Internal Funding

University Research Committee (URC) Standard Award

The Office of Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) provides internal funding through the University Research Committee (URC) mechanism that will accept a diverse range of grant proposals once per academic year to distribute funds for the next fiscal year, which runs from June 1 to May 31. The URC purpose is to fund meritorious faculty research in alignment of our commitment to research excellence at Baylor University. 

For Fiscal Year 2028, the URC will award multiple $5,000 standard awards to individual faculty. In the past, larger awards (up to $50k) were also granted through the URC mechanism; these $50k awards are no longer granted through the URC. Instead, larger awards are only available through the Baylor In Deeds Research Incubator Awards (see below).

Each applicant will clearly articulate their request in a standard proposal focused on pertinent supportive data along with accompanying details, budget, and timeline. Although some maximum limit on URC funds to individual faculty members over an established period of time will be implemented, URC envisions that the primary driver of future successful URC proposals will be the successful translation of previous URC funding to proposed outputs, which should include awarded external grants for STEM fields.

Eligibility

Full-time Baylor faculty, regardless of academic rank, are eligible to serve as principal investigators for URC standard internal awards. Visiting faculty, adjunct faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates are not eligible to serve as principal investigators.

Baylor in Deeds Research Incubator Awards

Rather than simply inviting faculty to apply for collaborative internal research awards broadly, we are structuring our collaborative internal awards to cultivate communities of faculty – or “research incubators” – within our university related to areas of strategic focus identified in Baylor in Deeds. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will then fund interdisciplinary teams that emerge from the incubator communities. The teams will be eligible to apply for $30-60k research funds to be spent over the following fiscal year (June 1 – May 31). Faculty are only eligible for grant funding by first joining an incubator group – see Step 1 of the Funding Process.

Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Achievement Small Award Program (URSA)

Three separate awards are available through the URSA program to faculty who mentor undergraduate student research: URSA Small Awards, URSA Travel Awards, and URSA Equipment/Supply Awards. URSA Small Awards are awarded to faculty mentors to promote and expand research participation by undergraduate students, to engage students in the active faculty/student collaborative learning relationships necessary for success in all fields of research, and to expose students to resources and facilities that may stimulate their interest in pursuing research careers.