Engaged Engineering Departmental Challenge Grant

Page Contents

  • Funding Range

    $30,000 – $70,000

  • Full Proposal Deadline

    April 15, 2026

  • Notification of awards

    May 15, 2026

  • Start Date

    July 1, 2026

  • Grant Period

    24 months

Grant Purpose 

The purpose of Engaged Engineering Departmental Challenge Grants is to incentivize and support engineering schools and departments in developing signature engaged programs that leverage their unique disciplinary strengths with community engagement opportunities. These grants are intended to embed Engaged Engineering into the core of departmental curricula and culture. Departmental Challenge Grants complement the college-level Engaged Engineering Curriculum Grants (which support individual faculty in developing or enhancing single courses) by operating at a larger scale. These grants empower schools and departments to take a strategic, coordinated approach to embedding engagement across their programs. 

Signature programs may take the form of engaged design courses, community-partnered undergraduate research tracks, or other innovative models aligned with departmental priorities. Funded programs are expected to serve as exemplary, replicable models that advance Cornell Duffield Engineering’s goal of 100% undergraduate participation in high-quality community-engaged learning. 

Proposed programs must address the four Engaged Engineering Criteria: 

  1. Address real-world challenges or opportunities valued by community partners, including place-based, interest-based, non-profit, government, and industry;
  2. Include working with and/or learning from a community partner, whether on campus or outside the university, through in-person or virtual engagement; 
  3. Connect and integrate engaged engineering experiences with educational content; and 
  4. Include structured, documented critical reflection that addresses both technical and social aspects of the engagement. 

A high priority is placed on proposals that demonstrate a credible path to sustainability beyond the grant period, including plans for how the school or department will institutionalize the program using existing or anticipated resources. The Einhorn Center of Community Engagement is committed to assist awardees with leveraging campuswide resources to develop engaged engineering best practices that fit their individual contexts.  Project team members are strongly encouraged to participate in the Engaged Faculty Fellowship program  or on-line learning program. 

Scope and Eligible Activities 

Departmental Challenge Grants are intended to support activities such as: 

  • Transforming required senior design or other capstone or courses to incorporate authentic community partnerships 
  • Developing a sequence or track of engaged courses within the department 
  • Creating community-partnered undergraduate research programs tied to departmental research strengths 
  • Building departmental infrastructure to support and sustain community partnerships 
  • Cross-departmental collaborations that address complex societal challenges requiring interdisciplinary expertise 

Departmental Challenge Grants are not intended to support: 

  • Activities that serve a single faculty member’s course without broader departmental impact (use the Engaged Engineering Curriculum Grant instead) 
  • Co-curricular or extra-curricular activities such as student clubs or speaker series 
  • Programs without identified or prospective community partners 

If you’re unsure whether your department’s idea/course idea is a good fit, you are encouraged to reach out. Contact Max Zhang (kz33@cornell.edu), Provost’s Fellow for Public Engagement, to discuss your concept before submitting a proposal. 

Who Is Eligible? 

Any department or program within Cornell Duffield Engineering may apply. Cross-departmental proposals involving two or more engineering departments, or proposals developed in partnership with programs outside the College, are also welcome and encouraged. 

Each proposal must include: 

  • A faculty lead (PI) who is a tenured or tenure-track faculty member, or a senior lecturer, professor of practice, associate and full teaching professors within the lead department 
  • At least one additional faculty collaborator as co-PI from the department to ensure the effort extends beyond a single individual. 
  • A member of the departmental leadership team as co-PI confirming departmental commitment to the proposed program, and a discussion on sustainability of the program beyond the grant period. 

Staff, graduate students, and community partners may serve as team members but cannot serve as PI. Participation of community partners in the proposal development process is strongly encouraged. 

Funding 

Grants will range from $30,000 to $70,000, commensurate with the scope and scale of the proposed program. All budget lines must be justified and tied directly to proposed activities. Applicants should make the case for the funding level most appropriate to their needs. Please note that grantees may not receive their full budget request. 

Departmental Challenge Grants have a term of 24 months. At the end of the approved grant period, grant-holders may be eligible for a no-cost extension or will return remaining funds. 

