Up to $75,000 will be devoted to funding these awards. Seed awards are typically no more than $5,000. Applicants may request up to an additional $5,000 for the purchase of laboratory supplies and/or other equipment required for the project. (The laboratory supplies, equipment, cost and justification must be detailed in the application.)

All full-time CHS faculty regardless of rank or tenure status are eligible to apply, if part of their effort allocation is dedicated to research in their work plan.

Particular consideration will be given to those who have not recently received internal funding or those who intend to use this award to take previously internally funded work in a new direction.

Applications must include a detailed budget or a description of the intended use of funds. Funds must be used in accordance with university guidelines for direct costs associated with the proposal, which can include the following: 1) Student researchers, 2) publishing, 3) supplies/equipment, 4) travel, 5) summer salary, 6) participant payments, and 7) a course release during the Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 semester. Associate dean for research and your chairs/directors must sign off on application, if course-release is proposed.

Funding is expected to be available on July 1, 2025, and must be spent by June 30, 2026. Therefore, these funds must be spent (not just encumbered) by June 7, 2026, for non-personnel costs. All personnel costs must occur before or during the pay period ending on June 9, 2026. This timeline ensures that all funds are properly used before the end of the fiscal year.

Cost extensions are not allowed and all funds must be expended by June 30, 2026. Awardees will need to complete the requested final report and be willing to share their experiences and results at a public CHS event among colleagues.

Three pages maximum, including title, abstract and project description

The project description must address how the proposed activities are consistent with the goals of the program involving tangible outcomes, career development, and meaningful contributions to the field and CHS/university priorities. The description should include sufficient detail that allows reviewers to evaluate the appropriateness, merits, requirements and feasibility of the proposal. Applicants should likewise discuss their preparedness for the project alongside the composition of their research team, where applicable. Inclusive research teams encompassing meaningful participation of all members are strongly encouraged, including URM and/or minoritized faculty, early-stage investigators, trainees, and students (graduate and undergraduate).

The narrative should be concise, understandable by a broad audience, and organized into the following sections:

• Abstract (concisely convey, in lay terms, the nature of the project and its significance; 250 words maximum)
• Introduction/background
• Specific aims for the project
• Research plan to achieve aims
• Significance and impact of project

Use the citation format that is appropriate to your field. No page maximum, but limit to only highly relevant citations.

Please submit a detailed budget via the CHS Internal Budget Form.

• Personnel: For each person included in the proposal, describe the activities they will perform and the estimated time and cost with these activities.
• Travel: List estimated airfare, lodging, meals and incidental expenses as well as the approximate dates of travel and number of days of research. Economy class flights only are allowed. Travel funding requests must otherwise comply with VCU Office of Procurement Services guidelines. International travel must comply with current university policies.
• Supplies/equipment: Please itemize supplies and/or equipment in separate subcategories, such as software, subscriptions, books, materials, recordings, tools, chemicals, reagents, etc.
• Other: Please describe and estimate the cost of any additional activities to be supported by the grant (e.g., conference fees, registration fees or tuition). Please indicate how you arrived at the estimate.

• Biosketch/CV
• Recent (last 5 years), current or pending funding information; include a detailed description of any potential overlap with the proposed Seed Award and these funding mechanisms

• Mariam Alkazemi, Ph.D. (Robertson)
• Susan Bodnar-Deren, Ph.D. (Sociology)
• Christopher A. Brooks, Ph.D. (World Studies)
• Joshua Eckhardt, Ph.D. (English)
• Adam Ewing, Ph.D. (African American Studies)
• Laura Fix, Ph.D. (Math)
• Grace Gipson, Ph.D. (African American Studies)
• Daeha Joung, Ph.D. (Physics)
• Rohan Kalyan, Ph.D. (World Studies)
• Ka Un Lao, Ph.D. (Chemistry)
• Shannon McCallister, Ph.D. (Biology)
• Brooke Newman, Ph.D. (History)
• H. Reed Ogrosky, Ph.D. (Math)
• Joshua Sieber, Ph.D. (Chemistry)
• Indira Sultanic, Ph.D. (World Studies)
• Sarah Williams, Ph.D. (Forensic Science)

Dace Svikis, Psychology
Advancing precision medicine in alcohol use disorder treatment: Integration of neurofunctional phenotyping into a preliminary investigation of stand-alone web-based cognitive behavioral therapy

Vivian Dzokoto, Psychology
Library and Archives Visit for Research on Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion

Brent Cody, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
The mathematics and music of maximally even sets

Kamilia Rahmouni, World Studies
Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Tutors: An Exploration of the Effectiveness of ChatGPT in Teaching Arabic 

