Supporting Educational Excellence and Discovery with AI Grants (SEED-AI)

Supporting Educational Excellence and Discovery with AI Grants (SEED-AI) is sponsored by University of Washington (AI@UW, Charles and Lisa Simonyi Launch Fund for Artificial Intelligence). SEED-AI grants support innovative, exploratory projects aiming to discover how AI can enhance learning and teaching across disciplines, enlighten the UW community and inspire future developments of AI for teaching and learning.

Supporting Educational Excellence and Discovery with AI Grants – AI@UW Recent advances in artificial intelligence have the potential to strengthen the University of Washington’s educational mission, if they are applied thoughtfully and in the right contexts. UW faculty are already leading the way in understanding AI’s possibilities and shaping its responsible use in education.

SEED-AI grants support innovative, exploratory projects aiming to discover how AI can enhance learning and teaching across disciplines, enlighten the UW community and inspire future developments of AI for teaching and learning. Selected SEED-AI grantees will be supported by the Charles and Lisa Simonyi Launch Fund for Artificial Intelligence.

The program is being executed as a partnership among the Vice Provost for AI/AI@UW, the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, the Center for Teaching and Learning, College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, the eScience Institute, Foster School of Business and UWIT.

Projects with the potential for broad impact (i.e., those creating resources that can be used by UW faculty beyond the project team and potentially even beyond the UW), those that serve large numbers of students, and/or those that advance student success will be prioritized.

Our interests are broad in scope, so applications can propose projects with foci that include, but are not limited to, the following: Revise or create curriculum for a course, part of a course, training, or teaching protocol to improve learning – or empirically evaluate whether learning is improved – through the use of, or engagement with, AI.

Develop an AI tool to serve a learning goal, in response to an existing challenge with that goal. Create experiential learning programs using AI that deepen student engagement with AI and/or course subject matter. Applicants agree to provide interim and final reports to the Vice Provost for AI and summarize findings and deliverables at a campus-wide event in the 2026-27 academic year.

The timeline for this funding call is as follows: December 10, 2025: SEED-AI grant announcement and release of the call for proposals. January 13, 2026, 10:30 to 11:30 a. m.

Pacific: Virtual Q&A session via Zoom; clarifications to this call may follow. January 22, 2026, 9 – 10 a. m.

Pacific: Virtual Q&A session via Zoom; clarifications to this call may follow. February 1, 2026: Deadline to apply. Applicants should be prepared to answer follow-up questions by email in the following weeks.

March 1, 2026: Awards announced. June 16, 2026: Brief progress report due (end of spring quarter). September 30, 2026: Progress report due (start of autumn quarter).

December 18, 2026: Final report due (end of autumn quarter; extensions will likely be possible for projects that run through the end of autumn quarter). SEED-AI grantees will summarize their projects’ results at a campus-wide event in the 2026-27 academic year. UW faculty members (as defined in the Faculty Code ) are eligible to apply.

Full-time UW postdoctoral scholars and staff who engage in teaching are also welcome to apply but should identify a faculty mentor/collaborator and indicate that they already have a teaching assignment. Teams may include students and UW staff. We encourage applications from all UW campuses.

The budget should fit the scope of the project. We invite proposals for projects with expenses from $1,000 up to $50,000 . All projects are expected to be completed during March 30 through December 18, 2026 (spring, summer and autumn quarters).

Allowed expenses include: Personnel (i.e., salaries and benefits for faculty and students as well as staff at the UW or a community-based organization) Equipment, materials and supplies Travel, including airfare, transportation and per diem (lodging, meals and expenses) Tuition for graduate students Other direct costs related to the project (must detail the expense and include rationale) Unallowable expenses include: Publication and patent cost Hosting expenses (e.g., receptions, alcohol) All allowable expenses must adhere to applicable University of Washington policies.

Please contact your department’s finance lead with questions regarding such expenses. In addition, an Office of Sponsored Programs review is not needed prior to submitting an application. We anticipate that some projects may benefit from access to computing resources or engineering/scientist personnel with technical AI expertise.

We will work with SEED-AI grantees to identify and meet such needs. We are seeking specifically to fund seed projects that have not yet received funding, but this is not a hard constraint. We expect another SEED-AI call for proposals within a year.

Proposals will be evaluated by a team of faculty recruited by the Vice Provost for AI. The evaluation criteria will include: Clarity of the project’s contribution to learning at the UW Potential for broad impact on UW’s educational mission Feasibility of the work plan within the allowed timeframe Clarity of the marks of success Appropriateness of the budget Frequently asked questions This section will be updated as new questions arise.

Is review by the Office of Sponsored Programs needed? No. Can the project include UW-external collaborators? It is fine to have external collaborators.

However, the budgeted funds should be used to support UW effort, so non-UW team members should be “off budget. ” Have questions for us that are not answered in the above? Please contact us via email at seed-ai@uw.

edu. Each application must contain the following sections: Completed cover sheet (project information, applicant information, and abstract). Responses to nine questions, plus an optional reference list.

Completed budget form and justification. Download an Application Template The application must be submitted as a single . pdf file through the following online submission portal.

Review by the Office of Sponsored Programs is not needed.