Greetings Dornsife Faculty,

In this issue we include: 

– Recognition for a Dornsife faculty member; 
– External funding success obtained by 2 Investigators.
– A harvest of external funding opportunities, including 3 limited submissions;
– Announcements on an upcoming Center for Excellence in Research and our friendly reminder of office hours for Dornsife Research Administration.

 

Happy and safe Halloween!

 

Best regards,

Renee J. Perez, Vice Dean, Administration and Finance
Cathleen Crayton, Project Specialist, Research Administration

Brittany Friedman, Sociology, has received a Visiting Scholar Fellowship with the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain where she will visit the Department of Law for the 2025 summer, presenting her research on prison pay-to-stay and working on her next book project.

Scott Fraser, Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, High Affinity Blockade of the GNRH-Receptor using RNA Display, The Michelson Animals Found Foundation, Inc.

 

Monica Dean, Dornsife Public Exchange, Implementing the ARBOR Study, Mountains Reservation and Conservation Authority

***Limited Submission***

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—ERA
Program: Connecting Organizations and People to Empower Diabetes Prevention and Treatment (Connections)
NOFO #: RFA-DP-25-041
Synopsis: Supports evaluation of the effectiveness of existing CommunityClinical Linkage or Social Connectedness programs to reduce disparities in diabetes risk factors, incidence, or complications. Additionally, research supported by this NOFO will assess how various mechanisms (e.g., improving specific social or environmental conditions, mental health, or self-efficacy) will impact diabetes outcomes. Specifically, the results of this funded research NOFO will: (a) guide future scaling regarding programs using Community-Clinical Linkage and Social Connectedness; (b) demonstrate mitigation of observed disparities in diabetes risk factors, incidence, and complications through Community-Clinical Linkage and Social Connectedness programs; and (c) inform the understanding of the mechanisms by which Community-Clinical Linkage and Social Connectedness programs achieve successful health outcomes and the features that characterize effective programs.
Award details: $3.150M
USC Internal announcement on website: https://rii.usc.edu/limited-submissions/rfa-dp-25-041/
External announcement on website: Connections 
USC Internal due date: November 11, 2024.
Letter of Intent due date: December 2, 2024.
External due date: January 6, 2024.
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***Limited Submission***

 

The Conservation, Food & Health Foundation
Program: 2025 Grants
Synopsis: Supports projects to protect the environment, improve food production, and promote public health in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East. The type of projects that are supported include
- Generate local or regional solutions to problems affecting the quality of the environment and human life;
- Advance local leadership and promote professional development in the conservation, agricultural, and health sciences;
- Develop the capacity of local organizations and coalitions; and
- Address the challenges in the field.
In all of its areas of interest, the Foundation gives priority to projects that have the potential to advance the field, build local capacity, promote replication, influence public opinion and policy, affect systems change, and benefit people beyond the immediate project and its local context.
Award details: Most grants will fall in the $25K to $50K per year range for one or two years.
USC Internal announcement: https://rii.usc.edu/limited-submissions/cfh-grants-2/
External announcement on website: https://cfhfoundation.grantsmanagement08.com/
USC Internal due date: November 15, 2024.
Letter of Intent due date: January 1, 2025.
External due date: March 1, 2025.
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***Limited Submission***

 

Department of Commerce / National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Program: 2025 National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP) Advanced Packaging Research and Development (R&D)
NOFO #: 2025-NIST-CHIPS-NAPMP-01
Synopsis: Supports semiconductor research and development (R&D) to expand semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the United States. Specifically, this NOFO seeks research and development in 5 areas:
- Equipment, tools, processes, and process integration;
- Power delivery and thermal management;
- Connector technology, including photonics and radio frequency;
- Chiplets Ecosystem; and
- Co-design / Electronic design Automation.
Award details: $50M program funding. Specific funding amounts contingent upon research and development area. Consult solicitation for maximum amounts per R&D area.
USC Internal announcement: https://rii.usc.edu/limited-submissions/2025-nist-chips-napmp-01/ 
External announcement on website: NIST-CHIPS
USC Internal due date: November 15, 2024.
Concept Paper due date: December 20, 2024.
External due date (invited): 60 days after the invitation to submit full application.
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Kress Foundation
Program: History of Art Grants
Synopsis: Supports scholarly projects by pre-doctoral candidates that will enhance the appreciation and understanding of European works of art and architecture from antiquity to the early 19th century. Candidates must be nominated by their department (art history and related disciplines, e.g. archaeology, architecture). Grants are awarded to projects that create and disseminate specialized knowledge, including archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, museum exhibitions and publications, photographic campaigns, scholarly catalogs and publications, and technical and scientific studies.

