Flash Funding Archives - The Jefferson Trust

April 15, 2026April 23, 2026

Jefferson Trust Awards Flash Grants to Support Student Initiatives

The Trust has awarded more than $111,000 across 17 flash grants since February, supporting student-led initiatives that expand learning beyond the classroom.

This cycle highlights a strong emphasis on experiential learning in healthcare, including projects such as Medical Device Make-a-Thon; Cavalimbs; and Virginia Healthcare Consulting. Grants also support creative and cultural engagement through initiatives like Arts in Wise; Theatre, Translation, and Global Exchange; and Flash Tiny Desk Lawn Concerts.

Different than the Trust’s Major Cycle grants, Flash Grants are capped at $10,000 per project and are awarded monthly in the fall and spring.

The 2026 Spring Flash Grants:

Virginia Healthcare Consulting: $7,055
UVA’s first dedicated healthcare consulting program will combine education, real-world consulting experience, and industry exposure through healthcare consulting projects, a speaker series, and UVA’s first healthcare-focused case competition.

Cavalimbs: $3,335
Funding helps Cavalimbs design and build a prosthetic arm, with the goal of offering a solution that can be implemented on real patients at UVA Health.

Medical Device Make-a-Thon: $10,000
Students will design and prototype low-cost medical devices that address healthcare needs for underserved communities, connecting healthcare challenges and theory with real-world clinical needs.

Art in Wise: $10,000
Funding helps develop a series of visual arts workshops for k-12 students and adults in the community, increasing accessibility and engagement.

Theatre, Translation, and Global Exchange: Learning Laboratory at UVA: $6,490
“Theatre, Translation, and Global Exchange” brings Argentine playwright Rubén Mosquera and actresses Sol Leone Martens and Griselda Milagros Mongia to Grounds for a bilingual residency aimed at engaging students through performance-based language learning, public performances, and developing an English translation of a new Argentine play.

Flash Tiny Desk Lawn Concerts: $1,000
Tiny Desk Lawn Concerts will host free student band concerts on the Lawn this spring open to any student or person passing by.

SEED Consulting: $667
SEED Consulting, one of UVA’s undergraduate consulting organizations, will host a Presentation Showcase & Competition to accelerate the growth of their newest members and celebrate them.

CalmSphere: VR Prototype for Wellness and Mental Health: $6,309.88
CalmSphere is a student-built virtual wellness tool, offering students access to guided breathing, calming visuals, and reflective prompts creating a low-pressure space to mentally reset.

FCAP Structural Intake Validation: $10,000
A study at the Fried Center for Advancement Potential will help validate clinical screening methods, building a structural screening tool for broader clinical use.

Roots on the Road: $10,000
UVA Students are biking across America to meet with farmers, chefs, truck drivers, and everyday eaters to raise awareness that agriculture is everyone’s responsibility through short videos, a mini-docuseries, and a children’s story book.

Students bike in preparation for their Roots on the Road ride across the country.

Restorative Justice at UVA (RJ at UVA): $9,840
Partnering with Community Justice of Central Virginia, UVA students will be trained in restorative justice practices, focusing on facilitation and conflict resolution, then working with local youth on conflict-navigation skills.

MedAscend: $8,400
MedAscend aims to provide local high-school youth with STEM and college preparation resources by offering regular STEM events, college prep sessions, and mentorship from UVA undergraduates.

AI Mixer: Conversations on AI, Society & Culture: $1,250
Through small-group discussions, faculty lightening talks, and hands-on demonstrations of AI tools, this event brings together UVA undergraduates, grad students, and faculty to engage critically with the societal and cultural implications of AI.

ChemE Cube Club at UVA: $10,000
This student-led project plans to design and build a fully operational chemical plant model for the AIChE ChemE Cube Competition, applying chemical engineering principles to real-world problems and establishing a new student organization on Grounds.

