Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language Research Grants

The Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language (CGSL) at the University of Chicago offers research grants to support student-led research projects and ASL language training during the 2025-26 academic year. The Center's goal is to explore the interplay among gesture, sign, and language to address basic questions about human language and development. For student-led research projects, preference is given to collaborative, cross-disciplinary proposals that bring together theory and methods from multiple disciplines. Projects must be supervised by a faculty advisor. Funds may be used for subject payments, research assistant salaries, data collection expenses including travel, and conference travel to present results. For ASL language training, students must have completed at least two years of ASL classes and demonstrate how improved ASL skills fit within a larger research plan aligned with the Center's goals. Students are encouraged to pursue advanced ASL training at Columbia College in Chicago or Gallaudet University in Washington DC. Recipients are expected to provide quarterly presentations, written progress reports, and final reports on their funded projects.