Scott Institute Seed Grants

Scott Institute Seed Grants is sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University. Provides seed funding for research projects addressing energy demand in AI data centers.

Scott Institute Seed Grant Award Program Please check back for the next call for applications in late Fall 2026 The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation has proudly supported energy and climate research projects with seed funding since its founding in 2012.

The seed grant program expanded in 2025 to include new opportunities for cleantech entrepreneurs and in 2026 to add a joint seed grant with the Carnegie Bosch Institute to fund a research project on evaluating the contribution of household smart and flexible energy technologies to power grid stability and efficiency. Recipients of these awards are expected to apply for larger, externally funded projects after the initial seed period.

Previous research projects have focused on decarbonizing plastics, improving the efficiency of direct air capture (DAC) technologies, and demystifying hydrogen’s damaging effects on metals. Prior to submitting a proposal for a seed grant, interested faculty need to become a Scott Institute faculty affiliate (and, for the co-sponsored funding, a CBI Faculty Host), if they are not already. $2.

2M in funding requested $400,000 awarded to 7 projects The Scott Institute is eager to promote new collaborations, and therefore, preference will be given to proposals that involve multiple faculty members and new interdisciplinary interactions (interschool, interdepartmental, or intercenter).

Priority will be given to those proposals with the capacity to create new activities that can ultimately engage multiple faculty members across disciplines and research methodologies or domains. Proposals are typically due in January and will be reviewed by a faculty committee comprised of Scott Institute Faculty Affiliates. Reviewers who are party to a proposal will not be asked to rank their own submission.

Final selection of grant winners will be made by the Scott Institute leadership. For more information, please contact Daniel Tkacik . 2026: A fourteenth round of awards led to over $500,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and our Grand Challenge Partners for seven seed grant projects and another three hardware and software tool upgrade program projects.

2025: A thirteenth round of awards led to over $400,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and our Grand Challenge Partners for seven projects. 2024: A twelfth round of grants led to $400,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and our Grand Challenge Partners for seven projects. 2023: An eleventh round of grants led to nearly $230,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and the EQT Foundation for three projects.

2022: A tenth round of grants led to over $278,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and the EQT Foundation for five projects. 2021: A ninth round of grants led to over $400,000 in funding from the Scott Institute and the EQT Foundation for six projects.

Boosting air quality through zero-energy, sustainable filtration Supported in part by the Scott Institute's entrepreneurship award, Waku Ken-Opurum is developing CLAIR (Clean Air Innovation for Resilience), a passive, biodegradable air filtration technology designed for windows, vents, and other building openings while also enabling environmental-friendly disposal.

How digital demands could affect U.S. electricity prices With support from the Scott Institute’s 2025 hardware and software tool upgrade program, the Open Energy Outlook team updated the mathematical model Temoa’s framework to portray how growing energy demands — particularly from data centers and cryptocurrency mining — could affect electricity costs in the U.S. To study air, clouds, and climate, good data goes a long way Albert Presto, director of the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, used support from the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation’s hardware and software tool upgrade program to acquire a new sulfur dioxide monitor, which enables CAPS researchers to conduct critical field work and gather insightful data.

New co-sponsored award on smart energy technologies The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and the Carnegie Bosch Institute have announced the winner of a joint seed grant to fund a research project that evaluates the contribution of household smart and flexible energy technologies to power grid stability and efficiency.

Scott Institute announces 2026 seed grant winners This year, a total of seven projects received seed funding, with another three proposals receiving support through the hardware and software tool upgrade program.

Home electrification to stabilize the grid Mario Bergés received seed funding to refine a model called Ibex-RL, an upgrade of a previous model that uses both machine learning and physics-based concepts to control heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) functions in buildings.

A regional model for producing clean hydrogen Ana Torres received a 2025 seed grant from the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University to study potential clean hydrogen production methods for Western Pennsylvania.

A cross-stack solution for energy-efficient data centers GPUs, or graphics processing units, are the building blocks for many AI tools, but a single unit can consume as much power as a dishwasher or a microwave. Nocturnal AI to solve energy curtailment A central question, How can we optimally design energy supply chains and schedule AI work to best utilize solar and wind energy?

, is timely amid mounting curiosity about the most efficient way to power AI data centers as they grow in number.

Seed grant spotlight: Increasing U.S. transportation resilience To adequately support electrification of the U.S. transportation sector, which claims the greatest energy use and greenhouse (GHG) gas emissions in the country, it’s important to make the supply chain resilient and adaptable to changing policies, global trade conditions, and consumer demand.

Seed grant spotlight: Upgrading direct air capture Thanks to support from a Scott Institute seed grant, Salvador and Islam hope to resolve a key issue with current DAC technologies: they don’t capture enough greenhouse gas emissions to justify the steep cost. Seed grant spotlight: Giving plastics a new lease on life Sydlik and Wang are using their expertise to manipulate the properties of polymers, making it easier to upcycle plastics.

New co-sponsored award to advance research in AI and energy The Scott Institute and The Block Center for Technology and Society have co-sponsored a new award to advance research in AI and energy at Carnegie Mellon University. Scott Institute announces 2025 seed grant winners This year’s seed awards will help grow research in clean hydrogen production, AI hardware efficiency, and decarbonizing transportation.

Scott Institute announces 2025 seed grant winners This year’s seed awards will help grow research in clean hydrogen production, AI hardware efficiency, and decarbonizing transportation. Domestic, circular supply chain for EV batteries SeaLion Energy, a CMU-led startup, received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E to extend EV battery life and facilitate repair and reuse to reduce waste.

Seed grant spotlight: AI-driven energy benchmarking A new project at Carnegie Mellon draws attention to architecture’s sizable carbon footprint. Seed grant spotlight: Improving electric-power resilience College of Engineering researchers are developing a robust optimization model that is capable of analyzing threats to the grid and providing commensurate responses that improve its resilience and mitigate supply disruptions.

Scott Institute seed grant spotlight: Access to credit and energy transitions To support the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050 — a crucial step toward mitigating the effects of climate change — it is vital to establish clean energy alternatives to power the nation.

Scott Institute Seed Grant Helps Demystify Hydrogen’s Damaging Effects Hydrogen (H) is the smallest atom in the universe, yet it causes billions of dollars of damage to high-strength metallic alloys through a phenomenon called H embrittlement.

Scott Institute seed grants advance clean energy research at Carnegie Mellon University ince the Scott Institute’s founding in 2012, a core initiative has been the Seed Grants for Energy Research program. With this funding, researchers across the university receive important early-stage support for developing cutting-edge energy research.