2024 Block Center Seed Fund
The Block Center for Technology and Society invests in an annual portfolio of projects focused on creating public policy insights through high-quality research. Our objective for the 2024-2025 Block Center seed fund is to fund projects that will produce policy-relevant insights within a short time horizon. Our desired portfolio will consist of research projects that are either new concept or early-stage research or new departures or expansions to existing projects, with the intention that these projects will lead to a larger grant proposal. Project teams who receive awards will be asked to produce brief updates to the Block Center staff after six (6) months and a final report at the project completion.
Applicants may request up to $80,000 for project-related expenses (permissible funds listed below). Average award amounts in past years for Block Center Seed Fund projects have been approximately $50,000.
The Block Center's Responsible AI (RAI) Initiative brings together researchers and educators spanning computer science, engineering, decision sciences, philosophy, arts, economics, psychology, public policy, statistics, and business to make progress in four key areas. First, translating research insights into policy and positive social impact. Second, collaborating and co-designing AI tools that better serve our local communities and the public at large. Third, offering hands-on experiential training and research opportunities for the CMU community and building partnerships with stakeholders to develop and deploy best practices in AI.
Use of Funds
Permissible expenditures include but are not limited to:
- Undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D. student, and post-doc research support
- Attendee or organizing costs for convenings and gatherings
- Data purchases related directly to the proposal
- Other expenses associated with conducting the research (e.g., travel to study sites or conferences)
Funds may not be used to cover faculty salary, including summer salary.
Who Should Apply?
Individuals from any department at CMU, including cross-departmental teams, should apply. Junior faculty are encouraged to apply. PhD students may apply as co-PI alongside a faculty member.
Proposals should include an abbreviated project abstract (under 200 words) and a 3-4 page proposal that addresses the following questions:
- What is the scientific hypothesis or question your project will test or investigate?
- Briefly, what is the state of research in this area, and how does your project advance scientific understanding? What novel data, technologies, or methods will you use?
- Please articulate the policy relevance of your work. How do you aim for social impact through your project? Is there a policy organization you think will be interested in your findings? Feel free to note whether you have any existing relationships with policymaking bodies. See our Block Method webpage for a framework on how our research projects can lead to real-world outcomes.
- Provide a 12-month research timeline summarizing the main research steps and the expected outcomes at 12 months.
- How likely will this project attract additional funding, and from what source(s)?