Innovation & Research

Welcome to the Office of Sponsored Research and Programs (OSR&P) of Virginia State University (VSU). We appreciate your interest in our university and the research unit. If you are a VSU faculty or staff member who wants to fund a University project by applying for state or federal government opportunities, please access the following quicklinks:

Proposal Forms
Procedures and Guidelines for Expediting Proposals
Proposal Preparation Fact Sheet

We possess a pool of highly motivated and capable professors, scholars, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students. We are proud to note that some of our researchers are world-renowned and conduct multiplicity of interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research in state-of-the-art facilities.

The University has Established:

• linkages and alliances on the national and international levels with universities and research organizations
• research Centers of Excellence in several areas including physics, energy and environmental studies, engineering technology, water quality management, aquaculture, education, social sciences, and business
• a sound infrastructure for research management
• an Outreach Program Office to oversee, assist, and supervise outreach programs designed to provide valuable educational resources through research, instruction and public service to the local community

The university has been successful in providing research opportunities for students through funded research projects. The research activities of the University are sponsored by, among others, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Defense Department, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Agency for International Development as well as the State of Virginia, university linkages, and private industry.

Undergraduate students both at VSU and also other universities can present their research at the Annual Undergraduate Research Conference.

Our vision is to further strengthen the overall critical research infrastructure at VSU and enhance the competitiveness of our faculty members, staff and students in their search for funding opportunities to support the mission, goals and future direction of the university.

The mission of the OSR&P is three-fold:

• increase scholarly productivity for the entire university.
• improve the effectiveness and efficiency of sponsored programs administration at Virginia State University.
• provide comprehensive support services for the development and management of sponsored programs.

The OSR&P is the primary support system and mechanism for pursuing a broad-spectrum of institutional research goals including:

• increasing, expanding, and strengthening research partnerships and collaborative links with industry, government, universities and other funding agencies
• increasing funded research activities, both in terms of number of contracts or grants as well as the total dollars awarded
• developing and implementing the pre- and post-award administrative and operational policies and procedures to monitor sponsored projects for compliance with University polices, sponsoring agency guidelines, Federal regulations, and other related issues of interest to the research community.
• developing and making available on the University web page "boiler plate" statements and data summaries which can easily be accessed by faculty members desiring to write grants and/or contracts
• increasing and expanding sponsored research capabilities, for example, by (a) providing necessary tools and assistance to faculty members and staff in their search for funding opportunities, (b) planning and conducting workshops in conjunction with other members of the research team at the beginning of each opening conference or during each semester
• developing, implementing and sustaining a team approach for working with faculty members to identify, develop and obtain successful research grants or contracts
• ensuring that faculty members are continually and systematically kept informed of appropriate potential grant sources and related announcement deadlines
• increasing, expanding and institutionalizing the University's international and domestic basic and applied research activities including appropriate technology transfer to provide a variety of overseas opportunities for faculty, staff and students

We invite you to tour our website and share our success stories. Please, feel free to contact our office for additional information and to access the pool of research talent and resources available at VSU.

Office of Sponsored Research and Programs Virginia State University

3 Jackson Place/P. O. Box 9407 
Petersburg, VA 23806 
Telephone: (804) 524-5280 
FAX: (804) 524-6518