August 2020 
 

A Note from the Research Development Team

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our team will be working remotely. We are available to provide assistance via email, phone, or Zoom conferencing. Please also refer to our FAS RAS website and the OSP website for information about submitting proposals and managing your awards.

For assistance, please contact:
Erin Hale, Senior Research Development Officer

Jennifer Corby, Research Development Officer
jcorby@fas.harvard.edu | 617-495-1590

News, Announcements, and Special Features

As part of the University's plan for a safe reopening, a limited number of researchers and lab personnel will be authorized to return to campus. These are the steps that individuals returning to campus must take prior to entering Harvard facilities in order to enable the safety of those returning and essential on-site staff. We also encourage you to visit the division of science and SEAS Coronavirus FAQs website.

The FAS Research Development team has compiled the following resources for those seeking funding for COVID-19 Research:
 
  • For an aggregated list of COVID-19 research funding opportunities, visit the SPIN website while on a Harvard network and click on Search in the menu bar and then click on COVID-19/Coronavirus Funding Opportunities in the drop down menu. This list is updated daily and can be exported to Excel.
  • Harvard Link: Alternatively, you may add the key word COVID to your Harvard Link account to receive updated COVID-19 funding recommendations.
  • Other Funding Search Databases Available to Harvard Affiliates: All Harvard affiliates have access to the funding databases PIVOT, SPIN and FDO here.
  • ­Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Funding List: Johns Hopkins University has compiled and continues to maintain a list of funding opportunities available for COVID-19 research.
 

Feature: COVID-19 Funding Opportunities Spotlight 
This section of the newsletter will highlight opportunities relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Feature: New Investigator Opportunity Spotlight
Quick links to early career opportunities in this month's newsletter.
* Indicates an UPDATED or NEW opportunity added this month

News: NASA SMD Calls for Expressions of Interest for Augmentations and Funded Extensions

NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is currently accepting requests for funded extensions and augmentations to existing awards to make up for increased costs directly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Expressions of Interest must be submitted via NSPIRES by August 21, 2020. 
News: Million Dollar International Quantum U Tech Accelerator

Innovare Advancement Center, a partnership of the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI), Griffiss Institute (GI), Oneida County (OC), and State University of New York (SUNY), announced it will host the "$1,000,000 International Quantum U Tech Accelerator", with additional support provided by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The global engagement will take place September 1-3, 2020, with in-person and virtual events, including a $1M quantum-focused pitch competition for university researchers; fast-pitch sessions for members of industry, government, and academia; keynotes and remarks by world leaders in quantum information science (QIS); and opportunities for tours to learn more about Innovare and its exciting mission and capabilities. The Accelerator event will connect leading-edge QIS researchers to advanced technologies and applications in this critical area. 48 teams across four quantum tracks related to timing, sensing, information processing/computing, and communications/networking will compete before an elite panel of cross-agency quantum leaders. The top performing university teams will be eligible for over $1M in basic research funding provided by the AFRL/RI, AFOSR, and ONR. Registration details and more information about the three-day engagement is available here. 

Registration is required by August 28, 2020.


News: National Defense Education Program (NDEP) Request for Information for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering)

The purpose of this request for information (RFI) is to survey industry (to include non-profits, academia, large, and small businesses) for information related to three focus areas: 1) Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, outreach, and workforce development; 2) Biotechnology education and workforce development; and 3) Enhanced civics education. The Department of Defense (DoD) may use responses to this RFI to inform future solicitations. 

Responses must be submitted via email by August 28, 2020.
Funding Opportunities
* Indicates an UPDATED or NEW opportunity added this month
Foundation Opportunities 

Internal Opportunities
Industry/Corporate Opportunities

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters

Foundation Opportunities
Smith_biomed
Sponsor Initial Proposal Deadline (required): August 18, 2020
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline (if invited to submit full proposal): 5 business days in advance of sponsor deadline
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): TBD in December 2020
Award Amount: $100,000/year for 3 years
 
The Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research supports newly independent faculty engaged in basic biomedical research. Investigators in the physical sciences (physics, chemistry and engineering) whose projects focus on biomedical science are also encouraged to apply. While basic research projects involving human subjects, data, and samples are eligible, clinical trials research is beyond the scope of this program. In recognition of the importance of research collaboration within the scientific community, collaboration is an additional, but not required, positive ancillary factor. These projects may involve researchers within and/or outside the applicant's institution.
 
