Johns Hopkins University has announced two new award programs that together will provide an additional $15 million to advance innovative faculty-led research over the next three years. The new funding programs, called Catalyst and Discovery awards, are aimed at early-career scholars and at organizers of ambitious research projects proposed by teams that involve more than one Johns Hopkins division or affiliate. These new internal financial awards are urgently needed to make up for declining research funds from traditional government sources, such as the National Institutes of Health, university officials say.
"The academic leadership at the university wants our faculty to know how inspired by and supportive we are of the work they do to expand the horizons of knowledge," says Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels.
The awards were created as Johns Hopkins leaders' response to the increasing difficulty that faculty members face in finding research funding. Daniels recently called attention to this problem in an article he contributed to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Catalyst Awards program provides up to $75,000 to early-career faculty members who are undertaking exceptional research or creative endeavors. The awards will help these individuals launch their careers during the crucial years when startup funds are depleted and external funding or other support may be elusive.
The Discovery Awards program is designed to foster faculty-led cross-university research, encouraging new interaction among scholars from various university schools or affiliates. Some of these awards will be reserved for faculty teams that need startup support while they look for outside funding, a large-scale grant, or a cooperative agreement.
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