Energy Department Now Accepting Applications for Summer 2027 Visiting Faculty Program

College and university faculty are invited to apply to collaborate with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory scientific research staff on research projects of mutual interest. The application deadline is January 6, 2027, at 5:00 p.m. EST.

The Visiting Faculty Program (VFP) seeks to enhance both the research competitiveness and STEM teaching capacity of faculty members at institutions that primarily serve undergraduate students. VFP provides faculty with the opportunity to enhance their research competitiveness and the innovative STEM learning they bring to their students through a funded collaboration with a Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory. The research scope covers a wide range of DOE science and technology frontiers, including the Genesis Mission, quantum information sciences, fusion science and engineering, space sciences, biotechnology, nuclear energy and technology, critical minerals and materials, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity.

The VFP is offered in two tracks:

• The VFP Research Collaboration Track

• The VFP Teaching Initiative Track (available for returning VFP participants)

VFP is offered over the summer term as a 10-week experience. Faculty applying to VFP have the option of inviting up to two of their students (one of whom may be a graduate student) to join the project.

Extensive support during the application process is available, as well as a summer internship fair in November sponsored by the Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) with technical support provided by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.

Application Support, Alumni Panel

Two application assistance workshops will be held for all faculty eligible to apply to VFP. The first workshop will introduce the program and provide strategies for submitting a compliant application. At the second workshop, the application process will be reviewed, and the collaborative experiences provided by the program will be highlighted through a panel discussion.

• November 6, 2026, Application Assistance Workshop: Registration information here.

• December 10, 2026, VFP Alumni Panel Workshop: Registration information here.

In addition, prospective VFP applicants can engage with recruiters and scientists from the DOE National Laboratories at the summer internship fair sponsored by WDTS and hosted by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. The fair will take place on November 12, 2026, from 1:00–5:00 pm EST. WDTS and National Lab staff will be on hand to answer questions. For more information, visit the VFP webpage.

Office Hours

Furthermore, the program office invites applicants and letter-of-recommendation writers to attend office hours to answer administrative questions such as those pertaining to application submission. View upcoming dates on the DOE website. VFP is managed by the Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) in the Office of Science. More information, including eligibility criteria, can be found here.

Review Grants with NCR-SARE

The North Central Region - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) is seeking reviewers for the following grant review committees:

• Research and Education Grant Program Review Committee (Technical Committee)

• Farmer Rancher Grant Program Review Committee

• Partnership Grant Program Review Committee

• Professional Development Grant Program (PDP) Review Committee

• Graduate Student Grant Program Review Committee

• Youth Educator Grant Program Review Committee

About NCR-SARE Review Committees
NCR-SARE's review committees review proposals and make recommendations to the Administrative Council, offering a rewarding, educational experience for those interested in sustainable production and the grant-making process.

Each NCR-SARE review committee has varying requirements, but review committee members are generally required to review proposals, discuss the proposals on a conference call or in person, and provide recommendations to the Administrative Council. An NCR-SARE review committee member may not apply to that particular grant program while serving on that committee.

Review committee members must live and work in the geography shared with the 12 states of the North Central SARE region: IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, and WI.

How to Apply
Complete this online form to apply for one of NCR-SARE's grant review committees. In addition to the online form, you will upload a resume, curriculum vitae (CV), or short bio highlighting your relevant experience. We will acknowledge receipt of your materials and reply with the selection outcome.

Recommendations can also be emailed to ncrsare@umn.edu.

Informational webinar for Genesis Mission Graduate Fellowship Pilot

Please join us to learn about the DOE-SC Genesis Mission Graduate Fellowship Pilot for innovative U.S. Institutions of Higher Education and domestic doctoral-granting institutions to establish four-year dual-competency doctoral training programs, supporting student expenses such as stipend, tuition, health insurance, and off-site research experiences. Informed by the Genesis Mission Summit, associated Request for Information, and Virtual Town Hall, the Pilot will train high-potential scientists and engineers as Genesis Mission Graduate Fellows, a cohort trained in dual competencies in AI and their respective scientific disciplines, with practical experience at national laboratories, DOE user facilities, and industry.

Letters of Intent are due Monday, November 9, 2026. Only those applicants that receive notification from DOE encouraging a formal application may submit full applications. Please see notification of funding opportunity for more details.

NIH joins effort to build SI-ready data for predictive models of human biology

NIH-led Bio Genesis Mission will leverage existing biomedical data resources to accelerate SI-enabled discovery and improve human health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is coordinating with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Biohub and other partners to develop the data and resources needed to develop Super Intelligence (SI) models that can better predict how cells and biological systems respond to disease and potential interventions. Through its Bio Genesis Mission, NIH will bring together existing biomedical datasets, national data infrastructure, and research programs to help build SI-ready resources for the broader scientific community.

Developing predictive models of biology requires enormous amounts of high-quality, SI-ready data capturing how cells respond to interventions across different cell types and conditions. NIH’s extensive investments in biomedical research provide a foundation for this work; resources include national biomedical repositories catalogued by NIH’s National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information, as well as NIH Common Fund programs that are already developing coordinated biological atlases, shared data standards and SI-ready biomedical datasets.

