Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award
SEAS/FAS/OSP Deadline: December 15, 2020
Sponsor Initial Proposal Deadline: January 5, 2021
Award Amount: $300,000 over two years
New this year: There is no limit on the number of applicants from a given institution so applicants no longer need to be internally selected by their institutions.

The Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award supports the pursuit of high impact ideas to generate breakthroughs and drive new directions in biomedical research. The awards will fund high-risk, high-reward pilot projects solicited from the brightest junior faculty in the region. Projects should be conceptualized as a novel research line and a distinct and novel off-shoot from the applicant’s current research.

Applications will be accepted from full-time, independent faculty at academic research institutions who have not yet achieved tenure or its equivalent by the funding start date of October 1, 2021. Applicants must have received their first independent faculty appointment on or between October 1, 2012 and October 1, 2017. Applicants are ineligible if, at the time of application or in either of the first two years (10/1/21 - 9/30/22 or 10/1/22 - 9/30/23) of the two-year Smith Odyssey Award, they have combined federal and non-federal funding totaling $750,000 or more in direct costs. This figure refers to external funding only and not an applicant’s start-up package, other intramural support, or the Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research. Applications from women and people of color are particularly encouraged.