FRFF Grants & Microgrants

Thank you for a fantastic year of project proposals. We have awarded this year’s total fund and will reopen August 24 2026.
Awardees Must Submit Project Documentation
Overview/Schedule
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.
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.
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
Faculty Statement of Support: All students are required to have a faculty member provide a brief statement of support using the reference section of the application. Faculty are expected to share 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.
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Project Title
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What are you planning to create?
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Why are you creating it?
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How will you accomplish this?
Outline your methods
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Why are you applying for the Further Fund
Use this question to discuss the interdisciplinary aspect of this project
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Bio
Tell us about your previous experiences, education, and / or training that prepared you to take on this project
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Names of Collaborators
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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)
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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
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Budget Justification
Explain the different outcomes of receiving the larger amount of funding
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Project Start Time
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Anticipated Duration
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Anticipated additional support
In addition to financial support, what additional forms of support might help you realize this project? Checking these boxes does not guarantee the availability of additional resources. Please follow up directly with the STUDIO studio-info@andrew.cmu.edu
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.
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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.