From Research to Living Rooms: Family Literacy Resources: $9,600
In partnership with McGuffey Reading Services, graduate students in the School of Education will research and develop accessible materials to help families support children’s reading.

Machine Learning @ UVA: $4,620
This student-led machine learning organization aims to offer experiential, project-based AI education accessible to undergraduates of all majors.

Sol/Luna: $2,489
From the School of Architecture Student Council, Sol/Luna offers an active learning experience to create long-term impact: designing and building two respite pods for students, encouraging mindfulness, a healthy studio approach, and improving mental well-being for students.

November 17, 2025November 14, 2025

Jefferson Trust Flash Grants Highlight Student Research

The Trust has awarded $75,480 across 16 flash grants since September.

“This was our first time running a Flash Funding cycle in the Fall semester. The high request volume is an indicator of students’ drive to advance UVA, and the wide variety of projects showcase the vibrancy of our student body. We look forward to the Spring round!”

—Brent Percival, Executive Director

Student research and learning experiences are key themes this fall. Projects like Tangible Microbes, Living Tectonics, Project Loch Ness, and others are offering students hands-on learning in the classroom.

Different than the Trust’s Major Cycle grants, Flash Funding grants are capped at $10,000 per project and are awarded monthly in the fall and spring.

The 2025 Fall Flash Grants:

Interpreting the Night Sky: $9,425
A team from the Astronomy Department is developing the first astronomy course for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, aiming to make astronomy education more accessible to the Deaf community.

Tangible Microbes: 3D Printing for Hands-On Microbiology Learning: $4,049
Students will create physical, interactive 3D models of microbes, transforming microbial concepts into tangible learning experiences.

Student AI Guides: Partners in Teaching and Learning: $10,000
Through workshops, learning communities, consultations, and resource development, students will help shape the use of generative AI in classrooms and ensure that student perspectives are included in university-wide conversations.

Living Tectonics: Bio-Based Futures Studio: $3,400
From the School of Architecture, Living Tectonics is a hybrid studio that engages undergraduate and graduate students in developing engineered living materials (ELMs) through casting and robotic additive manufacturing, upcycling agricultural and post-consumer waste into mycelium-based composites.

Project Loch Ness: $3,000
Students from the Engineering School plan to design, build, and test an underwater stealth technology demonstrator to showcase the viability of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) propulsion as a silent alternative to propeller-based systems for underwater vehicles.

CanSat Project: $1,000
The UVA CubeSat Design Team aims to design UVA’s first CanSat for the American Astronautical Society annual competition, providing hands-on engineering experience for UVA students. This year’s challenge is to create a rocket payload that separates and deploys a paraglider to glide to a specific location to drop another payload.

Project Pegasus: $2,000
A team of students in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department will study combustion and detonation physics by creating a system for examining detonation wave properties through curved geometrics. The project allows them to gain research experience and contribute to propulsion innovation.

Dancer and Choreographer Fana Tesfagiorgis prepares for the Gullah Meditations performance.

Gullah Meditations: Performance and Guest Artist Residency: $10,000
“Gullah Meditations” is a choreographed concert of new, jazz arrangements of unpublished Gullah spirituals performed this fall. The project aims to preserve and reimagine African American musical heritage while providing educational opportunities for UVA students.

Beyond the Surface: Innovating and Elevating Artistic Swimming: $6,820
This project plans to establish the first artistic swim team at UVA and introduce artistic swimming to the local community.

Mobilizing the Occultation Group Fleet of Telescopes: $6,343
Funding helps the Occultation Group purchase hardware to modify their telescope systems for overseas research, enabling the observation of stellar occultations when asteroids pass in front of distant stars.

Revitalizing University Records: $2,863
University Records is expanding and upgrading the musical equipment available to students for music creation, practice, recording, and performance, as well as creating affordable practice spaces.

Girls Who Innovate: $9,922
Girls Who Innovate (GWIn) provides free entrepreneurship education and networking to help high school and college girls launch their ideas, including a Summer Entrepreneurship Bootcamp.

