A number of institutional seed funds support faculty across the disciplines in curriculum development, research and scholarship, and entrepreneurship, with a number of fellowship opportunities earmarked specifically for junior faculty.

Current Funding Sources

NYU Research Catalyst Prize

The NYU Research Catalyst Prize (RCP) supports faculty-initiated research on a competitive basis, encouraging faculty who are exploring new areas of research that are likely to attract outside support, and faculty engaging in productive scholarship in areas where there are few sources of support.

Contact: Farooq Niazi

2023 applications are now open.

Deadline: December 12, 2022

Teaching Advancement Grant

Teaching Advancement Grant (TAG) aims to develop innovative curricular programs and projects at New York University, including new academic courses and programs, enhanced and expanded existing courses or programs, and special projects. 

Visit: Teaching Advancement Grant

Contact: Center for Faculty Advancement: facultyadvance@nyu.edu

 

NYU Whitehead Fellowships for Junior Faculty in Biomedical and Biological Sciences

The New York University Whitehead Fellowships, awarded on a competitive basis, assist faculty in the early years of their independent research careers to conduct focused research projects in the biomedical and biological sciences and enhance their ability to compete successfully for external funds.

Contact: Farooq Niazi

Mega-Grant Seed Fund Initiative

MEGA Seed grants support the development of highly competitive, large (>$1.75M) research grant proposals across NYU. The initiative includes planning, administrative, grant-writing, and seed funding support. Seed funding can be used in any way that maximizes the chances of the grant proposal’s success, including for funding of pilot research, preliminary analyses, and/or funding for the research team to meet for one or more days to develop and write the proposal.  The PIs must provide clear rationale for the ways that seed support will be used for a specific project directly relevant to the preparation and submission of a large competitive proposal to an external agency.  Multidisciplinary proposals from two or more departments or colleges are strongly encouraged.

Contact: Research Development research.development@nyu.edu

Rapid Response Technical Assistance Grants

The Rapid Response seed program provides targeted support to principal investigators and research teams who are developing and submitting applications for extramural research funding ($500K or greater). The purpose of the technical assistance funding is to enable the research team to hire graphics designers, editors or acquire other services that can enhance their proposal for submission.  


Contact: Research Development research.development@nyu.edu

Climate Change Initiative

Climate Change Initiative Research Seed Grants support collaborative research projects by NYU faculty.. These awards are meant to foster collaborative, impactful research on climate change that has the potential to attract extramural funding. 

Contact: Research Development research.development@nyu.edu

NYU Humanities Seed Grants

The NYU Humanities Seed grants are designed to aid NYU faculty and researchers in securing external funding for collaborative and groundbreaking research and projects in the humanities by providing support funds for pre-proposal data collection, travel, conference convening, and consultants.

Contact: Research Development research.development@nyu.edu

Center for the Humanities

The Center for the Humanities offers a number of grants and fellowships to full-time faculty in the humanities and art disciplines.

Faculty Research Fellowships

Research Fellowships are available to full-time faculty in the humanities and art disciplines, including but not limited to history, art history, music, philosophy, cultural studies, literary and language studies, religious studies, drama and performance studies, cinema studies, and gender studies. The Research Fellowships support projects that clearly define a research problem that can be investigated in a one-year project period and demonstrate the likelihood of a significant contribution to the field. Fellows are expected to be present in New York within the University community for the entire year of their residency.

Visit: The Center for the Humanities Research Fellowships for Faculty

Working Research Groups

These grants build community and foster interdisciplinary exchange by bringing together NYU faculty and graduate students in a series of meetings on a focused topic in the humanities where interdisciplinary approaches are likely to be particularly fruitful. Working Research Groups are expected to generate new curricular offerings, publications, conferences, or collaborative faculty projects.