Applications will be accepted from full-time faculty who have received or will receive their first independent faculty appointment on or between October 1, 2018 through April 1, 2021. If an applicant has been on medical or family leave, or if research was interrupted for other reasons, this period of absence does not count towards eligibility. Applicants are ineligible if, at the time of application, they have combined federal and non-federal funding totaling $500,000 or more in external direct costs in either of the first two years (4/1/21 - 3/31/22 or 4/1/22 - 3/31/23) of the three-year Smith Award. Applicants are also ineligible if they were previously or are currently a Principal Investigator or Multiple PI (NIH), Co-PI (NSF), or equivalent on an R01, P01, Pioneer Award, New Innovator Award or similar large awards from other federal agencies or national foundations.
 
Please Note: This award no longer requires institutional nomination and instead the sponsor is piloting a two-stage application process in which the institutional nomination process is eliminated, and any eligible candidate is invited to submit an initial proposal.
 Wellcome_CASI
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 25, 2020
Sponsor Pre-Proposal Deadline: September 1, 2020 by 4:00 PM
Award Amount: $500,000 over five years
Target Applicants: The specific target group are researchers who have transitioned from graduate work in the physical/mathematical/computational sciences or engineering into postdoctoral work in the biological sciences. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. degree in one of the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, statistics, or engineering, and must have completed at least 12 months but not more than 60 months of postdoctoral research by the date of the full invited application deadline (January 8, 2021). These awards are open to U.S. and Canadian citizens or permanent residents as well as to U.S. temporary residents.
 
Recognizing the vital role cross-trained scientists will play in furthering biomedical science, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund developed the Career Awards at the Scientific Interface (CASI). CASI grants are intended to foster the early career development of researchers who are dedicated to pursuing a career in academic research. These grants provide $500,000 over five years to bridge advanced postdoctoral training and the first three years of faculty service. Candidates are expected to draw from their training in a scientific field other than biology to propose innovative approaches to answer important questions in the biological sciences. Award recipients are required to devote at least 80 percent of their time to research-related activities. Please review the Request for Proposals document for detailed eligibility requirements.
SimonsInvestigators
SEAS Internal Nomination Deadline: August 26, 2020
Sponsor Nomination Deadline (if selected as a Harvard nominee): October 28, 2020
Award Amount: $100,000/year for 5 years plus $10,000 per year to the Investigator's department. The Investigator's institution will receive an additional 20 percent per year in indirect costs.
 
The Simons Investigators in Mathematics, Physics, Astrophysics and Theoretical Computer Science Program aims to provide a stable base of support for outstanding midcareer scientists, enabling them to undertake long-term investigations of the fundamental questions in their fields. The intent of the program is to support these scientists in their most productive years, when they are establishing creative new research directions, providing leadership in the field and effectively mentoring junior scientists. To be an Investigator, a scientist must be engaged in theoretical research in mathematics, physics, astrophysics or computer science and must not have previously been a Simons Investigator. He/she must be midcareer, have a primary appointment as a tenured faculty member and the primary department affiliation must have a Ph.D. program (note that the appointment need not be in a mathematics, physics, astrophysics or computer science department). 
 
Please Note: This is a limited submission opportunity. Harvard may put forward up to two nominees in each of the Mathematics, Physics, Astrophysics, and Theoretical Computer Science programs. Additionally, up to two Simons Investigator in Physics awards will be granted to well-established midcareer researchers who develop and apply advanced theoretical physics ideas and methods in the life sciences. Harvard may put forward one nominee in Theoretical Physics in Life Sciences. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will facilitate the University-wide competition. Those who wish to nominate SEAS faculty members may do so by sending the following materials to Erin Hale at erin_hale@fas.harvard.edu no later than August 26, 2020.
 
