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 USU Office of Research has recently announced the FY26 Seed Grant cycle with a deadline of April 1, 2026. 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 internal CEHS proposal development services, procedures and deadlines are provided below.
Office of Research Grants and Funding
Prerequisite for Seed Grants
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 once a year, in the fall semester.
This year’s workshop was held virtually on October 23, 30, November 6 and 13. If you attended the virtual workshop in Fall 2025 or in a previous year, or either of the 1-day Planning and Writing Successful Proposals or Write Winning Grant Proposals workshops prior to Fall 2020, you have fulfilled this requirement.
Regarding the upcoming April 2026 Seed Grant deadline:
- If you apply in April 2026 and are awarded but have not attended, you must agree to attend the grant-writing workshop in Fall 2026. 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 Processes
In an effort to help CEHS faculty prepare competitive seed grant proposals, the Proposal Development team 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. Several important dates and explanations of CEHS procedures related to the upcoming Seed Grant cycle are provided below.
Seed Grant Proposal Assistance Request Form
By Wednesday, March 11
If you are considering submitting a Seed Grant proposal in April 2026 and would like to receive assistance and review, please complete the brief Seed Grant Proposal Assistance Request NO LATER THAN Wednesday, March 11, 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 Friday, March 20
Regardless of whether you would like assistance/review, if you are planning to submit a proposal, please email nancy.sassano@usu.edu by Friday, March 20, 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 Thursday, March 26 at 5:00 p.m.
The College internal deadline for proposals is Thursday, March 26, 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 and amanda.crosby@usu.edu by the March 26, 2026 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. 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 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 Innovation and Impact website and the websites for the individual seed grant types.