Award details: Recent grants have ranged up to $20K.
Announcement on website: https://www.kressfoundation.org/Programs/Grants/History-of-Art
Application window: December 1, 2024 to December 15, 2024.
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Fine Arts Work Center
Program: 2025-2026 Fellowships (poetry and fiction)
Synopsis: Supports writers in the crucial early stages of their careers to learn to structure their lives around their creative practice. Each generation of Fellows ideally moves on from the Work Center with a firm belief in their ability to pursue a life as a writer. Each Writing Fellow is invited to give a public reading and Readings are attended by current and past Fellows, local residents, visitors to Provincetown (MA), leadership of the town’s numerous cultural institutions, and the many illustrious artists and writers who make their homes in Provincetown. Events take place in the beautifully renovated public spaces of the Work Center. Additionally, the Work Center also offers the Rona Jaffe Foundation is offered to emerging women writers of promise. Rona Jaffe Foundation fellows must be permanent residents of the U.S. and may not have published their first book in the standard edition.  All eligible candidates will be automatically considered for this fellowship by the Fine Arts Work Center (no separate application process required).
Award details: Fellows, who are selected through a rigorous jury process, are awarded a $1250 monthly stipend, private accommodations on the grounds of The Fine Arts Work Center, as well as a $1K exit stipend to support relocation at the end of the Fellowship. The Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellow also includes a $2.5K prize to help defray the cost of travel and living expenses. The length of the fellowship is 7 months from October to April.

Announcement on website: https://fawc.org/apply/
Application due date: December 16, 2024. $40 application fee.
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The Gladys Krieble Foundation
Program: Grants for Scholars
Synopsis: Supports individual scholars with travel grants to advance their historical research on Venice and the former Venetian empire, and for the study of contemporary Venetian society and culture. Applicants from all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences are eligible areas of study, including, but not limited to, archaeology, architecture, art, bibliography, economics, history, history of science, law, literature, music, political science, religion, and theater. Other relevant research interests will be considered as well.
Award details: Maximum award is $20K
Announcement on website: https://www.delmas.org/how-to-apply-us
Application due date: December 16, 2024. Recipients will be notified in March. Grants made in March 2025 are to be completed by the end of September 2026.
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GiffinHarte Foundation
Program: Grants
Synopsis: Supports, broadly
- Conversations, research and scholarship that are grounded practices of civility and feminism and informed by social justice advocacy in professional, personal, economic life;
- Education practices that are focused on alternative pedagogies and on what is taught and how it is taught;
- Educational opportunities as they explore identity, gender, feminism, civility, civic engagement and social, political and economic justice. 
Award details: $1K
Announcement on website: https://griffinhartefoundation.org/
Application due date: December 15, 2024.
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Department of Education
Program: 2025 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
Synopsis: Supports doctoral students to engage in dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. The program is designed to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages, and focuses on one or more of the following geographic areas: Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, South Asia, the Near East, Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and the Western Hemisphere (excluding the United States and its territories). The program details 3 priority areas:
- Focus on Less Commonly Taught Languages
- Thematic Focus on Academic Fields (e.g. science, technology, mathematics etc.)
- Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities.
Award details: Average 2024 award was ~$38,231.
Announcement on website: https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/grants-higher-education/ifle/fulbright-hays-doctoral-dissertation-research-abroad#Past-Awards-&-Funding also
Application due date: January 15, 2025.
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New England Botanical Society
Program: Les Mehrhoff Botanical Research Award
Synopsis: Supports botanical endeavors including field studies, herbarium, library, and archival research. The objective of NEBS in offering the award is to advance understanding of the flora of New England and floristically related regions. The selection committee favors projects for which traditional funding (such as academic grants and in-house agency support) is difficult to secure. 

Award details: May request up to $2K for Field, herbarium, library, and lab work, Travel and living expenses associated with the research, and supplies and equipment associated with field or lab work. Moderate stipends to help cover time spent on projects will be considered.

