The Ohio Space Grant Consortium (OSGC) Seed Grant Program

OSGC offers seed grants to support innovative programs and research demonstrating space related interests.

Grants are in the areas of higher education, precollege teacher and public outreach, and research infrastructure. The precollege teacher and public outreach and higher education areas are restricted to a maximum of $2,500, while those in the research infrastructure area may be for a maximum of $10,000. Seed grants are to be matched with funds (cash or in-kind) from non-federal sources.

Proposals may be submitted at any time. The Executive Committee of the OSGC will evaluate them and awards will be made until the allotted budget for the year has been utilized.

Higher Education
This area focuses on proposals for aerospace-related educational programs and activities, including curriculum development, design, and implementation of new courses or enhancement of existing courses at the university, college, or community college level. These proposals should involve a major course or program addition or modification to the pre-service education curriculum or the engineering/science/technology curriculum. Proposals in which principal investigators from different disciplines or different institutions collaborate are encouraged. A desired outcome of the project would be an aerospace-related program, activity, course materials, or syllabus that can be used by faculty at other institutions.

Precollege Teacher and General Public Outreach
These areas focus on aerospace-related proposals for activities, courses, or workshops for in-service K-12 teachers and the general public. The programs or activities can be new or an upgrading of existing successful programs. Programs may involve faculty or staff from universities, colleges, community colleges, and other organizations. Qualified educational professionals from the community and local school systems may also submit proposals. Collaborative proposals involving a combination of participants are particularly encouraged. (Precollege Teacher and General Public Outreach do not include proposals for K-12 student classroom activities. Such activities are the subject of OSGC mini-grants; please see the Mini-grant page of this website for details.)

Research Infrastructure
This area supports the development of proposals for aerospace-related research involving junior faculty (assistant-professor level) who have not previously received significant research support from outside their university. Of particular interest in this seed grant area is collaborative research activity between the faculty member and a scientist/engineer from the NASA Glenn Research Laboratory or the Air Force Research Laboratories. The maximum $10,000 award is meant to support the faculty member for approximately one month and a graduate student for a three-month period, most probably during the summer. The results obtained using this funding are expected to lead to one or more full proposals submitted to funding agencies at the end of the grant period. The OSGC and the University Affairs Officers at NASA Glenn and the Air Force Laboratories can provide help to the faculty member in designating government employee contacts in different research areas. A proposal form must be supplemented by additional material describing the collaborative research to qualify for an award in this area. Proposals must include a letter of endorsement from the applicant's department chairperson and a letter from the government collaborator supporting the proposed research.

Brochures describing this grant program and application information may be obtained from the OSGC main office or university branch offices, or by downloading copies of the most recent announcement forms below.

You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded on your system to read the following downloads:

Download 2008-2009 OSGC seed grant announcement flyer. Download current OSGC seed grant application form.

Word

PDF     PDF

Online Submissions
Click here to complete and submit on-line seed grant application.
Click here to submit completed seed grant application.

Click here to view seed grant recipients from 2006-2007.
Click here to view seed grant recipients from 2005-2006.
Click here to view seed grant recipients from 2004-2005.
Click here to view seed grant recipients from 2003-2004.
Click here to view seed grant recipients from 2002-2003.
Click here to view seed grant recipients from 2001-2002.
Click here to view seed grant recipients from 2000-2001.