The Office of Research is pleased to share the FOA for the new AI Enrichment Pivot Grants Program, formerly the Faculty Research Pivot Grants Program. The AI Enrichment Pivot Grants are for faculty who wish to support their graduate and/or professional students who are seeking to integrate AI into their work to pursue transformative new approaches to their research, scholarship and creative activities. This program is intended for faculty and students who are not AI researchers but rather seek to explore the benefits of AI in advancing their own activities. All areas of research, scholarship and creative activities across UC are eligible.

This program will follow a two-stage application/evaluation process. The first stage involves submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI). Up to 10 faculty finalists will then be invited to submit a full proposal and agree to a 15-minute presentation/Q&A to discuss their proposed activities.

Grants 

Each grant will be up to $10,000. Funds must be used for student stipend support plus any necessary costs for AI implementation, as necessary to accomplish the goals of the project. Budgets will only be required from awardees and will be created in collaboration with the Office of Research. Up to five grants will be supported by this new program.

Key Dates

FOA released: January 10, 2025 

LOI Deadline: February 13, 2025 at 5:00 pm ET 

Finalists Notified: Week of March 3, 2025 (anticipated) 

Final Proposal Deadline: April 1, 2025 (for finalists only) 

Finalist Presentations: Week of May 5, 2025 (anticipated) 

Grantee Announced: Week of June 2, 2025 (anticipated) 

The process of discovery contributes to our nation’s prowess in space exploration. In the Age of Discovery (circa 15th – 18th century), the leading nations of the day set out to explore what was unknown to them. The exploration of space will lead to greater understanding of the Earth and its place in the vastness of space. Humans living in space or on other celestial bodies will encounter new challenges in building societies. This includes not only sustainable physical structures but other critical aspects such as the formulation of exploration policies and new forms of civil society and governance in space.

A prime directive of the Armstrong Institute for Space, Technology, and Research (ASTRO) at the University of Cincinnati (UC) is to foster growth in career paths that are aligned with our regional and national interests to discover and explore our universe with an emphasis on space travel and habitation. The Armstrong Fellowship for Discovery supports undergraduate students who show potential in advancing new ideas related to space discovery and exploration. This fellowship program is for undergraduates who have completed the first two years of their academic degree program. Undergraduates of all majors are eligible and encouraged to apply.

Eligibility 

• Eligible applicants are UC undergraduate degree-pursuing students who have an interest in the future of space research and space exploration.

• Eligible students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.

• Eligible students must have completed the first two years of their academic program by the start of the fellowship.

• Eligible students must be able to accept the fellowship award for Fall Semester 2025.
  

Key Dates

FOA released: January 10, 2025
Application Deadline: February 20, 2025 by 5:00 pm ET
Awardees Announced: Week of April 7, 2025 (anticipated)
Research Project Period: 2025 Fall Semester 

The process of discovery contributes to our nation’s prowess in space exploration. In the Age of Discovery (circa 15th – 18th century), the leading nations of the day set out to explore what was unknown to them. The exploration of space will lead to greater understanding of the Earth and its place in the vastness of space. Humans living in space or on other celestial bodies will encounter new challenges in building societies. This includes not only sustainable physical structures but other critical aspects such as the formulation of exploration policies and new forms of civil society and governance in space.

A prime directive of the Armstrong Institute for Space, Technology, and Research (ASTRO) at the University of Cincinnati (UC) is to foster growth in career paths that are aligned with our regional and national interests to discover and explore our universe with an emphasis on space travel and habitation. The Armstrong Fellowship for Exploration supports graduate students pursuing their Masters or Ph.D. degrees who show potential in advancing new ideas related to space discovery and exploration. There are no limitations to the discipline or background of graduate students – applications from all areas are strongly encouraged.

Eligibility 

• Eligible applicants include UC graduate degree-pursuing students who have an interest in the future of space exploration.

• Eligible students must have a cumulative GPA as a graduate student of 3.0 or higher.

• Eligible students must have completed at least 1 year of graduate study by the start of the fellowship.

• Eligible students must be able to accept the fellowship award for the 2025-2026 academic year.
  

