Success Stories
Research & InnovationSeed Grants are designed to helpfaculty launch innovative and collaborative research, scholarship, and creative works. Since the first seed grant competition in 2006, seed grants of $50,000 - $60,000 have been awarded to over 400 faculty researchers and research teams. More than$18.4 million in grants have been awarded through this program. The promising results from seed grant-funded faculty include important research findings, new partnerships, publications, workshops, exhibits, and seminars.
Every $1 invested in seed funding has helped unlock more than $4 in additional public and private funding.
Beyond financial returns, seed funding has supported 159 publications, 18 intellectual property outcomes, 100+ interdisciplinary collaborations, and the training and career development of 242 undergraduates, 273 graduate students, and 38 postdoctoral researchers.
Highlights from seed grant recipient successes:
“The research I was able to conduct through the RIO SEED grant funding yielded preliminary results, which I used as a proof of concept for future research during federal grant applications. I received a National Science Foundation CAREER award, partly due to the demonstrated research progress supported by this RIO SEED grant.” —Fernando Villanea (Anthropology)
“This is the first grant I have been a PI on. It is opening up doors for finding new ways to fund projects that go beyond my regular teaching and research duties. It has also created many collaborative relationships…” —Ajume Wingo (Philosophy)
“This seed grant was pivotal in my career progress. As the PI, I was able to collaborate with the interdisciplinary team and learn new and important skillsets, in particular social science methodologies. I used the findings as well as the skills that I gained from this project as the foundation of my NSF CAREER proposal, which I was granted last summer. They continue to serve as the foundation of a new interdisciplinary proposal that I work on collaboratively to write with several other faculty and ĢӰ and elsewhere.” —Sherri Cook (Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering)
“The support of the seed grant was critical for my Mellon/ACLS Scholars & Society Fellowship, which enabled me to work with the Scientific Evidence Committee of the Science and Technology Law Section of the American Bar Association….This partnership will be critical for my work moving forward as well as future grant proposals including NSF CAREER.” —Sandra Ristovska (Media Studies)
“This seed grant is the first ever grant I have won after I became a faculty member at ĢӰ so I feel grateful that at this early-stage RIO is willing to fund my bold ideas to create a potentially transformative paradigm in the field of renewable energy. I don't think other external funding agencies would be providing support to the idea I have worked on the RIO grant. In this regard, this seed grant is a huge deal for my career progress.”—Longji Cui (Mechanical Engineering)
"This seed grant was instrumental in developing a new area of research within my group. Specifically, with the seed grant, I was able to expand our current scope of work while generating preliminary results necessary for an NIH proposal, which was funded.—Joel Kaar (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
“This editorial project has expanded the range of my expertise in Women and Gender Studies while broadening my contact with other scholars in the field here at ĢӰ Boulder, nationally, and internationally.”—Karen Jacobs (English)
“Seed Grant support has transformed my research by allowing me to take on the risk of an entirely new direction. This work has only just begun to pay off in terms of invited talks, grants, and papers.” —Corrie Detweiler (Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology)
"The seed grant was instrumental in developing the preliminary data for a grant submitted to the NIH. This grant was recently funded." —Loren Hough (Physics)