Blue Sky Award

L to R: Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Jesse Goodwin, Vice President of Research Dr. Lori McMahon, Blue Sky Award recipient Dr. Steven Kautz, hEDS researcher Cortney Gensemer, Ph.D., and Blue Sky Award recipient Dr. Bashar Badran at award ceremony.

In partnership with the Office of Innovation, the MUSC Office of the Vice President for Research invites applications for promising high-risk research that tackles big problems in medicine and science. The Blue Sky Award (BSA) will support highly creative faculty with a track record of outstanding success with the opportunity to test the feasibility of their “grand idea” and prepare that idea for an application for extramural funding. The goal is to foster high-payoff work that promises to be transformational but for which other funding sources are limited.

Successful proposals should include:

  • A collaborative team of investigators using innovative thinking and creative processes to address complex problems with the potential for high-impact findings is key to the BSA mission.

  • Basic, translational, and/or clinical researchers at any faculty rank.

  • Individuals from under-represented groups are highly encouraged to apply.

  • Incorporation of Artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning in the research plan is encouraged. 

  • Purposeful collaboration with other researchers and teams is designed to bring an interdisciplinary approach to solving the problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

The BSA will provide support for highly creative faculty with a track record of outstanding success with the opportunity to test the feasibility of their “grand idea” and prepare that idea for an application for extramural funding.

Basic, translational, and/or clinical researchers at any faculty rank.

Each application should include at least two MUSC Principal Investigators (PIs), from different disciplines working together to solve problems and advance science.

Additional information may be found in the Blue Sky Award Call for Proposals.

Please contact Wanda Pierce at piercewh@musc.edu for additional details.

Allowable expenses include laboratory supplies, animal costs, patient recruitment costs, and to support pre/postdoctoral students, technicians, or research assistants. Non-MUSC faculty can participate in the research as a consultant.

Applicants should prepare 10-minute presentation (record it using Teams). Your Chalk Talk should 1) explain how your application meets the criteria for the BSA, 2) describe what makes your application innovative and interdisciplinary, 3) define the roles of each PI, including which PI is responsible for each of the proposal’s aims and why? and 4) explain the likely source(s) of follow-on funding and to which funding mechanism(s) the team plans to apply to pending a successful outcome. Applicants may find a video tutorial here.

Applications that are complete and responsive to this announcement will be evaluated for merit by the Advisory Review Panel (ARP). The ARP will then provide a prioritized list of recommendations for funding to the Vice President for Research and Chief Innovations Officer based on the quality of the proposals per the review criteria.

The awardee(s) should submit an interim and annual report with key results and any publications, grant applications, funded awards that resulted from the project, new collaborations, and other outcomes if any. Additional terms and conditions will be attached to the BSA information.

Read the full story on the MUSC Catalyst News. 

Learn More

To learn more about the BSA program please contact Wanda Pierce at piercewh@musc.edu.