Key Dates

FOA released: January 10, 2025
Application Deadline: February 20, 2025 by 5:00 pm ET
Awardees Announced: Week of April 7, 2025 (anticipated)
Research Project Period: 2025 Fall Semester – 2026 Summer Semester 

Building upon previous investments in arts, humanities, and social sciences (AHSS) and growing out of UC’s Next Lives Here Urban Futures Pathway: Society & Culture Initiative, the Office of Research seeks to incentivize novel research, exceptional scholarship, and the production of creative and performing art works that creatively address issues of increasing societal significance.

This funding opportunity follows a one-step application process open to UC faculty whose proposed activities can be defined or characterized as arts-based, human-centered, or social, behavioral, and/or economic research that seeks to advance society & culture. The Society & Culture Program is now open on a rolling basis and the grant-funded performance period will be negotiated upon award. However, the application cut-off date is March 27, 2025. 

Applicants are asked to consider, articulate, and ultimately measure how the proposed project will measurably impact society & culture. As high-level frames of reference, the Office of Research refers applicants to two impact frameworks:

The Arts & Social Impact Explorer

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) 

Key Dates

FOA Release: Wednesday, January 10, 2025 
Application Cut-Off Date: Thursday, March 27, 2025 5:00 pm ET 
Grantees Announced: Week of April 14, 2025 (anticipated) 
Grant Performance Period: Varies 

Building on previous and current internal investments as part of Research2030, the Office of Research seeks to incentivize novel research, exceptional scholarship, and the production of creative and performing art that addresses issues of increasing significance to our community.

This funding opportunity follows a one-step application process open to UC faculty whose proposed activities can be defined or characterized as arts-based, human-centered, or social, behavioral, and/or economic research with community impact. The C3 Program is now open on a rolling basis, however, the grant-funded performance period for this offering is summer 2025. There is not an application budget limit per proposal.

Applicants are asked to consider, articulate, and ultimately measure how the proposed project will measurably impact society & culture. As high-level frames of reference, the Office of Research refers applicants to two impact frameworks:

The Arts & Social Impact Explorer

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs)

Key Dates

FOA Released: Wednesday, January 10, 2025
Application Cut-Off Date: Thursday, March 27, 2025 5:00 pm ET
Grantees Announced: Week of April 14, 2025 (anticipated)
Grant Performance Period: Summer Semester 2025 

As part of UC’s Research2030 investments in infrastructure and growing our research impact, we seek to support and enhance our research community whose activities are aligned with the ASTRO (formerly SRIDE). The goal of this funding support mechanism is to enable investigators whose research interests are aligned with the ASTRO to use the ARCC, UC's high-performance computing (HPC) services or the Digital Futures Virtual Environments Lab to obtain critical data for submission of a competitive extramural proposal, patent application, commercialization agreement, or peer-reviewed manuscript.  

The UC Advanced Research Computing Center (ARCC) 

Purpose: To assist the researcher performing artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics/science and modeling and simulation research and research data management including storage, transfer, collaboration and sharing of data.  

The Digital Futures Virtual Environments Lab 

Purpose: To assist the researcher in solving urgent real-world problems in safe virtual spaces by developing novel spatial and immersive technology applications, including augmented and virtual reality applications and computer simulations that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning, environmental scanning, photogrammetry, biometric data, and biomechanical motion capture. 

The application form for requesting ASTRO-supported use of these facilities can be found at https://research.uc.edu/funding/overview. Interested researchers are encouraged to contact the Office of Research to receive support before submitting an application: research@uc.edu    

Successful applications will demonstrate: (a) a clear justification for the need for these research facilities and services; (b) a well-defined statement for how the proposed research is aligned with ASTRO’s mission; and (c) the desired research outcome aligns with the goals of this support program.   

Note: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. 

Courtesy of the generous contributions of the Dr. John S. Michelman Fund for the Advancement of Sustainable Technology, the Office of Research is pleased to share the AY24-25 funding opportunity announcement for the Michelman Green, Clean, and Sustainable Technology Research Innovation Program. This program supports applied R&D and use-inspired research with the potential to meaningfully contribute to improvements in environmental health, environmental stewardship, and sustainability by demonstrating new and marketable scientific and technical (S&T) innovations intended to address real-world problems in the Green- and Clean-tech fields.  

