External Funding

OPPORTUNITY: NSF-CBMS Regional Research Conferences in the Mathematical Sciences

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: up to $35,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: April 26, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: Abstract The NSF-CBMS Regional Research Conferences in the Mathematical Sciences are a series of five-day conferences that usually feature a distinguished lecturer delivering ten lectures on a topic of important current research in one sharply focused area of the mathematical sciences. CBMS refers to the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, which publicizes the conferences and disseminates the resulting conference materials. Support is provided for about 30 participants at each conference. Proposals should address the unique characteristics of the NSF-CBMS conferences.To stimulate interest and activity in mathematical sciences research, the National Science Foundation anticipates supporting up to 10 NSF-CBMS Regional Research Conferences annually. The Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) publicizes conferences and administers the resulting publications, fostering greater dissemination of material related to cutting edge-topics and increasing the impact of the conferences in the community.Normally each five-day conference features a distinguished lecturer who delivers ten lectures on a topic of important current research in one sharply focused area of the mathematical sciences. The lecturer subsequently prepares an expository monograph based upon these lectures, which is normally published as a part of a regional conference series.DMS priorities for the support of conferences include:- Breadth and diversity of participation, in order to help more mathematical scientists stay abreast of developments in the discipline;- Involvement of students and junior investigators and of individuals from groups under-represented in the mathematical sciences, in order to contribute to the development of the nation’s science personnel base;- Connection to frontiers in the mathematical sciences, in order to advance the mathematical sciences and to strengthen the interchanges between the mathematical sciences and other science and engineering disciplines.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative

FUNDING AGENCY: USDA

AWARD AMOUNT: $5,000–$3,500,000

DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this program is to fund high priority integrated projects that will enhance the ability of producers and processors who have already adopted organic standards to grow and market high quality organic agricultural products and to increase resilience in American farming systems.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Antarctic Research Not Requiring U.S. Antarctic Program Field Support

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: Amounts vary

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: June 1, 2026

DESCRIPTION: Through this solicitation, the Antarctic Sciences Section (ANT) of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) funds cutting-edge research that: Improves understanding of interactions among the Antarctic region and global systems. Improves understanding of the dynamic linkages among processes operating in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean and linkages to global Earth systems, which helps inform decision making regarding environmental change. Advances fundamental understanding of Earth systems and the biological, geochemical, and physical processes in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean as drivers and responders to changes on a global scale. Expands fundamental knowledge of Antarctic systems, biota, and processes. Utilizes the unique characteristics of the Antarctic region as a science observing platform. Builds capacity and enhances diversity in the US workforce for polar-related science. ANT encourages and supports research that combines disciplinary perspectives and approaches from other fields, research that uses existing data and samples, and other research not requiring a physical presence in Antarctica. This may include projects conducted at locations outside Antarctica that serve as analogues of Antarctic sites or systems.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Office-Wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

FUNDING AGENCY: DOD

AWARD AMOUNT: TBD

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: June 22, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) is interested in receiving white papers for research and development projects, which offer potential for advancement and improvement of NAWCAD operations. NAWCAD has identified the research needed to address the challenges, problems, and future technology needs of the Warfighter. Research Opportunity Areas of Interest: Advanced Manufacturing (Priority) Aeromechanics Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) (Priority) Autonomy (Priority) Avionics, Sensors & Electronic Warfare Cyber (Priority) Data Science & Visualization Digital Engineering (Priority) Human Systems Hypersonic Systems Materials and Aircraft Structures Mechanical Systems Power and Propulsion Systems Quantum (Priority) Secure Communications & Networks (Priority) Support Equipment Test and Evaluation Engineering Warfare Analysis

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Office-Wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

