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External Funding

Dr. Kristi Anseth gave the 103rd Distinguished Research Lecture on August 24th. Heart valves rely on the health of a particular cell type known as “valvular interstitial cells” to maintain their proper function. Here these unique cells (red with blue nuclei) are shown growing on an artificial scaffold, offering the possibility of a better alternative to mechanical or transplant-derived valve replacement.
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Office of Contracts and Grants Training Presentations

The Center for Humanities and the Arts

Graduate Committee on the Arts & Humanities

Graduate Student Funding

There are hundreds of potential external funding agencies that support research, training, construction, curriculum development, etc. to which the University of Colorado researchers submit proposals. Historically, federal government agencies have been the source of approximately 90% of CU-Boulder's sponsored project funds. Numerous other agencies – foundations, local and national corporations, state and local governments, foreign corporations and governments, etc. – are also potential sources of funding for research and other projects.

Identifying Funding Sources

The Office of Contracts and Grants assists with proposal development by interpreting guidelines, preparing budgets, reviewing proposal format, and formally submitting proposals for external funding. Occasionally, OCG will consult with the faculty regarding potential funding sources, but CU-Boulder researchers usually identify their own funding sources.

A number of searchable databases of funding sources can assist in these efforts. In particular, CU-Boulder provides free access to SPIN, InfoEd's database of funding opportunities to CU-Boulder personnel working on CU-Boulder computers only. (No username or password required.) See also the SPIN portion of InfoEd's Quick Reference Guide.

Grants.gov also has a comprehensive, searchable data base for identifying all discretionary grants offered by the 26 federal grant-making agencies.

Finding Funding for the Arts and Humanities

There is a growing need for, and interest in, finding external funding for the arts and humanities. As a starting point for these efforts, we have compiled a partial list of funding sources that may be of particular use to the Arts and Humanities.

Limited Competitions

Occasionally, institutional limits are imposed by federal funding agencies which limit the number of proposals CU-Boulder may submit for a particular grant. In these cases, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research holds an internal competition among interested CU-Boulder faculty to select the most likely proposal to succeed in securing the grant and which will best further the University's research priorities.

See the current Limited Research Competitions.