Upcoming

TBA // Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 2

Institutions can receive only two awards each year and can submit a limit of two applications per year.
*The ORAU Innovation Partnerships Grant Program is a single fiscal year award for events held between September 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024.

Event or conference sponsorship is often beneficial to the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Council of Sponsoring Institution Members, whether as a means of fostering collaboration among Council members, gaining new and important information for a proposal or business plan, and more. Up to $4,000 may be requested to support an in-person or virtual event that involves participants from more than one ORAU member institution, including students. Innovation Partnership applications should focus on focused workshops/conferences that highlight your university’s strategic STEM research and education growth areas, and where collaborations with other member universities would add value. We are specifically interested in events that can bring more thought leadership in building a national strategy for STEM education and workforce development. Member universities are encouraged to collaborate around this topic in anticipation of federal funding initiatives. 

FY 2024 Innovation Partnerships Grant Focus Areas:

• Climate and Environment - sustainability, environmental justice, clean energy, resilience to climate hazards, emerging technologies, measurement and impact assessment, diversity and inclusion, policy, and data science and analytics
• Health Equity - telemedicine, telehealth, health literacy, health communication, behavioral and mental health, health disparities, diversity and inclusion, policy, and data science and analytics
• Future of the STEM Workforce - new ways of teaching and learning (K-16), transformative workforce capacity building and mentoring, diversity and inclusion, policy, data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence

Apply to the UA internal competition  // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

*UA may submit one proposal under the Research Partnerships track. There is no institutional limitation on the Technology Translation track.

If you don’t have a demonstrated and substantial industry relationship as required for a PFI submission, please reach out to Brian Adair(link sends e-mail) or Lindsay Ridpath(link sends e-mail), to help develop those connections so that your proposal is competitive. PFI proposals are accepted three times per year and you may be better served by strengthening your industry relationship and waiting for the next cycle.

The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Translational Impacts (TI) offers researchers from all disciplines of science and engineering funded by NSF the opportunity to perform translational research and technology development, catalyze partnerships and accelerate the transition of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace for societal benefit.

The Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track seeks to achieve the same goals as the PFI-TT track by supporting instead complex, multi-faceted technology development projects that are typically beyond the scope of a single researcher or institution and require a multi-organizational, interdisciplinary, synergistic collaboration. A PFI-RP project requires the creation of partnerships between academic researchers and third-party organizations such as industry, non-academic research organizations, federal laboratories, public or non-profit technology transfer organizations or other universities. Such partnerships are needed to conduct use-inspired research on a stand-alone larger project toward commercialization and societal impact. In the absence of such synergistic partnership, the project’s likelihood for success would be minimal.

The intended outcomes of both PFI-TT and PFI-RP tracks are: a) the commercialization of new intellectual property derived from NSF-funded research outputs; b) the creation of new or broader collaborations with industry (including increased corporate sponsored research); c) the licensing of NSF-funded research outputs to third party corporations or to start-up companies funded by a PFI team; and d) the training of future innovation and entrepreneurship leaders.

The please be aware of important revisions in the PFI program recently announced in solicitation NSF 23-538, as outlined below:

NSF Lineage Requirement
Innovation Corps (NSF I-CorpsTM) Teams awards no longer convey the lineage required to submit a PFI proposal.
All proposals submitted to the PFI program must meet a lineage requirement by having NSF-supported research results in any field of science and engineering: Principal Investigator (PI) or a co-PI must have had an NSF award that ended no more than seven (7) years prior to the full proposal deadline date or be a current NSF award recipient. The proposed technology development project must be derived from the research results and/or discoveries from this underlying NSF award.

Award Information
The funding amounts in both tracks of the PFI program have significantly increased. Specifically:

• PFI-Technology Translation (PFI-TT) projects will be funded for up to $550,000 for 18-24 months per award; and

• PFI-Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) projects will be funded for up to $1,000,000 for 36 months.
   

