Seed Grant Funding Opportunities
Seed grant funding opportunities are essential first steps for supporting early-stage research and innovative ideas that may not yet be ready for large-scale funding. These allow researchers to collect preliminary data, test methodologies, and establish proof of concept, which strengthens future proposals to external funders by showing feasibility. Seed grants may also foster interdisciplinary collaboration and help early-career faculty build a track record of successful project management and scholarly output. Examples of specific seed grant opportunities and award opportunities are included below.
- University/Institutional Internal Funding – Seed grants, start-up funds, and faculty development awards offered by a university to support preliminary work or career advancement.
CSUSB Internal Funding Opportunities
| Mechanism | Amount | Description |
|---|---|---|
| RSCA Mini-Grant | $7,465 | These grants consist of monies which may be used for assigned time, student assistants, clericals, supplies, services, equipment, operating costs, and travel. Offered in Spring. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| Summer Research Fellowship (SRF) | $3,000 | Mini-Grants is to encourage faculty to engage in research, scholarship, and creative activity. Offered in Fall. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| Professors Across Borders | $500 - $3,125 | Provides travel grants to faculty members to support international research, conference participation, scholarly publications, grant writing, and curriculum internationalization. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| SBS Seed Grant | $4,000 | Proposals funded and can be used for materials, supplies, travel for research and/or hiring students. |
| Community Engagement Grants | $2,000 - $5,000 | OCEL funds: Service Learning Fellowships;, Establishing Community Partnerships Grants; and Community-Based Research Mini-Grants |
| Leonard Transportation Center Campus Fellow | $10,000 | Funding for tenured and untenured Inland Empire faculty to conduct interdisciplinary, transportation-related research focused on sustainability, equity, and emerging technologies, with opportunities for collaboration and student involvement. |
| Catalytic Investment in Innovation Research Seed | $32, 500 | Offers up to $32,500 in seed funding to faculty for research and scholarly activities that lead to external grant proposals, aiming to enhance the university's research capacity and secure long-term funding. Offered in Fall. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| Academic Affairs Research Assigned Time Award | $7,465 | Provide merit-based assigned time (3 WTUs) for tenure-line faculty to advance research, scholarly, or creative activities, with priority given to probationary faculty and those without recent awards. Offered in Spring. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| Office of Student Research (OSR) Undergraduate Summer Research Program (USRP) | Amounts vary | 10-week initiative that provides funding for mentorship and for undergraduate students to engage in research or creative projects, complemented by workshops, social events, and culminating in a student research conference. Offered in Fall. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| Office of Student Research (OSR) Student Funding Opportunities | Various | The OSR provides funding to both undergraduate and graduate students to travel, purchase materials, develop innovative research projects, and assist with the completion of their thesis, project or dissertation. Offered year-round. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| Exceptional Service to Students Award | $7,465 | Recognizes faculty who go beyond standard duties to support student success—particularly for underserved populations—through mentoring, outreach, high-impact practices, and curricular innovation, awarding selected recipients with three units of assigned time following a structured application and evaluation process. Offered in spring via email solicitation. |
| Faculty Achievement in Innovative Research (FAIR) Award | $2,000 | In alignment with the CSUSB Strategic Plan, this award aims to recognize faculty members who have demonstrated extraordinary productivity or creative activities in the last two academic years. Recipients can select to receive this award as professional development funds or a stipend as a reward for their outstanding productivity and contributions. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
What is Infoready?
InfoReady is a software platform that is used to manage internal competitions, funding opportunities, and approval workflows through customizable submission and review processes.