Soma Dhakal, Chemistry
Two-way dynamics of DNA Holliday junctions: Watching one molecule at a time

Stephanie Walcott, Forensic Science
The Creation of a Gun Shot Residue (GSR) Databank for the Reliable Identification of Ammunition in Shooting Cases

Kristina Hood, Psychology
S.O.S! (Snapshot of Support): A mixed methods photovoice study of the lived experiences of Black women experiencing infertility 

Ka Un Lao, Chemistry
First-Principles Quantum-Crystallographic X-Ray Structure Refinement

Jessica Trisko Darden, Political Science
Unequal Justice: Women’s Accountability for Nazi-Era War Crimes

Julian Glover, Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies
Black Boundlessness: Performance, Aesthetics and Ethics Under Duress

Marilyn Bishop, Physics
A New Structure for Sickle-Cell Hemoglobin

Christopher A. Brooks, World Studies
“We thought the Coronavirus wasn’t as bad:” Considering HIV positivity in the era of the Coronavirus in a Kenyan Community

Victor Chen, Sociology, and Katrina Hamilton, Virginia Community College System
The Structural and Cultural Context of Deaths of Despair: A Qualitative Study of Urban and Rural Joblessness and Precarity

Jeanine Guidry, Media and Culture, and Shillpa Navaal, School of Dentistry (with co-investigators)
Where Religion and Health Collide: Examining HPV Vaccine Uptake Among Children of Evangelicals

Daniel Morales, History
Latino Virginia Project

Michael Paarlberg, Political Science
Diaspora Democracy: Migrant Communities and Transnational Elections in Latin America

Matteo Pangallo, English
Strange Company: Foreign Performers in Medieval and Early Modern England

Cristina Stanciu, English
Indigenous Education and the Literature of the Boarding Schools in the U.S. and Canada

Nicola Tarasca, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
Quantum Algebra and Geometry of Curves

B. Ethan M. Coston, Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
In Pursuit of Pleasure: Is “Sexual Health” More Than an Absence of Disease?

Sean Cox, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
How Robustly Can You Predict the Future?

Christine Cynn, Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
AIDS Archives: "A Witness of My Time"

Brian Daugherity, History
The Green Light: School Integration in the United States

Soma Dhakal, Chemistry
Single Molecule Analysis of Peptide Modified DNA Holliday Junctions for Therapeutic Applications

Ronald Evans, Kinesiology and Health Sciences
Reconceptualizing Behavioral Weight Loss to Improve Weight Loss Maintenance: A Proof-of-Concept Trial

Nao Hagiwara, Psychology
Racial Disparities in Cancer Genetic Counseling Encounters

Michael Hall, English
Freedom Beyond Confinement: Travel and Imagination in African-American Cultural History and Letters

Mary Caton Lingold, English
Sound Legacy: Music and Slavery in an African Atlantic World

Karen McIntyre, Robertson
Journalistic Role Performance Project: A Systematic Analysis of Professional Roles Among Journalists in Rwanda and 46 Other Countries

Amy Rector, World Studies
Isotopic Records of Climate and Seasonality in the Luangwa River Valley, Zambia

Samaneh Oladi Ghadikolaei, World Studies
In Search of Divine Justice: Iranian Women’s Sacred Activism

Joann Richardson, Kinesiology and Health Sciences
Sole2Soul: Cultural Line Dancing as a Novel Approach to Physical Activity for Healthy Aging in Older African Americans

Sarah Seashols-Williams, Forensic Science
Use of MicroRNA Expression to Predict Body Mass Index in Forensic Samples

Faedah Totah, World Studies
Palestinians in the Old City of Damascus

Wenheng Zhang, Biology
Genetic Basis for Increased Floral Organ Number and Fruit Size in Tomato

Kevin Brosnan, Philosophy; Susan Bodnar-Deren, Sociology; and Kenda Sutton-EL, Birth in Color community partner
Health Science in the Time of Uncertainty: Public Health and the Politicization of Science

Maryanne Collinson, Chemistry, and Dexian Ye, Physics
Electrosynthetic approaches to making high surface area, nanoporous reduced graphene oxide composite electrodes

Craig Larson, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics; David Edwards, Statistical Science and Operations Research; and J. Paul Brooks, School of Business
New Methods for Computational Discovery of Patterns in Data

Joann Richardson, Kinesiology and Health Sciences, and Faika Zanjani, Department of Gerontology (with co-investigators)
Sole2Soul: Cultural line dancing as a novel approach to improving physical activity for healthy aging in older African Americans

Julio Alvarez, Biology, and Derek Prosser, Psychology
Single Microbe Electrochemistry