diseases.
- Amount: $500,000 over 5 years
- Due date: Program suspended until further notice
- Japan Prize
- Sponsor: The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan
- Eligibility: Prize awarded to scholars whose original and outstanding achievements in science and technology are recognized as having advanced the frontiers of knowledge and served the cause of peace and prosperity for mankind.
- Due date: TBA
- Jefferson Science Fellows (JSF) Program
- Sponsor: Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State
- Eligibility: Tenured scientists and engineers are eligible. Program supports one year fellowship at US Department of State and/or at foreign embassies or consulates.
- Amount: $50,000
- Due date: January 15, 2010
- Kauffman Foundation Grant
- Sponsor: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
- Eligibility: Supports programs and/or initiatives that have significant potential to demonstrate innovative service delivery in support of education and entrepreneurship.
- Amount: No established funding limits
- Due date: Open
- Kavli Prize in Astrophysics
- Sponsor: Kavli Foundation
- Eligibility: Prize awarded for outstanding achievement in advancing our knowledge and understanding of the origin, evolution, and properties of the universe, including the fields of cosmology, astrophysics, astronomy, planetary science, solar physics, space science, astrobiology, astronomical and astrophysical instrumentation, and particle astrophysics.
- Amount: Up to $1,000,000
- Due date: December 15, 2009
- Kavli Prize in Nanoscience
- Sponsor: Kavli Foundation
- Eligibility: Prize awarded for outstanding achievement in the science and application of the unique physical, chemical, and biological properties of atomic, molecular, macromolecular, and cellular structures and systems that are manifest in the nanometer scale.
- Amount: Up to $1,000,000
- Due date: December 15, 2009
- Kavli Prize in Neuroscience
- Sponsor: Kavli Foundation
- Eligibility: Prize awarded for outstanding achievement in advancing our knowledge and understanding of the brain and nervous system, including molecular neuroscience, developmental neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience, and related facets of the brain and nervous system.
- Amount: Up to $1,000,000
- Due date: December 15, 2009
- Kellogg Foundation Grant
- Sponsor: W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- Eligibility: Supports research the areas of health, food systems and rural development, youth and education, and philanthropy and volunteerism.
- Due date: Open
- King Faisal International Prize for Science
- Sponsor: King Faisal Foundation
- Eligibility: The foundation designates annual prize subjects in Islamic Studies, Arabic Literature, and Medicine. Topics in Islamic Studies highlight areas of importance in Muslim society; Arabic Literature related to specialized areas within the discipline. Subjects in Medicine are reflecting current areas of international concern. The Science subcategories cover physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology.
- Amount: $200,000
- Due date: Date varies by award
- Kresge Foundation Challenge Grant
- Sponsor: Sebastian S. Kresge Foundation
- Eligibility: Program to build facilities & provide challenge grants for private giving to non-profit organizations working in the fields of health care, the arts and humanities, science and the environment, public affairs, education and human services.
- Amount: $100,000 to $2.5 million
- Due date: Revolving review of grant proposals; no deadlines
- Luce Scholars Program
- Sponsor: The Henry R. Luce Foundation
- Eligibility: Provides stipends and internships for one year of residence in Asia. Awardees must be 29 years of age or less; have at least a bachelor's degree, and have a record of high achievement and outstanding leadership ability.
- Amount: Varies by country
- Due date: First Monday of November
- Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in the USA's institutions of higher education, museums and science centers, and not-for-profit organizations.
- Amount: Up to $6,000,000
- Due date: TBA August 2010
- Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) in Engineering
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: This solicitation aims at introducing nanoscale science, engineering, and technology through a variety of interdisciplinary approaches into undergraduate engineering education. The focus of this year's competition is on nanoscale engineering education with relevance to devices and systems and/or on the societal, ethical, economic, and/or environmental issues relevant to nanotechnology.
- Amount: Up to $200,000
- Due date: TBA April 2010
- NEH Summer Stipends
- Sponsor: National Endowment for the Humanities
- Eligibility: Award supports two months of independent research by faculty and librarians working in any field in the humanities.
- Amount: $6,000 for 2 months of support
- Due date: October 1, 2009
- New Faculty Fellowship Awards Program
- Sponsor: Microsoft Research
- Eligibility: Microsoft Research seeks early-career nominees who are advancing computing research in novel directions. Possible research areas include, but are not limited to: security, interdisciplinary research, scientific computing, bioinformatics, computational biology, software engineering, and other areas where computing transforms the discipline and advances the state of the art.
- Amount: $200,000
- Due date: TBA September 2009
- New Scholar Program in Aging
- Sponsor: Ellison Foundation
- Eligibility: Program supports new investigators of outstanding promise in the basic biological sciences relevant to understanding aging processes and age-related diseases and disabilities. Applicants must hold full-time faculty appointment, but must have been faculty for no more than three years.