 This program will follow a two-stage application/evaluation process. The first stage involves submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI). Up to five finalists will then be invited to submit a full proposal and share a 15-minute presentation/Q&A to discuss their proposed activities.  

This program is open to UC faculty. Research teams may include additional researchers from beyond UC, but funds cannot support personnel at any outside organizations or partners. Multi-disciplinary teams are strongly encouraged to consider this funding opportunity.   

 Grants: Single Investigator applicants may receive up to $35,000, and multi-investigator* teams may receive up to $80,000 for these projects. The project period will be for 24 months. Budgets will only be required from grantees and will be created in collaboration with the Office of Research.  

KEY DATES  

LOI Due: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 by 5:00 pm EST  

Finalist Notification: Week of December 9, 2024 (anticipated)   

Final Proposal Deadline: January 22, 2025 by 5:00 pm EST (finalists only)   

Finalist Presentations: Week of February 3, 2025 (anticipated)   

Grantees Announced: Week of March 10, 2025 (anticipated)   

Grant Project Period: May 2025 – April 2027 

Finalist Proposal Deadline: Wednesday, January 22, 2025 by 5:00 pm EST (finalists only)  

Finalist Presentations: Week of February 3, 2025 (anticipated)  

Grantees Announced: Week of March 10, 2025 (anticipated)  

Grant Project Period: May 2025 – May 2027 

The URC funding program is UC’s oldest and most prestigious internal funding mechanism. Since 1971, the URC has worked in partnership with the Vice President for Research to advance high-potential research, scholarship and creative work, including that conducted by our graduate students. Following in the Teacher-Scholar model of graduate education, this URC program provides summer stipend support to outstanding graduate students working in collaboration with a UC faculty member. A total award of $7,750 is available to each applicant. Stipend support of $6,750 will be provided to the graduate student plus up to $1,000 for research costs payable to the department. 

KEY DATES 

RFP released: September 4, 2024 

Proposal Deadline: November 13, 2024 by 5:00 pm EST   

Awardees Announced: Week of January 27, 2025 (anticipated)   

Research Project Period: 2025 Summer Semester   

The Graduate College and the Office Research are pleased to announce the 2024-2025 RFP for the University Research Council (URC) Graduate Student Stipend and Research Cost Program for Faculty—Student Collaboration. 

The URC funding program is UC’s oldest and most prestigious internal funding mechanism. Since 1971, the URC has worked in partnership with the Vice President for Research to advance high-potential research, scholarship and creative work, including that conducted by our graduate students. Following in the Teacher-Scholar model of graduate education, this URC program provides summer stipend support to outstanding graduate students working in collaboration with a UC faculty member. A total award of $7,750 is available to each applicant. Stipend support of $6,750 will be provided to the graduate student plus up to $1,000 for research costs payable to the department. 

KEY DATES 

RFP released: September 4, 2024 

Proposal Deadline: November 13, 2024 by 5:00 pm EST   

Awardees Announced: Week of January 27, 2025 (anticipated)   

Research Project Period: 2025 Summer Semester 

The Graduate College and the Office Research are pleased to announce the 2024-2025 RFP for the University Research Council (URC) Graduate Student Stipend and Research Cost Program for Faculty—Student Collaboration. 

 The URC funding program is UC’s oldest and most prestigious internal funding mechanism. Since 1971, the URC has worked in partnership with the Vice President for Research to advance high-potential research, scholarship and creative work, including that conducted by our graduate students. Following in the Teacher-Scholar model of graduate education, this URC program provides summer stipend support to outstanding graduate students working in collaboration with a UC faculty member. A total award of $7,750 is available to each applicant. Stipend support of $6,750 will be provided to the graduate student plus up to $1,000 for research costs payable to the department. 

