Featured Opportunities

April 17, 2024

• • • The Department of Energy, EERE’s Macro-Mixed Algae Conversion Research Opportunity will mobilize public clean energy investment by addressing research and development (R&D) challenges in the conversion of various seaweeds and blends of seaweeds (with wet waste feedstocks such as waste microalgae) to low-carbon fuels and chemicals. These activities can also help develop solutions for communities that are affected by harmful algal blooms to reduce the costs associated with managing these wastes. This FOA takes into account Algae’s ability to leverage biological uptake pathways as well as vast human experience with agriculture. It allows complex carbon molecules to be formed from inexpensive energy sources such as solar photons and waste heat and is enabled with mostly already commercialized equipment. The activities funded by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s (FECM) Carbon Conversion Program through this FOA will demonstrate the economical and environmentally sustainable manufacturing of products through the biological uptake of CO2 via algal systems.
    • The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Foundational Research in Robotics (FRR) program, jointly led by the CISE and ENG Directorates, supports research on robotic systems that exhibit significant levels of both computational capability and physical complexity. For the purposes of this program, a robot is defined as intelligence embodied in an engineered construct, with the ability to process information, sense, plan, and move within or substantially alter its working environment. Here intelligence includes a broad class of methods that enable a robot to solve problems or to make contextually appropriate decisions and act upon them. The program welcomes research that considers inextricably interwoven questions of intelligence, computation, and embodiment. Projects may also focus on a distinct aspect of intelligence, computation, or embodiment, as long as the proposed research is clearly justified in the context of a class of robots.
    • The National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) Summer Stipends program aims to stimulate new research in the humanities and its publication. The program works to accomplish this goal by: 1) Providing small awards to individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both; 2) Supporting projects at any stage of development, but especially early-stage research and late-stage writing in which small awards are most effective; and 3) Funding a wide range of individuals, including independent scholars, community college faculty, and non-teaching staff at universities. Summer Stipends support continuous full-time work on a humanities project for a period of two consecutive months. NEH funds may support recipients’ compensation, travel, and other costs related to the proposed scholarly research. This is a limited submission with K-State allowed to nominate only two tenured/tenure/track faculty to apply to this program. Thus, if you are interested in submitting to this program you must notify (working title and a short, two to three sentence synopsis of your project) the Office of Research Development by August 2, 2024 via ordlimitedsubs@ksu.edu. If more than two faculty members notify by this date, an internal competition will be held with preproposals due by August 16, 2024.
    • Through NEH’s Climate Smart program, a humanities organization can undertake activities such as energy audits, risk assessments, and meetings with consultants. The resulting climate smart plan helps the organization establish goals and prioritize actions that reduce your organization’s impacts on the environment through mitigation and vulnerability from extreme events through adaptation. Together, mitigation and adaptation can inform a robust road map that addresses climate challenges, protects assets, and facilitates collaboration between internal and external stakeholders. Strategic planning for climate change is an essential part of sustaining humanities organizations’ operations and activities—becoming climate smart. Individual organizations can apply for themselves or lead a consortium of organizations collaborating on strategic climate smart planning. This is a limited submission program. If you are interested in submitting you must first send a notification (working title, team list, and a short 2 to 3 sentence synopsis) to the Office of Research Development by August 2, 2024 via ordlimitedsubs@ksu.edu.
    • The Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research’s ONR STEM Program is for STEM education programs and activities, which is formal or informal education that is primarily focused on physical and natural sciences, technology, engineering, social sciences, and mathematics disciplines, topics, or issues (including environmental science education or stewardship). STEM education programs and activities that could be supported by this FOA include one or more of the following as the primary objective: 1) Develop learners’ knowledge, skill, or interest in STEM; 2) Attract students to pursue certifications, licenses, or degrees (two-year degrees through postdoctoral degrees) or careers in STEM fields; 3) Provide growth and research opportunities for post-secondary, college and graduate students in STEM fields, such as working with researchers or conducting research that is primarily intended to further education; 4) Improve mentor/educator (K-12 pre-service or in-service, post-secondary, and informal) quality in STEM areas; 5) Improve or expand the capacity of institutions to promote or foster STEM fields.This FOA will not consider applications for research, with the exception of those whose primary purpose is intended to further education (as described in third bullet above) and that are not expected to generate intellectual property. Efforts for research, including those supporting STEM, should be submitted under the current fiscal year Long Range BAA.