- Amount: Up to $100,000 per year for 4 years
- Due date: February 26, 2010
- NIH Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (K12)
- Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
- Eligibility: The program supports mentored research career development of junior faculty members, known as BIRCWH Scholars, who have recently completed clinical training or postdoctoral fellowships, and who will be engaged in interdisciplinary basic, translational, behavioral, clinical, or health services research relevant to women's health or sex/gender factors.
- Amount: Up to $500,000
- Due date: September 23, 2009
- Outstanding New Environmental Scientist Award
- Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
- Eligibility: Program identifies outstanding scientists who are in the formative stages of their careers and who intend to make a long term career commitment to research in the mission areas of the NIEHS and assist them in launching an innovative research program focusing on problems of environmental exposures and human biology, human pathophysiology and human disease. Applicants must have an MD or PhD, or equivalent graduate degree.
- Amount: Up to $400,000 for years 1-2 and $275,000 for years 3-5.
- Due date: November 3, 2009
- Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering
- Sponsor: David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- Eligibility: For young faculty in the first three years of their careers, in the fields of physics, chemistry, math, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth sciences, ocean sciences or engineering.
- Amount: $875,000 over 5 years)
- Due date: TBA
- Partnerships for International Research and Education
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: Program supports the development of long-term collaborative international research and education programs with foreign partners.
- Due date: September 18, 2009
- Pathway to Independence Award
- Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
- Eligibility: Postdoctoral researchers with less than status five years status as postdoc. Award supports two years of mentored research and three years of independent research.
- Amount: Up to $90,000 for years 1-2, and up to $249,000 for years 3-5
- Due date: October 12, 2009
- Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences
- Sponsor: Pew Charitable Trusts/University of California San Francisco
- Eligibility: For young investigators of outstanding promise in basic and clinical science relevant to the advancement of human health. Limited to assistant professors with three years or less of full-time service who hold a doctorate in medicine, other health related professions, or biomedical science.
- Amount: $60,000 per year for 4 years
- Due date: November 2, 2009
- Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM)
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: Awards are made to (1) individuals who are U.S. citizens, have affiliation with an organization eligible to be an NSF grantee, are not federal government employees, and have demonstrated outstanding and sustained mentoring and effective guidance to a significant number of underrepresented students at the K-12, undergraduate, or graduate education level; and (2) organizations that, through their programming, have enabled a substantial number of students traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields to pursue and complete relevant degree programs successfully.
- Amount: $10,000
- Due date: March 3, 2010
- Research in Disabilities Education
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: This program provides educational opportunities for undergraduate students. It provides indirect funding for students at this level or focuses on educational developments for this group such as curricula development, training or retention. Program supports efforts and projects to increase the participation and achievement of persons with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and careers.
- Due date: August 25, 2009
- Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry
- Sponsor: Welch Foundation
- Eligibility: The purpose of the award is to foster and encourage basic chemical research and to recognize the value of chemical research contributions for the benefit of mankind. Any person can be considered for the award who has made important chemical research contributions which have had a significant, positive influence on mankind. The award is intended to recognize contributions that have not previously been rewarded in a similar manner.
- Amount: $300,000
- Due date: February 1, 2010
- Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM)
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: The S-STEM program emphasizes the importance of recruiting students to science and engineering disciplines, mentoring and supporting students through degree completion, and partnering with employers to facilitate student career placement in the STEM workforce.
- Amount: Up to $600,000
- Due date: July 14, 2010
- Science and Technology Centers (STC): Integrative Partnerships
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: The program supports innovative, potentially transformative, complex research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term awards. Preliminary proposals and invited full proposals may be submitted by U.S. academic institutions that have research and degree-granting education programs in any area of research supported by NSF. The lead institution is expected to develop multi-institutional partnerships or arrangements with other universities/colleges, national laboratories, research museums, private sector research laboratories, state and local government laboratories, and international collaborations that enable the Center to attain its strategic goals.
- Amount: Up to $25,000,000
- Due date: TBA 2010
- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP)
- Sponsor: National Science Foundation
- Eligibility: STEP seeks to increase the number of students (U.S. citizens or permanent residents) receiving associate or baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging fields within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
- Amount: Up to $2,500,000
- Due date: August 18, 2009
- Searle Scholars Program
- Sponsor: Chicago Community Trust
- Eligibility: Junior faculty in first or second year of first appointment. Supports research in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology and related areas.
- Amount: $300,000 over 3 years
- Due date: September 25, 2009
- UCSF / Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholars in Bioethics
- Sponsor: UC-San Francisco
- Eligibility: Career development award for work at the intersection of ethics and biomedical sciences. Applicants must be more than half-time junior faculty members.
- Amount: 50% salary support and benefits for up to 3 years
- Due date: TBA
- Weingart Foundation Grant
- Sponsor: Weingart Foundation
- Eligibility: Grants to assist projects serving youth, the aged, disabled, disadvantaged, and benefiting the general community. Consideration will be given to the support of well conceived experimental or demonstration projects in program areas of grant focus that promise positive results and effects.
- Due date: Open
Last updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 2:38pm PDT