KEY DATES 

RFP released: September 4, 2024 

Proposal Deadline: November 13, 2024 by 5:00 pm EST   

Awardees Announced: Week of January 27, 2025 (anticipated)   

Research Project Period: 2025 Summer Semester  

The Graduate College and the Office Research are pleased to announce the 2024-2025 RFP for the University Research Council (URC) Graduate Student Stipend and Research Cost Program for Faculty—Student Collaboration. 

The URC funding program is UC’s oldest and most prestigious internal funding mechanism. Since 1971, the URC has worked in partnership with the Vice President for Research to advance high-potential research, scholarship and creative work, including that conducted by our graduate students. Following in the Teacher-Scholar model of graduate education, this URC program provides summer stipend support to outstanding graduate students working in collaboration with a UC faculty member. A total award of $7,750 is available to each applicant. Stipend support of $6,750 will be provided to the graduate student plus up to $1,000 for research costs payable to the department. 

KEY DATES 

RFP released: September 4, 2024 

Proposal Deadline: November 13, 2024 by 5:00 pm EST   

Awardees Announced: Week of January 27, 2025 (anticipated)   

Research Project Period: 2025 Summer Semester 

The Office of Research is pleased to share the 2024-2025 FOA for the URC Faculty Scholars Research Awards Program. Building upon the rich legacy of the University Research Council (URC), UC’s oldest and most prestigious internal funding program, the URC Faculty Scholars Research Awards are meant to recognize promising UC early career faculty who are proposing transformative ideas that will shape our future. This program is for individual faculty and may be discipline-focused or interdisciplinary in nature. 

 This program will follow a two-stage application/evaluation process. The first stage involves submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI). Up to fifteen finalists will then be invited to submit a full proposal and share a 15-minute presentation/Q&A to discuss their proposed activities. 

 Eight URC Faculty Scholars Research Awardees will be designated annually. Faculty across all UC, whose research, scholarship and creative activities fall within the areas of Arts & Humanities, Behavioral & Social Sciences, Physical Science & Engineering, and the Life Sciences, are encouraged to apply 

 Awards: All awards will be for $25,000 and for a period of 24 months. Budgets will only be required from awardees and will be created in collaboration with the Office of Research. 

 KEY DATES 

FOA Released: September 4, 2024 

LOI Due: November 4, 2024 by 5:00 pm EST   

Finalists Notified: Week of December 2, 2024 (anticipated)   

Final Proposal Deadline: January 21, 2025 by 5:00 pm EST (for finalists only)   

Finalist Presentations: Week of February 3, 2025 (anticipated)   

Awardees Announced: Week of March 10, 2025 (anticipated)   

Award Project Period: May 2025 – April 2027 

The process of discovery contributes to our nation’s prowess in space exploration. In the Age of Discovery (circa 15th – 18th century), the leading nations of the day set out to explore what was unknown to them. The exploration of space will lead to greater understanding of the Earth and its place in the vastness of space. Humans living in space or on other celestial bodies will encounter new challenges in building societies. This includes not only sustainable physical structures but other critical aspects such as the formulation of exploration policies and new forms of civil society and governance in space.1 

 A prime directive of the Armstrong Institute for Space, Technology, and Research (ASTRO) at the University of Cincinnati (UC) is to foster growth in career paths that are aligned with our regional and national interests to discover and explore our universe with an emphasis on space travel and habitation. The Armstrong Discovery Scholarship for Undergraduates supports students who show potential in advancing new ideas related to space discovery and exploration. This scholarship program is for undergraduates with 2-3 years remaining in their academic degree program. Undergraduates of all majors are eligible and encouraged to apply.  

 Eligibility 

• Eligible applicants are UC undergraduate degree-pursuing students who have an interest in the future of space research and space exploration. 

• Eligible students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher. 

• Eligible students must be in the last 2-3 years of their academic program.  

• Eligible students must be able to accept the scholarship award for Spring Semester 2025. 

 Key Dates   

FOA released: September 4, 2024 

Application Deadline: October 1, 2024 by 5:00 pm EDT  

Awardees Announced: Week of November 4, 2024 (anticipated)  

Research Project Period: 2025 Spring Semester