Center for Engineering in Vision and Ophthalmology Research Support

In celebration of the Center for Engineering in Vision and Opthalmology’s founding, $150,000 in funds are available for innovative collaborative research seed funding in Spring 2024.  Key aspects of the proposed funding mechanism are as follows:

Eligibility and Allowable Costs

  • Each faculty member may serve as lead PI for only one proposal, and all associated PIs must be Northwestern faculty members.
  • Funding is available in any area of research related to vision and opthalmology, but priority will be given to:
  1. Proposals that request support for postdoctoral fellows or graduate students;
  2. Projects that are too risky for federal funding;
  3. Projects that may not be a clear fit for existing funding mechanisms; 
  4. Projects for which preliminary data is necessary before applying for federal funding;
  5. Projects for which innovative collaborations are necessary and thus are unlikely to be eligible for federal funding mechanisms;
  6. Projects that represent new collaborations between investigators;
  • Award amounts for this program will be up to $50,000 per project.
  1. Funds will typically be used for graduate student or postdoc support, materials, supplies, user fees, lab services, capital equipment, and publication fees;
  2. Funds must be completely expended within 18 months of funding notification; no-cost extensions will not be allowed;
  3. Award funds may not be used for faculty salary, travel (except for data collection or project implementation), conferences, entertainment of visitors, alcohol, teaching activities or outreach activities (symposia, academic visitors, etc.).   
  4. Indirect costs are not applicable.
•   Direct questions regarding eligibility, research topics, or funding guidelines to Hao Zhang (hfzhang@northwestern.edu).

  • Download the full call for proposals, submission instructions, and read about previous winning awards here.