  1. Nomination Letter (two-page limit): Written and signed by the nominator on letterhead, explaining the distinctive scientific contributions of the nominee, focusing on scientific accomplishments of the past five years and including discussion of a few important papers. Co-signed letters are acceptable within the page limit and nominator(s) need not be from Harvard.
  2. Nominee's CV: The nominee's curriculum vitae, including Ph.D. year, institution, advisor, postdoctoral institutions and advisors, positions held subsequent to award of doctorate, a list of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows mentored by the nominee and the nominee's up-to-date publication list.
 
Please note that nominations should be treated confidentially - the nominees should not know they are being nominated, if possible. A nominee cannot submit his/her own nomination. Investigators are not eligible to hold a Simons Fellowship or another Simons Investigator award for the duration of the Simons Investigator award. Candidates from previous years may be re-nominated.
Fdn_FordSloan
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 28, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 4, 2020
Award Amount: up to $50,000 (small); $50,000-$125,000 (medium); $125,000-$200,000 (large). Proposals may cover any time range, regardless of cost. Most projects are expected to fall into a 6 to 24-month time range, but this is not a hard requirement.
 
Building toward a more diverse and well-funded ecosystem for critical digital infrastructure, the Ford Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation came together in 2018 to fund thirteen research projects that fill gaps in understanding of how digital infrastructure is built, maintained, and sustained. To continue to advance this agenda, this RFP invites proposals to further study the maintenance of digital infrastructure.
 
Among the questions that could be addressed are:
  • What makes digital infrastructure "critical"? How should support for digital infrastructure projects be prioritized, and by whom? How can the value of digital infrastructure be quantified through economic, social, security, or other measures?
  • How might we assess the reliability of digital infrastructure? What incentives and supports might foster more robust auditing and maintenance?
  • What is the role that companies and other private institutions should play in maintaining a stable ecosystem of open source technology, and with what kinds of accountability mechanisms? What are the trade-offs between private sector, government, university, civil society, and/or volunteer maintenance of digital infrastructure?
  • How can communities that maintain digital infrastructure best be sustained? What are the unique challenges of diversity, motivation, and health for such open projects, and what formal and informal policies are needed to improve them?
  • Are certain skills or expertise missing or weak in the field of digital infrastructure, such as management experience or succession planning? How can the skills of individual maintainers, developers and advocates of open source technology be strengthened?
  • How are systemic inequalities like racism, sexism, ableism, and/or xenophobia encoded in digital infrastructure, and how might that encoding be dismantled? How might the diverse local and global communities reliant on this infrastructure exercise power and more actively shape its creation and maintenance?
  • What are the policy and regulatory considerations for the long-term sustainability of digital infrastructure? What kinds of capacity are needed, for example in government, philanthropy, or civil society, to ensure long-term development of digital infrastructure in the public interest?
These questions are intended as prompts and ideas - concept notes do not need to answer these questions specifically and respondents are welcome to pose their own questions. In addition, for this second phase proposals that would move findings from the first funded research cohort into practice are encouraged. Such initiatives should clearly note the specific research finding that is guiding any proposed intervention, and articulate how impact will be measured.
Beckman_postdoc
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 28, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 4, 2020
Award Amount: $180,000 over 2 years for salary, fringe benefits and research expenditures; instrumentation fellowships will receive an additional one-time amount of up to $100,000. Selected Fellows will receive a year 3 renewal award of an additional $90,000.
Eligibility: The applicant must be a current graduate student anticipated to complete a PhD in the chemical sciences by May 1, 2021 or a current postdoctoral researcher who has received a PhD in the chemical sciences within the last 3 years and with no more than 18 months cumulative postdoctoral research experience (at the time of the application due date). U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is required.
 
The Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Sciences or Chemical Instrumentation Award Program supports advanced research by postdoctoral scholars within the core areas of fundamental chemistry or the development and build of chemical instrumentation. The applicant's research must be innovative in method, speed or process, or represent new instrument technology. This fellowship will serve as a catalyst for "mentored yet independent" postdocs to become outstanding, independent researchers in academic or industry/governmental labs. Applicants must have identified a mentor in the chemical sciences with appropriate laboratory facilities to support their postdoctoral research proposal and must pursue postdoctoral training in an area of chemical sciences that would likely not be eligible for funding by traditional chemical biology, biochemical or biological science mechanisms (e.g., NIH-K awards).
 
Applicants may apply to one of the following two tracks:
  1. The Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Sciences will allow chemists to pursue advanced research within the core areas of fundamental chemistry, such as chemical physics, chemical engineering, and chemistry of materials research. 
  2. The Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Instrumentation will allow researchers in chemistry to conceptualize, develop and build instrumentation suitable to advanced research in chemistry, chemical physics, chemical engineering, and chemistry of materials science. Instrumentation projects must be suitable for the two-year fellowship timeframe, be driven by a need in the chemical sciences listed above, be innovative in method, speed or process or represent a wholly new instrument for technical advancement in chemistry, and may potentially be used for future research in the broader scientific community.
Please Note: An Institution's Letter of Support & Acknowledgement of Application is required and must be signed by the applicant's Department Chair. Please review the application guidelines provided on the Beckman Foundation website for detailed guidance on the format of the Institution Support Letter. 
Fdn_Sloan
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 8, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 15, 2020
Award Amount: $75,000 for two years
Eligible Applicants: Candidates must be tenure-track, though untenured, as of September 15, 2020. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, physics, or a related field.
 
The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study. These 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. Successful candidates for a 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 several years past the completion of their Ph.D. in order to accumulate a competitive record of independent, significant research. Fellowship funds may be used by the fellow for any expense judged supportive of the fellow's research including staffing, travel, lab expenses, equipment, or summer salary support. Fellowship funds may not be used for indirect costs.
 
In order to be considered for a Sloan Research Fellowship, a candidate must have a letter of nomination from a department head or other senior researcher officially nominating the candidate and describing his or her qualifications, initiative, and research. No more than three candidates may be nominated from any one department.
 
Recent recipients include Emily Breza (Economics, 2020), Gabriel Chodrow-Reich (Economics, 2020), Nicholas Bellono (MCB, 2019), Christina Woo (CCB, 2019), Finale Doshi-Velez (SEAS, 2018), Yaron Singer (SEAS, 2018), Stefanie Stantcheva (Economics, 2018), Tristan Collins (Math, 2018), Samuel Gershman (Psychology, 2018), Amanda Pallais (Economics, 2017), Demba Ba (SEAS, 2016), Melissa Dell (Economics, 2016), Nathaniel Hendren (Economics, 2016), Shmuel Rubinstein (SEAS, 2016), Ariel Amir (SEAS, 2015), and Kang-Kuen Ni (CCB, 2015).

Fdn_SimonsTargetInst
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 11, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 25, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $200,000 per year for up to three years, which includes 20% per year in indirect costs to the institution. The foundation expects to award up to three grants each year.
 
This program is intended to support established institutes or centers in mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science through funding to help strengthen contacts within the international scientific community. The aim is to enable institutes to extend and enhance their missions; this program will not provide primary support for operating or establishing an institute. Examples of institutes and activities the foundation is currently supporting through this program can be found in the Awardees list.

Fdn_Banting
Deadline to Request Harvard Institutional Endorsement: September 14, 2020 by 12:00 PM
Sponsor Deadline: October 1, 2020 
Award Amount: $70,000 per year for two years (taxable)
 
The objective of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program, offered by the Government of Canada, is to attract and retain top-tier postdoctoral talent, to develop Fellows' leadership potential and to position them for success as research leaders of tomorrow, positively contributing to Canada's economic, social and research-based growth through a research-intensive career. Applications are accepted from all fields in the humanities, social sciences, health research, natural sciences and engineering.
 