Budget 

Allowable expenses 

  • Community partner support: 
    • Honoraria for community partner participation in course design, advising, and assessment 
    • Funds that support community organizations’ capacity to participate in the partnership 
    • Travel for faculty and students to community partner sites 
  • Student support: 
    • Student wages for community-engaged research or project work 
    • Travel, meals, and lodging associated with community-engaged learning conducted off campus 
    • Materials, prototyping supplies, software, and tools for community-partnered projects 
  • Program development: 
    • Graduate assistant support for engaged course development and coordination 
    • Workshop and convening costs for departmental engaged learning communities 
    • Resources for collaborative planning (meals, mini-conferences, books, subscriptions) 
    • Assessment and evaluation activities, including data collection instruments and analysis 
  • Communication and dissemination: 
    • Costs associated with presenting or showcasing the program (e.g., materials for an annual summit, poster production) 

Unallowable expenses 

  • Faculty or staff salaries 
  • Overhead and indirect costs (IDC) 
  • Tuition 

Expectations and Deliverables 

Grantees will be expected to meet the following requirements: 

  • Mid-grant progress report (due at approximately 12 months): A brief update on milestones achieved, challenges encountered, community partner engagement, and any adjustments to the program plan. 
  • Final report (due two months after the funding period ends): A comprehensive report including: 1) description of the signature program as implemented, 2) course syllabi or program documentation, 3) data on student participation and demographics, 4) learning outcome assessment results, 5) community partner feedback, and 6) sustainability plan update. 
  • Participation in cross-departmental learning: Grantees will participate in at least two cross-departmental convenings during the grant period to exchange best practices with other funded departments and to share lessons learned and inspire other departments. 
  • Data contribution: Grantees will contribute participation and outcome data to the college-wide Engaged Engineering Dashboard in a standardized format. 
  • Communication support: As appropriate, grantees may be asked to contribute photographs, stories, or testimonials to support college communications about Engaged Engineering. 

Selection Criteria 

Cornell Duffield Engineering leadership and invited reviewers will evaluate proposals using the following criteria: 

  • Community partnership strength: Authenticity and reciprocity of proposed partnerships; evidence of partner involvement in program design; breadth and diversity of partners 
  • Scale and reach: Number of students served; depth and duration of student engagement; potential to reach a significant fraction of the department’s undergraduates 
  • Alignment with Engaged Engineering criteria: Degree to which the program addresses real-world challenges, involves community partners, integrates with educational content, and includes structured reflection 
  • Departmental commitment: Evidence of institutional support including chair endorsement, faculty buy-in, and plans for embedding the program in departmental culture and curriculum 
  • Sustainability: Credibility of the plan for continuing the program beyond the grant period, including identification of future funding sources, departmental resource commitments, and curricular integration 
  • Assessment plan: Rigor of proposed methods for evaluating student learning outcomes, community impact, and program effectiveness 
  • Replicability: Potential for the program to serve as a model for other departments within the College or at other institutions 

Given the competitive funding environment and limited resources, priority will be given to proposals that target required courses (especially capstone or senior design) or reach large numbers of undergraduates. 

Instructions to Apply 

Full proposals must be submitted using the online application form and include the following: 

  1. Department name and names/units of all team members 
  2. Signed letter of commitment by PI and co-PIs 
  3. Community partner information and letter(s) of collaboration (strongly encouraged) 
  4. Succinct public summary (to be shared publicly) describing the proposed signature program and its public purpose (maximum 1,500 characters with spaces) 
  5. Departmental gap analysis (maximum 5,000 characters with spaces): Description of the department’s current engaged learning landscape, identifying where community engagement currently exists and where the proposed program fills a critical gap 
  6. Program narrative (maximum 10,000 characters with spaces) describing the proposed signature program, including: 
    • Specific aims of the grant and connection to the department’s strategic priorities 
    • Need. Description of the real-world challenges the program addresses and the benefit to community partner(s) 
    • Partner. Clearly identified community partner(s) and their role in program design and student learning 
    • Connection. Description of key learning outcomes, their mapping to college/ABET outcomes, and assessment methods 
    • Reflection. Description of how the program incorporates structured critical reflection on both technical and social dimensions 
    • Scaling plan. How the program will grow from pilot to reaching a meaningful fraction of the department’s students 
  7. Assessment plan (maximum 2,500 characters with spaces): Methods for evaluating student learning, community impact, and program effectiveness 
  8. Sustainability plan (maximum 2,500 characters with spaces): How the program will be continued after grant funding ends, including identification of future funding sources, departmental resource commitments, and how the program will be embedded in departmental curriculum and culture 
  9. Timeline (maximum 2,500 characters with spaces) with milestones across the grant period 
  10. Budget and budget justification (not counted towards page limit) aligned with the allowable expense categories described above. Projects are encouraged to include funding to support community partner participation.