Internal Grant Programs

 

WPI’s Vice Provost for Research in collaboration with Deans and Department Heads as well as select partner institutions provides support for new and early-stage interdisciplinary research collaborations through a number of grant programs.

 

2026 President’s Catalyst Research Seed Grant Program

The Vice President for Research and Innovation invites proposals for the 2026 President’s Catalyst Research Seed Grant Program, an internal funding opportunity designed to support faculty and doctoral students navigating an evolving federal research funding landscape.

Recent changes in federal funding priorities, program requirements, review timelines, and agency budgets have created challenges for many research programs, particularly those led by early-career investigators. These disruptions can affect research momentum, preliminary data generation, doctoral student progress, and the competitiveness of future external funding proposals.

This program seeks to address these challenges by investing in faculty research and Ph.D. student support, aiming to sustain research activity, advance doctoral training, and position investigators for future external funding success.

 

Program Goals and Focus Areas
  • Maintain research momentum during period of federal funding uncertainty.
  • Support the professional development and research progress of Ph.D. students.
  • Generate preliminary data, results, or proof-of-concept findings.
  • Position research teams for competitive external funding submissions in the federal research and technology focus and priority areas, including but not limited to the following:

 

Funding, Eligibility, and Student Involvement

Funding Level

Awards of up to $50,000 will be provided for a project period of up to 12 months. The university anticipates making up to ten awards. 

Use of Funds

Allowable expenses include:

  • Ph.D. student stipend
  • Research materials and supplies
  • Core facility fees
  • Tuition and F&A are cost-shared by WPI

Faculty Eligibility

Principal Investigators must:

  • Hold a full-time faculty appointment at WPI
  • Be eligible to serve as Principal Investigator on externally sponsored projects
  • Priority is given to early career faculty

Student Involvement

Each proposal must include one Ph.D. student who will play a substantive role in the proposed project.

Proposal Requirements

Proposal Requirements

  • Abstract: A non-technical description of the project that states the problem to be studied or activity to be conducted and explains the project’s broader significance and how it aligns with federal priorities. This component should be understandable to an educated lay reader (up to 250 words).
  • Narrative: No more than five (5) single-spaced pages in at least 10-pt font. Include:
    • Problem statement
    • Innovation and potential impact
    • Research questions, goals, and objectives
    • Project design and methodology
    • Existing resources available to support the project
    • How the work will position the team for future external funding opportunities.
    • Expected outcomes, including specific plans to prepare and submit a proposal to an external funding agency within 18 months of the start of the award
    • Project timeline
  • Literature Cited/Bibliography (no page limit)
  • Biographical Sketch/CV
Evaluation

Reviewers will evaluate applications based on the review criteria below.

Criterion Considerations
Innovative and Clear Goals and Objectives Does the proposal describe innovative work or a new approach to an existing scholarly pursuit? Does the proposal clearly describe what the applicant(s) intends to do? Does the proposal clearly describe the anticipated direct outcomes of the activities to be funded by the seed grant and their benefits/significance?
Appropriate Design, Methodology and Timeline Is the approach appropriate for achieving the anticipated outcome/s? Is there a high likelihood that the promised outcome(s) can be achieved given the design and timeline?
Increased Capacity for Research and Scholarship Will outcomes of the proposed seed effort significantly increase future research capacity? Is it aligned with federal focus areas, and will it lead to future funding, recognition, or visibility? 
Budget Are the funds requested appropriate for the project design and intended outcomes? Given the proposal budget, how likely is it that the intended outcomes will be achieved?

 

Deadline and Submission Instructions
  • Deadline: November 1, 2026
  • Submission link will be added soon.

Seed Funding Opportunity with Tennessee State University

Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Tennessee State University have inaugurated an exciting new seed funding program to support early-stage research collaborations between faculty members at the two universities.

Five project awards (up to $20,000 for 12 months) will be made, starting May 15, 2026. These awards are meant to enable research into this years following priority areas: 

  • Nanotechnology
  • Quantum
  • Autonomy
  • Precision Agriculture
  • Food Packaging Safety
  • Carbon Emission

FAQ

Who is Eligible?

