Penn's Office of the Vice Provost for Research manages a number of internal funding opportunities on behalf of the University. Among them is the University Research Foundation (URF). URF funds of up to $50,000 for investigator research projects and up to $3,000 in support of scholarly conferences are awarded biannually on a competitive basis. Proposals are evaluated by faculty review panels.
Standing faculty who apply for URF funding are strongly encouraged to apply for SAS Research Opportunity Grants (ROGs) and/or SAS Conference Support, as efforts are made between the URF and ROG reviewers to maximize award amounts.
Please note: as of Fall 2017, all URF applications must submitted online directly to the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, by the deadline. Because URF and SAS review committees work together to maximize award amounts for successful applications to both programs, standing faculty members in SAS are still required to submit a copy of their URF application together with their SAS conference support application, except when requesting support for projects that are not eligible for URF funding. Identical narrative and budget information may be submitted for both opportunities, but each must be uploaded separately. The URF online application portal allows applicants to download a pdf copy of their application, once it has been submitted, and this copy can then be uploaded to the SAS/Penn Research Support Application page. Please visit the the SAS/Penn Research Support Application page for more information on simultaneously submitting a SAS Conference application and a URF application copy.
Please contact Jody Chavez (215-898-7320; jchavez@sas.upenn.edu) in the SAS Dean's Office with any questions.