Pitt Momentum Funds

The 2027 cycle will open on September 28, 2026, with an information session being held on September 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM (registration is required).

About

Since 2019, the Pitt Momentum Funds (PMFs) have awarded over $8.5 million to 230 projects across the University. Supported by the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and the Office of the Provost, this university-wide internal funding program supports faculty scholarship and creative endeavors at every scale, from individual investigations to collaborative team efforts.

Types of Grants

1. Arts & Humanities Microgrants: 1-year term of $3,000 (an additional $2,000 is available from the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation for projects involving sustainability research). Microgrants provide smaller grants to faculty in the Arts and Humanities. They support and transform existing projects, works-in-progress, or test the feasibility of a larger idea.  
2. Bioethics Health & Humanities Microgrants: 1-year term of $5,000. These are a joint venture between the Pitt Institute for Bioethics and the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and support early-stage scholarship in bioethics and health humanities.
3. Regional Catalyst Grants: 2-year term for up to $5,000. Regional catalyst grants are designed to support projects that clearly strengthen regional campuses’ research ecosystem.  These support projects that integrate research, scholarship, and creative endeavors at the regional campuses from individuals or teams.
4. Priming Grants: 1-year term for up to $25,000. Priming grants support the early stages of new projects for individuals or groups of faculty.
5. Teaming Grants: 1-year term for up to $60,000. Teaming grants support the formation of new multi-disciplinary collaborations to successfully pursue large-scale external funding.
6. Scaling Grants (not offered in 2027): 2-year term for up to $400,000. Scaling grants enable multi-disciplinary teams to competitively scale their research efforts in targeted pursuit of large-scale external funding. 

Eligibility Requirements

• Applicants must be full-time faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh. Eligible appointment stream faculty must have research as their core responsibility.  
• Only faculty or eligible community partners may be listed as co-investigators on PMF applications. Undergraduate, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, staff, research associates, or visiting (non-permanent) faculty members may not be listed as investigators, but they may participate in PMF projects.  
• Awardees from the immediate previous funding cycle may not apply to the same grant-type they were awarded funds for previously (i.e., Teaming grant awardees from FY26 cannot apply for a Teaming grant in FY27). This applies to all PMF grant types.
• Please refer to the individual grant guidelines for full eligibility requirements. 

2027 Calendar