Funding programs are administered by the Research Initiatives & Infrastructure (RII) office and align with the university’s strategic research priorities. For information on all research-related services offered by RII, please visit our homepage. Grant proposal applications must be submitted via RII’s Grant Portal.
For questions related to any of the funding opportunities or eligible expenses, or if you are experiencing technical issues with this website please contact rii@usc.edu. We are here to help!
Silvia da Costa, PhD
Director, Research Initiatives & Infrastructure
Funding Program | Award Caps | Proposal Deadline | Review | Award Notification | Start Date | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Instrumentation Award | Mar 18, 2025 | March-April | April-May | May | ||||||
Shared Instrumentation Award Preparation and matching funds for instrumentation grant submission | $250,000 | |||||||||
Dean's Matching Fund Instrument acquisition | No Cap | |||||||||
Institutional Training Planning Award | Feb 18, 2025 | March-April | April-May | May | ||||||
Institutional Training Planning Award Preparation for institutional training grant submission | $100,000 | |||||||||
Collaborative Research Planning Award | Feb 5, 2026 | March-April | April-May | May | ||||||
Small Program Award Planning grant | $50,000 | |||||||||
Large Program Award Planning & proposal submisson | $100,000 | |||||||||
Zumberge Preliminary Studies Research Award | Jan 15, 2025 | March-April | April-May | May | ||||||
Large Program Award Seed funding for research | $100,000 | |||||||||
STEM Program Award Seed funding for research | $50,000 | |||||||||
DEI in Research Award Seed funding for research | $50,000 | |||||||||
President’s Sustainability Initiative Award | Mar 4, 2025 | March-April | April-May | May | ||||||
Small Program Award Seed funding for research | $50,000 | |||||||||
Large Program Award Seed funding for research | $250,000 | |||||||||
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Mentorship Award | Oct 16, 2025 | November-January | February | March | ||||||
HHMI Mentorship Award Research and mentoring leading to HHMI investigator application | $85,000 | |||||||||
Ming Hsieh Institute Research Award | Jan 29, 2025 | February-March | June | July-August | ||||||
Pre-Clinical Study Seed funding for research | $150,000 | |||||||||
Translational Research Project Seed funding for research | $300,000 | |||||||||
Student Empowerment Award | Mar 25, 2025 | March-April | April-May | May | ||||||
Innovation Prize Seed funding for research | $15,000 | |||||||||
Entrepreneurship Seed funding for research | $15,000 | |||||||||
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Research Program | Oct 9, 2025 | November-January | February | March | ||||||
Building GenAI Research Networks Seed funding for research | $100,000 | |||||||||
GenAI Research Award Seed funding for research | $50,000 | |||||||||
Collaborative GenAI Research Award Planning & proposal submission | $100,000 | |||||||||
SBIR/STTR Planning Award | Oct 2, 2025 | November-January | February | March | ||||||
SBIR/STTR Planning Award Preparation & research for SBIR/STTR grant submission | $350,000 | |||||||||
Humanities & Humanistic Social Sciences Award | Sep 23, 2025 | November-January | February | March | ||||||
HHSS Scholars Award Creativity, Scholarship, & Excellence in the Humanities & Humanistic Social Sciences | $110,000 | |||||||||
HHSS Initiative Award Creativity, Scholarship, & Excellence in the Humanities & Humanistic Social Sciences | $140,000 | |||||||||
Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship | Sep 25, 2025 | October-November | December | |||||||
Associates Award Highest honors the university can bestow on its members for their distinguished achievements | Call for Nominations |
Thank you for your interest in the Office of Research Innovation award programs.
All award programs are currently on hold pending confirmation of our FY25 budget.
Subvention funds supporting ORI’s award programs are made at the highest level of the university. Once we have confirmed our FY25 budget, we will re-activate this website.
For information regarding the Associates Award nominations, please click here or contact rii@usc.edu.
Thank you for your patience.
Silvia
SILVIA DA COSTA, PH.D.
University of Southern California
Director, Research Initiatives and Infrastructure