Featured opportunities for September 23, 2026

Find these featured opportunities and more in the full Funding Connection.

Featured Opportunities

September 23, 2026

Agriculture

  • The Department of Agriculture, Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS, Agency) announces acceptance of applications under the Agriculture Innovation Center Demonstration (AIC) program for fiscal year (FY) 2026. These grant funds will be made to qualified type of applicants to operate Centers that will provide technical assistance to Agricultural Producers who want to develop and/or market Value-Added Agricultural Products. This program has approximately $2.5 million available for FY 2026. All applicants are responsible for any expenses incurred in developing their applications.

Arts and Humanities

  • The National Endowment for the Humanities is soliciting applications for the Landmarks of American History and Culture and Summer Institutes programs for Higher Education Faculty and for K-12 Educators. Successful applicants will convene the same project in two consecutive summers—2028 and 2029— recruiting a different group of participants each summer. Landmarks and Institutes are residential professional development programs that convene higher education faculty or K-12 educators from across the nation to deepen their understanding of significant topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching. An Institute may engage any topic in the humanities. A Landmarks project must incorporate place-based approaches to humanities teaching and situate the study of topics and themes within sites, areas, or regions of historic and cultural significance for the United States and its jurisdictions. Landmarks and Institutes: 1) allow immersive study of topics significant to humanities study and teaching; 2) foster new fields of study and/or revitalize existing areas of inquiry using multiple rigorous approaches; 3) model excellent scholarship, teaching, and collegial dialogue; 4) strengthen humanities teaching and learning in participants’ professional settings; 5) consider how the humanities topics engage scholarship, teaching, and the curricula of participants’ professional settings; 6) build lasting communities that foster participants’ intellectual and professional collaboration; 7) reach the widest possible audience for whom the topic is relevant.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services, NIH’s Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R21) invites Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R21) applications that propose to study the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of human genetic or genomic research. Applications may propose studies using either single or mixed methods, that break new ground, extend previous discoveries in new directions, or develop preliminary data in preparation for larger studies. Approaches may include but are not limited to empirical qualitative and quantitative methods, and conceptual, legal, and normative analyses. Applied research designed to address ELSI issues in genetics and genomics will also be considered responsive. Direct engagement with communities and other stakeholders is encouraged, but not required.

Education (and Social Sciences)

  • The Russell Sage Foundation, in collaboration with the Hewlett, Spencer, and William T. Grant foundations, seeks to support innovative research on the Effects of the Supreme Court Decision on a Diversity of Outcomes—from who attends college and where and the extent to which alternatives to race-conscious policies contribute to educational attainment and economic mobility among different groups in the population. Their interests extend beyond the effects on applications, admissions, enrollment, and degree completion and include the downstream effects, including whether and how the decision alters the college-to-career pipeline that many employers rely on to diversify their workforce, and the factors associated with public opposition to and support for race-conscious policies. They are particularly interested in analyses that make use of newly available data or demonstrate novel uses of existing data. They also support original data collection and encourage methodological variety and inter-disciplinary collaboration.