FUNDING AGENCY: DOD

AWARD AMOUNT: TBD

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: June 22, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) is interested in receiving white papers for research and development projects, which offer potential for advancement and improvement of NAWCAD operations. NAWCAD has identified the research needed to address the challenges, problems, and future technology needs of the Warfighter. Research Opportunity Areas of Interest: Advanced Manufacturing (Priority) Aeromechanics Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) (Priority) Autonomy (Priority) Avionics, Sensors & Electronic Warfare Cyber (Priority) Data Science & Visualization Digital Engineering (Priority) Human Systems Hypersonic Systems Materials and Aircraft Structures Mechanical Systems Power and Propulsion Systems Quantum (Priority) Secure Communications & Networks (Priority) Support Equipment Test and Evaluation Engineering Warfare Analysis

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Expeditions in Computing

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: up to $15,000,000 for a duration of seven years

PRELIMINARY APP DEADLINE: June 22, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: March 31, 2027

DESCRIPTION: The far-reaching impact and rate of innovation in the computer and information science and engineering fields has been remarkable, generating economic prosperity and enhancing the quality of life for people throughout the world.

More than a decade ago, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) established the Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) program to build on past successes and provide the CISE research and education community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, fundamental research agendas that promise to define the future of computing and information.

In planning Expeditions projects, investigators are strongly encouraged to come together within or across departments or institutions to combine their creative talents in the identification of compelling, transformative research agendas that look ahead by at least a decade and promise disruptive innovations in computer and information science and engineering for many years to come.

Additionally, CISE offers Innovation Transition (InTrans) awards for teams nearing the end of their Expeditions as well as Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Frontier projects. The goal of InTrans is to continue the long-term vision and objectives of CISE’s center-scale projects. Through InTrans awards, CISE will provide limited funds to match industry support.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: TACTICAL Awards (Therapy ACceleration To Intercept CAncer Lethality)

FUNDING AGENCY: Prostate Cancer Foundation

AWARD AMOUNT: $5,000,000–10,000,000

LETTER OF INTENT DEADLINE: March 16, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: June 15, 2026

DESCRIPTION: The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is pleased to announce a Request for LOIs for PCF TACTICAL Awards from qualified teams of investigators from academic and community institutions that will directly contribute to improved outcomes for patients with prostate cancer with lethal potential. These awards will be funded depending on the level of innovation and transformative potential in applications received. PCF seeks high-risk, currently unfunded projects from academic and community research institutions around the world. PCF seeks applications for currently unfunded, large-scale multi-disciplinary team science research projects that will directly contribute to reducing death and suffering from prostate cancer, and will deliver transformative and tangible outcomes in the 3-5- year funding period. This includes basic, translational, clinical, and community-based research projects focused on strategies to prevent prostate cancer metastasis, morbidity, or mortality, which addresses major unmet needs in a transformative way.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: TechAccess: AI-Ready America

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: $3,000,000

LETTER OF INTENT DEADLINE: June 16, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: July 16, 2026

DESCRIPTION: TechAccess: AI‑Ready America is a national-scale initiative to accelerate Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness and adoption across the U.S. by strengthening coordination, leveraging partnerships and resources, filling gaps, and scaling what works—so local and state priorities can lead in shaping an AI-driven economy that benefits all Americans.

Unlike initiatives centered around K–16 education, AI‑Ready America additionally reaches businesses, public-serving organizations, and individuals, among others, expanding access to AI knowledge, tools, and resources. The program also emphasizes practical implementation through hands‑on assistance and workforce upskilling, including experiential learning such as internships, project‑based work, and apprenticeships, to ensure stakeholders can effectively apply and innovate with AI.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: TechAccess: AI-Ready America

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: $3,000,000

LETTER OF INTENT DEADLINE: June 16, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: July 16, 2026

DESCRIPTION: TechAccess: AI‑Ready America is a national-scale initiative to accelerate Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness and adoption across the U.S. by strengthening coordination, leveraging partnerships and resources, filling gaps, and scaling what works—so local and state priorities can lead in shaping an AI-driven economy that benefits all Americans.

