Featured Opportunities

September 2, 2026

• The Kansas Soybean Commission is soliciting research and education proposals for FY 2028 via its Checkoff Proposals are due to the Commission by the close of business on Monday, October 5, 2026. The Kansas Soybean Commission uses Kansas soybean farmers’ checkoff funds to support contract research and education projects across many areas including production ag, promotion of and education on soybeans and soybean products in feed, food and fuel, and new uses and new markets for soybeans and soybean products.
• Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers at the American Antiquarian Society are residential fellowships for historical research by artists, writers, film makers, journalists, and other persons whose goals are to produce imaginative works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history, literature, and culture. The fellowships will provide the recipients with the opportunity for a period of uninterrupted research, reading, and collegial discussion at the Society, located in Worcester, Massachusetts.
• The Princeton University, Program in Latin American Studies’ (PLAS) awards two to four Long-term Fellowships annually, for one or two semesters, to top international or national scholars, and promising mid-career scholars, in the humanities and social sciences who have teaching experience, as well as established writers, artists, filmmakers and architects who are working on projects related to Latin America and are stellar teachers, who will provide Princeton students with a unique opportunity to study topics that are not regularly offered at the University. Visiting Research Scholars will be expected to teach one undergraduate course and to participate in PLAS-related events on campus.
• The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science program supports authentic summer research experiences for K-14 educators to foster long-term collaborations between universities, community colleges, school districts, and industry partners. With this solicitation, the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) focus on a reciprocal exchange of expertise between K-14 educators and research faculty and (when applicable) industry mentors. K-14 educators will enhance their scientific disciplinary knowledge in engineering or computer science and translate their research experiences into classroom activities and curricula to broaden their students’ awareness of and participation in computing and engineering pathways. At the same time, the hosting research faculty will deepen their understanding of classroom practices, current curricula, pedagogy, and K-14 educational environments.
• The Department of Energy, Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office (HGEO) through its University Training and Research (UTR) program is looking for applications to educate and train the next generation of engineers and scientists to fill critical workforce gaps. This aim will be achieved by funding investigations pertinent to advancing the Administration’s R&D goals. The funding aims to sustain a national university program of energy research and enable segments of the academic population not typically utilized for educational research opportunities for advancing competitive technology markets. Specifically, The UTR program focuses on introducing students to the variety of research topics pursued in support of the HGEO mission and preparing them for jobs in related fields. The UTR program is HGEO’s flagship program for funding workforce development and building research capacity at U.S. colleges and universities. The UTR program provides resources to: 1) Expand the research capabilities and education of students in STEM; 2) Maintain and enhance the educational, training, and research capabilities of institutions of higher education; and 3) Develop education and training initiatives to support HGEO and DOE-wide priorities for R&D.
• The Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Program (YIP) was established in 1985 and seeks to identify and support academic scientists and engineers who are in their first or second full-time tenure-track or tenure-track-equivalent academic appointment, who have received their PhD or equivalent degree on or after 01 January 2019, and who show exceptional promise for doing creative research. The objectives of this program are to attract outstanding faculty members of U.S. Institutions of Higher Education (hereafter also called "universities") to the Department of the Navy's Science and Technology (S&T) research program, to support their research, and to encourage their teaching and research careers. Individuals who are holding U.S. non-profit equivalent positions are also encouraged to apply. Proposals under this NOFO must address basic or applied research areas of interest and should be highly innovative. Therefore, ONR YIP seeks creative individuals who can contribute to U.S. national security and warfighter supremacy, with the potential for sustained long term support throughout their academic careers.
• The Department of Defense, Army Research Office (ARO) is soliciting proposals for Staff Research Program The purpose of the program is to enable ARO scientific staff to maintain and expand professional competence in support of fulfilling the ARO mission through the conduct of hands-on, basic research. The staff research will be performed collaboratively with institutions external to ARO. Staff research efforts will involve scientific study directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge and scientific understanding in engineering, physical, life and information sciences, when there is an intersection with the interests and capabilities of the participating external institutions in these basic research areas. Staff research will be conducted, directed and managed by an ARO scientist at the institution's laboratory facilities or field research sites, in collaboration with a PI designated by the institution. ARO scientists will not be named as a PI on any proposal or resulting award. Results of the Staff Research Program may include publication or co-authorship of research results and presentation at scientific forums, and contribute to the education and training of students, in accordance with the terms of the cooperative agreement.
• The Department of Defense (DoD) announces the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) – Capacity Building The program is sponsored and managed by the Basic Research Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD [R&E]), awarded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and administered through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The DoD plans to award FY26 DEPSCoR appropriations through this announcement. DEPSCoR's objectives are to: (1) increase the number of university researchers in eligible States/Territories capable of performing science and engineering (S&E) research responsive to the needs of the DoD; (2) enhance the capabilities of institutions of higher education (IHEs) in eligible States/Territories (listed below) to develop, plan, and execute S&E research that is relevant to the mission of the DoD, and competitive under the peer-review systems used for awarding Federal research assistance; and (3) increase the probability of long-term growth in the competitively awarded financial assistance that IHEs in eligible States/Territories receive from the Federal Government for S&E research. The Basic Research Office anticipates up to $6 million in total funding will be made available for this program to fully fund and award between one to four grants up to $1.5 million (total cost) each. Each grant award will be funded up to $750,000 (total cost) per year for two (2) years. Note this is a limited submission program. You must send an email to the Office of Research Development stating your intention to submit to the program by September 8, 2026 and a draft white paper by September 18, 2026 following the white paper instructions in this program’s RFA. Both should be submitted via ordlimitedsubs@ksu.edu by 5 pm on the due date. For more information see the September 2, 2026 edition of the Research Weekly.
