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Faculty Mini-Grants
AY 2025-26

Status:  Open til Oct 1 2025

 

1  Purpose

Spelman Innovation has the objective of promoting interdisciplinary ideation, creation, design and making, particularly when such activity has a significant technical component. The Unity Mini-Grant Program, a key initiative of Spelman Innovation, aims to foster interdisciplinary ideation, creation, and design, with a particular emphasis on projects that incorporate a significant technical component. This program offers financial support of up to $5000 or $2500 for faculty-led projects that align with the Innovation Lab's mission. For this funding round, the Lab will award approximately 6 $5000 grants and approximately 8 $2500 grants to proposals that engage students in interdisciplinary work with a substantial technological element.

 

Eligibility is restricted to full-time faculty within the Divisions of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences & Education.

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2  Application & Requirements

The submission deadline for applications is October 1, 2025, with a target award decisions date of October 15, 2025.

Projects must adhere to the following criteria:

  • The project must be designated as an "Innovation Lab project," signifying that its primary activities will be conducted within the Innovation Lab and/or will make use of its resources.

  • Projects must be novel undertakings; they cannot be used to fund existing activities, though they may support an offshoot of such endeavors.

  • A significant technology component and the involvement of at least one student are mandatory.

  • The project should commence within 90 days of the award date, with a grant period spanning one year from the start date.

Applicants are required to upload a project description in PDF format, ranging from 1000 to 1500 words. This document must include an abstract, a project narrative, expected outcomes, a budget, and a budget justification. The word count does not apply to the budget, justification, or any supplementary materials such as images and references.  Please note that $2500/$5000 are upper limits on the award amounts.  If possible, we ask that you limit your requested amount to what is necessary for your project.  Doing so may enable us to issue a greater number of awards.  Your requested amount will automatically classify you as a candidate for a $2500 or $5000 grant.

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3  Budgetary Guidelines and Reporting Obligations

Awarded funds are to be exclusively utilized for the specified project activities. Any significant deviations from the approved budget will require prior clearance from the Innovation Lab directors. Funds must be encumbered by the conclusion of the grant period, with any unused funds to be returned to the program. A college budget will be provided to the awardee, who will serve as the budget manager.

It is recommended that no more than 10% of the budget be allocated to faculty salaries or wages, unless a strong justification is provided. Applicants are encouraged to leverage the existing equipment in the Innovation Lab to minimize the need for new equipment purchases.
 

Within 30 days following the conclusion of the grant period, the Principal Investigator must submit one or more of the following final deliverables:

  • A 2-3 page written report detailing project outcomes.

  • High-quality photographs or videos of the project with appropriate captioning.

  • A formal citation of a published work that resulted from the project.

  • A 2-5 minute lab-branded video summary of the project's media and content.
     

Awardees are also obligated to complete pre- and post-surveys and to appropriately acknowledge the Innovation Lab and the program funder (Unity Software, Inc.) in all resulting presentations, publications, and communications.

 

4  Review Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • The presence of a significant technology component.

  • The interdisciplinary nature of the project.

  • The extent to which the project engages and enriches students within the Innovation Lab.

  • The overall reasonableness of the proposed budget.

  • The potential for the project's artifacts to be published or included in a student portfolio.

Interested faculty are encouraged to reach out to the Innovation Lab Directors with questions and for clarifications.  The Lab Directors are Jerry Volcy (jvolcy@spelman.edu) and ​Jaycee Holmes (jholme15@spelman.edu).

 

 

5  Acknowledgements

Faculty Mini Grants are supported by a gift from Unity. 

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