Unlike initiatives centered around K–16 education, AI‑Ready America additionally reaches businesses, public-serving organizations, and individuals, among others, expanding access to AI knowledge, tools, and resources. The program also emphasizes practical implementation through hands‑on assistance and workforce upskilling, including experiential learning such as internships, project‑based work, and apprenticeships, to ensure stakeholders can effectively apply and innovate with AI.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Parkinson’s Disease Therapeutics Pipeline Program

FUNDING AGENCY: Michael J Fox Foundation

AWARD AMOUNT: $250,000–$2,000,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Deadline Varies

DESCRIPTION: This program seeks to advance therapeutic development through pre-clinical and/or clinical testing of approaches addressing unmet needs of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The program is set up to benefit therapeutics with clear potential to prevent, stop, or delay disease progression or to reduce the burden of daily symptoms. Funding will support projects aimed at: Pre-Clinical: Identifying, validating and/or developing novel pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions through pre-clinical development from early screening to pre-clinical characterization and testing. Clinical: Progressing promising interventions with strong pre-clinical packages into/through initial clinical assessment exploring pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, safety/tolerability, or early proof of biology and/or clinical efficacy. For novel targets, MJFF is particularly interested in de-risking programs by supporting early proof of concept in patients to gain insight into the therapeutic potential, including exploration of biomarker-based or clinical endpoint-based efficacy.

NOTE: Preliminary proposal required and accepted on a rolling basis. Feedback, including an invitation to apply, will be given within three weeks.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Accelerating the Pace of Substance Use Research Using Existing Data

FUNDING AGENCY: NIH

AWARD AMOUNT: $500,000–$1,000,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: July 17, 2026

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Proposals Accepted by 03 December 2026 as well.

DESCRIPTION: NIDA intends to commit $2 million in FY 2026 to award 2-4 applications, with an additional $2 million for 2-4 applications focused on HIV research, in response to this and the companion R21 RFA RFA-DA-26-056. Application budgets are not limited but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project. The scope of the proposed project should determine the project period. The maximum project period is 5 years. Abstract: The purpose of this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is to invite applications proposing innovative analysis of existing social science, behavioral, administrative, and neuroimaging data to study the etiology and epidemiology of substance using behaviors (defined as alcohol, tobacco, prescription, and other substances) and related disorders, prevention of substance use and HIV, and health service utilization. This NOFO encourages the analyses of public use and other extant community-based or clinical datasets to their full potential in order to increase our knowledge of etiology, trajectories of substance using behaviors and their consequences including morbidity and mortality, risk and resilience in the development of psychopathology, strategies to guide the development, testing, implementation, and delivery of high quality, effective and efficient services for the prevention and treatment of substance use disorder and HIV. Primary data collection is not allowed for applications in response to this NOFO.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: NSF Trailblazer Engineering Impact Award (TRAILBLAZER)

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: $3,000,000

LETTER OF INTENT DEADLINE: January 20, 2026

PRELIMINARY APP DEADLINE: March 10, 2025

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: July 24, 2026

DESCRIPTION: The NSF Trailblazer Engineering Impact Award (TRAILBLAZER) program supports individual investigators who propose novel research projects with the potential to innovatively and creatively address new areas of fundamental or applied research, catalyze development of new industries or capabilities that increase the leadership position for the country, and/or make significant progress towards addressing a national need or grand challenge, particularly in current priority areas including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence (AI), bioengineering, quantum engineering, robotics, and nuclear engineering. TRAILBLAZER will support engineers and scientists who leverage their distinctive track record of innovation and creativity to pursue new research directions that are distinct from their previous or current research areas. All funded TRAILBLAZER projects will form an NSF TRAILBLAZER cohort, and principal investigators will be expected to participate in an annual meeting. TRAILBLAZER investigators may also be invited to additional activities.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS)

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: $20,000–500,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: August 7, 2026

