Physical Sciences & Engineering

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Limiting Language
An individual applicant may not submit more than one application in response to this NOFO and may not be offered more than one award.

Executive Summary
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service announces this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) to support the Assisting Specialty Crop Exports (ASCE) Initiative by issuing a new award. The award is contingent on the availability of funding. This initiative aims to enhance U.S. specialty crop market access in key export markets and support producers with cost-effective approaches for post-harvest pest control and maintaining quality during storage and export. This opportunity is available to U.S. academic institutions, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) designation, U.S. trade associations, U.S. agricultural cooperatives, international organizations based in the United States, and any other United State-based entity including private sector businesses. The award is intended to assist U.S. tree nut and durable specialty crop producers and agribusinesses by developing the processes and technologies for phytosanitary validation and traceability of low-oxygen storage and packaging systems. Applicants must be registered in SAM.gov and apply through USDA’s ezFedGrants online system, both of which require an identity-proofed login.gov account. 

Benefits to the United States: 

• This program makes America more prosperous by strengthening trade. 
• This program makes America more prosperous by expanding and developing new markets in current and potential trading partners.

Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 0

N. Risso (Mining and Mineral Resources)

Limiting Language
Multiple applications from an organization are not allowed. If multiple applications are received, the most recent application submitted by the deadline will be accepted. If the most recent application is disqualified for any reason, USDOL will not replace it with an earlier application. Applicant entities are not precluded from participating as partners on another entity’s application.

Executive Summary
The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL, or the Department), announces the availability of approximately $5 million total costs (subject to the availability of Federal funds) for one (1) cooperative agreement to fund a project to strengthen labor standards compliance and transparency in Western Hemisphere critical mineral supply chains to advance U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.

The duration of the project will be 36 months from the award date. Applicants may propose a shorter period of performance in line with their proposed strategy. The project will focus on strengthening American manufacturing by advancing labor standards compliance and transparency in critical mineral supply chains in Chile and/or Argentina. Applicants may choose to work in one or both countries. Applicants must choose one or more of the following critical minerals: copper, lithium, and/or silver. Applicants who choose to work in both countries must select at least one (1) critical mineral per country. Applicants can select the same mineral for both countries or choose different minerals for each country. 

Applicants must propose context-responsive strategies in Argentina and/or Chile to address unfair labor practices that disadvantage U.S. workers in critical mineral supply chains. Strategies should aim to reduce labor-related supply chain risks in target countries for essential critical minerals supplies that support advanced manufacturing jobs in the United States. Applicants are encouraged to develop innovative strategies. Some illustrative examples of activities could include providing technical support to governments, sharing technical guidance with employers, and developing policy or enforcement standards. 

Applicants must ensure that their proposed activities and geographic focus align with all requirements of the FOA (e.g., country limitations, sectors, thematic areas, etc.) and respond directly to the programmatic intent described in Section I. Successful awardees must ensure that their activities align and comply with all relevant policies, Executive Orders, and strategies of the federal government for the life of the project regarding objectives, outcomes, monitoring and evaluation, fiscal transparency, and operational governance. Failure to align and comply risks termination of the project. 

Eligible applicants include any commercial, international, educational, or non-profit organizations, including any faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, or public international organizations. Please see section III of this funding opportunity announcement for complete eligibility requirements.

Limit: 2 (one per priority outcome area)// Tickets Available: 0

Priority Outcome Areas
Priority program outcomes are (1) Water for Energy Reliability and Reservoir Resilience and (2) Energy-Water Efficiency and Industrial Success

1. Water for Energy Reliability and Reservoir Resilience
   C. Chen (Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences)
2. Energy-Water Efficiency and Industrial Success
   A. Achilli (Chemical and Environmental Engineering)

Limiting Language
Offeror may submit multiple white papers in response to this BAA but may only submit one white paper under each priority outcome area.

Description
The primary objective of the National Science Foundation’s Energy Water Security Initiative (EWSI) is to secure American energy and national infrastructure resilience by producing measurable reductions in vulnerabilities where water scarcity threatens energy production, baseload stability, and industrial water extraction. This effort aims to accelerate deployment of technical solutions, with a priority focus on the systemic crisis within the Colorado River Basin. 

The NSF Energy Water Security Initiative seeks to develop the critical framework needed for research and development and accelerated, high-impact deployment. This initiative implements a two-phase program. Phase 1 awardees receive resources to develop consortia comprising multi-sector partnerships that can deliver on the goals of this initiative. Consortia should include regional partners and provide the collaborative infrastructure needed to accelerate development and deployment of technical capabilities. Phase 2 awardees will receive significant resources to expand the scale of projects leading to rapid completion and deployment of secure, public-domain technologies. The NAICS code for this BAA is 813920 (Professional Organization), which is a consortium focused on promoting professional research interests

 

Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 0 

Y. Wang (Systems and Industrial Engineering)

Limiting Language
An Applicant may submit only one proposal in response to this Announcement. Any additional applications from the same organization will automatically be rejected without being evaluated. 

