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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