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The Alexander Dubcek Fund supports academic exchange between the University of Minnesota and the countries of Eastern Europe. The Office of International Programs invites proposals from University of Minnesota faculty, staff, and students that will support the general goals of the fund.

Funding categories are:

• Institutional Linkages: University of Minnesota faculty and staff may apply to support a departmental or collegiate linkage with an institution in Eastern Europe. Up to $5,000 is available to support travel and living expenses for participants on either side of the exchange.
• U of M Faculty and Staff: University of Minnesota faculty and academic staff may apply to support their individual research or academic activities in Eastern Europe. Up to $2,000 is available to support travel and living expenses.
• Visiting Scholars: University of Minnesota faculty and may apply to support the visit of a colleague from Eastern Europe. Up to $5,000 is available to support travel and living expenses. Visitors must reside in Minnesota for at least one month and contribute to the department by teaching, research or other joint collaborative activities.
• U of M Students: Individual U of M students (undergraduate, graduate, and professional) may apply to undertake a study abroad program, internship or research in a country of Eastern Europe. Up to $2,000 is available for this purpose.
• Visiting Eastern European Students: U of M faculty or staff may apply on behalf of students from Eastern Europe (undergraduate, graduate, and professional) who wish to undertake short-term studies or research in the United States and are not part of an institutional exchange. Up to $2,000 is available for this purpose.

Deadline(s):
There are currently no fundings for this grant.

Grants are available to departments and student groups across the University of Minnesota campuses to celebrate Beautiful U Day. These grants are start-up funds to leverage activities such as clean-ups, planting, and sustainability. Student groups may apply for up to $2000, with no required matching funds. University departments may apply for up to $3000, and must match grant dollars 1:1 with funding from the department, unit, or other funding source.

All grant projects must take place on or near the week of Beautiful U Day. Partnerships with other departments or student groups (or other groups internal or external to the University) are encouraged.

UMM Student Activities Office Deadline: February 2010

CENSHARE offers small grants for research or educational and demonstration projects to develop new knowledge or to disseminate and apply knowledge about human-animal interactions to improve the quality of life and the environment for animals and people. The grants are available to University of Minnesota faculty or P&A appointees who will serve as principal investigators, or to doctoral students who will serve as PIs under the supervision of a dissertation advisor. Students and volunteers from the community may participate in planning and carrying out the proposed projects under the supervision of the responsible principal investigators. Grant amounts will range from $1,000 to $10,000/year.

Deadline: Proposals are accepted throughout the year

Writing in the Disciplines (WID) and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

The Center for Writing supports research into Writing in the Disciplines (WID) and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). They welcome proposals that examine effective ways of integrating writing into specific disciplinary curricula to benefit students and faculty at the University of Minnesota. They also encourage proposals that merge rhetorical or composition theory and practice, involve interdisciplinary connections, and have multidisciplinary implications.

Funded projects include, but are not limited to, instructor development, curriculum development, and classroom-based research. The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a University of Minnesota faculty or P & A staff member.

Funding amounts are typically between $2500 and $7500 depending upon the merit of the proposal and availability of funds.

UMM Dean's Office Deadline: February 2010

This program is for developing preliminary networks of interdisciplinary or interscholastic teams, to increase faculty members knowledge of sponsors' interdisciplinary and strategic funding directions, and to enable faculty members to respond more quickly and collaboratively to emerging directions in research.

All faculty members and others otherwise eligible to serve as principal investigators. Matching or cost sharing by collegiate units may be required.

Awards will be made in 4 categories: (1) travel support, (2) preliminary development of collaborative teams or networks, (3) support for colloquia or meetings, (4) administrative support to facilitate submission of large, multi-investigator proposals.

Deadline: Proposals are accepted throughout the year

The purpose of the program is to honor and reward our most distinguished and highest-achieving mid-career faculty who have recently attained full professor status — especially those who have made significant advances in their careers at the University, whose work and reputation are identified with the University of Minnesota, and whose work has brought great renown and prestige to Minnesota. While distinction in individual research or scholarly work is required, the award may also recognize emerging leadership within interdisciplinary and collaborative initiatives.

Recipients are honored with the title Distinguished McKnight University Professor, which they hold for as long as they remain at the University of Minnesota. The grant associated with the Professorship consists of $100,000 over five years to be used, in accordance with University policy, for research, scholarly, or artistic activities, and expended at the recipient’s discretion. Appropriate uses include research equipment and supplies, support for research assistants, sabbatical leave salary, two months’ summer salary (for those on nine-month appointments), professional travel, etc. Funds may also be used for a nonrecurring one-time salary bonus equal to one month’s salary, in each of the five years.

