Pitt Momentum Funds

Awards are made across the breadth of interdisciplinary scholarship at the University, and all eligible faculty are encouraged to propose new, innovative ideas that can contribute meaningful insight, understanding or solutions to societal challenges.

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.  
• Applications open September 30, 2025.

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.  We are seeking high-quality projects that integrate research, scholarship, and creative endeavors at regional campuses from individuals or teams.  
• Applications open September 30, 2025.

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.
• Proposals for the FY26 PMF Teaming Grants must align with at least one of the moonshots listed in the 2028 Plan for Pitt.
• Applications open September 30, 2025. 

• Applicants must be full-time faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh. Eligible appointment stream faculty must have research as their core responsibility.  
• Please note that 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 FY25 cannot apply for a Teaming grant in FY26). This applies to all PMF award types.
• Please refer to the individual Award Guidelines to see eligibility restrictions for specific award types:
  • Microgrant Guidelines
  • Regional Catalyst Grant Guidelines
  • Teaming Grant Guidelines

View frequently asked questions about the Pitt Momentum Funds.

See the slide deck from past Pitt Momentum Funds info sessions.

The table below outlines the timeline for the 2025-26 cycle.