Announcement on website: https://www.rhodora.org/awards/mehrhoff.html?__cf_chl_tk=jWZl3lfHCXKhBx5SyEorfvbdDIGTWxfO425SD4.ux3o-1729894835-1.0.1.1-dbJSIuFLkXbmtQm_YKy7jK6EWfGhFfDpeM4_.fuvOBE#Instructions
Application window: December 1, 2024 to February 1, 2025.
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Agilent
Program: Solutions Innovation Research Award (SIRA) for Innovative Battery Research in the USA and Canada Using Chromatography Techniques
Synopsis: Supports projects that leverage advanced techniques such as gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and gel permeation chromatography to explore cutting-edge advancements in battery, energy conversion, energy storage, and battery recycling research.
Award details: Three individual SIRA awards will be made for this call and will include a free one-year loan of one of the following state-of-the-art analytical instruments including installation and technical support. Award #1: one gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) system; Award #2: one liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) system; Award #3: one gel permeation chromatography/size exclusion chromatography
Announcement on website: https://www.agilent.com/univ_relation/SIRA/2025-battery-research-us-canada.shtml
Proposal due date: November 29, 2024.
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Optica (co-sponsored by SPIE – The International Society for Optics and Photonics)
Program: Arthur H. Guenther Congressional Fellowship Program
Synopsis: Supports scientists and engineers with Congressional Fellowships that are designed to provide a unique public policy learning experience, demonstrate the value of science-government interaction and bring technical backgrounds and external perspectives to the decision-making process in the U.S. Congress. Fellows spend one year working in Washington, D.C., USA, as special legislative assistants on the staff of a member of Congress or congressional committee, beginning in September. A prospective fellow must have a Ph.D. by the start of the award in September 2025 as well as a record of success in research or scholarship in a field relevant to optical science and technology and / or materials, familiarity with the discipline and a working understanding of the scientific communities. An applicant is expected to be a member of one of the sponsoring societies—SPIE or Optica—or an applicant for membership.
Award details: The stipend level for the 2025-2026 Arthur H. Guenther Congressional Fellowship will be $85K. The societies also provide an allowance for health insurance, travel and relocation expenses to the Washington, DC area.

Announcement on website: https://www.optica.org/get_involved/public_policy/policy_program_events/congressional_fellowships/guenther/
Application due date: January 3, 2025.
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American Psychological Foundation
Program: Theodore Millon Grant in Personality Psychology
Synopsis: Supports researchers with a Ph.D., Ed.D or PsyD for research that proposes to advance the science of personality, psychology, including the areas of personality theory, personality disorders and personality assessment  Preference is given to work that improves the study, development, and the delivery of personality assessment, as represented by the work of Theodore Millon, PhD.
Award details: $5K

Announcement on website: https://ampsychfdn.org/funding/millon-grant/
Application due date: December 9, 2024.
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Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research
Program: Pilot Study Award
Synopsis: Supports investigator-initiated projects in all areas of ovarian cancer research. In addition, projects designed to analyze data from already funded clinical trials will be considered. Funding priority will be given to proposals that are:
  -  Innovative
  -  Multidisciplinary
  - Likely leading to submission of grant applications for independently funded investigations
  -  Conveying translational research potential

Assistant, Associate and Full Professors are eligible to apply.
Award details: $75K for direct costs. No indirects allowed.
Announcement on website: https://rivkin.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Rivkin-Pilot-Study-Award-RFA_2025.pdf
Application due date: December 2, 2024.
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The Cart Fund
Program: Grants
Synopsis: Supports exploratory and developmental Alzheimer’s Disease research projects within the United States. Specifically provides support for the early and conceptual plans of those projects that may not yet be supported by extensive preliminary data, but have the potential to substantially advance biomedical research. These projects should be distinct from those designed to increase knowledge in a well-established area unless they intend to extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications.
Award details: Up to $500K for direct costs over a 2-year project period. No indirects allowed. The Cart Fund expects to make 3-5 grants in 2025.
Announcement on website: https://www.cartfund.org/applying-for-a-grant/
Letter of Intent due date: December 6, 2024.
Application due date (invited): February 14, 2025.
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Rita Allen Foundation
Program: Pain Research Awards
Synopsis: Supports early career researchers for research directed toward investigating the molecular biology of pain and / or basic science topics related to developing new analgesics for managing pain. The entire award is made available to projects specifically chosen by the recipient. Eligible applicants are within 3 years of a tenure-track faculty position or equivalent; have received documented start-up funds and independent lab space; and demonstrated commitment in the field of pain research.
Award details: $150K over 3 years. No indirects.
Announcement on website: https://ritaallen.org/stories/pain-research-awards/
Application due date: December 11, 2024.
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Department of State / Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation / Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction
Program: Advancing Nuclear Safety, Security, and Nonproliferation through the FIRST Program
NOFO #:  DFOP0016986

