Funding Opportunities ~ Significant Faculty Awards

TheCenter is a research enterprise focused on the competitive national context for major research universities. TheCenter’s staff has developed a variety of methods for measuring university performance. Among the measures on which universities are ranked is the number of “significant faculty awards” earned by those affiliated with the institution. Increasing UM’s rate of applications for these and other forms of research recognition and support is a goal that can bear fruit in a number of ways, and one of those ways is that it may lead to higher national rankings of the institution.

Of course, the many other awards, contracts, grants, fellowships, and faculty achievements sought and won by UM faculty are significant throughout all disciplines, and the faculty’s success in those endeavors is equally important to the institution as a whole. The ORSP staff is available to help with any funding opportunities, regardless of the sponsor, the award size, or whether it will appear directly in future rankings of the University.

For more information about TheCenter and significant faculty awards, see the March 2005 Research Highlights newsletter feature article.

Below is a listing of significant faculty awards tracked by TheCenter. Click on titles for more information and links to websites for each program.

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Deadlines and Descriptions

American Council of Learned Societies Fellows
Usual Deadline: early October
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship Program invites research applications in all disciplines of the humanities and humanities-related social sciences. The ACLS Fellowships are intended as salary replacement to help scholars devote six to 12 continuous months to full-time research and writing. The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant that will take the form of a monograph or other equally substantial form of scholarship. ACLS does not fund creative work (e.g., novels or films), textbooks, straightforward translation, or pedagogical projects.
Website: http://www.acls.org/felguide.htm
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=20411

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Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Awards
Nomination/selection process unknown
This major new program, launched in 2001, has three principal objectives: to enable notable scholars in the humanities to pursue their work under especially favorable conditions, to enrich teaching and learning in the humanities at their institutions, and to underscore the decisive contributions to the nation's intellectual life made by humanistic scholarship. Recipients are chosen from fields such as classics, history, history of art, musicology, philosophy, religious studies, and all areas of literary studies, including the study of foreign literatures, and must hold tenured appointments at institutions of higher education in the United States.
Website: http://www.mellon.org/12_14_05.html

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Beckman Young Investigators
Usual Deadline: late September
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation makes grants to nonprofit research institutions to promote research in chemistry and the life sciences, broadly interpreted, and particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments, and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science. The Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Program is intended to provide research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of academic careers in the chemical and life sciences. Projects should show promise for contributing to significant advances in the research fields of interest to the foundation. They should represent innovative departures in research rather than extensions or expansions of existing programs. Proposed research that cuts across traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines is encouraged.
Website: http://www.beckman-foundation.com/byi_guides.html
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=2793

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Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards at the Scientific Interface
Usual Deadline: early May
Internal coordination required ~ a degree-granting institution may nominate up to two candidates
Advances in genomics, quantitative structural biology, and modeling of complex systems have created opportunities for exciting research careers at the interface between the physical/computational sciences and the biological sciences. Tackling key problems in biology will require scientists trained in areas such as chemistry, physics, applied mathematics, computer science, and engineering. These grants provide bridging support 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. Award recipients are expected to draw from their training in a scientific field other than biology to propose innovative approaches to answer important questions in the biological sciences. Proposals that include experimental validation of theoretical models are particularly encouraged.
Website: http://www.bwfund.org/programs/interfaces/career_awards_main.html
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=5360

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Cottrell Scholars Awards
Usual Deadline: early September
Awards will be made to U.S. and Canadian universities to further the teaching and research of faculty members in Ph.D.-granting astronomy, chemistry, and physics departments. The Cottrell Scholar Awards are designed for institutions and faculty members who wish to excel at both teaching and research. They enable recipients to implement their plans to become outstanding scientists and educators as well as tomorrow's academic and scientific leaders. The awards also seek to reinforce faculty mentoring, communication, and a heightened appreciation for instruction in university science departments.
Website: http://www.rescorp.org/grants.php#CSA
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=3087

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Fulbright U.S. Scholars ~ Traditional Lecture/Research Grants
Deadline: August 1 annually (some special programs have other deadlines—see website)
The traditional Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
Website: http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/

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Getty Scholars in Residence
Usual Deadline: early November (anticipated)
Getty Scholar and Visiting Scholar Grants provide a unique research experience. Recipients are in residence at the Getty Research Institute or the Getty Villa in Malibu where they pursue their own projects free from academic obligations, make use of Getty collections, join their colleagues in a weekly meeting devoted to the year's theme and participate in the intellectual life of the Getty. These grants are for established scholars, artists, or writers who have attained distinction in their fields. Applications are welcome from researchers of all nationalities who are working in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.
Website: http://www.getty.edu/grants/research/scholars/research_grischolars.html
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=81920

