Overall impact

  • Since 2013, 82 seed grant projects have garnered a further $26 million in funding as the projects have grown.

The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation has proudly supported energy and climate research projects with seed funding since its founding in 2012. The seed grant program expanded in 2024 to include new opportunities for cleantech entrepreneurs and AI-focused research, the latter being a collaboration with the Block Center for Technology and Society.

Recipients of these awards are expected to apply for larger, externally funded projects after the initial seed period. Previous research projects have focused on decarbonizing plastics, improving the efficiency of direct air capture (DAC) technologies, and demystifying hydrogen’s damaging effects on metals.

Prior to submitting a proposal for a seed grant, interested faculty need to become a Scott Institute faculty affiliate (and, for the co-sponsored funding, a Block Center affiliate), if they are not already.

2024 highlights

  • 35 proposals received
  • $2.2M in funding requested
  • $400,000 awarded to 7 projects

The Scott Institute is eager to promote new collaborations, and therefore, preference will be given to proposals that involve multiple faculty members and new interdisciplinary interactions (interschool, interdepartmental, or intercenter). Priority will be given to those proposals with the capacity to create new activities that can ultimately engage multiple faculty members across disciplines and research methodologies or domains.

Proposals are typically due in January and will be reviewed by a faculty committee comprised of Scott Institute Faculty Affiliates. Reviewers who are party to a proposal will not be asked to rank their own submission. Final selection of grant winners will be made by the Scott Institute leadership.

For more information, please contact Daniel Tkacik.

Annual announcements

  • 2024: A twelfth round of grants led to $400,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and our Grand Challenge Partners for seven projects.
  • 2023: An eleventh round of grants led to nearly $230,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and the EQT Foundation for three projects.
  • 2022: A tenth round of grants led to over $278,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and the EQT Foundation for five projects.
  • 2021: A ninth round of grants led to over $400,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and the EQT Foundation for six projects.

Related news

Seed grant spotlight: Upgrading direct air capture

Thanks to support from a Scott Institute seed grant, Salvador and Islam hope to resolve a key issue with current DAC technologies: They don’t capture enough greenhouse gas emissions to justify the steep cost.

Seed grant spotlight: Giving plastics a new lease on life

Sydlik and Wang are using their expertise to manipulate the properties of polymers, making it easier to upcycle plastics.

New co-sponsored award to advance research in AI & energy

The Scott Institute and The Block Center for Technology and Society have co-sponsored a new award to advance research in AI and energy at Carnegie Mellon University.

Scott Institute announces 2025 seed grant winners

This year’s seed awards will help grow research in clean hydrogen production, AI hardware efficiency, and decarbonizing transportation.

Scott Institute announces 2025 seed grant winners Opens in new window

This year’s seed awards will help grow research in clean hydrogen production, AI hardware efficiency, and decarbonizing transportation.

New Scott Institute award gives entrepreneurship a boost

The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation has launched its new entrepreneurship award to grow the Carnegie Mellon energy and climate startup community and to make it easier to translate CMU cleantech innovations from research to the market.

Seed grant spotlight: AI-driven energy benchmarking

A new project at Carnegie Mellon draws attention to architecture’s sizable carbon footprint.

Seed grant spotlight: Improving electric-power resilience

College of Engineering researchers are developing a robust optimization model that is capable of analyzing threats to the grid and providing commensurate responses that improve its resilience and mitigate supply disruptions.