NIH will coordinate with Biohub to help standardize appropriate datasets for SI model training. Training these models requires obtaining measurements of how cells respond to intervention across many more cell types and conditions than have yet been studied, and building technologies for studying cells at scales and speeds that current instruments cannot capture.

The full announcement can be found on the NIH website.

NIH launches new PubMed tool to strengthen research replication and reproducibility

The National Institutes of Health launched Linked Discoveries, an experimental tool designed to help scientists more easily see how an individual research finding relates to the larger body of biomedical evidence. From a citation in PubMed, users can use the Linked Discoveries tool to explore a “neighborhood” of publications closely related to that article, including replication studies. More than 29 million PubMed publications are represented in Linked Discoveries at launch.

Developed by NIH’s National Library of Medicine (NLM), which oversees PubMed, Linked Discoveries is an early product of NIH’s agency-wide initiative to strengthen replication and reproducibility in NIH-funded research. In particular, this tool seeks to address the difficulty of determining how a finding fits within the existing evidence. Relevant studies and other research information may be dispersed across different resources, and traditional approaches to finding scientific literature can favor already prominent or frequently cited work. Linked Discoveries begins to address that challenge by giving researchers a more connected view of publications related to a particular study.

Using an AI-informed approach, Linked Discoveries identifies related publications and allows users to examine connections among them through graph and timeline views. Researchers can narrow a neighborhood by conditions, genes and chemicals and see information such as citation connections, reviews, retractions and NIH-funded publications. That context can help researchers determine what evidence should be considered as they interpret previous findings and plan subsequent research.

The September 24 launch is the first public version of Linked Discoveries. NLM will continue to test and refine the tool informed by user feedback — which can be submitted directly within the tool — to help inform future features and capabilities. The resource is designed to grow alongside NIH’s broader work to strengthen replication and reproducibility, while keeping scientific assessment in the hands of researchers.

NIH seeking human-based research grant reviewers

The NIH is seeking scientists with expertise in human-based research approaches to serve as grant reviewers and contribute to the peer-review process.

Persons listed in the directory may be invited to participate in NIH activities such as committees and peer review panels.

Interested individuals will be asked to provide information including current affiliation, plus educational and professional background, and self-identified areas of expertise.

The information submitted will not be used for solicitations and will be available only to federal staff who manage federally chartered advisory groups and peer reviews and the support contractor that maintains the directory.

Please provide as much information as possible so we can process your request in a timely fashion. We may reach out to you with any questions regarding your profile.

Disclaimer: The Expert Directory will be used only as described above and information will not be shared with others. The input of your information does not automatically guarantee inclusion in the directory, nor does it guarantee involvement or invitation to a specific board, committee, panel, or meeting.

DARPA Research Solutions Opening

This Research Solutions Opening (RSO) aims to strengthen the DARPA Program Manager (PM) community by engaging academic researchers capable of addressing DARPA's hard problems. PMs that are passionate about tackling the most complex technical challenges, pushing the boundaries of science and technology, and shaping the future of defense and innovation. Together, through this effort, we will pioneer revolutionary solutions, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and empower the brightest minds to make the impossible possible. This RSO also seeks to fund the independent research ideas of these passionate researchers. This RSO is limited to Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) candidates and proposals from accredited U.S. colleges and universities.

NSF MPS announces funding opportunities for core research programs

The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (NSF MPS) has published five new funding opportunities supporting foundational research in astronomical sciences, chemistry, materials research, mathematical sciences and physics.

The five funding opportunities collectively span more than 40 research programs supported by NSF MPS. Each funding opportunity includes multiple foundational research programs grouped as follows:

• MPS Astronomical Sciences Research Programs (MPS Astro)

• MPS Chemistry Research Programs (MPS Chem)

• MPS Materials Research Programs (MPS Materials)

• MPS Mathematical Sciences Research Programs (MPS MathSci)

• MPS Physics Research programs (MPS Physics)

These funding opportunities do not have proposal deadlines. Proposals are accepted by NSF anytime, although some programs have recommended target dates. More information is available here.

Halo Science, or Halo, is an AI-powered R&D partnering platform that connects academic researchers, universities, and startups with corporate research and development teams. Below are their newest PulseCheck opportunities from companies currently looking for university partners through Halo. If any are relevant to your work, use the one-click feature to raise your hand to express your interest and connect with the sponsoring company. Make sure that “academic researchers” are listed as one of the eligible partners and you have a researcher profile on the Halo Science Innovators Page.

If you are contacted by the company and are asked to submit a one-page white paper or short proposal, please be sure to contact your OSP grants specialist and “Cc” them on your submission as well as keep them in the loop as your interaction with the company unfolds. Note Halo also has other opportunities on its marketplace with specific deadlines.

• Solid-state fermentation for nutritional upgrading of plant substrates
• Predictive algorithms for chronic kidney disease progression
• Reducing microplastic shedding from performance textiles
• Hydrophilic, oleophobic materials and textile treatments
• Improving breakage resistance of thin synthetic and bio-based fibers
• Hair-mimicking synthetic and bio-based continuous fibers
• Solid-state fermentation for nutritional upgrading of plant substrates
• Inline sensing and analytics for chocolate process control