This program is open to Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and non-Canadian citizens. Candidates to be hosted by Harvard must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada who have obtained or will obtain their PhD or equivalent from a Canadian university. Applicants must fulfill or have fulfilled all degree requirements for a PhD, PhD-equivalent or health professional degree between September 15, 2017 and September 30, 2021 (inclusively), and before the start date of their award. Applicants who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada may apply to hold a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at a Canadian institution. Applicants who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada and who obtained their PhD, PhD-equivalent or health professional degree from a non-Canadian university may also apply to hold a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at a Canadian institution. The program's full eligibility criteria can be viewed here.   
 
There are no limits to the number of applicants that may apply to the Banting Fellowship opportunity, but those who wish to be hosted by Harvard University must include with their application an Institutional Letter of Endorsement signed by the Vice Provost for Research. To request this endorsement letter, candidates must submit their contact information and a copy of their proposed supervisor's statement here no later than 12:00 PM on September 14, 2020. 

 Fdn_Eppley
Sponsor LOI Deadline: September 15, 2020
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline (if invited): October 7, 2020
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): October 15, 2020
Award Amount: Unspecified; the foundation disburses up to $460,000 a year; recent past awards have ranged from $11K to $28K
 
The Eppley Foundation for Research was incorporated in 1947 for the purpose of "increasing knowledge in pure or applied science...in chemistry, physics and biology through study, research and publication." Particular areas of interest include innovative medical investigations, climate change, whole ecosystem studies, as well as research on single species if they are of particular significance in their environments, in the U.S. and abroad. The proposal is expected to be concise and incorporate clear statements of significance, objectives, novelty, methods, expectations of success, and why the researcher believes the work cannot reasonably expect federal support, or support from other conventional funding sources. It is important to the Foundation that the work proposed be novel in its insights and unlikely to be underway elsewhere. The Foundation is prepared to take risks.
 
The Eppley Foundation supports advanced, novel, scientific research by PhDs or MDs with an established record of publication in their specialties. Travel and fringe benefits do not qualify for overhead allocation.
Fdn_SimonsMath
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 17, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 24, 2020
Award Amount: Salary replacement for up to 50 percent (up to a maximum of $100,000) of the Fellow's current academic-year salary and up to $10,000 for expenses related to the leave. The Fellow's home institution will receive an additional 20 percent overhead on allowable expenses. The foundation expects to award up to 40 mathematics fellowships each year.
 
The Simons Foundation's Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) division invites applications for the Simons Fellows in Mathematics program, which is intended to make sabbatical research leaves more productive by extending them to a full academic year. Awards will be based on the applicant's scientific accomplishments in the five-year period preceding the application and on the potential scientific impact of the work to be done during the leave period.
 
Fellowship awards and sabbatical periods may begin no earlier than January 1, 2021, and no later than January 1, 2022. The award and the sabbatical period must finish no later than December 31, 2022.
 
Fdn_SimonsTP
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 17, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 24, 2020
Award Amount: Salary replacement for up to 50 percent (up to a maximum of $100,000) of the Fellow's current academic-year salary and up to $10,000 for expenses related to the leave. The Fellow's home institution will receive an additional 20 percent overhead on allowable expenses. The foundation expects to award up to five theoretical physics fellowships for 2021.
 
The Simons Foundation's Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) division invites applications for the Simons Fellows in Theoretical Physics program, which is intended to make sabbatical leaves more productive by extending them to a full academic year. Awards will be based on the applicant's scientific accomplishments in the five-year period preceding the application and on the potential scientific impact of the work to be done during the leave period.
 
Fellowship awards and sabbatical periods may begin no earlier than January 1, 2021, and no later than January 1, 2022. The award and the sabbatical period must finish no later than December 31, 2022.
Fdn_SimonsMathPS
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline (if invited): February 8, 2021
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): February 16, 2021
Award Amount: up to $2M per year for an initial period of 4 years (includes up to 20% per year for indirect costs). The foundation will allow the annual budget to vary from $2M as long as the total four-year budget is no more than $8M. The foundation expects to award one collaborations in 2021.
 