UMM Dean's Office Deadline for Nominations:December 2009

This program has been established to acknowledge and honor the accomplishments of distinguished women scholars at the University of Minnesota. The focus of this award is the scholarship of distinguished women. However, faculty of either gender who have performed distinguished scholarly work that specifically deals with availing new opportunities for advancement of the scholarly status of women may also be nominated. Each scholar will be awarded $2,000 to be used for research, scholarly or artistic activities.

Eligibility is limited to tenured faculty who have been at the University of Minnesota for at least five years. While we anticipate that the majority of nominees will be at the rank of full professor, we recognize that there may be exceptional cases among those who have achieved prominence at earlier stages of their career.

Dept Head Nomination dossiers to College Dean: January 2009
Dean’s Nomination to selection committee: January 2009

The MN Futures Grant Program is designed to promote research and scholarship beyond existing initiatives through fostering opportunities for researchers to cross disciplinary and professional boundaries. The MN Futures Grant Program has two components. The Symposium Grant is designed to provide funds for scholars from diverse areas to come together to discuss new, potentially fruitful areas of research. The Research Grant is designed to promote more in-depth work to convert ideas into viable research questions to enable faculty members to respond collaboratively and boldly to emerging opportunities in interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

Deadline: April 10, 2010

The purpose of the program is to encourage University faculty members to carry out research projects that involve a significant issue of public policy for the state or its communities and that include interaction and engagement with groups, agencies, or organizations in Minnesota involved with the issue. Regular faculty members are invited to apply.

Each award will provide support for one month of the faculty member’s time in the summer and a half-time graduate research assistant for the 2007–2008 academic year. Where appropriate, limited support for miscellaneous research expenses can be provided.

Research projects should focus on issues and concerns important to Minnesota, such as communities of color, the criminal justice system, demography, state or local economic development, education, employment, energy, the environment, health, housing, state and local government, welfare and poverty, human and social services, transportation, or land use and development.

Deadline: March 2010 (anticipated)

The all-University Award for Global Engagement is given to faculty and staff members—active or retired—in recognition of outstanding contributions to global education and international programs in their field, discipline, or the University. In addition to honoring individual faculty and staff members, the award—by identifying excellence in global engagement and by recognizing outstanding work—serves as a resource to other faculty and staff.

Deadline for Nomination: July 19, 2010

The Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs endowment is intended to stimulate interdisciplinary research and teaching through the appointment of distinguished, broadly learned scholars to endowed faculty positions at the University of Minnesota. (All campuses are eligible).

The endowment generates approximately $36,000 to support, for one year, the research activities of a University of Minnesota faculty member for work on a project related to urban and regional affairs in Minnesota. Funds may be used to obtain release time or other support for the project and may be used for either new or current projects. Previous holders of the chair have used this support to complete projects on population changes in Minnesota, employee turnover and retention rates at Minnesota companies, and the impact of computer networks on civic life in rural Minnesota communities.

Deadline: March 2010

The traditional Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields. In addition to providing great financial support of scholarly endeavors, this program is quite prestigious for the recipient to receive. UMM is allowed to submit as many Fulbright applications as it needs.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Under a cooperative agreement with the Bureau, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) assists in the administration of the Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty and professionals.

Deadline: February 2010

This program, administered through the Graduate School, has been established to promote excellence in the scholarly, scientific, and artistic activities of U of M faculty. In most cases, grants are not meant to provide sole support for research activities, but instead to act as "seed" money for developing projects to the point of attracting more complete, external funding. Highest priority is given to funding that assists new members of the faculty, particularly junior faculty, in establishing research, scholarly, or artistic programs. Other funding categories are as follows:

1. Funding of new members of the faculty who need assistance in establishing research, scholarly, or artistic programs.
2. Support or partial support for major capital equipment that is not currently available, that will be shared by several faculty members, and that will increase the likelihood of external funding.
3. Support for short research visits between a faculty member and another scholar, or a group of scholars, concerning matters directly related to their mutual research interests.
4. Support for acquisition of research materials, including rare books and manuscripts, back files of journals, photocopied and microfilmed materials, maps, photographs, etc., provided the materials are not readily available through standard library procedures and are not considered part of the normal expenses of maintaining personal research libraries by professors.
5. Support for faculty members in fields where there is little external funding available.
6. Support for faculty members moving into significantly different areas of research or scholarship.
7. Interim support necessary to maintain ongoing research efforts during a temporary lapse in external funding which is beyond the control of the faculty member.
8. Support of faculty who have served in full-time leadership or administrative roles for a substantial period of time and are about to return to a regular appointment and reestablish their research, scholarly or artistic programs.
9. Support for faculty from two or more departments / disciplines / fields working on issues in which the different disciplines contribute to new approaches, designs, research strategies or findings.