DESCRIPTION: The objective of the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program is to support basic scientific research about the nature, causes, consequences, or evolution of the spatial dimensions of human behaviors, activities, and dynamics as well as their interactions with environmental and social processes across a range of scales. Contemporary geographical research encompasses diverse research traditions and methodologies. Recognizing the breadth of the field’s contributions to science, the HEGS Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, methodologically rigorous, and generalizable research that advances geographical and geospatial sciences. Because the National Science Foundation’s mandate is to support fundamental scientific research, the HEGS program cannot fund research that takes as its primary goal humanistic interpretations or findings that are not generalizable or reproducible. HEGS welcomes proposals that utilize quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods in novel ways. However, a proposal that applies geographical or geospatial methods to a geographic problem without proposing how that problem provides an opportunity to make a theory-testing or theory-expanding contribution to geographical science, broadly defined, will be returned without review. HEGS supported projects are expected to yield results that will enhance, expand, and transform fundamental geographical theory and geospatial methods and that will have broader impacts that benefit society. Generally, successful HEGS proposals should describe clear and detailed plans for data collection (including sample selection if appropriate), justification for proposed methods, plans for data analysis, attention to confounding variables, and efforts to address biases (e.g., confirmatory biases, selection biases, etc.). Competitive HEGS proposals should substantiate the validity of findings and generalizability to broader contexts.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Core Programs (MCB)

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: TBD

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: MCB supports research that promises to uncover the fundamental properties of living systems across atomic, molecular, sub-cellular, and cellular scales. The program gives high priority to projects that advance mechanistic understanding of the structure, function, and evolution of molecular, sub-cellular, and cellular systems, especially research that aims at quantitative and predictive knowledge of complex behavior and emergent properties. MCB encourages research exploring new concepts in molecular and cellular biology, while incorporating insights and approaches from other scientific disciplines, such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, and physics, to illuminate principles that govern life at the molecular and cellular level. MCB also encourages research that exploits experimental and theoretical approaches and utilizes a diverse spectrum of model and non-model animals, plants, and microbes across the tree of life. Proposals that pursue potentially transformative ideas are welcome, even if these entail higher risk.

This solicitation calls for proposals in research areas supported by the four MCB core clusters, including: (i) structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules and supra-molecular assemblies, especially under physiological conditions (Molecular Biophysics); (ii) organization, processing, expression, regulation, and evolution of genetic and epigenetic information (Genetic Mechanisms); (iii) cellular structure, properties, and function across broad spatiotemporal scales (Cellular Dynamics and Function); and (iv) systems and/or synthetic biology to study complex interactions through modeling or manipulation or design of living systems at the molecular-to-cellular scale (Systems and Synthetic Biology). All MCB clusters prioritize projects that integrate across scales, investigate molecular and cellular evolution, synergize experimental research with computational or mathematical modeling, and/or develop innovative, broadly applicable methods and technologies. Projects that bridge the intellectual edges between MCB clusters are welcome. Projects that integrate molecular and cellular biosciences with other sub-disciplines of biology are also welcome through the new Integrative Research in Biology (IntBIO) track.

Solicitation >

OPPORTUNITY: IDEA Programs (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis)

FUNDING AGENCY: Transportation Research Board

AWARD AMOUNT: Variies

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Deadline Varies

DESCRIPTION: Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) consists of three programs focused on early-stage, high-risk, high pay-off, investigator led research in highways, transit, and railroad safety and performance. IDEA has three available programs: NCHRP IDEA: Foster innovative concepts for design, construction, safety, maintenance, operations, and management of highway systems. Rail Safety IDEA: Foster innovative approaches to improving railroad safety or performance. Transit IDEA: Foster innovative approaches with potential to enhance security, increase ridership, and improve efficiency for transit systems. Every IDEA program supports two types of projects: Proof-of-concept projects, which investigate the feasibility of a concept and its potential for application to transportation. Prototype projects, which develop concepts that show particular promise

NOTE: Highway Innovations Due 14 March or 01 September 2026; Transit Innovations Due 15 May 2026; Rail Safety Innovations Due 15 December 2026.

Solicitation >