Faculty

External Funding

External funding in the form of grants, contracts, and fellowships are an essential aspect of the research process. Sponsored awards cover the direct costs of research, such as faculty time, graduate students salaries and benefits, specialized software or equipment, the cost of recruiting participants, support for collaborators, etc.   

The University of South Florida incurs significant expenses in the form of indirect costs leading up to and while conducting sponsored research projects. Broadly speaking, this investment in the research enterprise benefits all Americans as it serves to advance knowledge, making discoveries that are the foundation for technological and medical progress, and to train the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. (Breaking Down the Costs of Federal Research at Universities. Association of American Universities, June 2022)

USF Limited Submission Opportunities

Some funding opportunities are considered Limited Submissions. If the sponsor has placed limits on the number of applications that may be submitted by the institution, per the Limited Submissions Guidelines, internal vetting of pre-proposals by a subcommittee of the USF Research Council.  Anyone wishing to submit a proposal for one of these programs should first complete the Letter of Intent electronic form. In most cases, the deadline for the internal letter of intent is indicated on the Limited Submissions Calendar. Pre-proposals must be submitted at least 60 days before the agency deadline. The pre-proposal should be sent to Sponsored Research at limitedsubmission@usf.edu.

Cyber Florida | the Florida Center for Cybersecurity

Cyber Florida is enabling support mechanisms to fuel cutting-edge and impactful research broadly themed around cybersecurity and related areas at SUS institutions. We are particularly interested in enabling the submission of (successful) proposals from SUS institutions that are (a) collaborative and large-scale (> $2M Total) and (b) CAREER and YIP proposals from junior faculty.

Interested investigators are requested to contact Dr. Sriram Chellappan, Academic Director of Cybersecurity Research at Cyber Florida, to discuss steps for support via an email to sriramc@cyberflorida.org. While support is flexible and contingent on proposal needs, broad areas of identified support include

  • funding grant writers to work on proposal preparation;
  • funding to get proposals peer-reviewed by established experts in the field;
  • travel support for face-to-face meetings toward team build-up and project planning;
  • travel support to visit federal funding agencies and program managers; and
    hiring external mentors to work with junior faculty for CAREER and YIP proposal development.
  • Other forms of support will also be considered based on proposal needs.

At Cyber Florida, we are working to make Florida the premier state for academic research in cybersecurity and related areas.

USF Institute of Applied Engineering (IAE) Opportunity Portal

The IAE's collaboration opportunities range from:

  • Submitting to longstanding, rolling Broad Agency Announcements (BAA) in specific topic areas welcoming white papers and presentations that lead to critical relationships among universities, industry, and the DoD.
  • Small Business Technology Transfer partnerships and projects (STTRs and SBIRs).
    Guidance through the DoD Request for Proposal process through concept development.
  • Support for test events, challenge invitations, and calls for papers.

These opportunities can range anywhere from topics in data science to healthcare to environmental engineering, social sciences, and much more. If you have any questions please email us at IAE-InfoReady@usf.edu.