Breaking Boundaries Seed Grants support the advancement of interdisciplinary collaborations with strong potential to be sustained by external funding, whether that be through major grants from federal funding or foundation support.
The primary objective of the seed grant program is to support the strategic advancement of new research teams that will submit competitive proposals to funding agencies and foundations. The seed funding strengthens the prospects of proposal success by supporting the generation of preliminary results, proofs-of-concept, and faculty time to prepare proposals and to build the collaboration.
Proposals must be submitted by teams of two or more faculty members, with one designated lead (PI) and the others as co-PIs. The PI and co-PI(s) must be full-time regular faculty (with either tenure-track or non-tenure-track appointments at CWRU). A faculty member may be part of up to two proposals in a given round of submissions. For each grant, teams must include at least two distinct disciplines, with the value of the interdisciplinary collaboration clearly articulated.
We invite proposals from teams that demonstrate true cross-disciplinary collaboration with clear, intentional, and complementary expertise. Proposals may focus on research projects, training grants, or a combination of both. Project duration may not exceed 18 months, whereby any unspent funds at the end of the project period will be returned to the university.
The Initiative will award up to four $100,000 grants and up to four $15,000 grants in this first year as a pilot. Both seed grant types can support early-stage investigations and faculty time to prepare strong proposals for external funding. The larger seed grant is intended to additionally enable the generation of more substantial preliminary results in resource-intensive fields with the intention of a grant submission that is beyond a typical single investigator award (e.g., large training grants, center grants, substantial foundation grants, large collaborative research grants).
Proposals consist of:
A. Title page, including abstract (maximum 250 words) and list of personnel. The personnel list must include the PI and co-PIs who are CWRU faculty, and if applicable, the list can also include other collaborators internal or external to CWRU (including post-docs and graduate students).
B. Project Description. Maximum four pages including figures (excludes references that can be additional pages).
The Project Description must address the four review criteria listed below and will be evaluated by a faculty panel with a range of disciplinary expertise. Please use clear, accessible language and avoid jargon to ensure your proposal can be fully understood by intellectual reviewers across different fields.
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Significance: What are you are you aiming to solve or better understand, and what impact or outcomes will result from this work? What are the methods and approaches that will increase its chances of success, and how will any potential pitfalls be addressed? (approx. 3 pages)
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Interdisciplinary Collaboration: How was the collaborative team constructed and how can this interdisciplinary synergy enable transformational impact?
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Sustainable Funding (required): What specific external funding opportunity(s) is being targeted for this seed grant support (include funding agency(s), program, proposal amount and proposal deadline)? How will your internal project timeline align with this external funding submission schedule? Note that if the PI receives and accepts seed funds through this initiative, the PI and collaborative team commit to writing and submitting the external proposal(s).
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Budget and Budget Justification: Awards will be offered at two levels: larger grants for up to $100,000, and smaller grants for up to $15,000. Both grant types are designed to support work that position teams for success in securing external funding for their project—whether through preliminary data collection, proof-of-concept work, team development, and/or faculty effort on proposal development for funding opportunities. The larger grants are intended for projects that require substantial preliminary results in resource-intensive fields.
The budget should be entered in the template provided and should be accompanied by a one-page (or less) budget justification that briefly explains the need for each budget line item. Allowable expenses include research personnel support, essential equipment and supplies, and/or travel directly tied to project goals or preparation of proposals. Teams may also request up to two weeks of summer salary, or a course buyout (up to $10,000 with Chair/Dean approval), to support proposal development. Funding cannot be used to support collaborators outside of CWRU faculty (defined as CWRU-paid faculty).
C. Current external support for each team member. List all external funding that has been active anytime within the past 5 years; including the funding source, project title, total award amount, award amount to this team member, and award dates.
D. Two-page CVs for each team member (any format is acceptable).
Submit via the application form, as one PDF document.
Proposals must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on March 1, 2026. Late submissions will not be reviewed.
For questions, contact Daniel Lacks, Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary and International Initiatives (djl15@case.edu).
Proposals will be reviewed by a Faculty Review Committee. The Committee will include faculty representatives from across the university and also a faculty observer to ensure fairness in the process. The Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary and International Initiatives will serve as an ex-officio member of the Committee.
Proposals will be evaluated according to the review criteria described above. The Committee will evaluate each application for its technical merit, feasibility, and potential for external funding. Based on these reviews, the Committee will choose a short list of Finalists. The Committee will then conduct in-person interviews with each Finalist team and make award recommendations to the provost, who will make the final decisions on awards.
Award recipients are expected to demonstrate measurable outcomes aligned with the goals of the Breaking Boundaries Initiative. The primary indicator of success is the development of a sustained research project supported by external funding agencies or foundations in the long-term.
These outcomes will be evaluated through brief project reports that document efforts to secure external funding as well as any publications or scholarly outputs resulting from the seed funds and any subsequent grants attained. By submitting an application, applicants agree that they would provide these reports and to comply with all applicable university, federal, state, and local research regulations. Please refer to the CWRU Research Compliance site for more policy information.