Description: The Strategic Directions for Research Award (SDRA) Program supports innovative, interdisciplinary, collaborative research that involves faculty groups from multiple USC schools. The goal of this competitive funding opportunity is to identify areas of USC interdisciplinary strengths that present opportunities for cross-school collaboration and sustainable future external funding. Faculty teams across USC are welcome to apply. Applying teams must show their qualifications, creativity, and ability to make USC a leader in a significant area of study, as well as the sustainability of the proposed research with external funding.
Award: $150,000-300,000 for one year
Eligibility: Proposing PIs must be full-time tenure-track or non-tenure track faculty. Visiting and adjunct faculty are not eligible to apply. Proposing team must include at least two faculty members who hold primary appointments from two different USC schools and must include at least one assistant professor (tenure-track or non-tenure track). To encourage research sustainability, the teams are expected to provide specific external funding targets for continuing the research beyond the end of the award, including the funder, program name, and application/proposal submission dates.
Deadline: 5 pm, October 4, 2021