UMM Dean's Office Deadlines:
February 8, 2010

This all-University grant program supports the establishment and strengthening of innovative and sustainable international interdisciplinary partnerships between units at the University of Minnesota and those at universities and/or related institutions located at one or more international sites. International partnerships should foster deep, sustained, interdisciplinary scholarly and/or creative activities in research, teaching, and/or related educational programs and must be characterized by a genuinely collaborative participation by all partners. Proposals from the broadest possible range of disciplines and academic units are encouraged.

Grants for up to $25,000 will be awarded to support year-long initiatives. Smaller grants will be awarded to faculty in the earliest stages of international partnership start-up activities.

Office of International Programs Deadline: February 2009

This all-University faculty grant program supports collaborative, interdisciplinary research circles on critical issues to be explored globally, transnationally, or internationally. The research circles will bring participants together for a period of sustained interaction around a theme of common interest and across disciplinary lines to explore innovative scholarly agendas with a global, international, or transnational focus and to develop the basis for continued collaboration.

Grants will range from $20,000 to $25,000 and support semester-long to year-long initiatives. Proposals from the broadest possible range of disciplines and academic units are encouraged (with a portion of available funds targeting projects that emphasize humanities and social science perspectives).

UMM Dean's Office Deadline: January 2009

Office of International Programs (OIP) travel grants support the international activities of faculty. The programs are designed to enable University faculty on all campuses to participate in one-time research or conference opportunities, or to fund initial phases of projects that will ultimately be supported by other sources. Proposals from departments requesting funds for planning or initiating activities are also welcome.

OIP has two programs through which they fund travel: OIP Travel Grants and the McKnight Arts and Humanities Fund for International Travel program. Grants to individuals through the OIP range from $1,000 - $1,500. Departmental projects may be funded at higher levels. Grants from the McKnight program have a maximum of $2,000.

The following categories are supported by both the OIP and McKnight programs:

1. Collaborative research, service, or technical assistance projects with foreign colleagues.
2. Educational exchanges with foreign institutions that will enhance the international character of the University. This category includes the possibility of supporting travel and expenses of University of Minnesota faculty as well as faculty from foreign institutions.
3. Projects that enhance the internationalization of the curricula.
4. Individual research of an international nature.
5. Seminars, lectures, conferences, exhibits, etc., of international scope held at the University of Minnesota involving international scholars from outside the University.
6. Participation in professional international conferences or meetings that are held outside the United States. Preference will be given to proposals that address issues such as international development, international studies, or the application of agricultural, medical, or technical sciences to international settings or problems.

Applications should be submitted using OIP's online application system.

Deadlines:
August 17, 2010 (travel Sep.-Dec.)
December 1, 2010 (travel Jan.-Apr.)
March 23, 2010 (travel May-Aug.)

The Juran Scholars Awards were created in 2004 to stimulate research which advances the field of leadership in quality. Specifically, the program seeks to encourage multi-disciplinary faculty interactions and company involvement, while addressing real-world problems.

The program is open to faculty at U.S. universities. The goal is for applicants to use Juran Scholars funds to conduct preliminary planning that will allow Scholars to seek larger grants from the National Science Foundation, other foundations or corporations. A panel of faculty and business practitioners review proposals. Award winners receive up to $10,000.

Proposals should address issues concerning the achievement and sustainability of customer preference or process excellence in organizations. Special consideration will be given to proposals based on the Joseph M. Juran Center's research agenda, which was developed at the 2006 Summit

Deadline: February 2009

McKnight Arts and Humanities Research Award
(This award is now known as The Imagine Fund)

(tenured faculty may apply)

The McKnight Arts and Humanities Research Award has been established at the University of Minnesota to support faculty research and creative activity in the arts and humanities. Four awards will be made each year. Faculty members who receive the award will be able to draw on a University reimbursement account of $5,000 per year for three years. These funds may be used for travel, research materials, research assistants, or any other purpose directly related to scholarly or creative work.

