91ÁÔÆæ

Early Career Investigator Awards

The San José State University Research Foundation invites you to submit faculty nominations for the 2025 Early Career Investigator Awards (ECIA). Nominations are due Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, by 11:59 p.m., PT.

We are excited to provide this opportunity to celebrate 91ÁÔÆæ faculty members for their Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (RSCA) accomplishments, and we look forward to your participation.

Award Purpose

This award recognizes two tenure-track 91ÁÔÆæ faculty who have excelled in areas of research, scholarship, and creative activity during their probationary period at 91ÁÔÆæ. One awardee will be selected from each of the categories described below.

Category 1

Considers faculty member in the following colleges:

• Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering
• College of Science

Category 2

Considers faculty member in the following colleges:

• Lucas College and Graduate School of Business
• Connie L. Lurie College of Education
• College of Health and Human Sciences
• College of Professional and Global Education
• College of Humanities and the Arts
• College of Social Sciences
• 91ÁÔÆæ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

Eligibility Criteria

• The nominee is a full-time Unit 3 faculty member.
  The nominee is tenure-track, but non-tenured at the time of the nomination
• The nominee has completed no more than six full years in their 91ÁÔÆæ tenure-track appointment.
• The nominee must not have previously received this award.

Nomination Instructions

Nominations may come from the faculty member’s academic unit (dean, chair, or faculty). Nominators do not need to be tenured or tenure-track. Self-nominations will also be accepted. Faculty members who are submitting a self-nomination should notify their dean and chair of their submission.

To nominate, please complete the 91ÁÔÆæ Research Foundation . Explain your reasons for nominating the faculty member and describe the accomplishments of the nominee as they relate to the selection criteria listed above. You may do so on the nomination form itself, or you may submit a letter containing that information (maximum one page, 12-point Times New Roman font). Nominations should also include a CV or resume. Nominations are due Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, by 11:59 p.m., PT.

The selection committee will consider a nomination and its supporting materials through three selection cycles as long as the nominee still meets all eligibility criteria. Nominees from previous years will be asked to submit an updated CV before each year’s nomination deadline.

Selection Criteria

Selection will be based on the nominee’s demonstration of success in the following areas:

1. Securing External Funding
   This category encompasses having been awarded externally funded research grants and/or contracts. An explanation of how such awards contribute to the research capability and recognition of San José State University may be included.
    
   Only the following grants and contracts will be considered:
    â€“ Those on which the nominee has served as the principal investigator or co-principal investigator
    â€“ Those awarded on or before midnight June 30 of the prior fiscal year
    â€“ Those awarded during employment by or affiliation with the San José State University Research Foundation or San José State University
2. Scholarship and Creative Activity
   This category encompasses successfully publishing in top-ranked peer-reviewed journals, authoring respected scholarly books, presenting at conferences, exhibiting in renowned galleries, or other artistic endeavors. Specific information (journal name, book citations, presentations, exhibits, performances, etc.) should be included in the nomination form, curriculum vitae (CV), or resume.
3. Student Involvement
   This category includes the nominee’s impact on student RSCA in a manner that benefits the students in their academic journey. This support can include evidence of students as part of the research team that benefits students in their student’s academic journey, financial support, mentor relationships, teaching research methods, and presentation skills, among other benefits.
4. Interdisciplinary Research
   Interdisciplinary research Integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge, can be done by teams or by individuals, and advances fundamental understanding or solves problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.
5. Community-engaged Research
   Community-engaged research is a process that incorporates input from people who are impacted by the research outcomes — the research outcomes will impact and involve such people or groups as equal partners throughout the research process. This involvement may include co-designing research questions to solve problems, making decisions, influencing policies, and creating programs and interventions that affect their own lives. Community engagement often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners, and serve as catalysts for changing policies, programs, and practices.

Selection Committee

The selection committee will consist of the Associate Vice President for Research, the Research Foundation Executive Director, the Research Foundation Director of Sponsored Programs, one faculty researcher from Category 1, one faculty researcher from Category 2, and one prior award winner.

Reward and Recognition

Each award recipient will receive a commemorative trophy, a cash award of $5,000, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition. The award will be presented at the Celebration of Research. A profile of each recipient’s accomplishments will be announced to faculty and staff via email and featured on the Research Foundation’s website and in the Research Foundation’s Annual Report. This information may also be publicized in university media. ECIA award winners are expected to make themselves available for the year after their award to attend the division of R&I events, speak about their RSCA journey at 91ÁÔÆæ, and sit on the selection committee for the following year.

 Past ECIA Awardees

Congratulations to all of our previous recipients.