School of Architecture and Planning

Support for Research, Researchers, and Authors

A university is a place where new knowledge is created through research and then disseminated through publishing. There are resources that can help with both.

Financial support for research is provided by private sources such as angel investors and venture capitalists, and by institutional sources such as granting organizations.

The links below can help someone starting. More resources will be added to this list as we become aware of them. Please send ideas for other resource links to yatt@cua.edu.

General Research

• CUA's Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Services, and CUA's Office of Technology Transfer. Ralph Albano is CUA's Associate Provost for Research and Director of Technology Transfer, and can be reached at albano@cua.edu or ext. 6444.
• For Information on Private Grants to Non-Profits: The Foundation Center is a free resource located in DC at K Street and 16th. It has a very helpful staff, holds free training seminars, maintains a library with free searchable databases of granting programs, and has a lot of information available online to help grant applicants.
• For Information on Government Grants to Non-Profits: Grants.gov is a gateway to grants from the National Science Foundation, Department of Education, National Endowment for the Arts, etc.
• For Information on Private and Government Grants to Individuals: If you intend to apply for a grant on your own, as opposed to as a member of the faculty at CUA, go to the Foundation Center (see above) and use their "Grants Select" software.
• For Information on Grants in Washington, DC: See the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers website.

For Authors

• Proposal Outlines to help prepare a book idea for submittal to a publisher
  • For describing the book
    • John Wiley & Sons
    • Elsevier
    • McGraw-Hill
  • For describing the potential market
    • John Wiley & Sons
    • Elsevier

Individual Funding Organizations

• The National Science Foundation (NSF) issues grants on an annual basis for specific programs. From application deadline to award announcement usually takes about seven or eight months. Applications are submitted online through "Fastlane". Program that might be of interest to Architecture and Planning include:
  • CISE/IIS: Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering/Information and Intelligent Systems
  • EHR: Education and Human Resources, which funds research that improves both Undergraduate and Graduate Education
  • ENG Engineering (which includes Manufacturing Innovation, Environmental Systems, and Engineering Education)
  • MPS/DMR: Mathematical and Physical Sciences/Materials Research
• The Department of Education's "Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education" (FIPSE) program
• The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) does not appear to award any grants
• The American Architectural Foundation's (AAF) "Accent on Architecture" Community Grants program
• The American Institute of Architects (AIA)
  • The College of Fellows awards the $100k Latrobe Fellowship every two years to one recipient. More information can be found at the AIA website.
  • The Upjohn Research Initiative for projects that "advance professional knowledge and practice"
  • The Large Firm Roundtable Research Grant had a grant program in 2006 for research related to BIM. It is not yet clear whether it will be continued.
• Local "incubators" (where researchers go to find local investors)
  • NVTC: Northern Virginia Technology Council
  • TiE-DC.