Synopsis: Supports potential nuclear energy newcomer countries and current nuclear energy countries that are considering small modular reactors (SMR) and other advanced reactor designs to meet their clean energy needs, consistent with the highest international standards of nuclear security, nonproliferation, and safety. FIRST is designed to enhance U.S. bilateral and multilateral cooperation, consistent with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear energy infrastructure development milestones approach, in nuclear energy infrastructure development, nuclear security, and capacity-building. In so doing, the program supports secure, safe, and proliferation-resistant deployment of SMRs or other advanced reactors to partner countries.
Award details: Awards may range from $50K to $4M over 15 months.
Announcement on website: Advancing Nuclear Safety-First 
Application due date: January 17, 2025.
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Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) / Disruption Opportunity (DO)
Program: NIMBle Ultrafast microSystems (NIMBUS)
NOFO #: DARPA-PA-24-04-03
Synopsis: Supports projects to develop innovative basic or applied

research concepts in the technical domain of novel micro-mechanical oscillators for applications towards precision positioning and navigation systems. This DO is issued under the Program Announcement for Disruptioneering, DARPA-PA-24-04.
Award details: The total award value for the combined Phase 1 base (Feasibility Study) and Phase 2 option (Proof of Concept) is limited to $2M. This total award value includes Government funding and performer cost share if required or proposed. All awards will be made in the form of an Other Transaction (OT) for Prototype project.
Announcement on website: NIMBUS 
Proposal due date: December 16, 2024.
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Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E)
Program: Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry SBIR / STTR (QC3 SBIR / STTR)
NOFO #: DE-FOA-0003483
Synopsis: Supports projects that will accelerate development of algorithms for quantum computers to advance energy applications of computational chemistry and materials science.  Applicants must apply for a Combined I/ II/ IIS Award. These awards are intended to develop transformation technologies with disruptive commercial potential. Such commercial potential may be evidenced by (1) the likelihood of follow-on funding by private or non-SBIR / STTR sources if the project is successful, or (2) the Small Business Concern’s record of successfully commercializing technologies developed under prior SBIR / STTR awards. Phase IIS awards are a “sequential”, that is an additional Phase II award intended to allow the continued development of promising energy technologies.
Award details: ARPA-E reserves the right to select all or part of a proposed project (i.e., only Phase I, or only Phase I and Phase II). In the event that ARPA-E selects Phase I only or Phase I/II only, then the maximum award amount for a Phase I award is $306,872 and the maximum amount for a Phase I/II award is $2,352,688. Phase I and Phase II Combined 1/ 11 / IIS awards may be funded up to $4,398,504. Funding amounts will be consistent with the Phase I and Phase II limits posted on SBIR.gov website.
Announcement on website: Quantum Computing for Computation Chemistry 
Concept Paper due date: November 21, 2024.
Application due date (encouraged): TBD
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Department of Energy (DoE)
Program: Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF) Mathematics / Computer Science (Math/CS) Track
Synopsis: Supports students who are pursuing or planning to pursue a doctoral degree in applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, computer engineering or computational science — in one of these departments or their academic equivalent. A departmental exception is made for students whose research is focused on algorithms or software for quantum information systems (QIS*) and who are enrolled in a science or engineering field. In all cases, research must contribute to more effective use of emerging high-performance computer systems. Eligible applicants are undergraduate seniors; current master’s degree students who plan to matriculate at a different institution to pursue doctoral studies; and first year graduate students.

Award details: $45K annual stipend; full tuition and required fees during the appointment period; annual $1K for professional development allowance. Total award is for up to 4 years. Also includes a practicum experience; a rigorous program of study; and an annual program review for fellows, alumni, university and DOE laboratory staff, held each summer in the Washington, D.C. area

Announcement on website: https://www.krellinst.org/csgf/about-doe-csgf/fields-study
Application due date: January 25, 2025.
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NSF / Directorates for Biological Sciences (Divisions of Integrative Organismal Systems and Environmental Biology) and Geological Sciences (Division of Ocean Sciences) and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
Program: Organismal Response to Climate Change (ORCC)
Solicitation #: NSF 25-504
Synopsis: Supports mechanistic studies of organismal response to climate change (ORCC) as a foundation that, when integrated with research at other levels of organization, will lead to a deeper understanding and better predictions of the integrity, the resilience, and the adaptation of biological systems to climate change. Proposals are encouraged that build on NSF's investment in growing convergence