Visit: The Center for the Humanities Working Research Groups

Grants for Book Publication Subventions

The Center occasionally has a limited number of grants to support the publication of books with a humanistic focus. These are to cover costs incurred by faculty in the publication of monographs, edited collections, or translations. Faculty in full-time positions on continuing contracts in the arts or humanities are welcome to apply. 

Visit: The Center for the Humanities Small Grants

Bennett-Polonsky Humanities Labs

Drawing on the lab model from the sciences and the studio model from the arts, Humanities Labs offer new opportunities for humanities-centered inquiry with an ethos of experimentation, creativity and cross-disciplinary knowledge production. The goal is to create shared spaces, both real and virtual, where faculty, students and humanities practitioners from different fields come together to tackle big questions or explore timely ideas of import. 

Visit: The Center for the Humanities H-Labs

Entrepreneurial Institute

NYU fosters a University-wide startup ecosystem that encourages and supports multi-disciplinary collaboration and accelerates innovation to help bring NYU research and inventions to market. The Institute’s team of startup experts offers technology commercialization training, coaching/mentorship, grant funding and investment capital to support faculty, graduate students and researchers from all NYU schools, colleges and institutes.

Opportunity Announcements

The Institute publishes a monthly “Deep and Bio Tech” newsletter focused on news and upcoming training and funding opportunities for faculty, PhD and research scientists interested in research commercialization and venture creation. The newsletter covers “frontier technology” domains in the physical sciences, life sciences, and information technology, and shares the latest grant opportunities, startup events, program deadlines, news happening at NYU and in the larger NYC startup ecosystem. Sign up for the Entrepreneurship at NYU newsletter.

Startup Advisory/Coaching Services

Our team of startup coaches work with hundreds of faculty, PhD students, postdocs and researchers annually from every NYU school and college. With decades of venture experience, coaches offer guidance on topics including fundraising (grants and equity-based financing), venture target market identification, business operations, regulatory approval pathways, and IP strategy, among others. In addition to the coaches on staff, we provide connections to our network of 200+ external mentors. Learn more and/or schedule an appointment today at Startup Coaching & Mentorship or contact Dr. Dee Dao .

Technology Venture Program (TVP)

In Fall 2020, the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute introduced a new series of programs to better support and accelerate the pace of technology commercialization by our faculty, PhD students, postdocs, and researchers. The Technology Venture Program (TVP) is a three-part sequenced venture development program which provides grant funding of up to $101,000 in total (across all three phases) to participating teams. TVP introduces participants to technology commercialization best practices embraced by venture capitalists, startup accelerators, and federal agencies including the NSF, NIH, DOD, and others. 

  • Phase 1: Technology Venture Workshop (TVW): A three half-day immersive program where faculty and their teams learn how to test the commercial potential of their research projects directly with customers and partners. The Workshop is held 3-4 times throughout the year. Teams participating in the TVW will be eligible to apply for the NSF I-Corps program and will receive a $1,000k grant, as well as venture coaching. Learn more and apply at Tech Venture Workshop or contact Dr. Dee Dao.
  • Phase 2: NSF I-Corps Program and $50k Grant: A seven-week immersive grant program for faculty and their graduate students/postdocs to help transform academic research into commercial ventures. The program uses the Lean Startup methodology to train academic researchers in hypothesis-driven customer discovery. I-Corps was first launched as an initiative by the National Science Foundation and has since been adopted by the NIH and other agencies. I-Corps is held year-round, with cohorts of faculty-led ventures across the country. To qualify for this opportunity founders must participate in the Technology Venture Workshop (TVW). Sign up for an I-Corps information session on the NYU Entrepreneurship  Events Calendar to learn more, or watch the What is I-Corps? video or visit the I-Corps Teams program overview, and contact Frank Rimalovski at the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute for more information or to apply.
  • Phase 3: Technology Venture Accelerator (TVA) and $50k Grant: The final phase of the TVP is the Technology Venture Accelerator (TVA), a four-month long program where faculty and their teams will receive a $50k grant (with no overhead taken), continuing venture development from startup advisors, investors and entrepreneurs to address the implementation and execution of the venture’s business model, legal and accounting support and more. Topics covered include SBIR/STTR and venture funding, legal and intellectual property, regulatory matters, sales and marketing, hiring and retaining talent, and engineering and manufacturing, among others. TVA is held approximately once a year, with the next cohort launching in January ‘23. Learn more and apply at Tech Venture Accelerator or contact Dr. Dee Dao or Rebecca Silver