Tenured University of Minnesota faculty who have an outstanding record of accomplishment in the arts and/or humanities are invited to apply for the McKnight Research Award. Eligibility is limited to those faculty whose scholarly or creative work is in the arts and humanities, as defined both by subject matter or methodology

Deadline: April / May 2008 (anticipated)

The McKnight Land-Grant Professorship is a two-year appointment that includes a research grant in each of the two years, to be used at the recipient's discretion for expenditures directly related to research and scholarly activities. In addition, each Professor is awarded either a year's leave to pursue research during the second year of the award or a supplementary research grant.

UMM Nomination Deadline:October 1, 2009

Successful interdisciplinary efforts require more than great ideas. They require time and attention to foster the cooperative spirit and engage in exploration of the research question. Collaboration often starts by bringing colleagues together for an exchange of ideas, continues through participation in active discussion, and culminates in the development of research projects and proposals.

To accelerate this process and facilitate interaction and communication, the Minnesota Futures model brings together individuals from diverse disciplines to explore a single topic of interest to all. Out of an intensive period of engaged learning and discussion comes new perspectives and directions to challenge the routine and established methods of inquiry.

Modeled on the successful National Academies “Keck Futures Initiative” the Minnesota Futures Grant Program consists of two phases:

Phase 1 is a call for proposals to develop and convene interdisciplinary symposia around research questions of current significance which are engaging to multiple disciplines. The purpose of the symposia is to encourage development of interdisciplinary research proposals that will be submitted as part of Phase 2 (below) of the program. Two awards, providing up to $25,000 each to support a symposium, will be made. Details about the program, eligibility, evaluation criteria, and application instructions follow below.

Phase 2will be a call for interdisciplinary research proposals that originate from the symposia. Up to three awards of $250,000 each are planned. More information on this phase will be available at the time the symposia are selected. Only participants of the Phase 1 symposia will be eligible to serve as principal investigators for phase 2 funding.

UMM Deadlines
Phase 1 - May 2008
Phase 2 - April 2009

Nominees must be faculty members in the first three years of their faculty careers who have demonstrated unusual creative ability in their research work.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowships for faculty engaged in research in the natural and physical sciences or engineering. Disciplines that will be considered include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering. Candidates engaged in research in the social sciences will not be considered. Recognizing that certain areas of contemporary science and engineering already have access to relatively generous funding (for example, clinical research, research associated with the design and construction of large national facilities such as accelerators and space stations, and applied research of direct relevance to national security), the Packard Fellowships are directed to other, less generously supported fields. While these exclusions eliminate many junior faculty from candidacy, we do not wish to exclude any potential candidates from consideration as a University nominee.

Each Fellowship provides $125,000 per year for five years.

UMM Dean's Office Deadlines:
Pre-proposal: February 2009
Final Application and References: April 2009 (anticipated)

The program is designed to promote closer ties between scholarly Hispanicism in the US in the areas of humanities, social sciences, and the cultural and academic developments of Spain. Projects oriented toward the dissemination of Spanish culture throughout the academic systems of the US are reviewed for subsidy. Priority is given to those proposals of high scholarly quality which will have an important impact upon the field of Hispanicism, both regionally and nationwide.

The projects are funded by matching contributions from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports and the US universities interested in participating. Therefore, US institutions submitting applications are expected to provide part of the funding for their projects and should request only partial subsidies from the Program.

Matching Grant Categories are:

• Research
• Publications
• Spanish Cinema
• Visiting Professors
• Symposia and Seminars
• Professional Associations
• Dissemination of Spanish Culture Through the Arts

Deadline: April 1, annually

Each year, the Institute for Advanced Study supports up to twelve research/creative collaboratives. These collaboratives will promote the type of synergistic interdisciplinary activity not possible within current institutional configurations. The Institute seeks participation from all colleges and schools at the University.

Each research/creative collaborative will be provided with space in the Institute and a research budget of up to $20,000. These funds may be used to bring in scholars from other institutions to participate for brief periods in the work of the collaborative. Persons wishing to establish a research collaborative are also encouraged to apply for a Residential Fellowship; there is no requirement, however, that they do so. Funds are provided for a period of one year.