New full proposal deadlines
The PFI solicitation has three revised deadlines each year:

• May 2, 2023
  First Tuesday in May, Annually Thereafter

• September 5, 2023
  First Tuesday in September, Annually Thereafter

• January 4, 2025
  First Tuesday in January, Annually Thereafter

Apply to the UA internal competition  // Limit: 1  // Tickets Available: 0

D. Bhattacharya (Immunobiology)

UA may submit 1 proposal per calendar year.

Piper Trust’s grantmaking focuses on Virginia Galvin Piper’s commitment to improving the quality of life for residents of Maricopa County. Reflecting Mrs. Piper’s own philanthropic legacy, the Trust awards program and capital grants in six core areas:

Arts & Culture

Children

Education

Healthcare & Medical Research

Older Adults

Religious Organizations

Apply to internal competition  // Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 0

D. Glickenstein (Mathematics) - Competitive Resubmission, Track 3:  Inter-institutional Consortia
K. Odgen (Chemical & Environmental Engineering)

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 2

An institution may submit up to two proposals (either as a single institution or as a subawardee or a member of an inter-institutional consortia project (lead or co-lead) for a given S-STEM deadline. Multiple proposals from an institution must not overlap with regard to S-STEM eligible disciplines. See Additional Eligibility Information below for more details (see IV. Eligibility Information).
Institutions with a current S-STEM award should wait at least until the end of the third year of execution of their current award before submitting a new S-STEM proposal focused on students pursuing degrees in the same discipline(s).
The above restrictions do not apply to collaborative planning grant proposals.

Summary: The main goal of the S-STEM program is to enable low-income students with academic ability, talent or potential to pursue successful careers in promising STEM fields. Ultimately, the S-STEM program seeks to increase the number of academically promising low-income students who graduate with a S-STEM eligible degree and contribute to the American innovation economy with their STEM knowledge. Recognizing that financial aid alone cannot increase retention and graduation in STEM, the program provides awards to institutions of higher education (IHEs) not only to fund scholarships, but also to adapt, implement, and study evidence-based curricular and co-curricular1 activities that have been shown to be effective supporting recruitment, retention, transfer (if appropriate), student success, academic/career pathways, and graduation in STEM.

Social mobility for low-income students with academic potential is even more crucial than for students that enjoy other economic support structures. Hence, social mobility cannot be guaranteed unless the scholarship funds the pursuit of degrees in areas where rewarding jobs are available after graduation with an undergraduate or graduate degree.

The S-STEM program encourages collaborations, including but not limited to partnerships among different types of institutions; collaborations of S-STEM eligible faculty, researchers, and academic administrators focused on investigating the factors that affect low-income student success (e.g., institutional, educational, behavioral and social science researchers); and partnerships among institutions of higher education and business, industry, local community organizations, national labs, or other federal or state government organizations, as appropriate.

S-STEM Eligible Degree Programs
Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Engineering, and Associate of Applied Science
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Applied Science
Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Engineering
Doctoral (Ph.D. or other comparable doctoral degree)

S-STEM Eligible Disciplines
Disciplinary fields in which research is funded by NSF, including technology fields associated with the S-STEM-eligible disciplines (e.g., biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology, etc.).
The following degrees and disciplines are excluded: 

• Clinical degree programs, including medical degrees, nursing, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, and others not funded by NSF, are ineligible degrees.
• Business school programs that lead to Bachelor of Arts or Science in Business Administration degrees (BABA/BSBA/BBA) are not eligible for S-STEM funding.
• Masters and Doctoral degrees in Business Administration are also excluded.

In Review // Limit: 3  // Tickets Available: 0

R. Schomer (School of Plant Science)

B. Tanriover (Medicine)

S. Dickinson (Pharmacology)
 

Program updates: 

After evaluating some of our processes with the Mathers Board, we are making two key changes to our Grants Program that will be implemented in the 2024 Fall Cycle.