CSU Internal Funding Agencies and Opportunities
| Affinity Group | Description of Opportunities |
|---|---|
| CSU BIOTECH | Competitive funding opportunities to CSU faculty and students across all 23 campuses, supporting research, curriculum development, and professional development in biotechnology-related fields such as life sciences, engineering, computer science, and business. The Office of Research Development maintains a repository of donated proposals for CSU-BIOTECH grants, written by CSUSB faculty. If you are interested in this resource, contact Jason Burke at the Office of Research Development. |
| STEM-NET | Supports CSU faculty and students in various areas of STEM research and education and related-STEM disciplines through: the Faculty Fellows program, the Faculty Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research SEED grant program, and the new Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) program as well as several undergraduate student research programs |
| CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) | Provides travel grants to faculty members to support international research, conference participation, scholarly publications, grant writing, and curriculum internationalization. Apply via csusb.infoready4.com |
| The CSU Desert Studies Center | Offers various funding opportunities, including the Judith A. Presch Desert Research Scholarship for students conducting arid lands research, a faculty grant-writing support award providing reassigned time for desert-focused projects, and access to external grants and fellowships supporting desert conservation and research. |
| CSU Water | The CSU-WATER Faculty Research Incentive Award Program offers up to $6,000 to CSU faculty to support the development and submission of external funding proposals for water-related research and educational projects, with priority given to assistant and associate professors |
| CSU Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) | The ARI was recently awarded a 5-year $9.5million grant from the NIFA NextGen Program |
| Social Science Research and Instructional Council (SSRIC) | A a system-wide collaboration that supports quantitative social science education and research by providing access to extensive data archives, organizing faculty workshops, offering faculty grants and student research awards, and hosting the annual Social Science Student Symposium (S4) |
| The CSU Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care | Provides comprehensive, evidence-based online education and training to healthcare professionals and students, aiming to expand access to palliative care and improve quality of life for individuals with serious illnesses |
| Southern California Marine Institute | Provides access to research vessels like the R/V Yellowfin, offers educational programs such as the CSU Marine Biology Semester on Catalina Island, and supports certifications in scientific diving and motorboat operation |
| California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office | Provides access to system wide programs, funding initiatives, and links to campus-specific research opportunities. – Research & Sponsored Programs Provides access to systemwide programs, funding initiatives, and links to campus-specific research opportunities. |
External Funding Opportunities
Funding Opportunities for the larger grant you ultimately want to pursue (e.g., NSF CAREER, NIH R16, etc.). To learn more about the opportunity of interest, carefully read the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The NOFO is the official announcement from a federal agency that outlines the availability of grant funding, including the program’s purpose, eligibility requirements, application instructions, evaluation criteria, and deadlines. It serves as the primary guide for applicants to prepare and submit proposals in accordance with the agency’s goals and compliance standards.
NIH tutorial - The annotated NOFO
Academic research grants can be funded by a variety of sources, each with distinct priorities and application processes. There are tools available to assist your search. The main types of research funding sources include:
Federal Agencies
Major sources like the NSF, NIH, DOE, NASA, and NEH provide substantial funding for basic and applied research aligned with national priorities. Many search engines provide opportunities to subscribe for updates. If you find one relevant to your field, this can be a helpful way to keep abreast of new, exciting funding opportunities or changes to funding opportunities.
Grants.gov
Grants.gov is a central storehouse and search engine for information on over 1,000 grant programs and provides access to approximately $500 billion in annual awards. Set up an account and customize and subscribe to your search.
As of September 2025, there have been many rapid changes in federal policy regarding grants. This Federal Policy Status Index for Higher Ed aims to Track multiple changes including Changes to Research Enterprise
Federal Search Engines and Links to Federal Funding Agencies:
- Department of Health and Human Services
- National Institutes of Health
- National Science Foundation
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Defense
- Department of Education
- How to apply for an Dpt of Ed Grant (website) and pamphlet
- Department of Energy
- Environmental Protection Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- National Endowment for the Arts
- Office of Naval Research
- State Department
State and Local Governments
These entities offer grants focused on regional issues, education, public health, economic development, and workforce training.
Private Foundations
Organizations like the Mellon Foundation, Gates Foundation, or Spencer Foundation fund research in areas such as education, health, arts, and social sciences.