The aim of the Simons Collaborations in 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.
 
Each collaboration must be led by a collaboration director; the collaboration director must hold a tenured faculty, or equivalent, position at a U.S. or Canadian educational institution with a Ph.D. program in the director's department at the time of application. PIs and co-Investigators (co-Is) must hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty, or equivalent, position at an educational institution at the time of application. There are no restrictions on the department and/or discipline of the director or PIs/co-Is. PIs, co-Is and other collaboration participants may be from non-U.S. institutions. An active PI on a currently funded collaboration project cannot be part of an LOI or proposal. Additionally, active Math+X Investigators cannot be funded PIs in a collaboration.

Fdn_usibs
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 10, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: November 18, 2020
Award Amount: up to $250,000 for up to 4 years

The U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) promotes scientific relations between the U.S. and Israel by supporting collaborative research projects in a wide area of basic and applied scientific fields, for peaceful and non-profit purposes. The BSF Research Grants program funds both U.S. and Israeli scientists who wish to work together. Applications must be submitted together by at least one scientist from each country. In 2020, the following areas of research are eligible for submission:
  • Exact and Physical Sciences: Atmospheric, Ocean & Earth Sciences; Chemistry; Computer Sciences; Energy research; Environmental research; Materials research; Mathematical Sciences; and Physics
  • Social Sciences: Economics; Psychology; and Sociology
Fdn_franklin
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: Review by Harvard OSP not required
Nomination Deadline: December 31, 2020 
Prize Amount: $250,000
 
The Franklin lnstitute seeks nominations for the 2021 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science of individuals who have made significant contributions to the scientific understanding of decision-making. The interdisciplinary field of decision-making integrates theory and methods from economics, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and related areas to understand the mechanisms through which individuals and groups choose among competing possibilities and how these mechanisms guide behavior.
 
Nominations from any individual or organization will be accepted, including self-nominations. Nominations are encouraged in, but not limited to, the following subtopics and their intersections:
  • Psychological insights: mechanisms, development, context-dependence, individual differences, cultural variation, evolution
  • Modeling of individual or group choice behavior: valuation, social preferences, impulsivity, strategy, network models
  • Neurobiological mechanisms: human neuroscience, model organisms, behavioral neuroscience, genetic approaches, comparative approaches
  • Clinical approaches: pharmacology, psychiatric disorders, neuropsychological conditions
  • Development of interventions to improve individual and/or group decision-making outcomes
  • Broad applications: artificial intelligence, courts/law, education, finance, health/medicine, government/public policy, intelligence, labor, technology

Internal Opportunities
internal_blavatnik
Pre-Proposal Deadlines: September 11, 2020 for Pilot applications and January 8, 2021 for Development and Pilot applications
Award Amount: $100,000 for 1 year for Pilot grants; $300,000 for 2 years for Development grants
 
The Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator at Harvard University provides essential gap funding, development support, and business expertise to help faculty investigators achieve the full potential of their work. The Accelerator seeks to support innovative, investigator-initiated research, and to develop preliminary observations into robust intellectual property positions. Its primary goal is to advance technologies to the point where an industry partnership can commence. Proposals are welcomed from Harvard principal investigators with early-stage research in a range of life science areas, including therapeutics, diagnostics, drug delivery technologies, medical devices/instruments, and enabling technologies for drug discovery. Pilot Grants are intended to support proof-of-concept activities that (if successful) would establish a basis for a subsequent Development Grant proposal. Development Grants are expected to generate partnerable technology within the proposed timeframe.