First, we are decreasing the number of nominees institutions can submit for each grant cycle from four (4) to three (3). Our Grants Program has evolved into a national limited competition over the last several years. We have since received 300+ LOI applications per cycle, and the numbers grow annually. Reducing the amount of LOI applications we accept will allow us to continue to select, in a timely manner, the most appropriate projects for a Formal Proposal.  

Second, we are reducing the total project budget range from $600,000-$750,000 to $600,000-$700,000.  This revised budget range for our three-year grant awards is closely aligned with other funding organizations, including many NIH research awards. 

All other LOI Application Instructions will remain the same.

The mission of The G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation is to advance knowledge in the life sciences by sponsoring scientific research that will benefit mankind. The foundation’s grants program seeks to support basic science, ideally with potential translational applications. Immunology, microbiome, genomics, structural biology, cellular physiology, neuroscience, etc., are some noteworthy examples of current research support. 

For many years the Foundation has enjoyed special recognition in the research community for supporting “basic” scientific research, realizing that true transformative breakthroughs usually occur after a thorough understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying natural phenomena. More recently, and with the advent of newer investigative methodologies, technology, and tools, the Foundation now embraces innovative translational research proposals.

The grant duration must be three years. The budget should be reasonable based on the aims of the project. Indirect costs may not exceed 10%. Preliminary Budgets are required during the LOI phase. A detailed budget justification is not required until the proposal phase.  The Foundation’s grant award is not intended to be utilized for purchasing capital equipment (“bricks-and-mortar”) for the lab and is intended only to support the actual investigation. The Foundation assumes and expects that capital equipment must be provided by the research institution or university.
 

Application Guidance:

• Grant budgets cannot exceed $600,000-$700,000.
• The Foundation primarily supports basic science, ideally with potential translational applications.
• Immunology, microbiome, genomics, structural biology, cellular physiology, neuroscience, etc., are some noteworthy examples of current research support.
• Covid-19-related research projects (aims or sub-aims) will not be considered for support.
• Medical imaging technology-related projects and/or electrical engineering technology development projects will not be considered for support.
• Plant Biology Research, Oceanography, Space Exploration. and Global warming-related research will not be considered for support.
• As technology continues to advance, it is apparent that investigations in the area of basic science and translational research may become more and more reliant on collaborative, interdisciplinary projects. It is important to note that any interdisciplinary project proposals may require additional information regarding the collaborator(s)’ achievements and relevant expertise.
• Feedback for declined LOI Requests will not be provided; LOIs or Formal Proposals that have been declined should not be resubmitted at a later date for consideration.
• Renewal applications for the same or related research will not be accorded priority consideration. It is strongly advised that any re-application for grant renewal consider a new direction based on prior research or emphasize some new potential translational aspects and not merely an extension of previously funded research.
• Requests for funding previously federally supported research and/or applications pending federal approval will not be accorded priority consideration.
• Requests for support of clinical trials or drug discovery will not be approved. The Foundation will not support projects which we consider pre-clinical drug development.

Fall 2024

Portal Registration due date: September 20, 2024 (Friday)
Late registrations for our Portal will not be approved for the Fall 2024 review cycle. 

LOI due date: October 4, 2024 (Friday)
Applicants notified of proposal invitation or LOI rejection within a month of the due date.

Due date for invited proposals: December 6, 2024 (Friday)
Applicants are notified of proposal approval or rejection within 75 days of the due date.

In Review // Limit: 4 * // Tickets Available: 3

Track 1: P. Haenecour ; T. Bheemasetti

Track 2: J. Schaibley

Track 3: M. Ibañez-Mejia 

Internal deadline has been extended to June 26, 2024.

*Number of proposals allowed per organization: Four.

