Grant Development
About Grant Development
We cultivate research, scholarship and creative activities by helping faculty and others obtain external funding for their projects. We provide support from conceptualization through to submission, including searching for funding, editing proposals and offering guidance on sponsors.
Newsletter
Sign up for our monthly newsletter, ORSP Memo, for event announcements, news about grant funding and grant writing tips. Log in to the mailing list manager with SFSU credentials and search for orsp_memo.
Funding Search
We offer resources and help to find targeted funding opportunities.
Use the Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN) database to search for research grants, fellowships and other funding opportunities across all disciplines from government, foundation and corporate sponsors. Save search preferences and receive email notifications of results matching search criteria. Training videos are available from the Help tab on the SPIN web page.
SPIN is automatically available to SFSU tenured and tenure-track faculty and administrators. Once logged in to GMS, access SPIN from the left-hand side of the home page. Others must request access and log in via the SPIN login screen.
Funding opportunities are listed on organizations’ dedicated websites as well as the following comprehensive databases:
- Federal: Grants.gov provides a centralized location for grant seekers to find and apply for all federal funding opportunities.
- State: The California Grants Portal is the destination to find all grants offered on a competitive basis by California state agencies.
Log in to the mailing list manager with SFSU credentials to subscribe to one or more mailing lists to receive weekly funding alerts by subject area:
- orsp_arts-humanities
- orsp_education
- orsp_health-medicine
- orsp_social-sciences
- orsp_stem
Proposal Editing
With a highly competitive and limited funding environment, proposals must be impeccable prior to submission. Review of proposals provides valuable feedback and strengthens their quality. We offer internal review and editing of all types of proposals for grammar, structure, clarity, formatting and adherence to sponsor guidelines. The earlier a proposal draft is ready, the more substantial of a review is possible. With more limited time, the level of review will fit the amount of time available.
We will also consider and fund the review of a proposal, by an external subject matter expert, submitted to a federal agency for the first time if it is requested eight weeks before the agency deadline and a near-final draft is ready for review four weeks before the deadline.
For more information about both internal and external review, contact Thien Lam, grant development specialist, at ttlam@sfsu.edu.
Limited Submission Funding Opportunity
“Limited submission” describes funding opportunities in which the sponsoring agency restricts the number of applications or proposals that an institution can submit. If the number of potential submissions exceeds the allowable limit, an internal selection process determines who may apply. The Limited Submission Policy and Procedure pertains to all grants and contracts including awards made directly to faculty.
To receive limited submission opportunity announcements, sign up for our monthly newsletter, ORSP Memo, by logging in to the mailing list manager with SFSU credentials and searching for orsp_memo.
Internal Funding: Small Grants
The ORSP Small Grants program is an annual internal funding opportunity that supports faculty research, scholarship and creative activities and encourages subsequent application to externally funded opportunities. All SFSU faculty — tenured and tenure-track faculty and lecturers — are eligible to apply. The program is funded by the CSU Chancellor’s Office.
The next application cycle should open in February.
Past Opportunity
Details about the past 2026–27 ORSP Small Grants application, including the request for proposals, are available on the inactive application site to be viewed for informational purposes only.
| Name | Department | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Baligh Ben Taleb | American Indian Studies | When the Land Is Never Ceded: Federal Dispossession and the Dann Sisters’ Fight for Western Shoshone Sovereignty |
| Robyn Crook | Biology | Mapping Cephalopod Nociceptors and Their Activity Using Novel Molecular Markers |
| Michael Enright | Chemistry and Biochemistry | Near-Infrared Quantum Dots for Power Windows |
| Trevor Getz | History | Building Democratic AI-Assisted Archives: An Empirical and Collaborative Process |
| Alison Gilchrist, Mark Leinauer, Albert de la Tierra, Amanda Roberti, and Sepideh Modrek | Nursing, Political Science, Criminal Justice Studies, and Economics | Digital Surveillance, Privacy Law, and Reproductive Health Policy: Healthcare Provider Perspectives in Post-Dobbs California |
| Shahrukh Humayoun | Computer Science | GraphAI-VR: Generative AI–Assisted Immersive Graph Analytics in Virtual Reality |
| Wen-Wen Li and Jung Eun Kim | Nursing | Development and Pilot Testing of the Technology-Based Qigong Used for Inadequate Hypertension Treatment (QUIT) Intervention for Korean Immigrants |
| Samuel McCormick | Communication Studies | Routledge Guides to Lacan: A Reading Companion Series |
| Vero Rabelo | Management | At the Nexus of Inclusion and Backlash: Workplace Inequality Among Transgender People of Color |
| Joshua Reason | Africana Studies | Diasporic Dialogues: Experiential Learning Through Arts Curation |
| Rae Shaw | Cinema | Under the Bed: A Fable About Grief, the Brain and the Heart |
| Anusha Sundarrajan | Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences | Perceptions of Speech Language Pathologists by Nurses Across Interdisciplinary Medical Settings |