    • NSF’s Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) program supports ambitious ideas and innovative strategies to address challenges and inequalities within the research enterprise. The research enterprise is broadly defined and includes administrative support and service infrastructure such as, but not limited to, human capital, research development and administration, research analytics, technology transfer and commercialization, corporate relations/public-private partnerships, research integrity, compliance and security, research policy, administration of student research training, and research leadership. Proposals in response to this GRANTED program description should be broadly inclusive and engage the professional, administrative research support and service workforce in project leadership roles described within proposals. Proposed projects should look beyond individual and discipline-specific research needs and focus on activities that create institution/organization-wide impact. Projects that identify nationally scalable models to build and sustain research enterprise infrastructure are strongly encouraged. Competitive proposals will recognize structural challenges and include goals to implement interventions, solutions, and/or strategies that will mitigate the challenges and broaden participation. Proposals must be centered around one or more of the three main themes of GRANTED: 1) Enhancing practices and processes within the research enterprise; 2) Developing and strengthening human capital within the research enterprise; and 3) Translating effective practices related to the research enterprise into diverse institutional and organizational contexts through partnerships with professional societies and organizations.
    • NSF’s Cyberinfrastructure for Public Access and Open Science (CI PAOS)program within the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) aims to catalyze new and transformative socio-technical partnerships supporting research data infrastructure ecosystems across domains through early-stage collaborative activities between cyberinfrastructure researchers, scientists, research computing experts, data management experts, research labs, university libraries, and other communities of practice. A primary feature of successful CI PAOS projects is a robust, synergistic collaborative team comprising skills from across communities of science/engineering, research data science, and information science discipline(s) and expertise in leveraging connections between cyberinfrastructure researchers and providers and data specialists. Leveraging international collaboration to build shared norms and address challenges related to developing and implementing PAOS policies and practices is encouraged. Research and education in science and engineering benefit immensely from international cooperation. Proposals with an international component are also welcome.
    • Science benefits from an exchange of ideas, knowledge and approaches across disciplines. Some of the most impactful work in history has come from individuals who studied across fields. Thus, the Simons Foundation’s Pivot Fellowship award invites applications from researchers who have a strong track record of success and achievement in their current field, and a deep interest, curiosity and drive to make contributions to a new discipline. The fellowship will enable today’s brightest minds to apply their talent and expertise to a new field and will consist of one training year where the fellow will be embedded in a lab of a mentor to learn the new discipline and its culture. Mentorship and support are essential for learning a new discipline and culture. In addition to the qualifications and potential of the applicant, the suitability of the mentor and the environment for mentorship will be strongly considered in the application process.
    • This Funding Connection include thirteen Department of State, Fulbright Scholar opportunities from countries such as Austria, Australia, Italy, United Kingdom, the European Union, Eastern Europe, Mexico, Canada, Zambia, and Vietnam. All can be found under the “International/Multicultural” category.
    • In 2022, Howard Huges Medical Institute (HHMI) launched the Freeman Hrabowski Scholars program to support outstanding basic researchers who have a strong potential to become leaders in their fields and to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through their mentoring efforts and understanding of systemic exclusion and marginalization in science of trainees from different backgrounds. Scholars prioritize scientific excellence in their own research while creating an inclusive lab climate that serves as a model within their own institutions and beyond. Scholars are appointed to a five-year term, renewable for a second five-year term after a successful progress evaluation. Each Scholar receives up to $8.6 million over the ten-year period, including full salary, benefits, a research budget, and scientific equipment. They also participate in professional development to advance their leadership and mentoring skills. 
    • The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Wildlife Services (WS) is announcing the availability of around $5,500,000 in cooperative agreement funding to control and prevent chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild cervids. The amount available will be based on the amount appropriated by Congress less administrative costs. Proposals may further develop and implement wild CWD surveillance, testing, management, and response activities, including further development and evaluation of techniques and strategies to prevent or control CWD in wild cervids. WS intends to achieve a balance between management and research proposals.
    • The Einstein Forum and the Wittenstein Foundation offer a Fellowship for outstanding young thinkers who wish to pursue a project in a different field from that of their previous research. The purpose of the fellowship is to support those who, in addition to producing superb work in their area of specialization, are also open to other, interdisciplinary approaches – following the example set by Albert Einstein. The fellowship includes living accommodations for five to six months in the garden cottage of Einstein`s own summerhouse in Caputh, Brandenburg, only a short distance away from the universities and academic institutions of Potsdam and Berlin. The fellow will receive a stipend of EUR 10,000 and reimbursement of travel expenses. Candidates must be under 35 and hold a university degree in the humanities, in the social sciences, or in the natural sciences.
    • The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for Grants to fund research on congressional leadership and the U.S. Congress. The Center, named for the late Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen, is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organization devoted to the study of Congress. The competition is open to individuals with a serious interest in studying Congress. Political scientists, historians, biographers, scholars of public administration or American studies, independent researchers, and journalists are among those eligible. The Center encourages graduate students who have successfully defended their dissertation prospectus to apply. Applicants must be U.S. citizens who reside in the United States. The research for which assistance is sought must be original, culminating in new findings or new interpretation, or both. The grants program was developed to support work intended for publication in some form or for application in a teaching or policy-making setting. Research produced by previous grant recipients has resulted in books, papers, articles, course lectures, videotapes, and computer software.