Physical Sciences & Engineering

J. Roveda
M. Bhattacharya

8/25/2022 UPDATE - Concept papers in Medical Sciences WILL BE accepted in fall 2022.

UA may submit four concept papers in Physical Sciences and Engineering and four concept papers in Medical Sciences in this cycle.

The W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program uses a three-step process for this opportunity. The first step is a Concept paper. The Undergraduate Education program is currently not accepting concept papers. The next steps are by the foundation’s invitation. UArizona review criteria reflect previous interactions with the W.M. Keck Foundation. Proposals should focus on basic, fundamental science with broad applications.

The proposed work should show a significant leap forward rather than an extension of existing work. 

To be considered by Keck, applicants must have a statement from a federal program officer expressing that the project is not a good fit due to risk (rather than technical or theoretical fit) or a decline from a federal program where the summary statement or individual reviews highlight the incredible novelty, but the high-risk nature that makes it difficult to fund at the federal level.

Contact RDS for more information on nomination

UArizona may nominate three candidates.

Achieving tenure should be a moment when professors feel a new sense of freedom that allows them to innovate and attempt new research paths as the head of their own teams. Unfortunately, this time is often coupled with a lack of resources and a pressure to continue producing results within their established research portfolio. The key goal of the Schmidt Science Polymath program (“the program”) is to encourage the best “polymath” scientists to expand their research portfolio by exploring new lines of research that are substantively different from their ongoing and proven research activities. The program will offer long-term research support to recently-tenured professors (within the past 3 years) with remarkable track records and highly promising futures. Awards will consist of USD $500K per year for up to 5 years to support part of a research group. These grants are intended for the exploration of new ideas across disciplines that use new technologies and insights that are generally too new or risky to garner regular support. They are not intended to relieve the researcher of pursuing other grants to continue their mainstream work, nor be large enough to fully support a modern lab. The program will identify and support innovative scientific researchers at this pivotal moment (and potentially the most productive time of their careers) by providing the resources that allow them to substantively explore new lines of research. Instead of focusing on specific research ideas, the goal for the program is to bet on people, their special talents, and their teams - aligning with Schmidt Futures’ overall people-focused approach.

In its 2nd year, the Polymaths program has expanded from a cohort of 2 to 10 awardees. Together, current Polymaths represent 14 institutions across 5 nations, and work in the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Computational Sciences, Materials Science, & Engineering. Learn more about our current Schmidt Science Polymaths and their work.

Schmidt Futures is seeking the highest quality candidates from a specific and pivotal period in their career. In order to be eligible for nomination to the Schmidt Science Polymaths application process, candidates must meet the following qualifications:

• Have achieved tenure (or equivalent status) within the past 3 years (2019 or after),
• Have a remarkable record of accomplishment in area(s) of science and engineering,
• Have a demonstrated history of pursuing and publishing results in more than one field,
• Demonstrate a need for additional funding to enable new experiments, explorations, or shifts in research directions.

Please note, the application and selection process, as well as all correspondence and documentation associated with the program, will be in English.

Type 2: M. Van Dyke

While NSF allowed more than one concept outline to be submitted by an institution, UArizona may ultimately only submit one full proposal. Therefore, due to the complexity and scope of this program, RII is Institutionally Coordinating the submission of Concept Outlines to NSF, as well as the invited full proposal.

Full sponsor guidelines

The NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program is a bold new initiative, committed to creating regional-scale, technology-driven innovation ecosystems throughout every region of the United States, accelerating emerging technologies, driving economic growth, addressing key societal challenges, and maintaining national competitiveness.

The NSF Engines program aims to fund regional coalitions of partnering organizations to establish NSF Engines that will catalyze technology and science-based regional innovation ecosystems. Each Engine must focus on addressing specific aspects of a major societal and/or economic challenge that are of significant interest in the Engine’s defined “region of service,” where such a region could range from a metropolitan area (including its adjacent rural regions) to an area spanning parts of several states. The mission of an Engine must be clearly rooted in regional interests and the development of regional talent. The emphasis on “regions” expresses NSF’s aim to stimulate innovation-driven economic growth within a particular region of service. The NSF Engines program is particularly interested in creating new business and economic growth in those regions of America that have not fully participated in the technology boom of the past several decades.