Harvard Office of Technology Development (OTD) staff will work with applicants to develop a pre-proposal. Only one pre-proposal per applicant will be accepted per cycle. Based on recommendations from the Accelerator Advisory Committee and OTD, a subset of applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. Questions about this opportunity may be directed to Anu Natarajan (anuradha_natarajan@harvard.edu) or blavatnik_accelerator@harvard.edu.
RadcliffeFellow
Deadline: October 1, 2020 for applications in science, engineering, and mathematics
Award Amount: Fellows receive a stipend of $78,000 plus an additional $5,000 to cover project expenses.
 
Radcliffe fellows are exceptional scientists, writers, scholars, public intellectuals, and artists whose work is making a difference in their professional fields and in the larger world. Coming from diverse disciplines and perspectives, they challenge each other's ideas and support each other's ambitions. The Radcliffe Fellowship Program awards 50 fellowships each academic year.
 
Applications in all academic disciplines, professions, and creative arts are encouraged, and there are a few areas of special interest:
  • Applications from scholars, artists, and practitioners proposing innovative work that confronts pressing social and policy issues and seeking to engage audiences beyond academia.
  • Proposals relevant to the Institute's focus areas, which include law, education, and justice; youth leadership and civic engagement; and legacies of slavery.
  • Reflecting Radcliffe's unique history, each year some projects focus on women, gender, and society or draw on the Schlesinger Library's rich collections.
Radcliffe Institute fellows are in residence for a period of nine months from September 1, 2021 through May 31, 2022. Fellows receive office or studio space and access to libraries and other resources at Harvard University. Applicants must have received their doctorate in the area of the proposed project at least two years prior to their appointment as a fellow (December 2019 for the 2021-22 fellowship year) and have published at least five articles in refereed journals. Applicants may apply as individuals or in a group of two to three people working on the same project. All group members must meet the eligibility requirements for their fields. 
Radcliffe_seminars
Deadline: October 13, 2020
Award Amount: up to $18,000 to support one- to two-day, by-invitation-only seminars
 
The Radcliffe Exploratory Seminar Program provides funding to scholars, practitioners, and artists for collaboration in an interdisciplinary exploration of early-stage ideas. The program encourages intellectual risk taking as participants gather in an intensive seminar setting to explore new fields of research and inquiry. Applications are currently being accepted for seminars to be held between July 2021 and June 2022. The program welcomes proposals that:
  • explore the viability of early-stage research ideas in any discipline or multiple disciplines
  • invite the perspectives of diverse participants and stakeholders to the discussion
  • integrate senior and junior scholars from institutions in the greater Boston area, across the United States, or around the world
  • demonstrate risk taking and creativity
Proposals that connect research to law, policy, pressing social issues, and/or seek to actively engage audiences beyond academia are of special interest. Reflecting Radcliffe's unique history, proposals that focus on women, gender, and society or draw on the Schlesinger Library's rich collections are also of special interest.
 
Lead applicant must be either a Harvard ladder (tenured or tenure-track) faculty member from any school or a former or current Radcliffe fellow; co-applicants may apply with lead applicants who meet eligibility requirements.
internal_ccsf
Deadline: October 16, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $150,000 payable over one or two years
Eligible Applicants: Applications are invited from individuals who hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard school and who have principal investigator rights at that school. Doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars may apply for an award provided they have an identified faculty mentor who will provide a letter of recommendation and will supervise their research.
The Harvard University Climate Change Solutions Fund supports research and policy initiatives intended to reduce the risks of climate change, hasten the transition from fossil fuel-based energy systems to those that rely on renewable energy sources, to develop methods for diminishing the impact of existing fossil fuel-based energy systems on the climate, to understand and prepare for the impacts of climate change, and to propel scientific, technological, legal, behavioral, policy and artistic innovations needed to accelerate progress toward cleaner energy, improved human health, and a greener world. 
 
Applications should propose research that will advance solutions to climate change and its impact. Solutions may include both preparedness and mitigation and strong consideration will be given to projects that demonstrate a clear pathway to application, as well as riskier proposals with the potential to be transformative over time. Proposals that demonstrate imaginative and promising collaboration among faculty and students across different parts of the University will receive special consideration, as will projects that propose using the university campus as a "living laboratory"
HDSI_special
Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Up to $5,000
Target Applicants: Applications are invited from individuals who hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard school and who have principal investigator rights at that school.
 