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Guggenheim Fellowships to Assist Research and Artistic Creation
Usual Deadline: mid September
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation offers fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and irrespective of race, color, or creed. The foundation provides fellowships for advanced professionals in all fields (natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, creative arts) except the performing arts. The foundation selects its fellows on the basis of two separate competitions, one for the United States and Canada, the other for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Website: http://www.gf.org
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=3195

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Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors
Deadline: every 4 years, next in 2010
Internal coordination required ~ each invited institution may nominate up to two candidates
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors competition is intended to stimulate, support, and empower accomplished research scientists in conveying the excitement and values of scientific research to undergraduate education and to apply their innovations to advancing science education. Additional goals of the program are to introduce graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to the challenges and rewards of mentoring undergraduates and to develop a cadre of scientist-educators around the country who are leaders in research and excel in undergraduate teaching. The University of Mississippi was first invited to submit HHMI nominations in 2005.
Website: http://www.hhmi.org/grants/individuals/professors.html
COS Record: to be revised

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Lasker Medical Research Awards ~ Basic and Clinical
Usual Deadline: early February
Candidates must be nominated for these awards
The major purpose of the Lasker Medical Research Awards is to recognize and honor individuals who have made significant contributions in basic or clinical research in diseases that are the main cause of death and disability. The Basic Medical Research Award honors the scientist or scientists who have made fundamental investigations that open new areas of biomedical science. The Clinical Medical Research Award honors the scientist or scientists whose contributions have led, directly or indirectly, to improvements in the clinical management or treatment of patients and to the alleviation or elimination of one of the major medical causes of disability or death.
Website: http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/awards.html
COS Records:
Basic ~ http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=18485
Clinical ~ http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=18486

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MacArthur Foundation Fellows
Candidate names must be submitted by invited nominators
The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work. The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions.
Website: http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.959463/k.9D7D/Fellows_Program.htm

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National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships
Usual Deadline: early May
Fellowships support individuals pursuing advanced research in the humanities that contributes to scholarly knowledge or to the general public's understanding of the humanities. Recipients usually produce scholarly articles, monographs on specialized subjects, books on broad topics, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly tools. Fellowships support full-time work on a humanities project for a period of six to twelve months.
Website: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/fellowships.html
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=48068

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National Humanities Center Fellowships
Usual Deadline: mid October
The National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, offers 40 residential fellowships for advanced study in the humanities during the academic year, September through May. Most of the Center's fellowships are unrestricted. Several, however, are designated for particular areas of research. These include environmental studies and history; English literature; art history or visual culture; French history, literature, or culture; Asian Studies; and theology. Scholars interested in the impact of recent scientific research on the concept of the human are also encouraged to apply; see “Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity” on the Center's website.
Website: http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/fellowships/appltoc.htm
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=33891

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National Institutes of Health MERIT (R37) and Outstanding Investigator (R35) Awards
MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award: The MERIT award provides long-term grant support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctly superior and who are highly likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner. Investigators may not apply for a MERIT award. Program staff and/or members of the cognizant National Advisory Council/Board will identify candidates for the MERIT award during the course of review of competing research grant applications prepared and submitted in accordance with regular PHS requirements.
Outstanding Investigator Award: Activity code R35 is listed as 'Inactive' on page 42 of Activity Codes, Organization Codes, and Definitions Used in Extramural Programs, issued by the NIH Office of Extramural Research in June 2004.
Website: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/OER.htm

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National Medal of Science
Usual Deadline: early December
The National Medal of Science was established as a presidential award to be given to individuals “deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.” Congress expanded this recognition to include the social and behavioral sciences. A committee of 12 scientists and engineers is appointed by the president to evaluate the nominees for this award. The committee has established the following guidelines for selection of candidates: (1) The total impact of an individual's work on the present state of physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, or social and behavioral sciences; (2) achievements of an unusually significant nature in relation to the potential effects of such achievements on the development of scientific thought; (3) unusually distinguished service in the general advancement of science and engineering, when accompanied by substantial contributions to the content of science at some time; (4) recognition by peers within the scientific community; (5) contributions to innovation and industry; (6) influence on education through publications, students, etc.
Website: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/honawards/medalHome.do;jsessionid=a8306551512456632620
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=33063

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National Medal of Technology
Usual Deadline: late May
The National Medal of Technology is the highest honor bestowed by the President of the United States to America's leading innovators. The medal is given annually to individuals, teams, or companies for accomplishments in the innovation, development, commercialization, and management of technology, as evidenced by the establishment of new or significantly improved products, processes, or services. The primary purpose of the National Medal of Technology is to recognize technological innovators who have made lasting contributions to enhancing America's competitiveness and standard of living. The medal highlights the national importance of fostering technological innovation based upon solid science, resulting in commercially successful products and services. Nominations are accepted in the following six categories: (1) Product and Process Innovation; (2) Technology Transfer; (3) Advanced Manufacturing Technology; (4) Technology Management; (5) Human Resources Development; (6) Environmental Technology.
Website: http://www.technology.gov/Medal/Nomination.htm
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=54099

