Research and Commercialization Funding Opportunities
Collaboration and Networking Opportunities
The Empire Innovation Program (EIP) supports the recruitment and retention of faculty with strong track record of research accomplishments. EIP hires expand SUNY's research capacity in strategic priority areas while also strengthening areas where SUNY has a recognized leadership position. A recently instituted Chancellor's Early Career Scholar program supports the recruitment of high-potential early career researchers.
Launched in 2018, the SUNY Research Seed Grant Program provides funding to catalyze and support SUNY faculty in the pursuit of large external grants in strategic priority areas. Awards are provided annually through a competitive RFP process under multiple tracks including large Center scale planning and development grants, multidisciplinary small team awards, and NIH proposal resubmission support awards. A new COVID seed grant program was launched in 2020.
The Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) helps faculty turn their research into market-ready technologies. TAF funding is awarded through a competitive process that considers the availability of intellectual property protection, marketability, commercial potential, feasibility and breadth of impact. The funding helps deliver commercially relevant solutions and increases their attractiveness to potential investors.
The SUNY Graduate Research Empowering and Accelerating Talent (GREAT) is a one-time, $5,000 award to SUNY students who win recognition in a Federal pre-doctoral research-based fellowship competition.
The How to Write Winning NIH Grant Proposals Workshop is a summer workshop that provides faculty with strategies, insights and tips on successful grant writing, research and proposal resubmission. For more information, contact Jacquie Spano at Jacquie.Spano@rfsuny.org.
SUNY's NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop is a 2-day, spring workshop that provides training and mentoring for tenure-track assistant professors to pursue the National Science Foundation’s prestigious Faculty Early Career Development grant. For more information, contact Jacquie Spano at Jacquie.Spano@rfsuny.org.
This series of webinars prepares rising senior undergraduates and first-and second-year graduate students in STEM fields to compete for NSF’s prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award. Webinars are conducted each October by Prof. Susan Brennan, Stony Brook University. For more information, contact Dr. Brennan at susan.brennan@stonybrook.edu.
SUNY Startup Summer School (S4) provides faculty, students, and staff with the knowledge and networks that will enable them to commercialize breakthrough technology. S4 offers accelerated entrepreneurial education, training, and mentoring for participants to help them secure the initial funding needed to get their technology to market. S4 also offers proposal development support to help research teams and startups secure grants and other non-dilutive funding. For more information, email Jessica.Stanley-Updyke@rfsuny.org.
.The Innovation Intensive Clinic affords students an immersive opportunity to work on-site in SUNY Polytechnic’s laboratories and partner with interdisciplinary teams to understand and work within the technology commercialization process in a university setting. With a heavy focus on intellectual property law and the regulation of new technologies, students will be on the cutting edge of both the law and such rapidly evolving areas as nanotechnologies, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence.
.The Research Forward webinar series is designed to enhance the skills of faculty seeking federal funding for their research. This virtual, interactive monthly forum brings to SUNY, experts from various federal agencies, to share details on emerging research challenges and new funding opportunities. Visit our Events page for details about upcoming webinars.
.NSF Deep Tech Webinar Series:
Hear from the nation's top thought leaders about how they are making an impact on the deep tech incubation ecosystem and accelerating commercialization for deep tech startups.
SUNY Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund that accelerates startups affiliated with the State University of New York to bolster commercialization. The fund leverages the scale of the system-wide startup and intellectual property portfolios to stimulate and inspire entrepreneurial activity throughout the SUNY enterprise.
The Innovare Advancement Center in Rome, NY aims to be a global catalyst to converge research talent with cutting edge facilities and focused technology challenges to accelerate the development of capabilities that protect and empower our country.
SUNY federal advocacy events connect faculty and students to research and funding opportunities with the Department of Defense, national laboratories, and other federal agencies. At these events members of the SUNY community to share their research face-to-face with program managers, connect with scientific mentors, network with R&D leaders, and explore competitive internship and fellowship opportunities.
Contact Jacquie Spano at Jacquie.Spano@rfsuny.org for more information
The Artificial Intelligence Multiprocessing Optimized System, AiMOS, was launched in 2019 by a unique partnership between New York State, IBM, RPI and SUNY. With 8 peta-flops configured to enable exploration of new AI applications, AiMOS is the most powerful supercomputer in the State of New York. Located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, it serves as test bed for the New York State-IBM Research AI Hardware Center and is accessible to faculty and students from SUNY to conduct research. Current SUNY projects leveraging the power of AiMOS include multi-scale modeling of blood platelet dynamics, deep learning of variation and regulatory networks in budding yeast, machine learning for genomics, simulating the SARS-CoV-2 spike activation mechanism, RNA sequencing analysis of viral infections, prediction of ADHD and co-morbidities using MRI, media forensics and deep fake detection, and inverse materials design.