The Maryland Catalyst Fund program – formerly known as the Faculty Incentive Program – is the University of Maryland’s internal faculty research support program and a key resource in the university’s overall effort to expand its research activity, visibility and impact. The program is designed to enable innovative research, incentivize the pursuit of large, complex, and high-impact research initiatives, and help UMD faculty to be more competitive for extramural research awards.
The Maryland Catalyst Fund program is overseen by the Vice President for Research (VPR) and managed by the VPR’s Research Development Office, in coordination with UMD academic units and the Provost. All awards are supported by Designated Research Initiative Fund (“DRIF”) contributions from both faculty organizational unit(s) and central resources from the VPR and the Provost, and all award decisions are made subject to the availability of funds.
New Directions Funds provide support for faculty pursuing a new line of research, or pursuing particularly innovative research, writing, and / or creative work in fields where external funding is scarce. (Learn more)
There are two funding tracks:
Track A: Proof of Concept awards support researchers pursuing a new line of research or collaborative partnership to help them be competitive for external funding.
Track B: Limited External Grant Opportunity (LEGO) awards support particularly innovative research, writing, and/or creative work in fields where external funding is scarce.
Fearless Ideation Workshops support brainstorming activities in high potential multidisciplinary topics leveraging unique strengths within UMD. (Learn more)
Big Opportunity Funds support proposal development for faculty actively pursuing a large, high-visibility, externally-funded research opportunity (typically >= $2M/year). (Learn more)
Reinforcement Grants for operating support cover unfunded requirements that would be critical to the operation of a proposed large-scale externally-funded research award. (Learn more)
Only tenured/tenure-track and professional track faculty (at the rank of assistant research scientist or higher), whose full-time, home position is at UMD, are eligible to be the Principal Investigator of any Maryland Catalyst Fund award. Visiting, adjunct, and affiliate faculty are not eligible to apply; postdoctoral fellows are also ineligible.
New Directions Fund - Past Awardees
The inaugural competitions for campus-wide New Directions Fund awards took place in the fall of 2018, with work beginning in January 2018.
Richard Prather,EDUC-Human Development and Quantitative Methodology Devon Payne-Sturges, SPHL-Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health (MIAEH)
Kirsten Stoebenau,SPHL-Behavioral & Community Health Sangeetha Madhavan, BSOS-African American Studies Gregory R. Hancock, EDUC-Human Development and Quantitative Methodology
Jeremy Wells, ARCH-Historic Preservation Program Erica Molinario, BSOS-Psychology Stephanie Preston, University of Michigan - Psychology, Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Area