Private foundation search tools include: Candid and
(GrantPuma uses AI to find funding opportunities based on your mission and publications for free. They analyze every grant against your published papers, mission, trends and other sources of historical data to find grants for you)
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- American Cancer Society
- American Heart Association
- Andrew Mellon Foundation
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Cancer Research Foundation
- Carnegie Corporation
- Ellison Medical Foundation
- Ford Foundation
- Helen Hay Whitney Foundation
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Human Frontier Science Program
- Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International
- Kirsch Foundation
- John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Life Sciences Research Foundation
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Rockefeller Foundation
- Spencer Foundation
- William K. Kellogg Foundation
- Industry and Corporations – Companies may sponsor research for product development, innovation, or workforce development, often involving applied or collaborative projects.
- Professional Associations and Societies – Groups like the American Psychological Association (APA) or American Chemical Society (ACS) provide small research grants, especially for early-career researchers or pilot studies.
- International Organizations and Governments – Entities like the European Commission (Horizon Europe) or the World Health Organization (WHO) fund global research partnerships and projects addressing international challenges.
- Young Investigators - often there are specific funding mechanisms for which only new investigators are eligible. One list of such opportunities can be found here.
Limited Submission Opportunities
CSUSB’s Limited Submission Policy: The CSUSB Limited Submission Opportunities process manages external funding opportunities that restrict the number of proposals an institution can submit, to prevent any potential disqualification of submissions. Interested principal investigators must notify the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) by the internal deadline; if interest exceeds the sponsor's limit, a review committee led by the Associate Provost selects proposals based on quality, alignment with sponsor objectives, and university priorities. Selected projects proceed through standard submission procedures.
Strategies for Success
Seed funding can be an essential first step in acquiring larger federal or state grants. They help hone an idea, establish feasibility, and produce compelling preliminary results. Short term and long term goals are essential for success in Academia. Below is a general framework for thinking about acquiring grants and publishing findings.
Creating a Strategy for Academic Research Success - From Research Agenda to Research Enterprise
The following table outlines a phased faculty development model across three stages: Research Agenda; Research Portfolio; and Research Enterprise. Each phase is aligned with four core strategies: writing, organizing academic events, research proposal development, and intellectual property generation. This structured framework helps academic researchers build essential skills, grow their research capacity, and gain recognition by progressively advancing from foundational scholarly activities to leadership in research innovation and mentorship. The goal of the Office of Academic Research is to help on this journey: feel free to contact us for assistance or with questions - we are here to help!
Phase 1 Research Agenda (1-5 years) | Phase 2 Research Portfolio (1-6-9 years) | Phase 3 Research Enterprise (1-10+ years) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Strategy 1 Writing (Abstracts, Peer-Reviewed, Open-Access, etc.) | Publish articles in peer-reviewed journals. Publish across diverse platforms, etc. Build writing skills through workshops. | Write interdisciplinary papers. Co-author with colleagues. Target higher-tier journals. Journal editor. Create a special issue journal. | Publish books and monographs. Mentor junior colleagues on writing. |
Strategy 2 Organizing Conferences, Seminars, Symposia, Workshops | Host department and university seminars. Present at conferences. Organize regional conferences and/or workshops, etc. | Organize national-level symposia. Serve on conference planning committees. | Organize international conferences. Deliver keynote addresses. |
Strategy 3 Research Proposal Development | Identify funding sources and submit proposals annually. Attend grant writing sessions. Focus on three critical research areas and develop expertise in those areas. | Lead collaborative grant proposals. Mentor others in grant writing. Create a major university Center or Institute. Serve on national proposal review panels, etc. | Lead large, multi-institutional proposals. Build reputation as an acclaimed principal investigator. |
Strategy 4 Developing Patents and Intellectual Property | Identify patentable research. Attend IP workshops. | File patents and work with IP offices. Attend advanced IP workshops. | Expand patent portfolio. Commercialize research through startups or licensing. |
The Pfau Library CSUSB Publishing Guide
This offers faculty and researchers comprehensive resources on the academic publishing process, including guidance on selecting journals, understanding open access, and managing author rights. It serves as a centralized hub to support scholarly communication and enhance the visibility of research outputs.