Research Revealed: Spring Funding Opportunities
March 2021 | Information & Support for the BU Research Community
Insider Insights
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Antiracism Research & Policy
The Center for Antiracist Research seeks to fund interdisciplinary research and policy teams for up to $50,000 to study and build a change campaign around a critical racial inequity or injustice. Applications are due Monday, April 12.
SEED FUNDING
Global Development Policy
Investigators doing collaborative, policy-oriented research on financial stability, human wellbeing, and sustainability around the world are encouraged to apply for up to $15,000 from the Global Development Policy Center by Monday, April 12.
SUMMER AWARDS
Health System Innovations
Faculty conducting research related to healthcare policy, digital health, health technology, health system design and implementation, or healthcare leadership are encouraged to apply for summer student funding by Friday, April 16.
Plus:
- Recommendations for better supporting mothers in academia
- Tips for embracing inclusive language in your writing
Find Funding
- Federal Research Funding: The recently signed American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, includes funds for the restoration of paused research, including:
- $600M for the National Science Foundation for research grants,
- $100M for the Institute of Education Sciences for research on student learning loss during the pandemic, and
- $135M each for the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities to support cultural organizations and programming.
Faculty should begin planning now for submissions, as forthcoming solicitations may have quick deadlines. In some instances, agencies will supplement existing grants or review already-submitted proposals. Contact your program officer for details.
- Build Your Toolkit: RSVP for an upcoming workshop. Topics include finding federal and foundation funding as an early-career faculty member, finding funding in the social sciences, and current research priorities at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
- Graduate Arts Research Grants: The BU Arts Initiative is seeking research proposals from graduate students by Friday, April 9. Research may be traditional (e.g., musicology, art history, study of performance or literature), practice-based, or research on the impact of the arts.
Manage an Award
- Hiring & Onboarding Trainees: The next Coffee with Colleagues for research and department administrators, Tuesday, April 6, will focus on the hiring and onboarding of postdocs and students, including the visa process and how travel bans affect BU trainees.
- Postdoc Salary: Effective Thursday, July 1, the FY22 salary and stipend minimum for all BU postdocs will be $53,760. Postdoc supervisors or University units that wish to raise postdoc salary or stipend levels prior to that date may do so. All new proposals submitted through Sponsored Programs will require postdoc salaries to be budgeted at $53,760, effective immediately.
- Effort Reporting: All personnel activity reports for the period July-December 2020 are due back to effort@bu.edu by Friday, April 9.
Bring to Market
- Science Policy & Advocacy: In February, BU Federal Relations and the MIT Washington Office hosted a virtual science policy workshop for graduate students and postdocs about the legislative and regulatory process, the current state-of-play on science policy, and tips for successful advocacy. The recording is now available to anyone interested in using their scientific training to influence policy.
- The Journey to Impact: What’s the difference between an inventor, a patent-holder, and a company founder? Rana K. Gupta, Director of Faculty Entrepreneurship, addresses common misconceptions about bringing research to market in his latest blog post.
- Developing a Web Presence: A modern website is an important tool for showcasing your research portfolio to internal and external audiences, including students, collaborators, and funders. The University recently rolled out a new web template to help BU faculty promote their work. Learn more on the Research Support site.
Notes & News
- The Office of Research is seeking input from the BU community on our two websites: bu.edu/research and bu.edu/
researchsupport. Faculty, staff, and graduate students are invited to complete a short user activity survey to help us understand where there may be opportunities to make information more intuitive to find. Thank you, in advance, for your insights. - A research team from BU’s Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering has joined forces with scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create a cloud computing system for storing and modeling large and complex land cover data sets.
- Assistant Professors William Boley, Mechanical Engineering (ENG), and Francesco Orabona, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), were honored with NSF CAREER Awards.
- Professors Doug Densmore, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), Mo Khalil, Biomedical Engineering (ENG), and Katherine Zhang, Mechanical Engineering (ENG), were elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows.
- Assistant Professors Alina Ene, Computer Science (CAS), and Laura Lewis, Biomedical Engineering (ENG), have each been awarded a 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship, one of the most prestigious awards for early-career scientists.
- Professor Malika Jeffries-EL, Chemistry (CAS), was featured by the American Chemical Society in a special Trailblazers issue of their newsmagazine, highlighting Black chemists who work across the fields of biotechnology, solar energy, pharmaceuticals, and more.
- Professor Richard Primack, Biology (CAS), was awarded as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2020 by Choice, a publishing unit of the American Library Association, for his co-authored book, Conservation Biology in Sub-Saharan Africa.