• No more than two submissions in Track 1 (Track 1 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,000 and less than $1,400,000).
• No more than one submission in Track 2 (Track 2 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,400,000 up to and including $4,000,000). 
• Track 3: Track 3 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,0001 and less than or equal to $4,000,000 that include the purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of equipment and instrumentation to conserve or reduce the consumption of helium. Institutions may submit no more than one Track 3 proposal. Submission of a Track 3 proposal does not impact limits that apply for Track 1 and Track 2 proposals.

The Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program (MRI Program Website) serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education and not-for-profit scientific/engineering research organizations. An MRI award supports the acquisition of a multi-user research instrument that is commercially available through direct purchase from a vendor, or for the personnel costs and equipment that are required for the development of an instrument with new capabilities, thereby advancing instrumentation capabilities and enhancing expertise for instrument design and fabrication at academic institutions. MRI instruments are, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs.

MRI provides support to acquire critical research instrumentation without which advances in fundamental science and engineering research may not otherwise occur. MRI also provides support to obtain next-generation research instruments by developing instruments with new capabilities that open new opportunities to advance the frontiers in science and engineering research. Additionally, an MRI award is expected to enhance research training of students who will become the next generation of instrument users, designers and builders.

An MRI proposal may request from NSF up to $4 million for either acquisition or development of a research instrument. Each performing organization may submit in revised "Tracks" as defined below, with no more than two (2) submissions in Track 1 and no more than one (1) submission in Track 2. For the newly defined Track 3, no more than one (1) submission per competition is permitted.  As a result, it is now possible for an institution to submit up to four MRI proposals within the Track limits as described above.

• Track 1: Track 1 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than $100,000[1] and less than $1,400,000.
• Track 2: Track 2 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,400,000 up to and including $4,000,000.
• Track 3: Track 3 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,000[1] and less than or equal to $4,000,000 that include the purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of equipment and instrumentation to conserve or reduce the consumption of helium. Track 3 is an institutionally coordinated submission and won't be part of the internal competition.

  Institutions may submit no more than one Track 3 proposal. Submission of a Track 3 proposal does not impact limits that apply for Track 1 and Track 2 proposals.

Cost sharing requirements for new awards in the MRI Program are waived for a period of 5 years beginning with the FY 2023 MRI competition. Institutional submission limits for Track 1, Track 2 and Track 3 proposals remain.

The MRI Program especially seeks broad representation of groups, institutions, and geographic regions that are underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Proposals from women, underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities and early-career PIs are encouraged, as are proposals that benefit early-career researchers and proposals with PIs from geographically underserved regions, including EPSCoR jurisdictions. Additionally, proposals are encouraged from under-resourced institutions, including from emerging research institutions, where MRI can significantly build capacity for research

Apply to the UA internal competition.
UA may submit one proposal.

The mission of the Foundation is to support early stage investigators engaged in basic biomedical research that has the potential to significantly advance the understanding, diagnosis or treatment of disease.

The funds are designed to provide to tenure track faculty members in their first to fourth year, at American Institutions, who hold M.D. and/or Ph.D. degrees, start-up support to move the project forward to the point where R01 or other independent funding can be obtained.  Applicants with current R01 funding should not apply.

Grant provides $60,000 annually for a period of up to three years.  Grants are not renewable.  Institutions may submit one proposal per session.  Interested candidates should work through their sponsored projects office.

Proposals must contain an adequately detailed description of the project to be clearly understandable by the scientific members of the Trustees.  They need not be in the detail requested by the NIH for R01 grants and should not exceed five pages in length.  Additional material can be submitted, but the five-page application should contain the essential information.  References should also be included to support the proposal.  Note that the five page limit is only for the project description.  

In addition to the institution providing recognition of an internal selection process resulting in no more than one candidate, (this requires just a sentence that may be included in the letters), the proposal must be accompanied by letters of approval by the Dean of the medical school and/or another senior faculty member or members who can represent the support of the institution and who are acquainted with the qualifications of the applicant and the potential impact of his/her work.

Apply to the UA internal competition.

