Verified Code Translation Research Awards

1. Program Overview and Agreement

Code Metal, Inc. invites university faculty to submit proposals for research grants in verified code translation. Code Metal builds AI-powered tools for verifiable code translation and optimization, with applications in defense, aerospace, and robotics. This program supports academic research that advances the scientific foundations of that work.

We anticipate awarding up to four (4) main awards in the $10,000 to $40,000 range to enable promising researchers to develop their work further and to potentially submit to future phases. Larger awards may become available in future phases, subject to outcomes from this phase. Payment will be made to the awardee’s host university as an unrestricted gift. No Code Metal proprietary data or systems will be provided to award recipients.

Winners will be invited to present their work through Code Metal’s research programming, which may include the Formally Speaking seminar series, future academic convenings, or other opportunities to engage with the Code Metal research community.

2. Eligibility

The Program is open to faculty members at accredited universities, colleges and/or research institutions worldwide. Research groups may apply jointly, provided one named Principal Investigator (“PI”) accepts responsibility for the project and is authorized to bind the institution. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age.

Each individual may serve as PI on only one active Code Metal grant at a time. A researcher who already holds an active Code Metal grant as PI is ineligible to apply as PI for an additional grant until that grant has concluded. There is no limit on participation as a co-investigator or contributor on multiple concurrent projects.

The following are not eligible to apply or receive a grant:

• Current Code Metal employees, officers, directors, or contractors and their immediate family members;
• Anyone whose existing agreements with Code Metal would restrict publication of the proposed research without Code Metal’s prior written approval;
• Paid employees of a governmental entity (other than those at accredited academic institutions); and
• Any person or entity subject to U.S. export controls or sanctions, or listed on a U.S. Government prohibited-party list (including the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals list, the Commerce Department’s Denied Persons List, or the Entity List).

Overhead and indirect costs may not exceed 10% of the total award. If an institution requires overhead above that level, the applicant must obtain a waiver or cover the excess from other funds. Code Metal will not increase awards to accommodate institutional overhead requirements.

3. Research Areas of Interest

Code Metal welcomes proposals across AI and formal methods, with a particular interest in approaches that can handle multiple programming languages. Priority areas include, but are not limited to:

• Specification-aligned code generation: methods combining language models with types, refinement types, program logics, symbolic reasoning, theorem proving, contracts, or independently checkable proof obligations.
• Verified code translation: techniques demonstrating that translated code preserves the behavior of the original program across languages, platforms, and hardware targets, particularly for C, C++, Rust, CUDA, OpenCL, VHDL, MLIR, Python, and Octave.
• AI-assisted verification and validation artifacts: systems using AI to produce contracts, test harnesses, lemmas, proof sketches, type refinement maps, translation certificates, or other evidence checkable by independent tools.
• Formal semantics of programming languages: formalization of operational, denotational, and axiomatic semantics, mechanized proofs for cross-language semantic equivalence, characterization of abstract and approximated semantics for cross-language behavioral equivalence, executable specifications, mechanized models, for programming languages, intermediate representations, and hardware programming models.
• Trustworthy optimization and hardware targeting: verified optimization, accelerator targeting, compiler correctness, semantics-preserving lowering, numerical correctness, resource constraints, timing assumptions, and hardware-aware code generation.

4. Proposal Requirements

We aim to keep the process light to reduce the burden of preparing an application. Applicants should submit a proposal of no more than three (3) pages. Proposals should focus on two primary aspects: the scientific contribution and routes to eventual deployment or open publication. Include a budget overview (no more than one page) outlining how the proposed funding will be used.

A complete proposal must include:

• Project summary (max 3 pages): research agenda and technical approach, timeline with milestones, expected deliverables, and how the work advances verified translation.
• Budget overview (max 1 page): itemized direct costs and, if applicable, overhead charges (subject to the 10% cap).
• CVs for the PI and all expected significant contributors (1 page each), including links to DBLP and/or Google Scholar pages. Please include information on any prior or current Code Metal connections or collaborations.
• Organizational details including administrative contact, if applicable.
• A brief disclosure of any actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Proposals may not contain any third-party confidential information. Code Metal will handle proposals with reasonable care, but cannot guarantee confidentiality, and applicants should not include sensitive proprietary information in their submissions. Submission of a proposal does not create any obligation on Code Metal to make an award.

5. Intellectual Property

Recipients retain ownership of all work product developed under the award. Code Metal does not claim ownership of work product solely by virtue of the award. Nothing in these terms transfers to Code Metal any intellectual property owned or controlled by recipients prior to the funded research. If a research deliverable necessarily incorporates such background IP, the recipient will identify it in the award documentation and grant Code Metal a license sufficient to use the deliverable for the internal research and evaluation purposes described in the award.

Any feedback, comments, or suggestions recipients provide to Code Metal regarding the program become the sole and exclusive property of Code Metal, and recipients receive no compensation or additional rights in connection with such feedback.

6. Publication and Acknowledgment

Successful awardees will be listed on the Code Metal research website and are encouraged to openly publish findings and insights from their work. All publications and presentations arising from funded research may include the following acknowledgment:

“This research was supported in part by a Verified Code Translation Research Award from Code Metal, Inc.”

7. Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability

CODE METAL MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE PROGRAM. AWARDS ARE PROVIDED AS-IS. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CODE METAL’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE PROGRAM WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF AWARD FUNDS ACTUALLY DISBURSED TO THE RECIPIENT. IN NO EVENT WILL CODE METAL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED.

8. General

By submitting a proposal, each applicant represents that they have authority to submit and, if applicable, to bind their institution; that all information in the proposal is accurate and complete; that the proposed research will comply with all applicable laws including export controls, human subjects research requirements, and data privacy obligations; and that they have disclosed all material conflicts of interest.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, and any dispute will be brought exclusively in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco, California. Code Metal may update these terms for future application cycles, but amendments will not affect rights under an award letter already issued. Recipients may not assign rights or obligations under an award without Code Metal’s prior written consent. No joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship is created by participation in the program.