Apply

Applications open on the first day of classes for the fall semester. If this is your first time applying for funding from the Further Fund, reach out to the STUDIO for guidance on putting together your application.

Microgrants: Funding proposals up to $500 are accepted on a rolling basis during the Fall and Spring Semesters.

Full Grants: Funding proposals up to $5,000 are accepted until the designated Fall and Spring Deadlines with juried decisions delivered between 3 and 4 weeks following the deadline.

• Fall deadline September 21st.
• Spring deadline February 15th.

All awardees must submit project documentation.

Overview

The STUDIO administers the Frank-Ratchye Further Fund (FRFF): an endowment to encourage the creation of innovative projects by the faculty, students and staff of Carnegie Mellon University.

With this fund, the STUDIO seeks to develop a cache of groundbreaking projects created at CMU — works that can be described as “thinking at the edges” of the intersection of disciplines. The Frank-Ratchye Further Fund supports approximately fifty projects per year through a combination of full grants and Microgrants.
 

Eligibility

All actively affiliated students, staff, and faculty are eligible to receive a FRFF Grant. For staff and faculty, please be mindful that your project activity should overlap with your contracted employment period if you expect to receive your award through reimbursements. Students will receive awards via direct deposit as a “non-qualified scholarship.”

Application Outline

All student applications are required to have a faculty reference. In the application portal, the reference asks for a short statement expressing their personal recommendation of the student project based on its feasibility, quality, and the student or students’ capacity to do this type of creative research.

1. Project Title

2. What are you planning to create?

3. Why are you creating it?

4. How will you accomplish this?

   Outline your methods

5. Why are you applying for the Further Fund

   Use this question to discuss the interdisciplinary aspect of this project

6. Bio

   Tell us about your previous experiences, education, and / or training that prepared you to take on this project

7. Names of Collaborators

8. Supplemental Materials / Webpage

   If the project for which you seek support already has its own website or shareable online content (e.g. dropbox or google drive, set sharing permissions to public)

9. Minimum Amount Requested – Maximum Amount Requested

   Tell us how much funding you need for your proposed project, and identify a “minimum” amount that would help you accomplish at least some part to build off of

10. Budget Justification

    Explain the different outcomes of receiving the larger amount of funding

11. Project Start Time

12. Anticipated Duration

13. Anticipated additional support

    In addition to financial support, what additional forms of support might help you realize this project?

Budget

• We recommend using this template to outline how you intend to spend the award for your research project. Your budget will be evaluated on how it clearly relates to the methods/material costs described in your proposal.
• Foreign Nationals (nonresident aliens), however, are subject to tax withholding and reporting on non-qualified scholarships. The only way to be exempt from the tax is if there is a treaty between the foreign national’s home country and the United States and if the individual is qualified to take advantage of the treaty.