Mathematics, Computational, & Data Sciences

Brain Research Foundation invites eligible US institutions to nominate one faculty member (Assistant or Associate Professor) to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the BRF Seed Grant Program.

Brain Research Foundation’s Annual Seed Grant Program was initiated in 1981. The purpose of our program is to provide start-up monies for new research projects in the field of neuroscience that will likely lead to extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or other outside funding sources.

The objective of the BRF Seed Grant Program is to support new and innovative projects, especially those of junior faculty, who are working in new research directions. BRF Seed Grant awards are not intended to supplement existing grants.

Each total grant is limited to $80,000 (direct costs) for a two year grant period. The first grant payment of $40,000 will be made upon completion of the Seed Grant Acceptance Form (June 2024). The final payment of $40,000 will be made contingent upon receipt of a preliminary progress and financial report (June 2025). Funds must be utilized within the grant period.

Areas of Interest
1.) Funding is to be directed at pilot research projects that are both innovative and will likely lead to successful grant applications to NIH and other public and private funding entities.

2.) Assistant Professor – Junior faculty with a new research project that will generate pilot data that will lead to RO1 funding or a comparable outside grant will be first priority.

• Must provide abstract and specific aims for current grants and indicate if there is any overlap.

The Start-Up Grant Program is meant to help newly appointed researchers who are beginning their independent research careers and may not yet have initial results to substantiate their application. Grants are for two years, in order to enable the grantees to submit a standard application to the next competition in their area of research. It is implemented within the framework of the regular BSF Research Grants program, i.e., it must exhibit scientific excellence, have a strong element of cooperation between Israeli and American scientists, and fall within the areas of research supported in that year by the BSF. In addition, at least one of the principal investigators should have attained his/her Ph.D., M.D. degree or equivalent, no more than ten years prior to submitting his/her proposal. To allay any doubts, we use the terms ‘Senior PI’ and ‘Junior PI’, referring to the established scientist and the one in the first stages of his/her independent career.

Start-Up proposals are submitted in the same manner as applications for the BSF Research Grant Program, and undergo the standard BSF evaluation process.

Start-Up Grant applications compete for funding together with the standard BSF Research Grant applications. The BSF has no special funds set aside for these grants. Nevertheless, Start-Up applications traditionally have a higher rate of success as compared with standard applications.

At the time the application is submitted, the junior PI may be no more than 10 years since the completion of his Ph.D/M.D studies (earliest of the two).
A typical start-up application is by a junior PI together with a senior one. The senior PI on a start-up application cannot be funded.
Only up to two junior PIs may apply together for a start-up grant, one Israeli and one American, and they can apply with or without an unfunded senior scientist.
A junior PI on a start-up grant may not simultaneously submit another grant application to the BSF, or currently hold another grant from the BSF, other than NSF-BSF grants. A senior PI on a start-up application may submit a second application in the same round.
A start-up application can be awarded only once.

The Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy (IGNIITE) program is designed to support a new cohort of early-career innovators to develop the most disruptive and unconventional ideas into transformative new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. This announcement is purposefully broad in technical scope, but eligibility is limited to early-career researchers as defined in Section III.A. In addition to research efforts, awardees will engage with ARPA-E and fellow awardees through dedicated IGNIITE events, meetings, and mentorship activities.

Submissions to this solicitation must propose transformational research and development (R&D) that have the potential for high impact. If successful, a project could create a new class or new trajectory for an energy technology, with the potential to substantially contribute to ARPA-E’s statutory goals (see Section I.A).

Awards under this program may take the form of exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. Alternatively, awards may support proof-of-concept research for a particular new technology in an area not currently supported by the agency.

The purpose of the Agilent Early Career Professor Award is to:

Promote and encourage excellent research enabling measurements of importance to Agilent Technologies and the world
Establish strong collaborative relationships between Agilent researchers and leading professors early in their career
Build the prominence of Agilent as a sponsor of university research

Focus Topic: Contributions to environmental sustainability through development of green analytical technologies, methods, or laboratory working environments.