 

Grants and Funding

Sign up to our “Deep & Bio Tech @ NYU Newsletter” to keep abreast of additional grant and opportunities as they become available.

  • SBIR and STTR Grants: The Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) provides over $2 billion a year in non-recourse contracts and grants to small US-owned companies to develop new products and services based on innovative, unproven concepts and technologies. Each semester we host a free half day intensive workshop focused on all aspects of writing SBIR/STTR grants including: sources of funding and agency differences, proposal preparation, generalized steps in applying for funding, and sources/limitations of phase 1 proposals. Learn more about the program at the SBIR and STTR Programs website, and sign up to receive the Deep and Bio Tech Newsletter (see above) to learn about upcoming workshops hosted by the Entrepreneurial Institute.
  • NYU Innovation Venture Fund: The Innovation Venture Fund provides seed capital to help especially promising NYU founders scale their startups. Together with co-investors, the evergreen Fund provides needed capital, contacts with the entrepreneurial and venture communities, and practical management and marketing expertise to help NYU students, faculty and researchers transform ideas and inventions into thriving companies. Learn more at Innovation Venture Fund or contact Frank Rimalovski at the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute for more information.

Other Workshops and Opportunities

Sign up for upcoming events on the NYU Entrepreneurship  Events Calendar

  • Startup School Workshops: A weekly workshop series open to everyone in the NYU community that provides know-how and training to successfully launch and grow a startup. No matter where you are in your startup journey, Startup School has something to offer – learn the basics, build your team, or answer legal questions. 
  • VC Pitchfests: Opportunities for NYU entrepreneurs to present their ventures and innovations to a panel of investors and a room full of fellow NYU entrepreneurs in a friendly competition. In the past, presenting teams receive valuable feedback from professional investors representing funds such as Greycroft, Two Sigma Ventures, Flybridge Capital and others. Pitchfests focus on ventures across different themes: deep tech, healthcare/life sciences, and others.
  • NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge: Each year, NYU students, postdocs, faculty and researchers create scores of cutting-edge innovations across consumer apps, information technology, and life science sectors. The NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge, led by the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship at the Stern School of Business, serves as a catalyst for the formation of new and the acceleration of existing early-stage startups based on these exciting innovations. Winners share ~$300,000 in prizes. Learn more at The NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge

 

External-Facing Resource Centers

NYU is the home to several accelerators and incubators open to ventures in the greater global startup ecosystem. Select NYU founded companies may also be a fit for these programs and spaces.

  • Endless Frontier Labs (EFL): EFL is a nine-month mentorship program for pre Series A companies in life sciences and deep tech. Participating startups in EFL receive structured mentorship, Support from NYU Stern’s top MBA students for business execution, and in-kind legal, financial, and technological services from our corporate partners. EFL is ideal for pre-Series A science and technology-based startups from around the world seeking deep connections to the New York startup ecosystem or U.S. markets. Learn more at Endless Frontier Labs.  
  • NYU Tandon Futures Labs: The NYU Tandon Future Labs are the first public-private partnership with New York City tasked with creating a sustainable incubation program focused on increasing the success rate of new ventures and generating positive economic impact. If your startup is focused on AI, digital media, clean energy, smart cities, or any other world-changing tech — or if you’re a military veteran seeking to transition to civilian life as an entrepreneur — you’ll find the guidance, expertise, resources, and community you need to succeed. Learn more at NYU Tandon Future Labs