Northwestern invests in the future of discovery

The recently updated Office for Research at Northwestern University will award multiple competitive seed grants to interdisciplinary research teams, establish a center for community-engaged research, fund a study on research in the visual and performing arts, and increase undergraduate research funding to boost student participation by 50%.

“Comprehensive excellence begins with our people and the possibilities they see,” Interim Vice President for Research Sumit Dhar said. “These new investments will give faculty, staff and students more opportunities to pursue ambitious ideas, connect across disciplines and contribute discoveries that enrich lives and strengthen competitiveness.”

The Office for Research announced the four initiatives as Northwestern celebrates its 175th year, connecting the University’s research legacy with investments designed to help new ideas and collaborations take shape. Together, the initiatives will support discovery at several stages: a student’s first research experience, a developing community partnership, an individual scholarly or artistic undertaking, and an interdisciplinary team’s pursuit of a question with the potential to establish a new area of research strength.

Helping ambitious collaborations grow

The Northwestern Nexus Lab Awards will provide multiple interdisciplinary teams with $250,000 each for work spanning 12 to 18 months aimed at a major external funding competition. Selected through proposal review and a pitch competition, teams will pursue significant extramural funding that allows them to address consequential scientific, societal, technological, economic or human challenges.

The award process welcomes proposals with substantial potential impact, including those involving significant uncertainty. Teams should identify paths to sustained external support and partnerships with industry, foundations, philanthropic organizations or government agencies. Collaborations across the Chicago region are especially encouraged.

The awards aim to help teams develop enduring research programs that compete for large external grants with the potential for becoming University research institutes or centers, or centers within Northwestern’s schools. Participating teams also will have access to Office for Research resources to pursue external funding, regardless of whether they receive an award in this process.

Initial application and timeline information can be found on the Northwestern Nexus Lab Awards website, with additional details to come soon.

Deepening community connections

The new Center for Community-Engaged Research (CCER), housed within the Office for Research, will help faculty and community organizations develop sustained partnerships and seek research support together. Michelle Shumate, the Delaney Family University Research Professor in the School of Communication, will serve as inaugural director.

“Northwestern’s research strength lies in the depth of our expertise and our ability to connect it across fields,” Provost Erik Luijten said. “These investments will help translate that strength into societal benefit, from new understanding that informs communities to inventions that reach people through technology transfer and partnerships.”

Grounded in community priorities, the center will connect University expertise with partners’ knowledge and experience to pursue shared questions across the Chicago region and beyond.

“The most complex societal challenges cannot be addressed by any one organization or discipline; progress depends on durable networks built around shared goals, complementary expertise and trust,” Shumate said. “CCER will help Northwestern researchers and community partners find one another, develop projects together and sustain collaboration beyond a single study or grant. By valuing community expertise and defining success together, we can produce research that advances knowledge and creates meaningful community benefits.”

Among its initial priorities, the center will:

• Help community organizations and Northwestern researchers identify prospective collaborators
• Provide guidance and resources for developing equitable and durable partnerships
• Assist research teams in navigating relevant administrative processes
• Offer training and practical resources for faculty, staff, students and trainees
• Convene Northwestern units engaged in community-engaged research
• Identify institutional barriers that can impede effective partnerships and research implementation

Funding a strategic study for research in the arts

Northwestern will undertake a study to identify strategies for enhancing research excellence in the visual and performing arts with the goal of elevating this work in The Block Museum of Art, Bienen School of Music, School of Communication, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and other programs that support the arts. This work will be led by Brian Mustanski, associate vice president for research in social sciences, humanities and the arts.

The University also will invest additional funds to expand the Office of the Provost’s 2026-27 Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts Grant supporting research in the humanities, social sciences, and the visual and performing arts. This pilot expansion is part of the quest to promote scholarship and creative work that deepen understanding of human experience.

“Supporting faculty scholarship is an investment in the intellectual life of the University,” said Dhar, who also serves as associate provost for faculty. “Research in the humanities, social sciences and arts helps us understand human experience, examine assumptions and imagine new possibilities. When faculty have the resources to pursue that work, it enriches their fields, their teaching and the opportunities they create for students.”

Expanding hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduates

With about one-third of undergraduate students currently estimated to engage in research opportunities, Northwestern also will pilot increasing funding for the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) for the coming year to help achieve a targeted 50% increase in undergraduate students participating in formal research opportunities during their study at Northwestern. This commitment underscores the important intersections between receiving knowledge and participating in the creation of new knowledge that are essential to learning at a top research university.

OUR supports students across disciplines through advising, workshops and funding for research and creative projects. Its programs help undergraduates find faculty mentors, develop proposals, gain experience as research assistants and undertake independent projects during the academic year and summer.

“Research gives students the opportunity to take ownership of a question that matters to them,” OUR Director Peter Civetta said. “They learn to evaluate evidence, adapt when an approach doesn’t work and explain what they have discovered. Those skills carry into any career, and this investment will help more students build them through work that sparks their curiosity.”

Building on a history of discovery

As Northwestern marks its 175th year, these new investments build on a tradition of pioneering fields of inquiry and bringing discoveries beyond campus.

“These four initiatives share a purpose: to support the students and colleagues at Northwestern with even more opportunities to pursue their best ideas and highest ambitions,” Northwestern President Mung Chiang said. “Aiming for the highest level of excellence in the discovery of knowledge, the impact of Northwestern’s research will be deep and broad across our university.”

Matt Golosinski is the director of communication in the Office for Research