Purpose
The SCALE Program supports organizations that help small businesses overcome operational, technical, workforce, and market access barriers that limit their ability to participate and grow as suppliers within strategically important industries.

Through technical assistance, industry engagement, and other implementation focused activities, SCALE helps small businesses address identified supply chain constraints, strengthen supplier readiness, improve production capability, and expand participation in strategically important supply chains.

Through this program, SBA seeks to:

• Accelerate Small Business Supplier Development: Improve the readiness, production capability, market access, and growth of small businesses participating in strategically important supply chains.

• Address Supply Chain Constraints: Support efforts that address demonstrated supply chain bottlenecks, vulnerabilities, supplier gaps, and barriers to supplier participation and growth.

• Expand Small Business Participation: Expand participation of small businesses within strategically important supply chains.

• Deliver Measurable Results: Generate measurable improvements in small business supplier readiness, supply chain participation, and small business growth.

• Improve Industrial Coordination: Strengthen coordination among industry, workforce, technical assistance, and other partners supporting supplier growth and supply chain participation.

No Applicants // Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 2

Limiting Language 
Only two applications per institution (identified by Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number or NIH IPF number) are allowed.

Program Description
Full sponsor guidelines are linked here.

The NIH Director's Early Independence Award helps talented new researchers begin their own independent research program soon after finishing their doctoral degree or clinical training, without first doing postdoctoral training.The award accepts applications on any topic fitting the NIH mission. It is part of the NIH Common Fund's High-Risk, High-Reward Research program.

Eligible Individuals (Program Director/Principal Investigator)
Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with their organization to develop an application for support. 

Requirements

• One PD/PI only: Applications can have only one PD/PI. Multiple PD/PIs are not allowed. Only the PD/PI may be listed as Senior/Key Personnel and submit a biosketch.
• Citizenship: U.S. citizenship is not required. If the PD/PI is not a U.S. citizen, the institution must ensure the visa permit allows them to do the proposed research in the U.S. for the full project period.
• Degree or clinical training dates: The PD/PI must complete their terminal doctoral degree or post-graduate clinical training between May 1, 2025, and September 30, 2027.
  • The date shown on the official transcript is considered the date the degree was completed.
  • Clinical training includes residency and fellowship.
  • At the time of award, either:
    • The PD/PI must have an eligible doctoral degree from an accredited U.S. or foreign institution, oR
    • An authorized official must confirm all degree requirements are complete and the degree will be awarded before September 30, 2027.
• Post-doctoral experience: The PD/PI must not have more than 12 months of postdoctoral training after an earlier, non-terminal doctoral degree. This applies only to individuals with multiple doctoral degrees.
• Effort required:
  • Years 1-2: At least 9.6 person-months per year (80% effort) on the award project
  • Years 3-5:  At least 9.6 person-months per year (80% effort) on independent research overall, including the award project and any other independent research led by the PD/PI.
• Non-independence required: At the time of application, the PD/PI must still be non-independent. All the following must apply:
  • Research direction requires mentor approval
  • Research is mainly supported through another investigator's funding (mentored fellowships, such as an NIH F31/F32 or NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, do not make an applicant ineligible)
  • No institutionally assigned research space
  • Cannot apply for an NIH R01 without a special institutional waiver or exception

The PD/PI may become independent before the award starts and still remain eligible.

• Independent position required: The PD/PI must have a guaranteed, pending independent research position and be able to begin independent research by the project start date.
  • The position does not have to be permanent or tenure-track.
  • The position may depend on receiving this award.
  • The institution must provide substantial support, as described in the application.
  • Moving to a new institution may be advantageous but is not required.
• Career awards: ThePD/PI may apply for both a K award and DP5 simultaneously, but the projects must not overlap scientifically. A PD/PI cannot hold both simultaneously; if awarded the DP5, the K award must be relinquished.
• Site visit: NIH will conduct a site visit near the end of the first year to assess progress and confirm institutional support and independence. If support is insufficient, NIH may take corrective action, including reducing or terminating funding.

Limit: 3 per department, see table for ticket availability

Astronomy
S. Kong
C. Fields
M. Renzo

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 2
H. Rastgoftar

Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 2
L. Zhang

College of Information Science // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 1
S. Bratt
D. Alharthi

Electrical and Computer Engineering // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 0
C. Gagatsos
N. Rengaswamy
E. Azimi

Environmental Sciences // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 1
J. Green
L. Ikner

Neuroscience // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 1
M. Corty 
L. Halladay

Physics // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 1
P. Siwach 
N. Golubev

Physiology // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 2
M.M. Kaelberer

Planetary Sciences // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 2
S. Ranjan

Wyant College of Optical Sciences // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 2
C. Panda 

Limiting Language 
No more than three candidates may be nominated from any one department per fellowship field.   

Program Overview
The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty. The two-year $75,000 fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.

Additional information can be found on the Sloan Foundation's website.

