About Minigrants

Students in a classroom looking at visual media

Minigrants

The Innovation Minigrant program provides up to $10,000 in funding for exploratory projects at campuses. The grants are awarded annually and priority is placed on proposals for projects that are most likely to be able to extend to other campuses if the outcomes are positive. Minigrants have supported campus projects in virtual/augmented reality, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, internet of things, blockchain, mesh networking, and robotic telepresence.

With the first round of minigrants awarded in the Spring of 2017, recipients have reported that  67% used the funding to explore an emerging technology and 33% used funds test a solution related to student success. Nearly all respondents (89%) said that the outcome of the project was a prototype. 67% of awardees have presented their findings at a professional conference, while others have disseminated outcomes via websites, articles, and journal publications. This year, over half of the funded projects explored AR/VR/XR, signaling an increasing interest in these environments and experiences for teaching and learning.

2023 – 2024 Projects

  • Long Beach, Virtual Assistant Technology 
  • San Francisco, Improved Mobile Personalized message to mobile user with specific status through Modo push notification API 
  • San Bernardino, High Performance Computing Support for Data Analytics Courses 
  • San Bernardino, CodyAI: The Personal Virtual Learning Assistant for Online Courses 
  • Bakersfield, From Learning to Earning: Reducing Instructional Materials Costs with Technology and Innovation 
  • San Francisco, An AI Toolkit for Teachers 
  • Sonoma, E-Sport Arena: Fostering Excellence and Community Engagement 
  • Stanislaus, Telepresence Robot Fleet & Faculty Learning Community 
  • Dominguez Hills, Student Belonging Through Research and Technology 

How Do I Apply For a Minigrant?

Cal State Innovate is bringing changes to the minigrant program. Once the revised program launches, the application will be available here.

css.php