Innovation Grants

The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) is pleased to announce the Fall 2023 Call for Innovation Proposals. This endeavor is made possible through the generosity of Princeton’s esteemed alumni, parents, and patrons, enabling SEAS to extend an assortment of grants to our distinguished faculty, who foster pioneering and cutting-edge research across diverse areas. Among other noble objectives, the grants will support SEAS initiatives, foster audacious research concepts with huge societal impact, and encourage interdisciplinary collaborations encompassing not only our SEAS faculty but also respected colleagues from other academic domains and collaborators from industry. Furthermore, they aim to facilitate nascent research, allowing faculty members to generate sufficient preliminary research results/data that enhance the chances of securing outside funding, establishing the foundation for securing large external grants, such as an NSF Center.

SEAS extends an invitation for:

Innovation research grants on traditional engineering disciplines, interdisciplinary areas, as well as SEAS initiatives. These grants are designed to allow faculty members to engage in research that is not easily fundable through standard outside channels, or to provide sufficient preliminary research to enhance chances to secure continued outside funding.  Proposals that demonstrate a clear path for outside grant application will be given preferential attention. Grant amount: up to $250K for up to two years of research. Proposals over $150K require teams of 2-4 PIs.

Research areas of interest:

• Innovative Engineering Research
• Robotic and Autonomous Systems
• Next-Gen Networks, Blockchain, and Decentralized Systems
• Human Health and Neuroscience
• Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design and Discovery
• Technology, Policy, and Society 

The proposal submission deadline is Friday, December 1, 2023, at 5:00 PM.

Internal support for other SEAS initiatives such as Bioengineering, Energy & the Environment, and more is available through separate funding sources. For questions about these additional funding sources, please contact seasresearch@princeton.edu.

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Proposals should include:

• Application form
• Detailed overview of the proposed research (three-page maximum)
• Detailed budget (up to $250K) outlining how the funds will be used (budgets will be reviewed carefully for reasonable and appropriate expenses)
• Two-page CV and a list of current and pending research support for all team members

Proposals will be reviewed by a faculty committee and funding decisions will be announced in March.

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Application Form

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Guidelines

1. Faculty members are not eligible to apply for a SEAS Innovation Research Grant if they currently have an active innovation grant from SEAS.
2. At most, each faculty member could have one SEAS innovation research grant and one SEAS seed grant at the same time, provided that the two are on different topics.
3. Large proposals (over $150K) require teams of 2-4 PIs.
4. SEAS expects that funds will be spent according to the proposed budget. Any major change in budget allocation should be discussed in advance with SEAS.
5. Extensions (including no-cost extensions) to project duration will not be granted unless exceptional circumstances arise; please choose appropriate research start and end dates during the application process. Please note projects can range from three months to two years.
6. Proposals selected for funding will be required to submit a summary report annually to provide an update on research objectives and fund expenditures, as well as a final report at the conclusion of the project.
7. Any unspent funds at the end of a project must be returned to SEAS.
8. Preferably, proposals include a minimum of one SEAS faculty member.