Seed Program

AMIC Student – Industry Seed Program

The UW AMIC Seed Program is an opportunity for graduate students and/or postdocs to gain experience working on projects of interest to industry. Participants get an inside look at the problems and challenges facing industry, and work to help develop solutions. Participants also gain experience in funded research from proposal development to final reporting.

Scope of Seed Projects

The UW AMIC funds short-term, collaborative research projects that address a current or anticipated need in advanced materials and/or manufacturing.

Proposals are intended to address an industry-solicited challenge area. Projects are awarded for one academic year (8-month project period), with the potential for renewal.

AMIC Seed projects are conducted by one student or a small team of UW–Madison graduate students and/or post-doctoral researchers (postdocs) who are advised by a UW–Madison faculty member. For these students and postdocs, the goal of the AMIC Seed program is to provide real-world experience in an industrial setting. Participants get an inside look at problems or challenges facing industry and they work to develop solutions. They also gain experience in the processes around funded research from proposal development to final reporting. Typically, 1 to 3 projects (up to ~$15,000/project) are awarded in this biennial competition.

Review Process

Proposals are reviewed and evaluated based on the NSF criteria of: 1) intellectual merit, and 2) broader impacts. Intellectual merit addresses the potential for the proposed activity to advance knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields, and broader impacts addresses the potential for the proposed activity to benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes.

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