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National Science Foundation CAREER Awards
Usual Deadlines: mid July
The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply.
Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers: Each year NSF selects nominees for the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from among the most meritorious new CAREER awardees. The PECASE program recognizes outstanding scientists and engineers who, early in their careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge. This Presidential Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. The PECASE award is an honorary award and does not provide additional funds.
Website: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05579
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=70293

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Newberry Library Long-Term Fellowships
Usual Deadlines: early January
Long-term fellowships are available to post-doctoral scholars for periods of six to eleven months. Applicants for post-doctoral awards must hold the Ph.D. at the time of application. These grants support individual research and promote serious intellectual exchange through active participation in the Library's scholarly activities, including a biweekly fellows' seminar. Applicants may combine these fellowship awards with sabbatical or other stipendiary support.
Website: http://www.newberry.org/research/felshp/long-term.html

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Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences
Usual Deadline: early November
Internal coordination required ~ each invited institution may nominate one candidate
[UM is seeking invitation to nominate for this competition.] The program is designed to support young investigators of outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences relevant to the advancement of human health. The funding of the awards is provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The award is intended to provide assured support, during their earlier years, for junior members of the faculty as they establish their laboratories. It is hoped that the assurance provided through the program will encourage successful applicants to be more venturesome in their research and future applications for support than would otherwise be likely.
Website: http://futurehealth.ucsf.edu/biomed/application.html
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=10181

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Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships
Usual Deadline: mid November
Under the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Policy Fellowships Program, up to 10 fellows will be selected for the program for one-year residential experiences in Washington, D.C. The residential experience features an intensive orientation, followed by hands-on work assignments with members of Congress or in the executive branch. Fellows typically will help develop legislative proposals, arrange hearings, brief legislators for committee sessions and floor debates, and staff House-Senate conferences.The Washington experience prepares individuals to influence the future of health care and accelerate their own career development. Fellows are able to continue their health policy activities for up to two years after the Washington placement period.
Website: http://www.rwjf.org/applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=19708
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=95504

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Searle Scholars Program
Usual Deadline: late September
Internal coordination required ~ each invited institution may nominate one candidate
The Searle Scholars Program, administered by the Chicago Community Trust, makes grants to universities to support the independent research of outstanding individuals who are pursuing research careers in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and pharmacology, as well as related areas in chemistry, medicine, and the biological sciences. The University of Mississippi was first invited to submit Searle nominations in 2005.
Website: http://searlescholars.net/apply/index.html
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=2677

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Sloan Research Fellowships
Usual Deadline: mid September
Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded to enhance the careers of the very best young faculty members in specified fields of science. Currently, 116 fellowships are awarded annually in chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics.
Website: http://www.sloan.org/programs/scitech_fellowships.shtml
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=10138

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US Secretary of Agriculture Honor Awards
Nomination/selection process unknown
The Secretary's Honor Awards (last presented in 2004) are the most prestigious awards that USDA can present. USDA employees at all grade levels and private citizens are eligible. Awards are presented by the Secretary to individuals for notable contributions to the department's mission, the nation, or public service. Categories are: (1) Enhancing Economic Opportunities for Agricultural Producers; (2) Supporting Increased Economic Opportunities and Improved Quality of Life In Rural Areas; (3) Enhancing Protection and Safety of the Nation's Agriculture and Food Supply; (4) Improving the Nation's Nutrition and Health; (5) Protecting and Enhancing the Nation's Natural Resource Base and Environment; (6) Supporting the President's Management Agenda and Civil Rights; and (7) Heroism and Emergency Response.
Website: http://www.usda.gov/da/employ/CriteriaForSecretarysAnnualHonorAwards.htm

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Woodrow Wilson Fellowships
Usual Deadline: early October
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars awards residential fellowships annually to individuals with outstanding project proposals in a broad range of the social sciences and humanities on national or international issues. Topics and scholarship should relate to key public policy challenges or provide the historical or cultural framework to illumine policy issues of contemporary importance. Primary themes are: (1) governance, including such issues as the key features of the development of democratic institutions, democratic society, civil society, and citizen participation; (2) the U.S. role in the world and issues of partnership and leadership - military, political, and economic dimensions; and (3) key long-term future challenges confronting the United States and the world. While the center does not engage in formulating actual policy, priority will be given to proposals related to these themes and intersecting with crucial public policy issues. Within this framework, the center also welcomes projects that provide the historical or cultural context for some of today's significant public policy debates.
Website: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=fellowships.welcome
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=1585

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