Engineering

  • Silicones and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are widely used to create soft surfaces for applications that require skin-like mechanical behavior. However, their surface properties can differ substantially from human skin: complex aqueous fluids may bead, dewet, or roll off silicone rather than remain pinned, spread, smear, or transfer in the way they do on skin during contact and movement, despite similar surface energy. Advances in surface chemistry, micro- and nanotexturing, controlled-wetting materials, tribology, and related fields have created new ways to tune how liquids interact with soft polymer surfaces. Similar challenges are also addressed in areas such as printing and ink transfer, prosthetics, biomimetic materials, and specialty coatings. Proctor & Gamble via Halo, through its Silicone Surface Engineering for Controlling Wetting and Fluid Transfer solicitation, is looking for durable surface-engineering approaches for silicone/PDMS that create more skin-like interactions with complex aqueous fluids while maintaining the required coefficient of friction after repeated use, cleaning, and storage. Ideal solutions would include a proposed modification approach and supporting evidence of durability and transferability to consumer-product testing. The goal is to receive candidate surfaces on silicone coupons for comparative testing and evaluation.
  • The National Science Foundation’s Engineering (ENG): Chemical, Bioengineering, Energy, and Transports Systems (CBET) covers submission to the following ENG: CBET programs. Research that fits within a single program and multidisciplinary research that spans more than one of these programs are welcome. Please see the individual program webpages linked below for more information on what is within scope for these ENG: CBET programs:
    • The Chemical Process Systems (CPS) program supports foundational research on reaction engineering and molecular thermodynamics; reactor design; catalysis and electrochemical and photochemical systems; chemical separations; and data-enabled design of process systems.
    • The Engineering Biological and Biomedical Systems (EBBS) program supports foundational engineering research on the control of microbial populations and cells, and of therapeutic cells and tissues. It includes foundational research that enables biosensing platforms, the design of biological systems, and rehabilitation engineering.
    • The Energy, Water, and Resource Engineering (EWRE) program supports foundational engineering research to manage energy, water, minerals, and material resources.
    • The Transport Phenomena (TP) program supports foundational research on the dynamics of single- and multiphase systems; on physicochemical phenomena at fluid interfaces; on thermodynamics and thermal transport; and on combustion of gas, liquid, and solid fuels.

NSF ENG anticipates a portfolio of ENG: CBET awards with a range of budgets and durations. Project budgets and durations must be commensurate with the scope of the proposed work. Estimated program budget, number of awards, and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds.

NSF ENG anticipates a portfolio of ENG: Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) awards with a range of budgets and durations. Estimated program budget, number of awards, and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds. NSF ENG is particularly interested in intellectually ambitious and potentially transformative foundational research. Proposals need not promise a near-term product, deployment, or commercial outcome, nor need they address later-stage development to be competitive.

NSF ENG anticipates a portfolio of ENG: Electrical, Communications, and Computing Systems (ECCS) awards with a range of budgets and durations. Estimated program budget, number of awards, and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds. NSF ENG is particularly interested in intellectually ambitious and potentially transformative foundational research. Proposals need not promise a near-term product, deployment, or commercial outcome, nor need they address later-stage development to be competitive.

