Supporting new and early-career faculty is one of the key missions of the Office of the Vice President for Research. By investing time, attention and resources in junior faculty members with long careers ahead of them we can help them succeed in every area, including the highly competitive arena of federal grants, for years to come.

To further this mission, the Office of the VPR is pleased to offer the Propel Research Mentorship Program, which provides participating faculty nine months of intensive mentorship, education, editing support and more as they plan, draft, finalize and submit a proposal for a federal grant from either the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Propel, initiated in the 2021-2022 academic year, has two tracks for NIH and NSF applicants, but the Office of the VPR aims to expand the program to include tracks for additional agencies in future years.

 

Eligibility Requirements

To be considered for Propel, faculty members must:

• Hold the title of assistant or associate professor (including assistant and associate research faculty).
• Be new to the fedral grant application process or have received relatively small external grant awards (or subawards) in the past.
• Be employed at USC Columbia, the USC schools of medicine in Columbia or Greenville, a four-year UofSC comprehensive institution or a USC Palmetto College campus.
• Not have received a large federal grant (such as an NIH R01 or a medium/large NSF award of about $500,000 or more). Propel welcomes faculty members who have applied for large awards but not had them funded.

 

Requirements for Selected Participants

Propel participants are expected to:

• Attend eight in-person program sessions held on Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. between August and April, in preparation to submit their proposals at the end of the program life cycle. (In-person attendance is required for all sessions except in rare cases with approval from the program director.)
• Meet proactively and often (at least monthly) with their assigned mentor throughout the program life cycle. Program participants are expected to take the lead in scheduling time with mentors.
• Submit deliverables (draft proposal sections) to their mentor on schedule and implement their feedback.
• Plan, develop and submit a competitive grant proposal to their targeted funding agency at the end of the program.

 

Propel 2024-2025 Schedule

Please refer to the Propel Research Mentorship Program page for more details on each workshop and deliverable noted below. A light breakfast and full lunch will be provided for participants at all program sessions.