‘Bet on the youngsters. They are long shots but some of them pay off.’
The Mission of Research Corporation for Science Advancement is to advance early stage, high-potential, basic scientific research.
RCSA provides catalytic funding for research and sponsors conferences to support:
- A diverse and inclusive community of early career faculty
- Innovative ideas for basic research
- Integration of research and science teaching
- Interdisciplinary research
- Building the academic leadership of the future
Strategic Priorities
To advance our mission, RCSA is working to:
- Further develop and strengthen RCSA’s two core programs, Cottrell Scholars and Scialog, which build on its 100-year legacy of supporting innovative basic research in the physical sciences.
- Leverage partnerships and scientific community building to maximize impact and exercise flexibility to embrace unanticipated opportunities to support innovative research in the physical sciences.
- Help ensure the future of science is innovative and impactful through a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in our programming, processes, and organizational culture.
Core Programs
Cottrell Scholars
- Invest in the early-stage, high-potential, basic physical science research of the most promising early career scientists at research universities and primarily undergraduate institutions.
- Implement a multilayered set of activities that supports each scholar to develop as a successful teacher-scholar and gain the skills and relationships necessary to become leaders in their respective research communities.
- Support Cottrell Scholars’ efforts to improve STEM education and build a more diverse and inclusive scientific workforce.
Scialog
- Invest in interdisciplinary, innovative, basic research on problems of high complexity that are timely and of significant value to society.
- Foster new collaborations across multiple disciplines to spark innovative ideas, stimulate significant advances on chosen topics, and attract higher levels of funding.