How we work with faculty

The Boston University Foundation Relations team, within the Advancement office, helps faculty identify, apply for, secure, and steward charitable gifts and grants from private philanthropic foundations and nongovernmental organizations. We match faculty research and programs with foundations’ priorities, which are often to support pilot projects and high-risk research that may not be attractive to traditional funders such as NIH and NSF. Additional details about how we work can be found in this overview and our tips for success in securing grants are available here.

“They were a GREAT addition to the process:  proactive, professional, detail oriented, rapidly responsive, friendly, and accommodating….In short, they were a key member of our submission team. Truth be told, I am not 100% sure that we would have made the submission deadline without them.”

—Thomas Gilmore, PhD, Professor, Biology

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Research

For Early-Career Faculty

Hundreds of foundation programs are focused on early-career faculty. Their funding can be highly beneficial, helping to seed a new project, confirm proof of concept, or generate pilot data. In contrast to federal funders, private funders are more willing to support high-risk, high-reward projects.

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By The Numbers

130

meetings with foundation representatives in FY26

$53.3 million

in philanthropic support to BU in FY26

43

“Meet the Funder” events organized by the Foundation Relations team over past five years

BU + Foundations in the News

Numerous faculty members from across the University receive foundation support.  Here are a few recent examples.

News

Computer Science Faculty Earn Grants from Amazon, Foresight Institute for Advancing Privacy-Preserving Computing and AI

John Liagouris (Assistant Professor, Computer Science) received an Amazon Research Award in Cryptography to advance secure multiparty computation, or MPC, a technology that allows multiple parties to jointly analyze data without revealing their individual information. The project will address key technical barriers that have limited the technology’s adoption, translating recent advances in cryptography into scalable […]

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News

Wally Fulweiler (Professor, Earth & Environment, Biology) presents at annual meeting for Simon Foundation’s Pivot Fellowship

The Simons Foundation’s Pivot Fellowship program held its annual meeting on April 8, 2026. Simons Foundation President David Spergel opened the meeting, highlighting the foundation’s mission and the need for more truly transformative science, which the Pivot Fellowships aim to support. BU computer and data scientist Mark Crovella described his work, which currently focuses on […]

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News

Hartwell Award Honors ENG Assistant Professor Miguel Jimenez for Advancing Next-Generation Microbial Medicine

"Jimenez is leading a lab that intersects synthetic biology, biomedical engineering, and advanced technology. His interdisciplinary approach recently earned him the Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award, which supports innovative early-stage biomedical research with the potential to improve children’s health. For Jimenez, the award will help accelerate one of the lab’s most promising efforts: developing new […]

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News

Antreas Charidimou, Assistant Professor of Neurology at CAMED, Receives $9M Grant from Leducq Foundation

Charidimou is an assistant professor of neurology at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and the assistant medical director for the BU Center for Brain Recovery. He will co-lead the project with his international collaborator Marcel Verbeek, PhD, MSc, from Radboud University Medical Center (Netherlands). BU is the leading coordinating center. The goal of […]

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News

Casey Taft, Professor of Psychiatry at MED, awarded grant from Arnold Ventures to fund “Evaluating Interventions for Intimate Partner Violence Use in Washington State.”

Casey Taft has been awarded a $298,139 grant from Arnold Ventures to fund his 4-year project, “Evaluating Interventions for Intimate Partner Violence Use in Washington State.” Using this grant money from Arnold Ventures, Taft and his team will compare the effectiveness of different interventions using data analysis to examine reductions in primary outcome of physical […]

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Upcoming Events

Here are some events

Thursday, September 24, 2026

ARPA-H: Mission, Funding Opportunities, and Application Strategies

12:00PM
Details
Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Research on Tap: Imagining New Futures for Urban Biodiversity

4:00PM
Details
Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Research on Tap: After the Ambulance: Convergent Science for Trauma, Recovery, and Lifelong Health

4:00PM
Details
Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Research on Tap: Digital Currencies, Blockchain Technologies, and Economic Opportunity

4:00PM
Details
Thursday, December 3, 2026

Research on Tap: Sustaining Equitable Global Health Partnerships with Low- and Middle-Income Countries

4:00PM
Details