Month: November 2024

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Grant Requests Aim High

UVA grant seekers, thank you! The Trust received 93 Letters of Inquiry (LOI) requesting $9.6 million in our annual grant cycle. Forty-seven of these requests, seeking $5.78 million, have moved forward to the full proposal stage.

Submissions cover a wide variety of topics, including mental health, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cutting-edge research. Proposals were received from twelve student groups, almost every school, and a variety of University-related organizations.

Our Proposals Committee has started reviewing the proposals in advance of the final round, which is an in-person pitch. The Trustees will look to grant $1.6 million this year across all funding cycles.

If you missed the annual cycle deadline, the January 2025 Flash Grant Cycle opens January 1. Flash Funding grants are capped at $10,000 and focus on short-term projects or immediate use opportunities, often for student organizations. Flash Funding runs in the spring semester, and grants are made on a month-to-month basis as long as funds are available. Visit our Grant Seekers page for more information.

As always, we are available to discuss your potential project and answer any funding questions. Contact our Director of Grants, Amy Bonner, for more information.

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Rotunda Planetarium Open House is back!

The Rotunda Planetarium's Open House in 2022

Back for one night only, make plans to view the constellations and stars in the Rotunda Dome Room on Friday, November 29, 5:30–8:30 p.m.! This event is free and open to the community, and will feature special music from the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia and a visit from historical actor-interpreter Bill Barker as Thomas Jefferson.

In the summer of 1818, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a painted planetarium, spanning the Rotunda’s dome. “It is proposed to be painted sky-blue and spangled with gilt stars in their position and magnitude copied exactly,” he wrote. Fast-forward to 2019, and three UVA doctoral students worked to bring Jefferson’s vision to life. They received a Trust grant to purchase the equipment to “open the ceiling to the stars” and host an exhibition on the Rotunda Library’s early years.

We hope to see you on the 29th!

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Grants in the News

Undergrad students participate in a week-long summer Social Entrepreneurship Bootcamp.

Our grantees have been busy! Catch up on projects recently featured in the news:

  • The MADAYIN exhibition opened at the Asia Society Museum in New York City in September. This exhibit is in partnership with UVA’s Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum, and the Trust was a supporter of the accompanying exhibition catalogue created with the exhibit. MADAYIN is on display in NYC until January 5, 2025; we strongly recommend viewing! More information and features from the Asia Society and National Indigenous Times.
  • The Cavalier Autonomous Racing team competed at the Indy Autonomous Challenge in September and won the time trial competition (with record setting speed)! See more in this UVA Today article and video feature in UVA Today. The Trust was an early supporter of Cavalier Autonomous in 2020.
  • A group of students participated this summer in a Social Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, designed for budding social entrepreneurs. Read about one student’s experience in HER Campus. This ChangeMaker Bootcamp was a 2024 grant recipient.
  • Nursing Narratives received an annual grant this year to add a recurring editorial section to both print and digital versions of “Virginia Nursing Legacy,” the School of Nursing’s quarterly magazine. Read essays from their summer edition.
  • The Air Force ROTC received a flash grant this spring to increase virtual reality flight simulator training for cadets. Hear about their experiences in this CBS19 News feature.
  • UVA’s first Escape Room Tournament occurred in September. A 2024 flash recipient, learn more in this CBS19 feature.
  • Associate Professor Bryan Berger received a $93,000 Trust grant in 2022 to lead undergraduate students in research and training of industrial hemp as a tool for phytoremediation of PFAS-polluted agricultural soils. The team recently received a $1.59 million grant from the EPA to continue and expand their research! Learn more from the Maine Morning Star and EPA. Bryan shared, “None of this would have been possible without the grant you funded—thank you so much! The preliminary data and papers we published were the key to this opportunity. Really appreciate it and I think what you are doing is so important for UVA—it allows us to take risk on new ideas, build partnerships and take on big challenges in communities we otherwise wouldn’t have the means to do.”
  • The Trust awarded a team of professors and researchers $133,000 in 2022 for “Optimizing pediatric donor heart utilization” using big data analytics to optimize pediatric heart transplants by analyzing data sets from the United Network of Organ Sharing to help improve clinical practice and create predictive modeling to assess specific donors for specific candidates. They have received an additional $1.03 million in funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This additional five-years of funding will aid in their research and testing efforts.
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Funding University Priorities: Supporting First Generation Students

Roadmap Scholars participate in their summer cohort on Grounds.

This article is third in a series on Trust grants that directly support University priorities.

Each Trust grant funds a new idea. Some of these ideas are in areas of particular importance to the President or Provost. ‘University priorities’ are not permanent but rather time-bound areas of focus where administrators put additional resources toward advancing UVA. Trust support can play a unique role in jumpstarting a project or program toward having an immediate impact.

First-generation college students face many challenges, as organizations such as Pew Research have cited. UVA has developed both financial and programmatic resources for first-generation students and students from low-income families.

Many on the programmatic side, collectively known as ‘Hoos First’,  are Trust grant recipients, such as:

  • Hoos First Look is an enrichment program for juniors in high school to better understand the college-application process, financial aid/scholarships, and student life at UVA. This student-led initiative received $10,479.25 in 2018 from the Trust.
  • FLIP at UVA aims to create and advocate for a community of first generation and low-income students. It started in 2020 with a $14,161 grant and is an on-going part of the UVA culture.
  • Starr Hill Pathways middle- and high-school scholars are given the opportunity to explore different career pathways through summer camps and school-year programming days with community partner organizations. The program was kickstarted with a $150,000 grant in 2022.
  • Roadmap Scholars Initiative began with a $200,000 grant in 2022 to build a pipeline for undergraduate students from every background into the legal profession. Students receive an intro to the legal profession, LSAT prep, and internship support.

These are just a few of the ways the Trust has enriched the patchwork of UVA, strengthened the community, and supported University priorities.