Seed Grants: Information for CEHS Researchers

USU's Old Main Building

Seed Grants are internal grants that help USU faculty to “grow” their potential to obtain external funding by supporting preliminary studies and other research activities aimed at strengthening a specific external grant proposal.  The USU Office of Research provides competitive Seed Grant opportunities in two cycles each fiscal year.  Descriptions of the procedures, internal deadlines, and CEHS proposal development services related to Seed Grants are described her.

Seed Grants: Information for CEHS Researchers

Seed Grants are internal grants that help USU faculty to “grow” their potential to obtain external funding by supporting preliminary studies and other research activities aimed at strengthening a specific external grant proposal.  The types of Seed Grants available, detailed proposal instructions, and required documents can be found at the USU Office of Research Grants and Funding website and the annual submission/award cycles appear below.

Office of Research Grants and Funding

ANNUAL SEED GRANT CYCLES

Cycle Submission Deadline* Award Start Date
Cycle 1 June 15 September 1
Cycle 2 January 15 April 1

*These are the deadlines for submission to the USU Office of Research. CEHS internal deadlines precede those dates – see below for current internal deadlines.

SEED Grant Eligibility Policy

Annual Faculty Proposal Writing Seminar

Faculty must complete the University’s Annual Faculty Proposal Writing Seminar to be eligible for the seed grant awards.  This grant writing workshop is offered to faculty once a year, in the fall semester. 

This year’s workshop was held virtually in October - November, 2023. If you attended that workshop, or either of the 1-day Planning and Writing Successful Proposals or Write Winning Grant Proposals workshops in a previous year, you have fulfilled this requirement.  
Regarding the upcoming June 2024 Seed Grant deadline:

  • If you apply in June 2024 and are awarded but have not attended, you must agree to attend the grant-writing workshop in Fall 2024.  If this does not occur, you will be ineligible for seed grant funding until you have attended the workshop.

The CEHS Office of Research Services has a list of all CEHS faculty who have participated in the University’s grant writing workshops to-date so, if you want to confirm your status, please contact Amanda Crosby at amanda.crosby@usu.edu.

CEHS Proposal Development Services and Internal Process

In an effort to help CEHS faculty prepare competitive seed grant proposals, the Proposal Development team in the Office of Research Services provides opportunities for discussion of ideas and feedback, access to examples of past successful seed grant proposals, as well as direct assistance in preparation of proposals, in the months before the CEHS internal deadline.  Several important dates and explanations of CEHS procedures related to the upcoming Seed Grant cycle are provided below.

By Monday, April 22

If you are considering submitting a Seed Grant proposal in June 2024 and would like to receive assistance and review, please complete the brief Seed Grant Proposal Assistance Request NO LATER THAN Monday, April 22, and we will work out plans accordingly.  The number of people interested will determine how this process is structured so, even if you are not sure, please get yourself on our radar!

By Wednesday, May 29

Regardless of whether you would like assistance/review, if you are planning to submit a proposal, please email nancy.sassano@usu.edu by Wednesday, May 29, so that we can be prepared for the number of applications we’ll need to compile for submission to the USU Office of Research.

By Monday, June 10 at 5:00 p.m.

The College internal deadline for proposals is Monday, June 10, at 5 p.m.  We must have your full, signed, application package in electronic form by that time. 

  • All application materials except the budget must be compiled in a single pdf.
  • The budget template will be submitted as an excel file
  • You must obtain all signatures, except the CEHS Dean, on the cover sheet before submitting to us. This includes all key personnel and the department head(s), dean(s) of key personnel from other colleges, and center director(s), as appropriate.  We (Office of Research Services) will enter the CEHS Dean’s signature before submitting to the USU Office of Research.

Please email your proposal to both nancy.sassano@usu.edu by the June 10, 2024 internal deadline.

If you have questions about the various types of Seed grants or the USU process that cannot be answered by the USU Office of Research (VPR) website, please feel free to call or email nancy.sassano@usu.edu or 435-797-0904.

SEED Grant Review Process

Proposals are submitted to each College Dean’s Office (in the case of CEHS, the Associate Dean for Research) by an internal College deadline and are then forwarded to the USU Office of Research by the stated USU deadline.  The USU submission deadlines are January 15 and June 15 of each year (or the first business day after those dates).  Each college establishes its internal deadline to allow for necessary processing prior to those dates.

Proposals from the entire University are reviewed by a Review Panel consisting of representatives from each College and funding decisions are made by the Associate Vice President and Vice President for Research, based on recommendations from the Panel.

More information about the seed grant review process can be found in the Internal Grants & Funding FAQs on the VPR Research Development website and the websites for the individual seed grant types.