NSF will fund Engines to carry out an integrated and comprehensive set of activities spanning use-inspired research, translation-to-practice, entrepreneurship, and workforce development to nurture and accelerate regional industries. Engines must also work to bring together an inclusive and diverse network of partners and stakeholders who will participate in the regional innovation ecosystem. With the goal of advancing emerging industries and creating societal and economic value, NSF Engines will emphasize research that meaningfully engages the consumers of research outcomes in motivating that research as well as in the subsequent prototyping and piloting of research-based solutions (i.e., co-design and co-creation), the translation of research results to practice, entrepreneurship, and direct economic growth.

Funding for this program will prioritize regions across the Nation without well-established innovation ecosystems. Engines in regions of the country where prospective ecosystem members exist, but where innovation activities are only loosely connected, are of particular interest.

UArizona is not eligible // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

PAR-22-190 Eligibility: In accordance with the regulatory requirements provided at 45 CFR 75.113 and 2 CFR Part 200.113 and Appendix XII to 45 CFR Part 75 and 2 CFR Part 200, recipients that have currently active Federal grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts from all Federal awarding agencies with a cumulative total value greater than $10,000,000 for any period of time during the period of performance of a Federal award, must report and maintain the currency of information reported in the System for Award Management (SAM) about civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings in connection with the award or performance of a Federal award that reached final disposition within the most recent five-year period. 

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites qualified academic or research institutions to apply for funding support to purchase advanced equipment that will enhance and modernize research-supporting operations of biomedical research facilities. Targeted are laboratory research core facilities, animal research facilities, and other similar shared-use research spaces. The goal of this FOA is to strengthen research-auxiliary activities of biomedical research facilities and to enhance the efficiency of their operations.

This FOA does not support the purchase of scientific research instruments or their components, nor components of building-level infrastructure equipment that indirectly support research activities.

Engineering: S. Song
Science: L. Condon
Mathematics: OPEN
Design: OPEN
Technology: J. Su
Manufacturing: A. Zuniga-Teran

UArizona anticipates a submission limit of 6 proposals, one per award category: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing & Design. The anticipated sponsor's deadline is September 30, 2022, based on previous award cycles. When the 2022 solicitation and guidelines are posted by the sponsor, the internal competition will be updated.

The Johnson & Johnson Scholars Award Program aims to fuel development of female STEM2D leaders and feed the STEM2D talent pipeline by awarding and sponsoring women at critical points in their careers, in each of the STEM2D disciplines: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing and Design. The awards will fund one woman per STEM2D discipline who has completed her advanced degree, who is working as an assistant professor (or global equivalent faculty position) and who is not yet tenured at an accredited university, institution or design school. The goal is to fuel the research passion of the awarded women and inspire career paths in their respective STEM2D fields. Johnson & Johnson is looking to identify global women leading in both their research fields and leading as mentors, to be a vision for girls and other women in STEM2D.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The purpose of this FOA is to create a new Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute that will accelerate decarbonization of the industrial sector by developing and scaling electrified industrial heating processes. A consortium made up of industry, academia, non-governmental organizations, national labs, and other stakeholders is sought to: develop electrified process heating solutions for industry; create modeling and optimization tools to facilitate integration of electrified processes into manufacturing plants; develop technology evaluation tools and methodologies; and educate and develop the manufacturing workforce needed to implement this technology.

K. Thirumalai: Geosciences
M. Bhattacharya: Neuroscience
J. Su: Biomedical Engineering
T. Gianetti: Chemistry and Biochemistry
J. Galligan: Pharmacology and Toxicology
M. Kupinski: Optical Science
E. Hamden: Astronomy
V. Paschalidis: Astronomy
C. Henderson: Mathematics

Contact RDS with questions

UA may nominate up to three candidates per department.

NOTE: Faculty from the Astronomy Department should contact their Department Head directly regarding the process of selecting the institutional nominees.

The Sloan Research Fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. The $75,000, two-year fellowships are awarded yearly to 126 researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field.

