• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Research Initiatives and Infrastructure

University of Southern CaliforniaResearch and Innovation
  • Funding
  • Limited Submissions
  • Shared Resources
  • Training
  • Announcements
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Archives for USC Office of Research

USC Office of Research

Instrumentation Award

The USC Research Initiatives & Infrastructure (RII) Instrumentation Award Program intends to establish and bolster the University of Southern California’s infrastructure by supporting the purchase of shared instrumentation and further preparing faculty to submit large-scale instrumentation grants to external sponsors.

Scientific instruments are typically too expensive to be obtained by an individual investigator with a research project grant. This Request for Proposals supports the purchases of a single state-of-the-art commercially available instrument or an integrated instrumentation system to enhance research of university faculty, with the primary goal of expanding USC’s current institutional infrastructure. Every instrument awarded is to be used on a shared basis by multiple faculty, which makes the program cost-efficient and beneficial to multiple USC investigators. This allows the instrument to contribute to building the research infrastructure that benefits a team of researchers that may extend beyond a single USC school.

Such an expanded infrastructure will provide investigators who use the instrument the opportunity to generate data and publish scientific papers, thereby increasing the competitiveness of these investigators when pursing external funding opportunities. Therefore, the return of investment for this program is assumed to be the generation of data and resulting publications that will enable researchers to pursue research funding from federal agencies and other external sponsors. The Instrumentation Award includes two subprograms that are described below. All acquisition funds will be awarded after the completion of a competitive scientific peer review and a programmatic review.

Deadline: 5pm, Friday, April 15, 2023
View the RFP for full proposal requirements.

Nomination Submission

Nominations must be submitted via our Grant Portal.
For additional information or inquiries, please contact us at rii@usc.edu.

Previous Awardees

2023

2023 Instrumentation Award

TBD.

President’s Sustainability Research Award

Integrating sustainability as a core value in USC’s strategic planning is a critically important institutional commitment. In addition to implementing impactful sustainability initiatives across USC’s campuses, great opportunities exist to expand and enhance USC’s research strengths and capabilities in sustainability. 

The President’s Sustainability Research Award will provide seed funding to enable researchers to submit highly competitive applications for federal funding, including large center and related programs, early career awards, and individual research projects. The goal of using these funds is to maximize the probability of obtaining federal research support for the proposed effort. This is a one-time solicitation. While this program may be repeated, currently there are no plans to do so.

There are two types of awards under this program:
• Large Research Awards: $1,000,000 in funding is available to fund between 2-3 awards.
• Small Research Awards: $250,000 in funding is available to fund between 5-7 awards.

Deadline: 5 pm, Monday, January 16, 2023 (PST)
View the RFP for full proposal requirements.

Nomination Submission

Nominations must be submitted via our Grant Portal.
For additional information or inquiries, please contact us at rii@usc.edu.

Previous Awardees

2023

2023
Coming soon!

Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship

The USC Associates Awards are the highest honors the university can bestow on its members for their distinguished achievements. Faculty from all schools and academic units are strongly encouraged to nominate colleagues with exceptional records of creativity in research for the USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship.

Creativity in research may stem from a single brilliant idea or from a significant body of work that forms a coherent whole, and may have significant impact on a field of scholarship, at the interface of disciplines, or create viable new areas of scholarly activity.

Nominators must be faculty members at USC. Student/Staff are ineligible to nominate. Nominees must be full professors who have been at USC for a minimum of five years. Tenure track and non- tenure track (NTT) full research professors are eligible; outstanding NTT faculty who make extraordinary contributions to the educational experience of students should be nominated to the Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Two awards of $3,500 each will be presented at the Academic Honors Convocation in April, 2023.

Deadline: Monday, November 14, 2022, 5 pm
View the RFP for full proposal requirements.

Nomination Submission

Nominations must be submitted via our Grant Portal.
For additional information or inquiries, please contact us at rii@usc.edu.

Previous Awardees

1963 – 2021

2021
Maryann Pentz, Keck School of Medicine
Shanghua Teng, Viterbi School of Engineering

2020
Michele Kipke, Keck School of Medicine
Steve Ross, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

2019
Shrikanth Narayanan, Engineering
Berislav Zlokovic, Keck School of Medicine

2018
Amy Lee, Keck School of Medicine
Manuel Pastor, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

2017
Dana Goldman, Sol Price
Tom Buchanan, Keck

2016
Eileen Crimmins, Gerontology
Jed Fuhrman, College

2015
Vanessa Schwartz, College
Martin Gundersen, Engineering

2014
Manuel Castells, Communication
Milind Tambe, Engineering

2013
Yves DeClerck, Pediatrics
Peter Mancall, History

2012
Antonio Damasio, Neuroscience
Alan Willner, Engineering

2011
Thomas Jordan, Earth Sciences
Ruth Weisberg, Fine Arts

2010
Mark Humayun, Ophthalmology & Biomedical Engineering
Priya Vashishta, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, Physics & Astronomy

