2027 Seed Grant Program

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• Important Dates
• Program Guidelines
  • Eligibility
  • Funding Availability
  • Submission Instructions
• Review Criteria

Important Dates

Program Guidelines

Eligibility

All Penn State faculty members (tenured, tenure track, and fixed term) who hold an appointment of half-time or more at any Penn State campus are eligible to submit a seed grant proposal as a Principal Investigator (PI). Researchers, students, and staff from Penn State, other research institutions, Pennsylvania state agencies, federal agencies, and private industry may be included as collaborators in seed grant proposals, but subcontracts to entities outside of Penn State are not allowed. Please note that competitive proposals will typically include multiple Penn State investigators. There can only be one responsible PI and up to two additional investigators for each application (maximum of three investigators). Investigators may only serve as PI on a single proposal. If any investigators will be on sabbatical during the award period, the proposal should note the availability to participate in seed-funded research during the sabbatical period.

New teams of investigators will be given preference over those who have previously received an IEE seed grant. PIs or Co-PIs awarded an IEE Seed Grant in 2026 are ineligible to serve as PI or Co-PI for this call. Recipients of funding must be willing to participate as a reviewer for future seed grant proposals.

Funding Availability

To encourage the establishment of new collaborations and enhancement of networks, larger grants will require innovative partnerships of investigators from multiple colleges and/or campus locations. Funds up to $40,000 are available for multi-college/school (across University Park) and multi-campus (between campuses) collaborative grants. For IEE Seed Grants in 2027, single PI proposals and proposals that have two or more faculty with different disciplinary expertise, who are housed within the same college (University Park) or at a single Commonwealth Campus, will also be eligible for funding at the full amount but will be given a lower priority than proposals from multiple colleges.

Funds may be used to support research development and coordination expenses such as:

• Graduate student stipends
• Graduate student tuition (GIA) support
• Undergraduate student wages
• Postdoctoral funding
• Instrumentation fees and sample analysis to collect preliminary data
• Equipment, supplies, and participant payments
• Domestic travel associated with conducting seed grant research (Penn State participants only)
• Hosting a research planning meeting for an interdisciplinary team
• Planning and hosting conferences and symposia

The budget should span only the next fiscal year (FY28) — the period July 1, 2027, to June 30, 2028. Unspent funds will not carry forward to the next fiscal year. A brief budget justification is asked for as part of the Project Description in the proposal, and a more detailed allocation of funds to categories will be requested from projects that are funded. Redistribution of funds among the allowed expense categories is allowed during the funded period.

The following funding restrictions apply:

• Regular appointment, summer, or supplemental salary support for faculty is disallowed
• Postdocs may not be the PI
• Travel support to attend conferences is disallowed

Submission Instructions

All proposals must be submitted electronically via upload at https://psu.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/2040130 no later than 5 PM Eastern on December 14, 2026. Each proposal is limited to a two-page project description and additional pages for an appendix.

Note: There is no preproposal stage, so the two-page project description needs to clearly address all the review criteria. Also, note that you are the expert in your field, so help the interdisciplinary team of reviewers understand the relevance of this proposed research.

Proposal Format

• Size 12 font
• Left aligned with 1-inch margins
• PDF document saved as PI_Last Name_2028_IEESeedGrant (e.g. Smith_2028_IEESeedGrant.pdf)

Project Description. Limited to 2 pages, and must include:

• Title of project and brief executive summary
• PI and co-PI's names, including college, department and/or campus (no more than 3)
• Optional: Project abstract that is understandable by an interdisciplinary audience limited to 300 words and no graphics. Note that a separate Abstract page is not allowed. (This abstract requirement is different from previous years).
• Project description with graphics allowed within the two-page limit.
• Brief statement on how this project will leverage seed funding, including potential opportunities for eventual external funding
• Nature of collaboration (new/existing; mentorship opportunities)
• Total funding to be requested, including brief budget justification, recognizing adjustment among categories will be allowed during the funding period.

The appendix shall include:

• Resumes or biosketches (up to 2-pages max. each) for the PI and all co-PIs, for example in the National Science Foundation (NSF) format, but there is no required format.
• Literature cited may be included in the appendix

Review Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated using the criteria below. Review panels include researchers from a range of disciplines, so clearly communicating your ideas and their significance to readers outside your field is important.

Seed grants are intended to address a key question or challenge that will help position a research team to secure external funding for continued collaborative research. They are not intended to complete an existing project or simply produce a publication. As you prepare your proposal, please review the final report template to understand what you will be asked to document at the conclusion of your grant. The template is available in InfoReady here: https://psu.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/2040130

This report emphasizes addressing a key point that will enable you to obtain extramural funding to fully support your collaborative research. The goal of your seed grant project should not be to complete an existing project or publish a paper.

Penn State approved AI tools may be used in the proposal review process to help sort and organize applications into panels, and screen for alignment to the requirements of the call. All scoring and review will be performed by Penn State personnel.

Intellectual Merit (40%)

• Creativity and innovation of the proposal: how does this project advance our understanding of the issue or provide alternative solutions to the problems? The concept should be innovative and not just an extension of previous work.
• Significance of goals and results: why does this project matter? What important problem or issue will this research ultimately address with extramural funding?
• Soundness of research plan: What is the research plan for this project? How well does the research study design and methods answer the research questions? Is the proposed project in line with the budget that can be provided by a seed grant?

Collaborative Potential (30%)

• Interdisciplinary focus: does this proposal include researchers from different disciplines and perspectives? Is it clear how each person will contribute to this project?
• What is the potential for developing new and productive collaborations between PIs? Is there consideration given to mentorship and collaborations between junior and senior faculty?
• Does the proposal contain collaborations across colleges?

Potential for Impact (30%)

• Positive impact in the intended field: how might this proposal lead to exceptional scholarship or broader impacts on society? Impact can include both technical advances in a field as well as impacts on communities, governance, or society at large, including human health and environmental health.
• Potential for external funding: is there a credible and clearly articulated strategy for leveraging this seed grant investment into external funding?
  • Potential for activity beyond the seed grant phase may include applications for external support from federal, state, or local government agencies, industry, private foundations; continued research activities involving in-kind support, teaching activities, on-going scholarly work; public engagement and outreach; and expanded implementation by external stakeholders.
  • Specific examples of external funding opportunities or contacts with program officers is helpful in evaluating the credibility of these strategies.

Scoring by Reviewers

Reviewers will score each of the three categories with a weighting of 40% Intellectual Merit, 30% Collaborative Potential, and 30% Potential for Impact, on a scale from 1-5 as follows:

5 = Excellent for all criteria in this category
4 = Very good response to the criteria in this category
3 = Good response to the criteria in this category
2 = Fair response to the criteria in this category but more information needed
1 = Limited information provided for this category

A separate and final overall score will also be assigned on the ranking of 1-3 (3=fund, 2=consider funding, 1=do not fund).

Please direct any questions regarding the proposal process to iee@psu.edu.