• The Department of Defense, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) manages the basic research investment for the Department of the Air Force (DAF), including both the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and U.S. Space Force (USSF). As a part of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), their technical experts discover, shape, and champion research within AFRL, universities, and industry laboratories to ensure the transition of research results to support U.S. Air Force and Space Force needs. Using a carefully balanced research portfolio, their research managers seek to foster revolutionary scientific breakthroughs enabling the USAF, USSF and U.S. industry to produce world-class, militarily significant, and commercially valuable products. To accomplish this task, they are soliciting proposals for basic research through this general Broad Agency Announcement outlining the U.S. Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program. They invite unclassified proposals that do not contain proprietary information for research in many broad areas. They expect to fund only fundamental research. Their research areas of interest are described in detail in Section A. Program Description on page 6 of the BAA.
• The Department of Defense, Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s (DSCA) Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) promotes access to and production of knowledge on security cooperation. Security cooperation refers to “all Department of Defense (DoD) interactions with foreign security establishments that build and develop allied and partner security capabilities and capacity for self-defense and multinational operations, provide the Armed Forces of the United States with access to the foreign country during peacetime or a contingency operation, and build relationships that promote specific United States security interests”. Evidence-, theory, and data-building activities that contribute to the body of knowledge on security cooperation or irregular warfare, and that result in lessons that can be applied to practice, are the primary focus of the DSCU Research Grants program NFO. Research products sponsored through this NFO must be unclassified and publicly accessible. DSCU expects awardees to participate in conferences, seminars, focus groups and events, and to make final research products and supporting data (if applicable) easily accessible to the public, in order to enhance dissemination of research findings and facilitate application of lessons learned in areas of policy, practice, and workforce professionalization.
• The Department of the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program offers hands-on exposure to Department of the Air Force (DAF) research challenges through 8- to 12-week research residencies at participating DAF research facilities for full-time science, mathematics, and engineering faculty at U.S. colleges and universities. This program is sponsored by the Department of Defense, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and is administered by Systems Plus, which provides oversight and administrative structure for the selection and appointment of applicants. The objectives of the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program are as follows: 1)To stimulate professional relationships among U.S. Department of the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program participants and the scientists and engineers at Department of the Air Force research facilities; 2) To enhance the research interests and capabilities of faculty (both new and experienced researchers) in the U.S. academic community; 3) To elevate the awareness in the U.S. academic community of the Department of the Air Force research needs and foster continued research at fellows' institutions; 4) To provide the U.S. Department of the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program participant opportunities to perform high-quality and meaningful research at Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directorates, Air Force Test Center, the United States Air Force Academy, or the Air Force Institute of Technology; and 5) To provide nationally accredited mentoring of academic researchers at technical directorates of the AFRL, Air Force Test Center, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Air Force Institute of Technology.
• The Department of Defense, US Air Force Academy’s (USAFA) Dean of Faculty Research Office, via its Broad Agency Announcement, is announcing to business and academia the intent to solicit white papers/proposals for USAFA research efforts through this BAA. This strategy provides USAFA an acquisition tool with the flexibility to solicit proposals and make awards to develop technologies to meet present and future Air Force research needs as technology issues are identified. USAFA invites white papers and proposals for research in many broad areas. These areas are described in detail in Section I of the BAA, Funding Opportunity Description. Additional information regarding USAFA Research Centers, Departments and Institutes may be found at usafa.edu.
• The Department of Health and Human Services, NIH’s Research Project Grant supports a discrete, specified, circumscribed project in areas representing the specific interests and competencies of the investigator(s). The proposed project must be related to the programmatic interests of one or more of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) based on their scientific missions.
• The National Science Foundation Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) will jointly sponsor research collaborations consisting of mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, engineers, and social and behavioral scientists focused on the mathematical and theoretical foundations of AI through the Mathematical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence Research activities should focus on the most challenging mathematical and theoretical questions aimed at understanding the capabilities, limitations, and emerging properties of AI methods as well as the development of novel, and mathematically grounded, design and analysis principles for the current and next generation of AI approaches. Specific research goals include: establishing a fundamental mathematical understanding of the factors determining the capabilities and limitations of current and emerging generations of AI systems, including, but not limited to, foundation models, generative models, deep learning, statistical learning, federated learning, and other evolving paradigms; the development of mathematically grounded design and analysis principles for the current and next generations of AI systems; rigorous approaches for characterizing and validating machine learning algorithms and their predictions; research enabling provably reliable, translational, general-purpose AI systems and algorithms; encouragement of new collaborations in this interdisciplinary research community and between institutions.
• The Department of State, DOJ’s FY2026 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Estimation Program. Seeks proposals for continued maintenance and development of statistical protocols and procedures required to produce national estimates of crime and arrest based on data from the FBI’s NIBRS collection. The NIBRS Estimation Program is a multiphase, large-scale data quality, nonresponse, and estimation project through which BJS develops and tests statistical procedures that assess the quality and completeness of the submitted NIBRS data, adjust for item and unit nonresponse, and generate national incident-based statistics from the reported data. For additional information on the NIBRS estimation methodology, see NIBRS Estimation and Extract File Creation Methodology Report (NCJ 310516, BJS, December 2025).
• The Department of Defense’s Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Basic, Applied, and Advanced Scientific Research sets forth research areas of interest to the United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI), is issued under the provisions of paragraph 6.102(d)(2) and 35.016 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which provides for the acquisition of basic and applied research and that part of development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement through the competitive selection of proposals, ARI is the Army’s lead agency for the conduct of research, development, and analyses for Army readiness and performance via research advances and applications of the behavioral and social sciences that address personnel, organization, and Soldier and leader development issues. Programs funded under this BAA include basic research, applied research, and advanced technology development that can improve human performance and Army readiness.