Dissemination of Novel Type II Diabetes Management Method for Awareness and Empowerment: $3,332
Funding helps to publicize materials for Type II Diabetes management developed by the Center for Behavioral Medicine, helping patients manage their diabetes more effectively than traditional methods.

KINEcted- Undergraduate Kinesiology Networking Event: $1,775
This event brings students, alumni, and industry experts together for career exploration and networking opportunities.

Wormi: $350
A student-led composting initiative, Wormi aims to divert organic waste from landfills by creating a composting network that transforms kitchen scraps into living soil amendments.

Japanese Cuisine in America: $1,200
Funding enables a group of students to explore cross-cultural dynamics through Japanese cuisine and local businesses by touring North American Sake Brewery and visiting Bad Luck Ramen.

April 21, 2025April 21, 2025

Flash Grants Focus on Student Learning

The Jefferson Trust has awarded $115,558 across 19 flash grants this spring.

“We received 52 proposals in our January round and 64 in February, mostly from students. This volume speaks to the activity, engagement, and innovation of the UVA student body, as well as their drive to define their student experience,” says Brent Percival, Executive Director.

New student learning experiences are a key theme this year, as seen with the Prometheus Hybrid Rocket Motor Project, Hands-on Design Build, and Bits & Bytes. And with opportunities for professional development through the UVA Speaking Center and the Caminos Brillantes Initiative, students at UVA are pursuing new ways to engage and learn.

Different than the Trust’s Annual Cycle grants, Flash Funding grants are capped at $10,000 per project and are awarded monthly beginning in January.

The 2025 Flash Grants:

Hypersonic ReEntry Deployable Glider Experiment (HEDGE): $10,000
Students in the School of Engineering will build and collect data on hypersonic reentry dynamics from a CubeSAT launch this summer at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

Prometheus Hybrid Rocket Motor Project: $10,000
The UVA Rocketry team will design, manufacture, and fly a Student-Researched and Developed (SRAD) propulsion device, with plans to compete at the International Rocket Engineering Competition.

UVA Speaking Center: $9,020
The UVA Speaking Center is a resource to help UVA students become effective public speakers through individual consultations and workshops.

Caminos Brillantes Initiative: $3,479.59
Cultural Latinx Advancement for Resources and Opportunities (CLARO) provides professional development resources and opportunities through workshops.

Hands-on Design-Build: Constructing at Scale within the Curriculum: $9,000
Undergraduate Architecture students will construct a timber structure, gaining critical skills in timber building, construction detailing, and material sourcing.

Bits and Bytes: $9,735
This interdisciplinary course teaches the history of vampires in video games, learning the basics of programming and the history of vampires in this medium.

Striving Toward Academic Readiness (STAR): $9,969.40
UVA students are helping local underserved high school students demystify the college experience and build confidence through seminar-style classes, mentor sessions, and discussions.

Advancing BAPS and Associated Systems Engineering Projects at the University of Virginia: $7,000
Become a Problem-Solver (BAPS) seeks to apply systems engineering principles and problem-solving techniques to improve the operations of UVA service organizations.

Women’s Lifelong Wellness Initiative: $9,610
Students in the Department of Kinesiology are providing free, individualized health screenings, education, and lifestyle plans for women in the community to maintain a healthy lifestyle as they age.

Clean Plate Project: $4,040
Partnering with the Ronald McDonald House and the Yellow Door Foundation, this project hosts weekly cooking sessions and delivers meals to UVA Children’s Hospital patients and families.

UVA’s Inaugural Moot Court Competition: $9,000
Funding expands the UVA Law Moot Court and the American Moot Court resources to bolster interest and access in the UVA undergraduate community.

MKG 2025: Enabling Student Experimentation and Leadership: $1,572.69
Funding helps Morven Kitchen Garden increase farm production, community engagement, and student leadership opportunities through the expansion of gardening techniques and an improved compost system.