Open to scholars in eight scientific and technical fields: chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics, the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winning fellows are selected by independent panels of senior scholars on the basis of each candidate’s independent research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in his or her field.

• Candidates must hold a tenure track (or equivalent) position at a college, university, or other degree-granting institution in the United States or Canada. Tenure track faculty positions at the candidate's institution must include a yearly teaching requirement. Candidates must be tenure-track, though untenured, as of September 15, 2022.
• Candidates must hold a Ph.D. (or equivalent) in chemistry, computational or evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, ocean sciences, physics, or a related field;
• The Candidates faculty position must carry a regular teaching obligation.

Successful candidates for a Sloan Research Fellowship generally have a strong record of significant independent research accomplishments that demonstrate creativity and the potential to become future leaders in the scientific community. Nominated candidates are normally below the rank of associate professor.

In keeping with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's longstanding support of underrepresented minorities in the sciences, the Foundation strongly encourages the nomination of qualified women and minority candidates.

Fellows are selected on the basis of their independent research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become leaders in the scientific community through their contributions to their field.

UArizona may submit more than one application; however, the LOI process is Institutionally Coordinated.

For PIs interested in submitting a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Beckman Young Investigators Program (BYI), please follow the institutionally coordinated steps below and e-mail the LOI to Sponsored Projects Services (SPS) by Friday, July 22nd, 2022 by 8a, for Institutional Endorsement from the Chief Academic Officer.

• Principal Investigator (PI) completes the Online Application, uploads all required documentation
• The PI or their Department creates a complete, single PDF of the LOI, including content printed from the Beckman application portal after Dean’s endorsement and all uploaded attachments. Forward the single PDF via e-mail to sponsor@email.arizona.edu with the subject "Beckman Young Investigator LOI for Endorsement." Redact sensitive information (like social security numbers) as needed.
• SPS Preaward Services verifies LOI content and will contact eligible PIs and/or their Department by July 25th with instructions to proceed with Chief Academic Officer endorsement.
• The Chief Academic Officer (Provost) will only endorse applications verified by SPS as complete and eligible by the July 22nd deadline.  SPS Preaward Services will coordinate as needed with the Office of the Provost.

Please do not enter an email address for Chief Academic Officer endorsement until you have approval from SPS Preaward Services.
 
Please do not contact the Office of the Provost directly regarding endorsements but communicate through Sponsored Projects Services at sponsor@email.arizona.edu or (520) 626-6000. SPS will work as quickly as possible to ensure they are all reviewed and endorsed by the sponsor deadline. See the Beckman Young Investigators Program website for an overview video and eligibility requirements.

Ticket #1: K. Johns

UArizona may submit three applications.

The DOE SC High Energy Physics (HEP) program hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for the REaching a New Energy sciences Workforce for High Energy Physics (RENEW-HEP) initiative. This program is intended to support training and research experiences in support of particle physics for members of underserved communities, with the dual goals of : (1) increasing the likelihood that participants from underrepresented populations, such as those present at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) , will pursue a career in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) related field; and (2) supporting investigators and building research infrastructure at institutions that have not traditionally been part of the particle physics portfolio.

E. Butcher
J. Thangavelautham
J. Little

UArizona may submit three proposals.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) aims to (a) enhance research programs and capabilities in scientific and engineering disciplines critical to the national security functions of DoD; (b) enhance the capacity of HBCU/MI to participate in DoD research programs and activities; and (c) increase the number of graduates, including underrepresented minorities, in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) important to the defense mission.

Projects proposed for funding under this FOA must be for basic research. As defined by DoD, “basic research” is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, life sciences, and information sciences related to long-term national security needs.

PIs are encouraged to consider innovative approaches for their research projects with a view toward enhancing the ability of their institution to develop stronger science and engineering programs that will enable the institution to participate more competitively in a variety of defense research programs, attract and retain good students by exposing them to state-of-the art research, and encourage them to pursue careers in STEM disciplines.

Methods through which these goals can be achieved are varied. Factors such as research capabilities, facilities, and equipment are unique to each institution. Therefore, DoD will not prescribe the approach for a research project; instead, it expects applications to reflect the unique needs and capabilities of the applicant institution.