UArizona may submit one proposal as the lead organization for a Partnership Track. 
UArizona is not eligible for an IT, adaptation, or catalyst grant because of previous funding for an ADVANCE IT grant.

Due dates (all LOIs are accepted and can submit full proposal):

• LOI: 07/08/2023
• Full Proposal:11/01/2023
   

The NSF ADVANCE program goal is to broaden the implementation of evidence-based systemic change strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession. The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces.

Partnership Track 

The Partnership* track supports projects designed to result in the regional or national diffusion and/or scale-up of evidence-based systemic change strategies. Partnership projects are expected to involve two or more partners. Partnership projects must be designed to have a significant reach to individuals and/or organizations with evidence-based systemic change strategies to enhance equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession. Individuals and organizations may include, but are not limited to, academic administrators, academic staff in relevant positions (such as human resource officers, institutional research directors, equal opportunity officers, and Title VII and Title IX officers), STEM faculty and leaders, editors and publishers, STEM professional societies, non-profit institutions of higher education, and STEM research funders. The proposer(s) must explain the significance of the reach in the proposal. Describe the intended reach of the project in numbers and percentages as well as the impact of the project in terms of the expected systemic, cultural and/or climatic change. This will be different depending on the systemic inequity issues that are being addressed, the population(s) of interest, and the proposed strategies.

*Opportunity for ADVANCE Adaptation and Partnership Proposers to Collaborate with other Projects Initiated with NSF Funds

ADVANCE Adaptation and Partnership projects are encouraged to propose a mutually beneficial collaboration with one or more projects initiated with NSF funds (NSF-initiated projects). These NSF-initiated projects can be within or outside the institution(s) participating in the proposed ADVANCE project and must fall into one of the following categories:

• Systemic and institutional transformation projects: the institutional change track in the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) and the Institutional and Community Transformation track in the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE): EDU programs.
• NSF INCLUDES National Network: The NSF INCLUDES National Network includes the Coordination Hub, Alliances, Design and Development Launch Pilots, planning grants, and conference projects.
• STEM graduate education projects: such as Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE), CyberCorps (R): Scholarship for Service (SFS), and National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT).

ADVANCE Adaptation and Partnership projects that propose a collaboration may request up to an additional $250,000 over the life of the project. The additional funds are intended to support additional work to align systemic change and institutional transformation efforts particularly those impacting STEM faculty and to share equity and intersectional perspectives with other NSF projects. The funds are not intended for direct support to students, postdoctoral trainees, or faculty to do their STEM research or educational programs. The additional funds could cover costs such as travel and staff time, implementing collaborative activities, and the participation of additional individuals in ADVANCE project activities or the activities of the partner. NSF-initiated projects eligible for collaboration must be on-going: either currently funded by NSF or sustained with non-NSF funds. Letter(s) of collaboration from the NSF-initiated project representative(s) should be included in the supplementary documents.

UA may submit four proposals.NIFA requests applications for the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Education Grants Program for fiscal year (FY) 2020 and FY 2021 to promote and strengthen the ability of HSIs to carry out higher education programs that attract, retain, and graduate outstanding students capable of enhancing the nation’s food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences professional and scientific work force. The anticipated amount available for grants in FY 2020 is approximately $8.8 million. Of this amount, approximately $1.0 million will be used to fund previous projects funded via continuations. The remaining $7.8 million will be available for new projects under this RFA. The FY 2021 anticipated amount has not yet been determined. This RFA is being released prior to the passage of an appropriations act for FY 2019. Enactment of additional continuing resolutions or an appropriations act may affect the availability or level of funding for this program. The Hispanic-Serving Institutions Education Grants Program Supplemental Information file containing expanded information on the below topics can be found on the program’s funding webpage under “relevant documents” at HSI. FANH Sciences Description Educational Need Areas Supported Eligible Student Recipient Collaboration Projects: Linkages and Activities USDA Agencies Mission Critical Occupations Suggested HSI Project Evaluation Plan  Apply to the UA internal competition.