All full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty

• Proposing teams must include faculty members from both WPI and TSU. The lead

principal investigator (PI) may come from either institution, or the team may choose

to have co-PIs, one from each institution.

• An individual faculty member may serve as the lead PI on one proposal and co-PI on

one additional proposal.

Proposal Abstract

A non-technical description of the project that states the problem to be studied or activity to

be conducted and explains the project’s broader significance and importance. This

component should be understandable to an educated lay reader (up to 250 words).

Proposal Narrative

No more than five (5) type-written, single-spaced pages in at least 10-pt font. Include:

1. Problem statement

2. Innovation and potential impact

3. Research questions, goals, and objectives

4. Project design and methodology

5. Roles and responsibilities of performing team and benefits of the collaboration to both

institutions

6. Existing resources available to support the project

7. Expected outcomes, including specific plans to prepare and submit a proposal to an

external funding agency within 18 months of the start of the award.

8. Project timeline

Budget

Provide a detailed budget table that contains separate columns for the WPI and the TSU portions of the project budget. Exactly half of each awarded project’s budget should be allocated to each university (for example, $10k to WPI, $10k to TSU).

All expenses should be justified in the project narrative.

Deliverables

Awardees are required to submit a final report outlining activities and outcomes no later

than 6 months after the project end date. Instructions for the report will be provided near

the end of the award period.

Deadline

Proposals must be submitted to rsi@wpi.edu by March 31,2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

                                 All information & requirements regarding this opportunity can be found here

President's Research Catalyst Grants Program

We are excited to announce the President's Research Catalyst Grants Program, which will be partially funded by gifts from Jim Baum ’86 and Bonnie and Jack Mollen H’23. These gifts have been designated to support research at WPI, including, but not limited to, AI research. It is the intent of the President's Research Catalyst Grants Program to help build and establish more interdisciplinary, multi-institutional, research centers at WPI by supporting faculty in their efforts to develop competitive center-scale proposals. The Program is designed to catalyze and facilitate the development and preparation of extramural grant applications that require extensive planning, exchange of ideas, collaboration, team building, partnering, and other activities demanding significant investments of faculty’s time and effort. 

It is the intent of the Program to build on the communities, which have formed around cross-cutting research areas in the life sciences (BioPoint), smart technologies changing the way we live and work (SmartWorld), materials and manufacturing processes designed for a more sustainable world (MatR), and Global initiatives. The program is intended to support sub-groups in these communities to pursue large-scale, high-impact research and position them for submission of center-type grants.

Proposing teams must submit a 3-page proposal through the InfoReady portal. Proposals are due on February 1, 2024.

For questions, please contact Antje Harnisch, Asst. Vice Provost for Research.

 

Examples of large, interdisciplinary, center-scale, extramural funding programs
Technology Focus Areas

include, but are not limited to, the following  areas listed in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022:

(1)  Artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomy, and related advances.

(2)  High performance computing, semiconductors, and advanced computer hardware and software.

(3)  Quantum information science and technology.

(4)  Robotics, automation, and advanced manufacturing.

(5)  Natural and anthropogenic disaster prevention or mitigation.

(6)  Advanced communications technology and immersive technology.

(7)  Biotechnology, medical technology, genomics, and synthetic biology.

(8)  Data storage, data management, distributed ledger technologies, and cybersecurity, including biometrics.

(9)  Advanced energy and industrial efficiency technologies, such as batteries and advanced nuclear technologies, including but not limited to for the purposes of electric generation 

(10)  Advanced materials science, including composites 2D materials, other next-generation materials, and related manufacturing technologies.

Preference is given to proposals that address larger-scale, longer-time horizon challenges in foundational and use-inspired AI research. We are looking for teams that seek to add new knowledge and understanding in both foundational AI and use-inspired domains. 

Eligibility Requirements

The lead PI for this program must be a faculty member. Co-PIs can be faculty, research staff or post-docs. Highly collaborative, cross- and interdisciplinary teams formed with attention to diverse perspectives and approaches are strongly encouraged. Proposing teams must include at least three WPI faculty from at least two departments.

Researchers may be named as PI or Co-PI on only one proposal.

