Fund Details
Aramont Fund for Emerging Science Research - SEAS Competition 2019

Brief Description:

The Aramont Fund for Emerging Science Research provides critical funding to advance high-risk, high reward science conducted by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty.


Description:

The Aramont Fund for Emerging Science Research is made possible by a generous gift from the Aramont Charitable Foundation and will provide critical funding to advance high-risk, high reward science conducted by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will administer the Fund on behalf of the President of Harvard University, at whose discretion awards will be made. 

Applications should propose research in the natural sciences, specifically for work that may be considered high-risk, high-reward. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of intellectual merit, inter-disciplinary collaboration, innovation, and likely impact on the field.

Funds will be awarded in two categories:
  1. Junior Faculty ($100K per award): Each of four schools (Harvard Medical School, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences) is invited to submit up to two nominations in the Junior Faculty category to be considered in the University-wide competition.  One award will be made in this category to support work over one to two years.
  2. Doctoral Students and Postdoctoral Fellows ($10K per award): Each of four schools (Harvard Medical School, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences) is invited to submit up to two nominations in the Doctoral Students and Postdoctoral Fellows category to be considered in the University-wide competition. For the purposes of this competition, the affiliation of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows is determined by the school in which their faculty adviser is appointed. One award per school, for a total of four awards, will be made in this category to support work over one year.


Application Information:

This competition is to select nominees from SEAS to be considered in the University-wide competition. Faculty applicants to this competition must have a primary appointment in SEAS. Postdoctoral fellows and doctoral students should apply to this competition only if the designated faculty adviser is employed by and has a primary appointment in SEAS. Candidates from HMS, HSPH, or FAS should contact the administering office at those particular schools to find out how to apply to their respective competitions.

To apply for this opportunity, select the the "Apply" button on the top right corner of this page and submit a complete application by April 25, 2019 by 11:59PM. Applicants will be asked to submit the following as one single PDF:
  1. Contact Information for principal investigator and any collaborators.
  2. Proposal of up to 1000 words that succinctly describes the proposed research project. Additional two pages permitted (but not required) for citations and/or images related to the proposal. 
  3. Description of any cross-school or interdisciplinary collaboration. 
  4. CV or biosketch of no more than three pages for each PI and collaborator. 
  5. Project budget and budget justification using the forms provided. 
  6. Other Support: All applicants must provide a summary of active and pending support for the Principal Investigator using the form provided. Other Support includes all financial resources, whether Federal, non-Federal, commercial or institutional, available in direct support of an individual’s research endeavors, including but not limited to research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and/or institutional awards. Please do not include any "start-up" packages and/or tenure-transfer funding.
  7. Letter of support from a faculty mentor who will supervise work on the project (for doctoral and postdoctoral applicants only).
The following costs are NOT allowable:
  • Student tuition
  • Salary support for faculty principal investigators (requests for partial support of PI’s summer salary will be considered in limited circumstances)
  • Renovation and capital project costs
Other budget considerations:
  • If the total cost of the proposed project is larger than the award requested from the Fund, please provide brief details of other support in the budget.
  • Applicants should note that any benefits-eligible personnel expenses in the budget must include the appropriate fringe rates for each year of funding. If the application proposes to fund a certain amount of an existing employee’s time, then the budget must also include that percentage of applied fringe. Applicants should consult with their grants managers for applicable rates.
  • Include direct costs only. School assessments should not be included in your budget (these will be arranged separately with home schools).
Two nominees in each category will be selected to be considered in the University-wide competition. All applicants will be notified by September 2019 and funds will be dispersed in October 2019.


Additional Information, Related Websites, and Proxy Instructions:

Questions about this competition may be directed to Jennifer Corby (jcorby@fas.harvard.edu, 617-495-1590) or Susan Gomes (sgomes@fas.harvard.edu, 617-496-9448).

2018 Recipients:

Junior Faculty Category:
  • Julia Mundy, Physics, FAS, "Discovery of a topological superconductor for faultless quantum computing"

Postdoctoral/Graduate Student Category:
  • Lital Bentovim, Systems Biology, HMS, "Metabolic control of global gene expression during the maternal-to-zygotic transition"
  • Carlos Giovanni Silva-García, Genetics and Complex Diseases, HSPH, “Role of CREB-regulated transcriptional coactivator CRTC-1 in epigenetic regulation of aging”
  • Po-Yi Ho, Applied Physics, SEAS, “Constructing a quantitative molecular model of the bacterial cell cycle” 
  • Rebecca Taylor, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, FAS, “The structure of the membrane-to-membrane protein bridge that transports lipopolysaccharide to the cell surface in Gram-negative bacteria”

This competition is enabled to allow administers to apply on behalf of applicants as proxies. Before beginning an application, proxies will be asked to locate their Principal Investigator in HUFP. If your PI is not registered in HUFP, please ask them to create their profile using their HarvardKey. Proxies should never "Add User" in HUFP.


Search Filters:

Institution
  • Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
    Position
    • Graduate Student
    • Postdoc/Fellow
    • Assistant Professor
    • Associate Professor
      Type of Competition
      • Harvard Internal Funding
        Discipline
        • Basic Science
        • Clinical Science
        • Environmental Science
        • Engineering
        • Life Science
        • Population Science
        • Multidisciplinary
        • Physical Science
        • Translational Science
          Type of Award
          • Early Career
          • Research
            Begin Accepting Applications Date:
            3/15/2019
            Deadline Date (EST Time Zone):
            4/25/2019 11:59 PM