RII Funding Programs

The University of Southern California (USC) culture of multidisciplinary collaboration drives innovative discoveries in areas vital to our community, our health, and our intellectual life. Fundamental discoveries by our faculty and students drive practical applications that explore new intellectual frontiers and attack important societal problems. The USC Research and Innovation office plays a very important role in this process by providing internal funding through a variety of programs, which are managed by the Research Initiatives & Infrastructure (RII) office.

Funding programs provide faculty opportunities to expand and enhance USC’s research strengths and capabilities, enabling researchers to submit highly competitive applications for external funding, including instrumentation grants, training grants, large research center programs, individual research projects, early career awards, SBIR/STTRs, and humanities projects.

The goal of using these funds is to maximize the probability of obtaining external funding and advancing technology transfer, thereby maximizing a return on investment for the internal funding that was provided. RII programs aim to promote multidisciplinary and convergent research activities that encourage collaborations across USC schools and programs and with other academic institutions and small businesses. RII programs support a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and strongly encourage the inclusion of a highly diverse research workforce.

Please click on the buttons below to learn more about our award programs.