Previously Funded Projects


Call for Proposals 2024

Application deadline: Monday, March 25, 2024

Funding awards up to $2,000

DH@MSU invites proposals for seed grants to support digital humanities projects in research, teaching, and public outreach, in any humanistic or related discipline of the university during Summer 2024. DH@MSU summer seed grants are designed to support projects that might include

  • Textual analysis: digital editions; websites that invite linguistic, social, and historical analysis of texts; text aggregation sites.
  • Development of tools for digital analysis.
  • Geospatial approaches to texts and historical problems.
  • Network analysis of texts and historical problems.
  • Data-mining of corpora for insights into genres, discourses, and the sociology of knowledge.
  • Digital projects whose aim is primarily pedagogical, often undertaken with civic or public humanities goals in mind.
  • Humanistic studies of new media, science or technology.

Applicants may be tenured or tenure-track faculty, non-tenure track faculty, specialists, staff, and/or graduate students. If the applicant(s) are faculty/specialists/staff, at least one member of the project team must be Core or Affiliated faculty with DH@MSU. Graduate student applications are encouraged from students in the DH Certificate, but formal affiliation with the program is not required.

We will prioritize applications for prototypes that will lead to larger projects, for projects that demonstrate collaboration across units, and for projects that make use of existing infrastructure and resources available.

A detailed budget is required for all applications. Awards may be used for funds that will be spent during the period of the grant:

  • costs associated with conducting or disseminating research;
  • purchasing technology (limited to a maximum of 30% of total budget);
  • hiring specialized technical development (programming, etc.) as consultants;
  • hiring student workers as project members (recommended pay for undergraduate student workers is $15/hour and for graduate students, $20/hour)
  • Up to 50% of funds may be used to compensate non-student MSU employees for work on the project

Application Package and Process

Applications must include: 

  • a Project Narrative of no more than 1,000 words. The narrative should describe the guiding premises of the project clearly, provide a clear overview of the project’s structure (components, personnel, tasks), and describe in concrete terms what the project hopes to accomplish by the end of the summer. The Project Narrative should also address how the project uses digital humanities methods to further its research aims.
  • a separate, detailed budget, with clear explanations for each item and a justification of their importance to the project.
  • a separate timetable that outlines the expected stages of the work and a date of completion.
  • a roster of members of the project team, their titles and roles on the project. For any team members that will be hired into the team, include a description of their role and note that they will be hired.

Applications should take the form of a Google Doc, Word file, or a PDF containing the primary applicant’s last name in the filename. Applications should be submitted to dh@msu.edu by 9:00 AM on Monday, March 25, 2024.

Summer Support & Report on Outcomes

  • During the summer, DH@MSU will hold 3 touch base meetings for Seed Grant Recipients, and all funding recipients are strongly encouraged to attend. The first meeting will take place in mid-May to launch the funding program, with a mid-summer follow up, and a final meeting at the end of summer. These meetings will encourage funding recipients to share expertise across projects and serve as an opportunity for DH@MSU to provide support for the projects throughout the funding period.
  • All funded applicants must submit a report of 1,500 words by October 4, 2024, to be posted on the digitalhumanities.msu.edu website, describing the outcomes of their project.
  • Members of the project team will present their work as part of the DH@MSU Research Showcase in the Fall 2024 semester.

Past Projects

Funded Projects 2023

  • Unlocking Squareland Mysteries: The development of Squareland Digital Field Trips, led by Kara Haas, Elizabeth Schultheis, Catalina Bartlett, and Gretel Van Wieren (Post-award report)
  • Marsh Time, led by Garth Sabo, Matthew Rossi, and Jen Owen (Post-award report)
  • Mapping Michigan Menus, led by Danielle Willcutt (Post-award report)

Funded Projects 2022

  • Mapping the World of Ethnic Korean Authors’ Writings, led by Catherine Ryu (Post-award report)
  • Archivo de Respuestas Emergencias de Puerto Rico (AREPR), led by Christina Boyles (Post-award report)

Funded Projects 2021

  • “Synthesizing the Sound of Space” Pilot Project, led by Stephanie Vasko
  • “Materializing Multiple Futures: Printing Jatayu’s Wing,” led by Jessica Stokes (Post-award report)
  • Archivo de Respuestas Emergencias de Puerto Rico (The Puerto Rico Disaster Archive), led by Christina Boyles (Post-award report)
  • “The Cube: Superheroes Die in the Summer,” led by Kate Birdsall (Post-award report)

Funded Projects 2020

  • Transferring the website “Legacies of Enlightenment” to Humanities Commons, led by Valentina Denzel, Tracy Rutler, and Michael Stokes (Post-award report)
  • “Level 101: A Video Game About Video Games”-Game Development in a Global Pandemic, led by Justin Wigard (Post-award report)
  • Archivo de Respuestas Emergencias de Puerto Rico (The Puerto Rico Disaster Archive), led by Christina Boyles (Post-award report)
  • CURBED3: Using DH Visualization to Understand Locality, Cultural Identity, and the Public Imaginary, led by Julian Chambliss, Natalie Phillips, and Divya Victor (Post-award report)

Funded Projects 2019

  • Visualizing German-Jewish Intellectual Life in the Twentieth Century, led by Matthew Handelman and Ryan Carty (Post-award report)
  • Campus as Laboratory: An Oral History of MSU’s Campus Archaeology Program, led by Alice Lynn McMichael and Autumn Painter (Post-award report)
  • Collapse and Rebirth: A Living Archive on the end of the USSR and the 15 Countries that Emerged From It (1985-1995), led by Martha Olcott (Post-award report)

Funded Projects 2018

  • The Weeping Season, film by Alexandra Hidalgo (Post-award report)
  • Bhakti Virtual Archive (BHAVA) project (formerly, Connected Bhakti Bibliographies Database), led by Jon Keune (Post-award report)
  • Digital & Community Publishing Collective (DCPC), led by Kate Birdsall (Post-award report)
  • Theme and Word Analysis in the Corrido from the Frontera Collection project, led by Miguel Cabañas (Post-award report)
  • Level 101 – A Video Game about Video Games, led by Justin Wigard and Elizabeth LaPensée (Post-award report)
  • The Longhua Civilian Assembly Center: 1943-1945 project, led by Daniel Fandino and Erica Holt (Post-award report)