Seed Funds
Call for Letters of Intent for the AICoE Seed Grant
(Deadline: September 30th, 2022)
The AI Center of Excellence aims to serve as a catalyst for advancing multidisciplinary research across campus. The center is seeking proposals for research seed grants leveraging machine learning to complement human impact, enabling medicine, science, and engineering, and building software infrastructure enabled by AI.
We are currently soliciting Letter of Intent(s) (LOI) from PIs across campus until Sept. 30, 2022. In the next 2 weeks, we will be reviewing the LOIs to determine the ones that the center can support with its current resources. We will then contact selected PIs around mid-October to invite them to submit a full proposal (max 2 pages) for consideration of funding by the center.
The center offers the following type of resources. Please also refer to the FAQ below if you have further questions on the usage of these resources or feel free to contact us at ai-coe@udel.edu.
Types of Resources Available
The AICoE welcomes the entire spectrum of research, whether it is a program in the beginning stage of development, or near the point of proposing to larger grantors. The proposal budget can range from $5,000 – $20,000. The PI can request an additional $5,000 towards undergraduate research.
Seed Funding Program – The center is looking to support demonstration of pilot projects to increase the success of proposals to external funding organizations (NSF, NIH, DoE, etc). The aim is to provide resources that would strengthen faculty preparing applications for projects advancing science. We prioritize proposals that encourage interdisciplinary research, which also involve multiple faculty affiliated with the Center.
UDEL DARWIN compute resources – DARWIN is a big data and high performance computing system designed to catalyze Delaware research and education. The PIs are strongly encouraged to visit the website and apply for compute resources for their projects. For more information, please visit dsi.udel.edu/core/computational-resources/darwin/
Research Software Engineer (RSE)/Postdoc Support – The center can pair a Postdoctoral Researcher to assist with AICoE-funded projects if requested.
Undergraduate AICoE Summer Stipend – AICoE is also providing funding support towards undergraduate students pursuing AI related research at any stage of their development. Undergraduate students in the AICoE summer stipend program can work full time on the project for ten weeks in the summer.
Workshops – AICoE will provide resources and assistance to funded PIs interested in running a workshop after funding has been awarded.
Research Focuses
Complementing Human Impact: Ensuring the future impact of AI for the greater good. Topics include the impact of AI on policy, social network analytics, humanities, ethics, law, science among others
AI for Medicine, Science, and Engineering: Enabling precision medicine, drug repurposing, identify actionable information from large and complex datasets using neural networks, healthcare analytics; detecting ecological balance of nature, environmental conditions and irrigation for better plant growth, climate change; developing engineering systems
AI to build Software Infrastructure: AI driven scientific computing tackling large computing workloads on emerging AI accelerators
Eligibility for Submitting Proposal
We welcome proposals that come from a UD faculty member who qualifies as a Principal Investigator (PI). Applicants may only submit one proposal as a PI or Co-PI.
Instructions to Submit the Letter of Intent (LOI)
1. Use the LOI template below to describe your research project
2. Email it to ai-coe@udel.edu before September 30th with the subject: “Letter of Intent for seed funding”
Feel free to email us at ai-coe@udel.edu if you have any questions!
Call for Full Proposals for the AICoE Seed Grant
(Deadline: November 9th, 2022)
The AI Center of Excellence aims to serve as a catalyst for advancing multidisciplinary research across campus. The center is seeking proposals for research seed grants leveraging machine learning to complement human impact, enabling medicine, science, and engineering, and building software infrastructure enabled by AI.
We are currently soliciting full proposals from the PIs who have been selected to move forward from the Letter of Intent round until November 9, 2022. In the following 2 weeks, we will review the proposals to determine which projects will be awarded seed grant funding.
Submission Requirements for the Full Proposal
Font Size: Must be 11 points or larger. Provide at least one-half inch (1/2″) margins – top, bottom, left, and right – for all pages
Page Limit: 2 pages (maximum) including figures, tables, images – but excluding references
Please submit your proposal as a PDF
What the Full Proposal should Cover:
Intellectual Merit: Does the proposal explore ideas to advance science and knowledge? If so, how?
Broader Impact (AICoE/UD/Global): How will the proposed research work and its results benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes?
Metrics of Success: How will the PI measure the success of the program quantitatively due to AICoE seed grant funding?
Investigator Qualifications and Team Science: Does the proposal articulate how the domain scientists envision the necessary help from an AI scientist? What is the plan for AI technology to help enable domain science?
Instructions to Submit the Full Proposal
Email proposal to ai-coe@udel.edu by the end of day November 9th with the subject: “Proposal for Seed Funding.”
Feel free to email us at ai-coe@udel.edu if you have any questions!
Deadline: November 9th, 2022
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do you have funds for an undergraduate researcher?
Yes we do. A PI can request up to $5000 to fund an undergraduate student to work on their project
What are the other types of resources available as the funding offered by the center is limited?
You can request for X% of an RSE’s time (RSE: Research Software Engineer aka a Postdoctoral Research Fellow) to work with you on your project. The RSE will be paid by the center. The center has recently recruited an RSE who will be soon joining us. The RSE’s expertise is in Machine Learning and interdisciplinary science.
Can a PI be the lead PI for more than one proposal?
No, however, the PI can be a co-PI in another proposal that is solving a different problem
Where do I add information about collaborating or intent to collaborate with other co-PIs as the center strongly encourages interdisciplinary collaboration?
You are welcome to weave this information into the summary of the research project question or send a note to us at ai-coe@udel.edu
Do I have to pay to use DARWIN resources?
No, but you would need to submit a form requesting for DARWIN resources for your project. Your request will be evaluated by the DARWIN team and you will be contacted about the allocation.
Does the awarded budget include funding for the time of an RSE and DARWIN resources?
No, the funding received will not need to go towards the use of additional resources offered by the center. The RSE is paid by the AICoE and using DARWIN is at no cost to UD PIs.