Proposal Requirements

The proposal should be organized using the required section headers listed below:

  • Title: descriptive project title
  • Project Narrative: narrative describing the challenge to be addressed, the proposed cross- and interdisciplinary approach(es) to be employed, and how the proposed work will utilize or develop breakthrough technology and methodologies to produce potentially transformative results.
  • Timeline and milestones
  • Significance and Impact
  • How is the proposed center different from similar existing university research centers across the nation funded by the same program?
  • Team: list of core proposing team members with departmental affiliations, a brief statement of their role(s) on the proposed project, and a summary that describes the various ways in which team members have previously collaborated and to what extent; also list external partners and their roles/contributions
  • External Funding Opportunity: name of the external sponsoring agency and specific program to which a proposal will be submitted by the end of the seed grant period.
  • Budget and Justification: proposed budget in Excel template and a brief narrative description of the requested cost items
Budget

The funding for up to $50,000 is for 18 months It can be used for faculty release time during the Fall 2025 semester; grant writing support; and expenses associated with project specific travel to meet with external collaborators or host collaborator meetings on campus. Indirect costs will not be charged. 

Deliverable

At least one center-scale funding application by the end of the project period.

Review and Selection

Proposals for the Catalyst program will be reviewed by the Deans Research Council and the Research Development Council (RDC). RDC members may submit proposals, but if so, they will need to excuse themselves from the review process. The review process will further include meetings with teams and reviewers, in which teams pitch their projects and will respond to questions. 

Funding decisions will be announced in early March 2024. We will provide proposal development and team facilitation support to the funded teams.

 

 

For more information about the awarded projects, read this News Article.  

New Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program in Photonics Supported by The Gapontsev Family Collaborative Venture Fund

With the generous support of the VPG Foundation, WPI has established the Gapontsev Family Collaborative Venture Fund.  Enabled by this Fund, we are announcing an exciting new seed grant program to support new interdisciplinary purpose-driven research collaborations that focus on photonics.

Proposals from interdisciplinary teams, that involve faculty from more than one department that pursue inter/cross/trans-disciplinary projects and move into new and innovative research directions, for which they will later apply for external funding, are invited by September 19, 2022.

The seed grant program is open to all full-time faculty; it provides funding for groups of at least two faculty members from different departments.

Each team will be awarded up to $70k per team, for one year, through a competitive grant process. The funding can be used for supporting the faculty members, post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students’ salaries and/or stipends, tuition and other research support, including equipment that will enable the proposed research. F&A (indirect costs) are not charged on these grants.

The seed funding is expected to be used to leverage other sources of funding, and open new partnerships, once this initial research has been proven and valued; an indication of these sources and partnerships are expected in the proposal.

All research, papers and results supported by this Fund will include the legend: “Supported, in whole or in part, with funding from the Gapontsev Family Collaborative Venture Fund”.

Funded faculty and students will participate in an annual on-site presentation for the VPG Foundation and provide progress reports at the end of the funding period, followed by updates on any new discoveries.

FAQs

Who is eligible?

The seed grant program is open to all full-time faculty; it provides funding for groups of at least two faculty members from different departments.

Can I submit more than one proposal?

You can submit one proposal as PI and be on another proposal as Co-PI.

What do I need to submit to be considered?

A complete proposal consists of a summary that will be shared publicly, a description of the project (up to 3 pages), which needs to include a statement of the envisioned result of the seed funding (e.g., application for external funding), a bugdet and budget justification.

 

The first round of awards has been highlighted in the WPI Journal, the second one in this News Article. 

Seed Funding Opportunity with UMass Medical CCTC

VPR Vernescu is happy to announce a new round of joint seed funding with the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UMCCTS), part of their next funding round for the Pilot Project Program (PPP).

Two project awards (up to $50,000 for 10 months)  for a joint team of PIs will be made on a competitive basis to enable investigators to accelerate the translation of innovative discoveries into:

• New understanding and/or diagnosis of a disease process

• New devices, therapeutics, and vaccines for the treatment and/or prevention of disease

• New standards of care in the practice of community medicine

• New approaches to community-based research demonstrating true bi-directionality between community and academia

• New methodologies to leverage institutional strengths and new initiatives

• The pursuit of high-risk, high reward studies

Full information, including eligibility requirements and deadlines can be found here.