2009
Edward J. McCaffery, Law
P. Daniel Dapkus, Engineering

2008
Nicos Petasis, Chemistry
Nicholas Warner, Physics

2007
Cheng-Ming Choung, Pathology
Mark Thompson, Chemistry

2006
Theodore Berger, Biomedical Engineering
David James, Critical Studies

2005
Stephen Hartke, Music
Larry Swanson, Biological Sciences, Psychology & Neurology

2004
Terence Langdon, Engineering
Elyn Saks, Law

2003
Adrian Raine, Psychology
John E. Wills, Jr., Chinese History

2002
Barry Glassner, Sociology
Charles G. Sammis, Geophysics/Materials Science

2001
Myron F. Goodman, Molecular Biology
William H. Steier, Electrical Engineering

2000
G.K. Surya Prakash, Chemistry
Richard F. Thompson, Psychology & Biological Sciences

1999
Irving Biederman, Letters, Arts and Sciences
Jean C. Shih,  Pharmacy

1998
Dagmar Barnouw, Letters, Arts and Sciences
Michael Lai, Microbiology

1997
Malcolm W. Klein, Letters, Arts and Sciences
Joseph Aoun, Letters, Arts and Sciences

1996
Leonard Adleman, Computer Science
Malcolm Pike, Preventive Medicine

1995
Richard N. Bergman, Physiology & Biophysics
Marsha Kinder, Cinema Television

1994
Judith Resnik, Law
Elsa Garmire, Electrical Engineering

1993
Aki, Kei, Geological Sciences
Micheal J. Dear, Geography

1992
Susskind, Miram M., Molecular Biology
Michael S.Waterman, Biological Sciences

1991
Vern L. Bengston, Gerontology
Melvin A. Breuer, Electrical Engineering

1990
Larry R. Dalton, Chemistry
Joshua S. Goldstein, International Relations

1989
Lois W. Banner, S.W.M.S.
Edward E. Lawler III, Business Administration

1988
William F. Benedict, Pediatrics
Irving S. Reed, Electrical Engineering

1987
Shaul G. Massry, Medicine
Daniel Pollack, Music

1986
Christopher A. Reed, Chemistry
James N. Rosenau, International Relations

1985
Caleb E. Finch, Gerontology
George A. Olah, Chemistry

1984
Sydner W. Benson, Chemistry
Kazumi Maki, Physics

1983
Peter A. Jones, Biological Chemistry
Curt F. Wittig, Physics

1982
Jackson I. Cope, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Charles Heidelberger, Medicine

1981
James O’Toole, Management & Organization
Arieh Warshel, Chemistry

1980
Charles Ritcheson, History
Harold C. Slavkin, Dentistry
Christopher D. Stone, Law

1979
Robert Bau, Chemistry
James E. Birren, Psychology

1978
Samuel P. Bessman, Pharmacology & Nutrition
Otto O. Schnepp, Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1977
Philip J. Stephens, Chemistry

1976
Robert W. Hellwarth, Electrical Engineering
Charles A. McClelland, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Hershel Parker, Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1975
Richard C. Dales, History
Sally F. Moore, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Peter K. Vogt, Microbiology

1974
Donald J. Greene, English
Howard S. Taylor, Chemistry

1973
Arnold Dunn, Biological Sciences
A. Lloyd Moote, History

1971
Lucien A. Bavetta, Dentistry
Sergio P. S. Porto, Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1970
Arthur W. Adamson, Chemistry
Max F. Schulz, English

1969
William W. Grings, Psychology
William G. Spitzer, Physics, Astronomy, Electrophysics

1968
Arnold F. Brodie, Biological Sciences
Solomon W. Golomb, Electrical Engineering/Systems

1967
Orville L. Bandy, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
John T. Waterman, Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1966
Francis Christensen, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Olga Hartman, Biological Sciences

1965
Colin R. Lovell, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Bruce R. McElderry, Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1964
Bruce R. Anton, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
J. P. Giulford, Letters, Arts and Sciences

1963
Herbert Busemann, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
John L. Webb, Pharmacology

Ming Hsieh Institute

 The Ming Hsieh Institute for Research on Engineering-Medicine for Cancer (MHI) aims to make USC an international leader in translational research that bridges basic science, engineering, computing, and medicine. The MHI was established in 2010 through a generous gift from Ming Hsieh, a graduate of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, founder of Cogent Systems and Fulgent Genetics, USC Trustee, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. The central goal of the institute is integrated interdisciplinary translational research that speeds discovery and creates pathways to rapidly improving lives of patients. The MHI is strongly committed to supporting new and creative approaches and breakthrough interdisciplinary ideas that turn advances in engineering, computing, and science into treatments and cures. 

To encourage innovative and impactful research, the MHI recognizes the importance of supporting a broad research portfolio of targeted diseases within this solicitation, encompassing approaches that bridge science, engineering, computing, and medicine. To fulfill this aim, we seek proposals with novel therapeutic or diagnostic approaches to detect or treat disease. We seek proposals that will initiate multi-disciplinary research teams that partner engineering, computing, AI/machine learning, computational biology, physics, and/or chemistry with clinicians and biomedical researchers. 

Deadline: 5 pm, Monday, January 24, 2022
View the RFP for full proposal requirements.

Nomination Submission

Nominations must be submitted via our Grant Portal.
For additional information or inquiries, please contact us at rii@usc.edu.

Previous Awardees

Previous awardees can be found at Ming Hsieh Institute.

Research Initiatives and Infrastructure
Third Floor, 3720 Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90007
rii@usc.edu

University of Southern California   Content managed by RII
  • Privacy Notice - Notice of Non-Discrimination