UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences is accepting proposals for its new initiative: the Mid-Scale Seed Grant Program. The program is designed to accelerate multi- and interdisciplinary research collaborations involving computational and data sciences methodologies, especially those that could contribute to the institute’s five research hubs — Artificial Intelligence Hub, Computational Sciences Hub, Data Sciences Hub, Digital Twins Hub and Quantum Sciences Hub — and/or affiliated centers.
“ICDS is eager to support Penn State faculty as they engage in multi-disciplinary collaborations that contribute to the ICDS research hubs,” said Eric Ford, ICDS director of research and co-hire, and distinguished professor of astronomy and astrophysics in the Eberly College of Science.
The deadline to submit a proposal is Wednesday, Oct. 22, via InfoReady. Award announcements are expected in December.
Tenure-line faculty from any Penn State campus are eligible to submit proposals and serve in the principal investigator (PI) role. PIs are encouraged to identify how this program could best help their research groups contribute to the ICDS mission.
Proposals may aim to establish or strengthen new research collaborations spanning multiple disciplines or colleges; increase the competitiveness of an upcoming high-risk, high-reward proposal; increase the competitiveness of a previous proposal that the PI intends to revise and resubmit for external funding; help the PI’s research group adapt their research program to remain competitive; acquire equipment that provides an improvement in the data available to support research programs of ICDS affiliated researchers; build a foundation for future large proposals for external support; and/or support Penn State researchers contributing to a multidisciplinary team that extends beyond Penn State.
Those interested in submitting may request up to $50,000 in funding to be spent on a project between January 2026 and June 2027. Proposals submitted with budgets up to $100,000 will be considered if they request support for a project involving two or more ICDS faculty co-hires; request support for a project that makes a connection between two ICDS research hubs; or request support for two graduate students or postdocs based in different departments or colleges as part of their team.
For complete details, including funding information, visit the ICDS website.