Eligibility 

• Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, or a related field.
• Candidates must be members of the faculty of a college, university, or other degree-granting institution in the U.S. or Canada.
• Candidates must be tenure-track, though untenured, as of September 15 of the nomination year.
• Candidate’s faculty position must carry a regular teaching obligation.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Only one proposal will be considered by ECA from each applicant organization. In cases where more than one submission from an applicant appears in grants.gov, ECA will only consider the submission made closest in time to the NOFO deadline; that submission would constitute the one and only proposal ECA would review from that applicant.

Please note: Applicant organizations are defined by their legal name, and EIN number as stated on their completed SF-424 and additional supporting documentation outlined in the PSI document.

Executive Summary
The Arctic Exchange Program (AEP) aims to advance economic prosperity in the United States (Alaska), Canada, and Greenland through short-term exchange activities focused on two overarching themes: Arctic tourism development and critical minerals supply chain resilience.

The AEP will consist of three targeted exchange activities with distinct cohorts of approximately eight to 10 participants each. One activity will take place in each participating country, subject to local conditions. The scope of these activities may vary based on program needs.

Across all three exchange activities, the AEP will build participants’ professional capacity and create new partnership opportunities that advance economic prosperity in the United States, Canada, and Greenland. The program will position the United States as a partner of choice in Arctic economic development initiatives, promote U.S. business interests, and counter adversarial influence in this strategically important region.

Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 0

P. Carini (Environmental Sciences)
T.J. Su (Optical Sciences)

Limiting Language 
We welcome you to submit up to two nominations.

Eligibility Criteria
We ask that you only nominate exceptional candidates who satisfy the following criteria:

• Have achieved tenure or an equivalent status prior to the nomination deadline and within the past three calendar years (between January 1, 2023 and August 10, 2026),
• Have a remarkable record of accomplishment in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and/or engineering,
• Have a demonstrated history of pursuing and publishing results in more than one field,
• Have a desire and plan to expand their research portfolios by exploring a substantive disciplinary or methodological shift, but have not yet launched such shifts,
• Demonstrate a need for additional funding to enable new experiments, explorations, or shifts in research directions.

Funding Goals
The Schmidt Science Polymath Program seeks to empower intensely creative, mid-career researchers to take adventurous leaps into new research domains, experiment with new methodologies and ideas, and inspire impactful scientific breakthroughs.

The Schmidt Science Polymath Program (“the program”) recognizes extraordinary researchers with remarkable track records, promising futures, and a desire to expand their research portfolios by exploring a substantive disciplinary or methodological shift soon after achieving tenure.

The program will offer research support to professors who have achieved tenure or an equivalent status within the past three calendar years with remarkable track records and highly promising futures. Each professor will be awarded $500,000 per year, paid through their institution, for up to five years to help support a research group through talent, collaboration, equipment, and/or other resources. These grants are intended to make possible the exploration of new ideas across disciplines, using emerging technologies to test risky theories that may not otherwise receive funding or support. They are not intended to relieve the researcher of pursuing other grants to continue their mainstream work, nor to be large enough to fully support a modern lab.

Schmidt Sciences are especially interested in supporting highly creative, original, and risky research that is clearly distinct from past areas and directions.

Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 0 

J. Thanga (Aerosace and Mechanical Engineering) 

Limiting Language 
The FAA will accept only one application from an eligible entity serving as a single applicant or as a lead for a partnership. The eligible entity may also participate as a non-lead partner on the application(s) of other eligible entities. An applicant entity must have its own Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) to be eligible. The FAA will accept only an applicant’s last validated electronic submission, under the correct funding opportunity number, before the Grants.gov application due date as the final and only acceptable application.

Eligible Project Types
Projects that fall into one or more of the categories below will be eligible for an award. An eligible project is a project to:

1. Create and deliver a program or curriculum that provides high school or secondary school students and students of institutions of higher education with meaningful aviation education to become aircraft pilots or unmanned aircraft system operators, including purchasing and operating a computer-based simulator associated with such curriculum; Establish or improve scholarship, internship, or registered apprenticeship programs for individuals pursuing employment as a professional aircraft pilot or unmanned aircraft system operator;
2. Create and deliver curricula that provide certified flight instructors with the necessary instructional, leadership, and communication skills to better educate student pilots;
3. Support the transition to professional aircraft pilot or unmanned systems operator careers, including veterans of the armed forces; Support robust outreach about careers in commercial aviation as a professional aircraft pilot or unmanned system operator; or
4. Otherwise enhance or expand the aircraft pilot or unmanned aircraft system operator workforce.

Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 0 

B. Vasic (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
M. Hassan (Physics)
E. Hamden (Space Institute) 

Limiting Language 
We will be accepting up to 3 proposals per university for review

Program Overview
JPL has formal strategic partnerships with 15 universities that have major commitments to space exploration, and broad connections to JPL. The Strategic University Research Partnerships (SURP) program supports these partnerships, providing resources to foster strong collaborative relationships. The program works with JPL researchers and our strategic partners to develop new science and technology opportunities and provide accelerated innovation for NASA’s missions.