Deadline: January 2009

Each year between eleven and nineteen University of Minnesota faculty members will be selected as Residential Fellows. Fellows are released from all teaching obligations during the tenure of their fellowships and are in residence in the Nolte Center; the Institute encourages Fellows from radically different disciplines to engage in sustained conversations with one another.

Housing stipends of up to $10,000 are provided for Fellows from University of Minnesota coordinate campuses to cover the cost of relocating to the Twin Cities for the period of fellowship.

UMM Dean’s Office Deadline: October 2009(anticipated)

This competition normally offers 15 grants nationwide to new tenure-track appointees, with $240,000 awarded for a three-year period in installments of $80,000 per year. Those who will be considered are individuals who show promise of making innovative and high-impact contributions to research in the fields of biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and related areas in chemistry, medicine, and the biological sciences.

UMM Deadlines:
Nomination Request: August 2009 (anticipated) (for Department Head review)
Candidate Application: September 2009 (anticipated)

The Office for Public Engagement (OPE) is sponsoring an RFP for the purpose of strengthening public engagement across the university. They recognize that public engagement is a broad term that encompasses a variety of activities, and expect a wide range of proposals reflecting an ecumenical understanding of what public engagement entails. Grants will range up to $5,000 to projects involving contributions to public scholarship, civil learning, and community partnership in the University.

All University of Minnesota faculty and staff, except those who have received grants in the past two years, are eligible to apply for a grant. Students may propose a grant-funded activity, but must have a faculty/staff sponsor as PI.

UMM Dean's Office Deadline: November 2009

Supercomputing Institute for Digital Simulation and Advanced Computation (MSI) Seed Grants in High-Performance Computing Research

Proposals are encouraged in areas including, but not limited to, algorithms, applications, system software, system architectures, and issues of scaling to thousands of processors. The proposals most likely to receive funding will be those assessed to have the greatest technical quality, level of interdisciplinary cooperation, potential to attract external funding, and potential for increasing the visibility of high-performance computing at the University of Minnesota.

The ultimate goal of these grants is to elevate the status of the applicant’s research to allow them to compete more effectively for more substantial funding from extramural sources. Consequently, the Institute expects that the proposing group will seek new external funds to support the work beyond the seed grant.

Deadline: Feburary 2009

Supercomputing Institute - Travel Awards

The Supercomputing Institute provides travel awards for the following types of travel:

1. travel by a University of Minnesota researcher to present supercomputing research results at a conference;
2. travel by a University of Minnesota faculty member to seek external support for supercomputing research;
3. short-term visits of research collaborators or visiting research scholars to the University of Minnesota in order to perform collaborative supercomputing research with one or more university faculty members or in order to plan collaborative grant proposals.

Deadline: Three months (or more) prior to travel

The purpose of these grants is to encourage faculty members to pursue substantial projects in technology-enhanced learning, and to provide financial support and opportunities for professional development through the TEL Grant Program, which includes an initial workshop for all recipients, several meetings with fellow grant recipients and Digital Media Center consultants, and dissemination of findings through a TEL seminar and poster session.

General goals for the TEL Grant Program for 2007 include:

• to facilitate the development, implementation, and evaluation of TEL projects, particularly projects that demonstrate a potential for broad programmatic application, improve access to University of Minnesota teaching resources, and/or exemplify a commitment to sustainable development and the evaluation of TEL activities;
• to evaluate the impact of emerging technologies on student learning; and
• to build TEL expertise within the University's instructorate by supporting communities of practice among grant recipients and dissemination of ideas by grant recipients to the larger faculty community.

Deadline:February 2010

Each year the Institute for Advanced Study offers a University Symposium—a series of connected events which will explore a critical question or issue from a variety of vantage points. IAS and the Office for the Vice President for Research invite proposals for collaborative interdisciplinary research projects on a topic to be announced as the subject of the University Symposium. Funding may be used for release time or salary support; summer stipends; research travel; student support (both graduate and undergraduate); purchase of equipment, books, and other materials; as well as to bring in scholars whose work is central to the collaboration. A total of $200,000 is available. Approximately a dozen awards will be made.

Preference will be given to those collaborations which cross collegiate lines and/or include new community partnerships. Applications that integrate approaches from several disciplines or propose a new or distinctive approach in their exploration are particularly encouraged. Evaluation criteria will include: relevance of topic to the general topic of the Symposium, interdisciplinary and collaborative aspects of the work, and innovative approach.

UMM Dean's Office Deadlines
January 2010
March 2010