Research Awards
Postdoc Research Awards provide an opportunity for Allen School postdocs to pursue independent research projects to be carried out by undergraduates. The awards enable our postdocs to gain experience managing the complete lifecycle of a research grant, from proposal through closeout, as well as develop skills mentoring undergraduate research assistants. Funding for these awards was initially supported by our postdoc best practices grant; however, for many years, the awards have been funded and administered internally by the Allen School.
Any Allen School postdoc may submit a research award proposal. We have a call for proposals each autumn and spring quarter, and the current key dates for the next upcoming cycles are:
Spring 2025 cycle
- Submission deadline: 11:59pm on Sunday, April 13, 2025
- Notifications: Friday, May 2, 2025
Autumn 2025 cycle
- Submission deadline: 11:59pm on Sunday, October 12, 2025
- Notifications: Friday, October 31, 2025
CSE postdocs must email their proposals to Kate Gayle, the Postdoc Program Manager (kjgayle [at] cs.washington.edu).
Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of faculty and past award recipients. Feedback from the review committee, valuable for your future project proposals, will be provided shortly after making the awards.
Awards should be used for postdoc projects that will contribute to individual professional development and research initiatives. This means that funding will be awarded only for projects outside the current scope of work funded by the postdoc’s PIs.
You must follow the award guidelines for preparing your proposals. These guidelines are modeled after the National Science Foundation’s Grant Proposal Guide. You may also find it helpful to consult the CRA’s tips on Writing a Compelling Proposal. Please let us know if we can provide any additional information or clarification.
The research awards offer a great way for Allen School postdocs to develop independent research through a well-scoped project (suitable for 1-2 part-time undergrads), as well as experience mentoring student researchers. Many of our postdocs have had a positive experience doing this over the years.
We strongly encourage our Allen School postdocs to take advantage of this initiative to enrich your postdoc experience!
Eligibility: To be eligible for these awards, you must have a track record of participating in the review of progress (RoP) system – at least the most recent occurrence. This rule does not apply to newer postdocs (arrival less than five months before the next RoP deadline) who have not been here long enough to participate in the RoP process. If you never received a RoP email, you are exempted. The RoP takes place every April and October. If you have any questions about eligibility, please contact the Postdoc Program Manager.
Acknowledgments: If your proposal is funded and the work leads to a publication, please add an acknowledgment to your paper for the support of a “UW Allen School Postdoc Research Award”.