The Research Development Office within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) is pleased to announce the awardees from the Fall 2024 semester through the Here and Next Seed Grant Program. The program’s broad goal is to encourage novel, innovative interdisciplinary research excellence amongst Washington University researchers on both the Medical School and Danforth Campuses. Largely writ, these programs aid researchers in laying the groundwork to be competitive and successful in submitting proposals to external funding opportunities, particularly complex, large proposals.
Awarded research projects and teams are fundamentally interdisciplinary and innovative. Successful proposals addressed at least one of five key areas of focus within the Here and Next agenda: Public Health, Global Health, Environmental Research, Digital Transformation, and Research Impacting the St. Louis Community.
Fiscal Year 2026 Program details will be posted on our Here and Next Research Seed Grant website later this summer.
Questions can be directed to researchseedfunding@wustl.edu.
Congratulations to the below teams!
Transcend Initiative Grant Awardees
Transcend Initiative Grants provide infrastructure support to cross-school, interdisciplinary teams to grow the research enterprise around topics of broad societal concern and importance.
The Transcend Initiative Grant accepts applications on a rolling basis during the academic year.
- Robustness for Autonomy in Human-Systems Engagement (RAISE), Leadership: ShiNung Ching (McKelvey); Jeffrey Zacks (A&S); Bruno Sinopoli (Mckelvey); Chien-Ju Ho (McKelvey) Here and Next Pillar: Digital Transformation
One Year Partial Award:
- Center for Firearm Injury Prevention in St. Louis (CFIRST), Leadership: Kristen Mueller (WUSM/SPH); Timothy McBride (SPH); Leila Sadat (Law) and Douglas Schuerer (WUSM) Here and Next Pillar: Public Health
Spring 2025 Ignite Interdisciplinary Grant Awardees
Applications for the Fall 2025 Ignite Interdisciplinary Grant will be due in late September 2025.
Public & Global Health
- Choosing Change: Reducing Health Disparities through the Choice Neighborhood Initiatives; PIs: Yung Chun (Brown), Jason Jabbari (Brown), Kelly Harris (WUSM), Kia Davis (WUSM)
- Interdisciplinary Development of a Social Support Intervention to Improve Health after Brain Injury; PIs: Jessica Kersey (WUSM), Brian Carpenter (A&S), Aimee James (WUSM)
- Co-Designing for Impact: A Case Study of Heart Failure Polypills; PI: Anubha Agarwal (WUSM), Emmanuel Tetteh (Brown), Penina Laker (Sam Fox)
- Pamoja: Patient Navigation to Improve Cancer Outcomes; PIs: Thomas Odeny (WUSM) and Byron Powell (Brown)
- Interrogating Diverse Modes of Bacterial Growth Arrest to Increase Efficacy of Antibiotics; PIs: Petra Levin (A&S), Gary Patti (A&S), Hani Zaher (A&S), David Rosen (WUSM)
Digital Transformation
- Multimodal Reasoning and Reliable Language Models for Eviction Prevention; PIs: Jiaxin Huang (McKelvey) and Patrick Fowler (Brown)
- Synthetic Clinical Text Data: Using Large Language Models and Synthetic Data to Share Clinical Data Across Disciplines; PIs: Adam Wilcox (WUSM), Zachary Abrams (WUSM), Mackenzie Hofford (WUSM), Chenyang Lu (McKelvey)
Environmental Research
- Investigating the Impact of Neighborhood Contextual Factors on Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Persons Living with Dementia; PIs: Fanghong Dong (WUSM), Bomin Kim (Sam Fox), Min Lian (WUSM)
- Balancing Conservation of an Endangered Ecosystem with Community Well-being in Madagascar Using Implementation Science; PIs: Krista Milich (A&S), Virgina McKay (SPH), Emily Wrobleski (A&S)
- An Evidence-Based Toolkit to Conduct Research on Climate Resilience and Health Impacts in Affordable Housing; PIs: Rodrigo Reis (SPH), Lindsay Underhill (WUSM), Catalina Freixas (Sam Fox)
- Beyond the Bunkers: Excavating the Twentieth Century at Tyson Research Center; PIs: Stephanie Kirk (A&S), Susan Flowers (Tysons/A&S), Heidi Kolk (Sam Fox)
Spark Funding Awardees
The Spark Funding program accepts applications on a rolling basis during the academic year under two tracks: Proposal Development Track and Convening Track.
Proposal Development Track (since Fall 2024)
Proposal Development Track grants provide support to teams as they prepare, write, and submit large competitive grants to external sponsors.
- Quantum-Enabled Sensing Technologies (QUEST); Chuanwei Zhang (A&S), Lan Yang (McKelvey), David Piston (WUSM), Chong Zu (A&S); Digital Transformation
- Centers for Diabetes Translation Research; Debra Joshu-Haire (SPH), Ross Brownson (Brown), Lora Iannotti (SPH), Dominic Reeds (WUSM); Public Health
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers; Li Yang (A&S), Rohan Mishra (McKelvey), Erik Henriksen (A&S), Sanghoon Bae (McKelvey); Environmental Research and Digital Transformation
- Multimodal Predication and Early Intervention for Psychosis Spectrum Symptom Progression in Adolescents; Nicole Karcher (WUSM) and Deanna Barch (A&S); Public Health
- Scaling the Lay Responder Model of Prehospital Care Education; Nathanael Smith (WUSM) and Patricia Widder (McKelvey); Public Health and Global Health
Convening Track
Convening Track grants provide support to developing initiatives as they plan their larger research trajectory.
- Mapping the Vote: A Pop-Up Initiative to Explore Climate Related Changes and Voter Behavior; Laura Brugger (Brown), Bo Li (A&S), Andrew Reeves (A&S); Environmental Research
- LIGHT Festival; Juliet Iwelunmor (WUSM), Thembekile Shato (WUSM), Temitope Ojo (WUSM), Ross Brownson (Brown); Public Health
- Designing a community-centered Action Plan to Enhance Climate Resilience and Public Health Equity in Affordable Housing; Lindsay Underhill (WUSM), Catalina Freixas (Sam Fox), Rodrigo Reis (SPH), Yi Wang (WUSM); Public Health
- Establishing a St. Louis Community Aging Research Registry; Tammy English (A&S), Derek Isaacowitz (A&S), Brian Gordon (WUSM), Nancy Morrow-Howell (Brown); Public Health
- Improving Re-Entry Outcomes Using Digital Technologies; Vidya Eswaran (WUSM), Patricia Cavazos-Rehg (WUSM), Phillip Marotta (Brown); Digital Transformation
- Urban Humanities: What’s Next?; Stephanie Kirk (A&S) and Bruce Lindsay (Sam Fox); Environmental Research