(CLOSED) VentureWell Course & Program Grants (Spring 2022)

Sponsor Name: 
VentureWell
Description of the Award: 

Formerly the Venturewell Faculty Grants, the VentureWell Course & Program (C&P) Grants of up to $30,000 are awarded to faculty or staff at US higher education institutions to support curriculum that engages students in science and technology innovation and entrepreneurship..

C&P grants may be used to strengthen existing curricular programs or to build new, pedagogically inclusive courses and programs that engage student teams in developing and pursuing scalable solutions to real world needs through S&T I&E. The end goal is to support diverse groups of faculty, staff, and students in collaborating to develop novel inventions and technologies that have positive social and environmental impact (see the Appendix in the guidelines for definitions of key terms used here).

Activities supported by C&P grants should lead to effective courses and programs that are sustained by the institution, lead to the formation of student teams (ideally involved with the VentureWell E-Team Program), and expand opportunities for learning across science and technology innovation and entrepreneurship.

C&P grant proposals should include plans to create or improve an individual course, course sequence, minor, major, certificate program, or other co- and extracurricular programs that are directly tied to and support I&E-focused curriculum. Focus may include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

  • General (science- and technology-based) entrepreneurship
  • Sustainable technologies (new materials, clean tech, green energy and chemistry innovation)
  • Climate change solutions (technology to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change), especially technologies that support communities most impacted by climate change
  • Biomedical and healthcare innovation
  • Technologies that address poverty alleviation and basic human needs

To advance our organizational commitment to advancing equity, VentureWell has made diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority on ALL of our faculty grants. Successful VentureWell C&P grantees must make clear how funding will increase access and broaden the participation of traditionally underrepresented, underestimated, and under-resourced groups, specifically those who identify as Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, women from all backgrounds, individuals who identify as coming from low-income backgrounds, and others who are marginalized due to racism, sexism, classism, and/or other forms of marginalization (referenced throughout this document as URGs; see definitions in Appendix). We especially encourage faculty and staff applicants from URGs or from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Tribal Colleges, Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions, etc., and other institutions that demonstrate clear support for students from URGs in S&T I&E.

Institutional Limitations

Current VentureWell member institutions are Penn State-University Park, Penn State Berks, Penn State Behrend, and Penn State Great Valley. For information on on your campus becoming a member see: https://venturewell.org/membership/. Membership fees are waived for new or renewing institutions until June 30, 2022.

Sponsor Final Deadline: 
May 18, 2022
OSVPR Application or NOI Instructions: 

Interested applicants should send the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: Last name_VentureWell_2022 no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:

Cover Page:

  • Proposal Title
  • Principal Investigator’s (PI's) names and departmental affiliation
  • Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
  • A list of possible participating organizations (if applicable)

Proposed Initiative (2 pages):

The more SPECIFIC, CLEAR and COMPELLING your narrative is, the more competitive your proposal will be. Tell the reviewers a story: what currently exists, where are the gaps, what are you proposing to create and what are the hoped-for outcomes? In other words, why this idea now?

  • Differentiate between what already exists vs. what you are asking for funding to support. Emphasis should be placed on what you are proposing, however, it is important to briefly share what already exists to support I&E on your campus (e.g. institutional resources, personnel support, makerspaces, competitions, etc.).
  • Describe the project’s potential for positive educational, environmental, and social impact.
  • Who is/are your target audience(s)? How will your work support student innovators from URGs in invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship. As part of the narrative, include a specific plan that articulates how you will broaden participation in your course/program by answering the following questions:

    • How will you market to and recruit students from URGs to participate in the proposed course/program?
    • How will you recruit mentors that will reflect the URGs of student participants?
    • How will you mentor students to ensure inclusivity?
    • How will you create an inclusive curriculum? How else will you support these students’ success in I&E?
    • How will you measure success? (Share metrics.)
  • Explain the process: How will the proposed course or program lead to the creation of student teams? How will teams be formed? Where will the S&T ideas come from?
  • Describe the experiential learning opportunity for students.
  • How will your entrepreneurship ecosystem support the most promising teams and technologies towards commercialization?

Letter of Support from Department Head/Chair:

  • Letter of support should indicate that there is ongoing institutional support for your project. A more extensive letter would be required with your external application.

Formatting Guidelines:

  • Font/size: Times New Roman (12 pt.)
  • Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
  • Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
To be considered as a Penn State institutional nominee, please submit a notice of intent by the date provided directly below.
This limited submission is in downselect: 
Penn State may only submit a specific number of proposals to this funding opportunity. The number of NOIs received require that an internal competition take place, thus, a downselect process has commenced. No Penn State researchers may apply to this opportunity outside of this downselect process. To apply for this limited submission, please use this link:
OSVPR Downselect Deadline: 
Thursday, March 17, 2022 - 4:00pm
Notes: 
No Applicants, Now first come, first served - Contact LimitedSubs@psu.edu if you wish to apply