Pitt Momentum Funds

The Pitt Momentum Funds is a large-scale research development fund that aims to enhance and streamline internal funding opportunities for faculty research and support high-quality research and creative endeavors. The fund provides allocations for research projects based on field of study and scope of the project team.

The Internal Funding Showcase event was introduced to kickoff new funding cycles, providing a venue for awardees to share their work, receive recognition for their research findings and engage with researchers from across the University.

View the Pitt Momentum Funds 2024 Awardees >>

Types of Grants

Awards are made across the breadth of interdisciplinary scholarship at the University, and all eligible faculty are encouraged to propose new, innovative ideas that can contribute meaningful insight, understanding, or solutions to societal challenge.

Arts & Humanities Microgrants

1-year term of $3,000. A&H Microgrants are specific for faculty in the Arts and Humanities to support existing projects, works-in-progress, or test the feasibility of a larger grant idea.
For the Spring 2025 cycle, there are additional $2,000 supplements for projects that involve sustainability research. Through collaborative joint funding with the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, faculty can request an additional $2,000 ($5,000 in total project costs). Supplemented projects should demonstrate how they will support and/or expand university-wide interdisciplinary sustainability programs as they relate to education, research, or engagement.
Spring 2025 applications are due by March 28, 2025, 12 p.m.

Regional Catalyst Grants

2-year term with an award cap of $5,000. Regional Catalyst grants support high-quality research, scholarship, and creative endeavors at regional campuses from individuals or teams to strengthen the regional campuses' research ecosystems.
Spring 2025 application deadline, March 28, 2025, 12 p.m.

Priming Grants

1-year term with an award cap of $25,000. Priming (formerly Seeding) grants support significant and innovative scholarship by individual or groups of faculty at all ranks at the University of Pittsburgh, with a particular focus on early career faculty and areas where external funding is extremely limited.
Applications will open in Fall 2025.

Teaming Grants

1-year term with an award cap of $60,000. Teaming grants support the formation of new multi-disciplinary collaborations to successfully pursue large-scale external funding. For scholarly communities where $60,000 is considered a large award, a Teaming Grant may propose a 2-year project timeline.
Applications will open in Fall 2025.

Scaling Grants

2-year term with an award cap of $400,000. Scaling grants enable multi-disciplinary teams to competitively scale their research efforts in targeted pursuit of large-scale external funding.
Applications will open in Fall 2025.

Note: There is no requirement for awardees of Scaling Grants to have previously won Teaming Grants, and, similarly, there is no requirement for awardees of Teaming Grants to subsequently apply for Scaling Grants.

Eligibility

Applicants must be full-time faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh. Eligible appointment stream faculty must have research as their core responsibility.
Please note that only faculty or eligible community partners may be listed as co-investigators on PMF applications. Undergraduate, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, staff, research associates, or visiting (non-permanent) faculty members may participate in funded PMF projects, but they are not to be listed as investigators.
Awardees from the immediate previous funding cycle may not apply to the same grant-type they were awarded funds for previously (e.g., Teaming grant awardees from FY24 cannot apply for a Teaming grant in FY25). This applies to all PMF award types.
Please refer to the individual Award Guidelines to see eligibility restrictions for specific award types:

Pitt Momentum Funds Frequently Asked Questions

View Frequently Asked Questions about the Pitt Momentum Funds

Pitt Momentum Funds Info Sessions

View an information session on the Regional Catalyst and Microgrants from the Spring 2025 PMF cycle or an information session for all types of funds from the Fall 2025 PMF cycle.

Pitt Momentum Funds Timeline

The table below outlines the timeline for the 2024-25 Spring cycle Pitt Momentum Funds. Submission deadlines are always noon (12 p.m. Eastern Time) on the due date.

February 14, 2025	InfoReady Application Portal Opens for Spring Microgrants and Regional Catalyst Grants
March 28, 2025, 12:00 p.m.	Deadline to submit applications for Spring Microgrants and Regional Catalyst Grants
April 2025	Microgrant and Regional Catalyst Grant awardees announced

Pitt Momentum Funds Awardees Archive