  • The National Science Foundation’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI): Wave-Based Computing (WBC) solicitation will support foundational and transformative research to advance the design, engineering, and fabrication of computational technologies that leverage wave interactions for computation, signal processing, and information transmission. WBC can use multiple physical architectures, such as free-space, waveguides, metasurfaces, and plasmonic structures. While WBC is unlikely to replace digital computing, wave-based computational accelerators could work alongside traditional programmable digital computers. The expected result would significantly improve computational efficiency. In addition to supporting AI/ML platforms, WBC could benefit energy-constrained applications that require high performance and low power consumption—such as mobile phones, Internet of Things, and sensor networks within edge computing environments. Research supported through this solicitation is expected to explore a variety of wave types, media, and platforms. Potential outcomes include: 1)Multiplexed architectures for compact parallel computing; 2) High-order nonlinear processes; 3) Reconfigurable photonic and acoustic devices; 4) Development of dynamically tunable system; 4) Hybrid wave-quantum computing; 5) Integration of quantum technologies; 6) Topological and quantum system concepts; 7) Miniaturized chiplets and chip-scale integration; Design and demonstration of compact, integrated devices capable of chip-level advanced information processing. And 8) Heterogeneous integration across multistage and multilevel platforms.
  • The National Science Foundation’s Transport Phenomena (TP) program supports fundamental research to understand, model, and control the transport of mass, momentum, energy, and species across multiple scales. Innovative TP research supports advances in artificial intelligence; manufacturing; biotechnology; microelectronics; energy generation, extraction, and utilization; nuclear energy; quantum science and engineering; and other national priorities. TP projects involve experiments, theory, and/or computational modeling. They aim to improve understanding and to create novel analytical techniques. While projects focus on fundamental principles, they also have a clear vision of how research outcomes will benefit applications in engineering. TP supports research on the dynamics of single- and multiphase systems. Special interests include flow separation, transition to turbulence, drag reduction, cavitation, instabilities, and reactive flows. The program encourages research on the connection between dynamics at the microscale and material and flow properties at the macroscale. Fluids of interest include liquids, gases, suspensions, emulsions, granular materials, active fluids, biological fluids, colloids, aerosols, bubbles and drops, and fluids with surfactants.
  • The aim of the Simons Foundation’s Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences (MPS) program is to stimulate progress on fundamental scientific questions of major importance in mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science. A Simons Collaboration in MPS should address a mathematical or theoretical topic of fundamental scientific importance, where a significant, new development creates a novel area for exploration or provides a new direction for progress in an established field. The questions addressed by the collaboration may be concrete or conceptual, but there should be little doubt that answering them would constitute a major scientific milestone. The project should have clearly defined initial activities and goals by which progress and success can be measured. The support from the foundation should be seen as critical for the objectives of the project. The project should involve outstanding researchers in a range of career stages. Excellence of the scientific leadership is one of the main criteria in the selection process. The project should be organized and managed in a manner engendering a high level of collaboration.
  • The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Ecosystem for Low-dimensional Electronics: Growth, Assembly, Nanoelectronics, and Translation (NSF ELEGANT) program will position the U.S. for success in translating advanced microelectronics technologies into next-generation capabilities for artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, advanced communications, and other key technology areas critical to national security and economic competitiveness. To achieve program objectives, this Other Transaction Agreement Solutions Offering (OTASO) is seeking an Ecosystems Coordinator and Expert Performer Teams in five translation themes: Theme 1: Manufacturable Materials Platform; Theme 2: Process Technology and Process Design Kit.; Theme 3: Device, Circuit and Full-Chip Demonstration; Theme 4: Manufacturing Readiness and Transition; and Theme 5: AI-Enabled Acceleration.

Health and Life Sciences

  • The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), launched the new Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency (SPECTRA) program, a major research effort to transform how autism is understood, diagnosed, and supported across the lifespan. SPECTRA will bring together biological, clinical, behavioral, and real-world data with advanced computational tools to enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis, identify factors that shape individual health and developmental trajectories, and develop more precise approaches to care tailored to each person’s needs. In close collaboration with key stakeholders and advocacy groups, SPECTRA seeks to move beyond one-size-fits-all management of ASD by securely integrating objective biological data — such as genetic factors, exposome and epigenetic features, microbiome biology, and other omics data. This innovative approach will create and utilize novel nonlinear computational models of ASD subtypes that more accurately reflect the complex condition. Using these data, researchers will then create an end-to-end system that can identify ASD risk factors, match individuals to appropriate interventions, and accelerate clinical research for new adaptive therapies.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services, NIH’s Sustained Support for Informatics Technologies for Cancer Research and Management (U24) seeks applications for the continued development and sustainment of high value informatics research resources to improve the acquisition, management, analysis, and dissemination of data and knowledge across the cancer research continuum including cancer biology, cancer treatment and diagnosis, early cancer detection, risk assessment and prevention, cancer control and epidemiology. As a component of the NCI's Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Program, this NOFO is focused on sustaining operations and maintaining and evolving the scientific relevance of existing, widely-adopted informatics tools and resources. This is in contrast to early-stage and advanced development efforts to generate these tools and resources that will be supported by companion ITCR NOFOs. The central mission of ITCR is to promote research-driven informatics technology across the development lifecycle to address priority needs in cancer research. In order to be successful, the application must provide clear justification for why the research resource should be maintained and how it has benefited and will continue to benefit the cancer research field. In addition, mechanisms for assessing and maximizing the value of the resource to researchers and supporting close engagement between the resource and the targeted research community should be described.