Energy Research
Seed Fund Program

Application deadline: TBD

The Initiative's Seed Fund Program supports innovative, early-stage research projects. The program is not designed to provide additional resources for projects that are already underway. Through the grants MITEI seeks to encourage researchers from across MIT to collaborate in exploring new energy-related ideas and to open up new avenues for energy-related research employing the full range of Institute capabilities. Proposals across the entire spectrum of energy and related environmental research areas are eligible.

While the call is, as always, open to proposals on any energy topic, MITEI members who support the program are also interested in proposals that involve energy and water.

FUNDING AVAILABLE

It is anticipated that awards will be made for up to $150,000, with periods of performance of up to two years. The grants are supported primarily through pooled funds from the MITEI Founding and Sustaining Members. Proposals submitted, but not funded, in this round may be reconsidered for support in the next round of seed grants, approximately one year from now.

KEY DATES

TBD

ELIGIBILITY AND RESTRICTIONS

The MITEI Seed Fund Program is open to all who, at the start of funding, are MIT faculty or members of the research staff with principal investigator privileges. No researcher may be listed as PI on more than two proposals submitted in any given funding round.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications are submitted online once the Call for Proposals has been posted. It is not necessary to route these proposals through OSP prior to submission.

On the online form, fill in all of the fields (these will generate the cover page) and upload the required documents (all in PDF format):

  1. the body of the proposal;
  2. the budget, (for budget preparation, in advance of submitting the proposal, please contact Claudia Forero-Sloan foreroca@mit.edu in the MITEI Financial Office to be directed to the appropriate financial officer);
  3. the Co-funding/Background IP form(s) (separate co-funding/BIP forms are required for each PI/Co-PI listed on the proposal).

The completed documents (proposal, budget, and co-funding/background IP form(s)) should be uploaded as 3 PDF documents by the January 25th submission deadline.

REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

The review criteria will emphasize the importance of the scientific problem, novelty of the ideas, and potential impact of the work. How the proposed work complements ongoing energy research on campus will be considered. The promise of opportunities for long-term funding to continue the research project beyond the seed fund period of performance will also be considered. The MITEI Governing Board will advise the MIT Energy Council on awards.

CONDITIONS

  1. Project management – The PI is directly responsible for performance of the work in the proposal and should not serve as proxy for others.
  2. Co-funding – Any anticipated external source of support for the proposed project must be declared at the time of submission. If co-funding becomes an issue during the seed fund proposal/project process, this should be discussed with MITEI leadership prior to use of such funds.
  3. IP – If the PI has existing IP relevant to the proposed project, this must be declared at the time of submission.
  4. No researcher may be listed as PI on more than two proposals submitted in any given funding round.
  5. Deliverables
    1. PIs are expected to submit an interim report at the end of the first year and a final report at the end of seed fund support. The reports will be helpful in promoting the projects and in assisting PIs with finding support to continue the research and grow the projects once seed funding is finished.
    2. PIs should send publications resulting from the seed fund award to MITEI, ATTN: Karen Gibson (kgibson@mit.edu).