research by developing integrative, cross-disciplinary approaches that examine the organismal mechanisms that underlie adaptive and maladaptive responses to environmental factors associated with climate change, how these responses affect fitness in changing and/or novel climates and the genetic and evolutionary processes (eco-evolutionary) through which these traits originate, persist, and are transmitted across generations. Proposals are accepted through 2 tracks: (1) The Organismal Response to Climate Change (ORCC) track invite mechanistic collaborative studies of organismal response to climate change (ORCC) as a foundation that, when integrated with research at other levels of organization, will lead to a deeper understanding and better predictions of the integrity, the resilience, and the adaptation of organismal systems to climate change; and (2) The Microorganism-mediated Organismal Resilience to Climate Change (MMORCC) track seeks proposals that will address significant knowledge gaps in our understanding of the molecular drivers and dynamics of microbial resilience to environmental change.
Award details: $15M program funding of which it is anticipated that 15 to 20 awards will be made.

Announcement on website: https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/nsf25504.pdf
Proposal due date: January 23, 2025.
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NIH / National Cancer Institute
Program: Mechanistic links between diet, lipid metabolism, and tumor growth and progression
NOFO #: UH2 — Exploratory / Developmental Cooperative Agreement Phase 1
Synopsis: Supports fundamental studies designed to identify and define the molecular mechanisms through which lipid metabolism mediates tumor growth and progression, focusing specifically on the central role lipids play in linking diet with the biology of cancer; bridge the historically divided fields of nutrition and molecular metabolism; and stimulate research and tool development in this emerging area, which faces particular challenges because of the complexity of lipid biochemistry. Examples of research questions include (partial)
- How does dietary composition affect lipid metabolism in tumors and the tumor microenvironment in the absence of weight gain?

- How  are alterations in diet-responsive lipid metabolism in tumors buffered or enhanced by the tumor microenvironment?
- How do diet-driven variations in the level and / or composition of fatty acids in serum or tumor interstitial fluid impact any or all of the following molecular processes—such as lipid-mediated signaling; de novo lipogenesis; mitochondrial function; and the production of reactive oxygen species—in tumor and stromal cells?
Award details: Maximum award is $275K for direct costs over a 2-year period, with no single year budget exceeding $200K.
Announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-25-118.html
Application due dates for all types of applications except AIDS applications: February 14, 2025 and October 23, 2025.
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NIH / Multiple Institutes
Program: Pilot Projects Investigating Understudied Proteins Associated with Rare Diseases (R03 — Small grants program)
NOFO #: PAR-25-122
Synopsis: Supports research to increase knowledge of understudied proteins associated with rare diseases. Applications are encouraged from organizations proposing projects leading to a better understanding of eligible proteins, including enzymes, epigenetic proteins, GPCRs, ion proteins, kinases, transcription factors, and transports. Specific coding proteins are listed in the NOFO.

Small research grants provide flexibility for initiating discrete, well-defined projects that realistically can be completed in one year and require only limited levels of funding. This program supports different types of projects including, but not limited to
  -  Pilot or feasibility studies;
  -  Small, self-contained research projects;
  -  Development of research methodology;
  -  Development of assays to support compound screening projects; and
  -  Development of human cell or animal based models.
Award details: Maximum award is $100K for one year.
Announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-25-122.html
Application due dates: Multiple due dates for new applications through 2027. Next due date is February 16, 2025.
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Center for Excellence in Research

 

Upcoming Workshop — This Friday!

 

Funding / Grant Writing (NSF, NIH, foundations, corporate, etc.)

Sara L. Schwartz will facilitate a conversation with Ken Blum, President of Kramer Blum & Associates, a California based company that manages over 30 family foundations with assets over $2 Billion. Ken manages multiple foundations that fund early career advancement awards. His vast experience working with funders, universities, and grant seekers will benefit our student and faculty community.

Date: November 1, 2024                               Time: 12 noon to 2:00 PM

Registration: https://rii.usc.edu/cer/

Presenter: Sara L. Schwartz (Associate Professor, Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work) and Ken Blum, President of Kramer Blum & Associates

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Office Hours for Help with Research Administration Questions
Every Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m. via Zoom: USC Dornsife Research Administration is now offering weekly office hours via Zoom. Feel free to join to ask questions and connect with research administration staff.

Zoom: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94648152007?pwd=M1ZPQU81QmtWc3VZaHp6QnhnK0RSdz09
Meeting ID: 946 4815 2007
Passcode:  989008

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