Criteria for RIT Program Proposals

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation program in Research in Information Technology (RIT) is dedicated to supporting the thoughtful development of information technology for a wide range of scholarly purposes. We make project-oriented grants to institutions: we do not provide individual support for (e.g.) graduate or undergraduate tuition, or sabbatical leave.

Through its development efforts, the Foundation is interested in promoting the uses of digital technologies that can be applied to research and online learning and teaching. The Foundation also supports new technical approaches to the archiving of textual and multimedia materials that require improved search and storage techniques and better user interfaces.

Our area of focus is the Mellon traditional constituencies: while we are happy to support projects with broad benefits to many constituencies, the primary beneficiaries of any project we fund must lie within those constituencies. Note particularly that our constituencies are: the arts and humanities in higher education, not primary/secondary education; and research libraries, not public libraries.

The RIT program welcomes letters or e-mails of inquiry from prospective applicants. Letters should be no more than 2-3 pages and contain: a description of the proposed work; an explanation of the work's significance to one or more of our constituencies; and an estimate of the cost. Please do not send complete, unsolicited proposals.