• Research
• For USC Researchers
• Funding Opportunities

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.

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 $18,000

Due date: 11/1/07

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 October 2008

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 prorgrams.

Amount: $264,000 over three years

Due date:TBA September 2008

Bridges to the Future 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: Up to $600,000 total for five years.

Due date: 1/08/08

Career Award in the Medical Sciences

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: The program provides $700,000 over five years.

Due date:October 1, 2008

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:April 15, 2008

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 2008

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: $100,000 to $500,000

Due date:11/01/2008

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:10/01/2008

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:11/01/2008

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 2008

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: 5/08/2008

Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards

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: 1/08/2008

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. For this year, proposals must focus on improving ethics education for graduate students in those fields, and on ethical issues that arise in research or graduate research education in those fields.

Due date:April 2008 (TBA)/dd>

Faculty Workshop Grants

Sponsor: National Endowment for the Humanities

Eligibility: Program fosters intellectual and professional development of humanities scholars through the support of faculty workshops and conferences.

Amount: Up to $30,000

Due date:TBA October 2008

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 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

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 gradaute programs in science, technology, or engineering.

Amount: $24,500 per year

Due date: 2/1/08

HHMI-NIH Research Scholars Program

Sponsor: Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Eligibility: Student must be in good standing at a medical or dental school in the United States, but cannot be enrolled in a combined MD/PhD, DDS/PhD or a PhD prgm, nor have a PhD or MD in a lab-based biological science.

Amount: $25,000

Due date: 1/10/08

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: 11/28/08

Howard Foundation Fellowship Award

Sponsor: The George A. and Eliza Howard Foundation

Eligibility: Awards fund a rotating set of liberal arts disciplines. Current nominees must have a significant record of publication beyond the dissertation in the areas of: Music Composition, Performance, Musicology, Playwriting (excluding TV and film scripts) and Theatre Studies. Nominees should generally have the rank of assistant or associate professor or their non-academic equivalents.

Amount: $25,000

Due date: 11/15/07

Inst of International Education (IIE) Whitaker International Scholars Program

Sponsor: Whitaker Foundation

Eligibility: For scholars in biomedical engineering. Must hold doctorate, but be no more than two years out from the PhD.

Due date: 2/11/08

Institute of International Education (IIE) Whitaker International Fellows Program

Sponsor: Whitaker Foundation

Eligibility: Fellowship program for American biomedical engineering graduate and doctoral students.

Due date: 2/11/08

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 yrs

Due date:November 2008 (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: Stipend of $50,000

Due date: 1/15/08

John Merck Scholars Program in the Biology of Developmental Disabilities in Children

Sponsor: The John Merck Fund

Eligibility: Applicants must possess a strong record of research in areas relating to the Fund's interest in the underlying causes of developmental disabilities. They must hold academic rank in a university or medical school or equivalent standing in a resarch institute, but have no more than four years' experience in an independent faculty position.

Amount: $75,000 per year for a four-year period

Due date: 3/19/08

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.

Due date: No proposal deadlines or established funding limits

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.

Amount: $150,000

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 - Bricks and Mortar Program (capital projects)

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: Up to $750,000

Due date: Rolling

Lemelson-Lifetime Achievement Award

Sponsor: Lemelson-MIT Program

Eligibility: Nominees are U.S. citizens or permanent residents whose life-long careers in invention and innovation have had a significant impact on society.

Amount: $100,000

Due date: TBA 2008

Lemelson-MIT Prize

Sponsor: Lemelson-MIT Program

Eligibility: Prize awarded to researchers who hold at least two patents and are US citizens or permanent residents. One patent must be for a product or process that provides a significant benefit

Amount: $500,000

Due date: TBA Summer 2008

Lindbergh Grants

Sponsor: The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation

Eligibility: Awards support research and educational projects which focus on the balance between the advance of technology and preservation of the natural/human environment.

Amount: Up to $10,580

Due date: 6/12/08

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 acheivement and outstanding leadership ability.

Amount: Varies by country

Due date: Varies

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: $4,000 for 2 months of support

Due date: November 2008, TBA

New Connections Fund

Sponsor: The James Irvine Foundation

Eligibility: The New Connections Fund supports projects relating to the arts, youth, or California perspectives. Organizations in Los Angeles, San Bernadino, and Riverside Counties, and the Central Valley, receive priority consideration.

Amount: $50,000 over 1 or 2 years

Due date: Varies by program

New Faculty Fellowship Awards Program

Sponsor: Microsoft Research

Eligibility: Must be nominated by Provost; have emphasis on computing research areas and innovative application of computing; must be in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd yr as faculty in their 1st appt. Three ltrs of rec req'd from established researchers.

Amount: $200,000 over two years

Due date: TBA, November 2008

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: 2/29/08

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.

Amount: Up to $400,000 the first two years and $275,000 for years 3-5.

Due date: 11/13/07

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: $625,000 ($125,000 per year for 5 years)

Due date:3/15/07

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: TBA

Pathway to Independence Award

Sponsor: National Institutes of Health

Eligibility: Postdoctoral researchers with less than 5 years' status as postdoc. Award supports two years of mentored research and three years of independent research.

Amount: Up to $90,000 per year for the first two years and up to $240,000 per year for the final three years

Due date: 2/12/08

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: TBA, November 2008

Research in Disabilities Education

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Eligibility: 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: TBA 2008

Scholars Grant 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 2008

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: $240,000 ($80,000 per year for 3 years)

Due date: TBA June 2008

The Alan T. Waterman Award

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Eligibility: Research seed grants for untenured faculty who are changing research emphasis or resuming scholarship. Must be 35 years or younger, or not more than five years beyond receipt of the Ph.D.

Amount: Up to $500,000

Due date: 12/07/07

The Holberg International Memorial Prize

Sponsor: The Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund

Eligibility: Scholars with internationally-recognized contributions to reseach in the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology disciplines.

Amount: $750,000

Due date: 2/10/08

The 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.

Amount: $450,000

Due date: TBA

The 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.

Amount: $1,000,000

Due date: Awarded every 2 years beginning 2008

The 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: $1,000,000

Due date:12/15/07

The 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.

Amount: $1,000,000

Due date:12/15/07

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: 12/3/07

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: year-round

Western States Affiliate Postdoctoral Fellowship

Sponsor: American Heart Association

Eligibility: Applicants must hold MD, PhD, DO, DDS, DVM or equivalent by the start of the grant. Individuals with 6 or more years of postdoctoral research training or experience are ineligible.

Amount: $32K

Due date: 1/9/08

Last updated: Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 6:01pm PDT