On Apr. 6, 2020, Rice University announced it had established a research accelerator fund to support projects – in biomedicine, engineering, social sciences, humanities and other fields – intended to help end the pandemic and prepare for similar outbreaks in the future.

The COVID-19 research fund was open to Rice faculty working on coronavirus-related projects. The fund was flexible and allowed faculty to access supplies and other resources immediately needed by research groups.

Rice has set a goal of $1 million for research funding. The university has immediately allocated $500,000 and will seek to raise an equal amount from donors to achieve the $1 million goal. In addition, federal funds are expected to underwrite many COVID-19 related research efforts, including those initially supported through the university. The fund will be overseen by a faculty committee and the university’s Office of Research.