CavsCARE: CPR Training for Key UVA Groups: $6,000
UVA students who are CPR, AED, and First Aid certified trainers are volunteering their time to instruct and certify other students, expanding these lifesaving skills.

Biophilic Region Charlottesville and Albemarle County (CAC) Exhibition: $9,810
A team from the School of Architecture is working to establish Central Virginia as a recognized Biophilic Region with abundant green spaces, integrated natural elements, support for biodiversity, sustainable urban practices, education, and community engagement. Funding helps publicly launch the project through an exhibition and community events.

This is Not a Debate Event Series: $3,161.95
This event series of student-led panels discusses issues in politics, ethics, and current events, designed to provide a model for productive political discussion.

Blossoming Chemistry: Beautifying the AXE Garden: $350
Presenting a living and learning experience in sustainability for students, funding helps rebuild a garden at the Alpha Chi Sigma house.

Chemistry Building Plants: $175
Bringing some biology into chemistry, this grant adds plants to work and study spaces in the Chemistry Building to make it a more comfortable space.

Dinners With Doctors: $2,904
From the Women in Medicine Initiative, the Dinners with Doctors series aims to connect students with women in medicine to build engagement, mentorship opportunities, and gain insights into the medical field.

50th Anniversary Concert: $730
Funding supports the Virginia Women’s Chorus 50th Anniversary Concert.

Stay tuned, flash funding will launch again this fall!

March 19, 2025March 19, 2025

Jefferson Trust Flash Grants Focus on Student Learning

The Jefferson Trust has awarded $115,558 across 19 flash grants since January.

“We received 52 proposals in our January round and 64 in February; mostly from students. This volume speaks to the activity, engagement, and innovation of the UVA student body, as well as their drive to define their student experience”, says Brent Percival, Executive Director.

New student learning experiences are a key theme this year. Whether providing hands-on learning through the Prometheus Hybrid Rocket Motor Project, Hands-on Design Build, or Bits & Bytes to opportunities for professional development with the UVA Speaking Center and Caminos Brillantes Initiative, students at UVA are pursuing new ways to engage and learn.

Different than the Trust’s Annual Cycle grants, Flash Funding grants are capped at $10,000 per project and are awarded monthly beginning in January.

The 2025 Flash Grants:

UVA Speaking Center: $9,020
The UVA Speaking Center is a resource to help UVA students become effective public speakers through individual consultations and workshops.

Caminos Brillantes Initiative: $3,479.59
Cultural Latinx Advancement for Resources and Opportunities (CLARO) provides professional development resources and opportunities through workshops.

Bits and Bytes: $9,735
This interdisciplinary course teaches the history of vampires in video games, learning the basics of programming and the history of vampires in this medium.

Clean Plate Project: $4,040
Partnering with the Ronald McDonald House and the Yellow Door Foundation, this project hosts weekly cooking sessions and deliver meals to UVA Children’s Hospital patients and families.

UVA’s Inaugural Moot Court Competition: $9,000
Funding expands the UVA Law Moot Court and the American Moot Court resources to bolster interest and access in the UVA undergraduate community.

Biophilic Region Charlottesville and Albemarle County (CAC) Exhibition: $9,810
A team from the School of Architecture is working to establish central Virginia as a recognized Biophilic Region with abundant green spaces, integrated natural elements, support for biodiversity, sustainable urban practices, education, and community engagement. Funding helps publicly launch the project through an exhibition and community events.

Blossoming Chemistry: Beautifying the AXE Garden: $350
Presenting a living and learning experience in sustainability for students, funding helps rebuild a garden at the Alpha Chi Sigma house.

Chemistry Building Plants: $175
Bringing some biology into chemistry, this grant adds plants to work and study spaces in the Chemistry Building to make it a more comfortable space.

50th Anniversary Concert: $730
Funding supports the Virginia Women’s Chorus 50^th Anniversary Concert.