The mission of the NSF CIQC ​is to address the fundamental challenges to the development of the quantum computer.  Our activities have four components:

1. Research, including in the areas of quantum algorithms, quantum advantage, and scaling-up quantum systems

2. Education and workforce development

3. Research coordination and scientific leadership, both within the Institute and beyond

4. Partnerships with outside institutions

The CIQC seed funding program seeks to promote new initiatives and collaborations within any of these four activities.  We wish to use these funds to respond rapidly and nimbly to opportunities that arise, rather than being delayed by long lead times for securing external funding.  We also wish to empower the creativity and initiative of the entire CIQC membership.  Thus, we invite all CIQC personnel to apply for seed-funding support for new efforts with high potential impact, including those that strengthen collaboration across the CIQC, and that show promise for transitioning to external funding later on.

Seed funding requests will be evaluated regularly in two cycles per year.  We will also accept emergency requests that must be evaluated quickly and out of cycle.

Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis with no deadlines. We will review all applications and get back to you within two months, but usually much sooner.

Available Funding

Up to $50,000 per application

Eligibility

• Project principal investigator, who is directly responsible for use of funds, must be a member of the CIQC.  Here, CIQC members include all senior investigators and members of their research groups, and other CIQC appointed personnel (e.g. CIQC/Simons postdocs).

• Projects may include co-investigators both within and outside of the CIQC.

• Projects led by somebody other than a CIQC senior investigator (e.g. postdoc, student) must include an endorsement from a CIQC senior investigator, including a statement of how the senior investigator will supervise and provide mentoring for the project.

• The NSF places some limitations on the use of these seed funds.  For example, while normal salary/stipend support for students and postdocs is a standard allowed expense, supplemental salary stipends to research personnel are difficult to support.  Certain expenditures for food and drink can be problematic.  If you have any questions about allowability of expenses, be sure to contact the CIQC Director and/or Executive Director to clarify.

Evaluation Criteria

Seed funding proposals will be reviewed by the CIQC Scientific Leadership Team, with final decisions on seed funding made by the Director.  Any Leadership Team members participating in any seed funding proposal in a given round of evaluations will recuse themselves from the review and decision process.  Successful proposals should meet one or more of the following criteria

1. High merit and impact

2. Alignment with CIQC mission and activities

3. Establishment of new collaboration within the CIQC and across CIQC campuses

4. Meaningful inclusion of junior faculty, postdocs, students  

Submission Instructions and Requirements

The proposal should be submitted as a complete, single-file PDF document that is emailed prior to the specified deadline to the CIQCDirector@berkeley.edu email address.

The following information must be contained in your application:

• Project Title

• Project Team: Identify one principal investigator (PI) and any number of co-investigators, providing name, campus, and group affiliation (within CIQC) for each

• CV (or CV link) for the PI

• Indication of which (can be more than one) CIQC activities are supported by the seed funding project.  These include:

  • Research sub-challenge #1: Quantum Algorithms

  • Research sub-challenge #2: Quantum Advantage

  • Research sub-challenge #3: Scaling quantum systems

  • Other research

  • Education and workforce development

  • Research coordination and leadership

  • Institutional partnerships

• Project narrative: Be sure to address all evaluation criteria relevant to your proposal.  Aim for no more than 2 pages.

• Budget narrative with allocation of funds between campuses.  This budget must describe the entire budget burden, including indirect cost recovery and other costs.  It is the responsibility of the applicant to get these numbers right.  Aim for no more than 1 page and 1 table.

• Optional: endorsement by CIQC senior investigator as needed (1 page max).

Questions? Contact CIQCDirector@berkeley.edu.