Chancellor's Research Faculty Scholars (CRFS) Program

Purpose of CRFS

The Chancellor's Research Faculty Scholar (CRFS) Program (formerly called the Chancellor's Research Fellowship Program) provides support to promising scholars and their mentors to facilitate completion of a specific project. The objectives are:

• to identify faculty with strong potential for obtaining external funding for research; 
• to provide additional research support that will help protégés and mentors succeed in their research agendas; 
• to facilitate the building of internal and external partnerships.

Faculty scholars who demonstrate a strong potential for research select a mentor who can help them enhance their research program to become competitive for external funding. Mentors should have a successful record of research publication and external funding and possess the ability to successfully mentor research protégés

Award Amount and Spending Information:

It is anticipated that mentors will receive awards of approximately $3,000 and Protégés will receive awards of approximately $5,000.

Funding will support TWU faculty members' individual research needs. This may include:

• Travel
• Supplies
• Training costs
• Equipment
• Research time when it can be arranged by the academic unit

CRFS funds cannot be used to supplement regular salary during the academic year. 

Mentors who are not TWU faculty members will receive individual payments.

Protégé Eligibility:

Protégé applicants must be TWU full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members. They should have completed preliminary work and publication in their areas of research. Applicants must demonstrate a strong potential for research, but need assistance to accomplish their research programs and be competitive for external funding. Applicants should be at the beginning stage of their research career, although more experienced researchers who are changing research trajectories would be considered.

Faculty in administrative roles are not automatically disqualified but non-administrative faculty will be given preference as protégés.

Mentor Eligibility:

Protégés should select mentors who are faculty members or researchers with successful records of research publication and funding and shared research interest with the protégé. Mentors are not required to be TWU faculty. Mentors should ideally be university faculty that are located in the U.S.

The selection of a mentor who is the former chair or post-doctoral advisor of the protégé, but who does not share the protégé’s research focus, will not be viewed as favorably as mentoring relationships based on shared research interests.

Protégés may apply for a second award (but not a third). Protégés will be selected with the expectation that they will continue in service at the University for at least one academic year following the program period. Persons known to be in the terminal year of their employment at TWU are not eligible to apply as a protégé in this program.

Dates:

Research and Sponsored Programs is not accepting applications for 2027-2028 at this moment.

Submission Information:

Please read the guidelines for more detailed information about eligibility, selection process, and criteria.

CRFS Guidelines

Please fill out the application and email to ORSP for review. You will be sent a notification email once your application has been received.

Application Form

2026-2027 Past Awardees:

CRFS Awardees