The Faculty Special Projects Fund is intended to support one-time data science opportunities for which other funding is not readily available. Applicants may request funding of up to $5,000 to support research, community-building, outreach, and educational activities. Examples of projects that the Fund is intended to support include offsetting the cost of running workshops or seminars, data visualization or research dissemination, and video production. The HDSI welcomes applications from all fields of scholarship. 

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and funding will be awarded throughout the year until available funding is exhausted. The total annual budget is $50,000.

HSGRP
Internal_SolarGeo
Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Varies by award type 

Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP) aims to focus on advancing solar geoengineering science and technology; assessing efficiency and risks; and laying out governance options and social implications. The following funding mechanisms are currently available:  

Residency Program: This program will accept a small number of researchers focused on solar geoengineering to spend between 1 and 3 weeks at Harvard University, working directly with researchers at SGRP and other members of the Harvard community. The main purpose of this program is to enable visitors to work in collaboration with Harvard researchers and each other on discrete research projects. SGRP will cover the cost of travel and accommodations as well as per diem for meals.

Harvard Faculty Research Grants: SGRP will provide direct support for research activities that cannot be fulfilled by students or fellows. That could involve multi-investigator collaborations, field or laboratory work in the sciences, or field or survey work in the social sciences.

Industry/Corporate Opportunities
Merck
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 24, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: August 31, 2020; there is no fixed deadline for the Pandemic preparedness topic
Award Amount: 100,000 EUR - 500,000 EUR per year for up to 3 years
 
In 2020, Merck is offering a series of research grants to stimulate innovative research in challenging areas of future importance. Grants are available in the following areas:

  • Drug discovery: Research grants for proposals that have the potential to advance the field of drug discovery within Oncology and Autoimmune Diseases. Proposals will be considered that help to identify and characterize the next game-changing molecule or technology to help cure cancer or autoimmune disease, innovative research on molecular targets or pathophysiological pathways with untapped potential to be the next big therapeutic breakthrough, new breakthrough enabling technologies for drug discovery, and methods that improve translation from and predictivity of preclinical models to the clinical situation.
  • Bioreactor design for cultured meat: Proposals will be considered that help to develop the next generation, scalable bioreactors that can support industrial scale meat and seafood manufacturing. 
  • Next generation machine learning: Project proposals will be considered that seek to overcome current limitations in AI by a new generation of algorithms, inspired by today's neurosciences and by advances in brain research.
  • Pandemic preparedness/fighting new emerging viral infectious disease: Project proposals will be considered that leverage modern technologies to create new breakthrough solutions to be more prepared for pandemic outbreaks or work towards existing solutions that could help to fight emerging viral infections.
SonyRA
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 8, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 15, 2020
Award Information: Faculty Innovation Awards offer up to $100,000 for 1 year. Focused Research Awards are up to $150,000 for 1 year. FAS and SEAS grant applications must request Harvard's full indirect cost rate from industry sponsors.
 
The Sony Research Award Program provides funding for cutting-edge academic research and helps build a collaborative relationship between faculty and Sony researchers. Sony offers two types of awards to create new opportunities for university faculties to engage in pioneering research that could drive new technologies, industries and the future. 
 
The Faculty Innovation Award supports cutting edge research in Sony's general areas of interest, which include: Machine Learning; Computer Vision; Human Computer Interaction; Visual/Visualization; Audio, Music, Speech, and Language Processing; Robotics; Software and Security; and Materials and Device Analysis/Simulation/Informatics.
 
The Focused Research Awards support work in areas of Sony's immediate interest, which include: Manipulation Secure Image Sensing; Self-supervised Learning for Spiking Neural Networks with Event based Vision Sensor; Deep Learning and Deep Fusion towards Automotive Scene Perception; Designing and Implementing Camera ISP Algorithms Using Deep Learning and Computer Vision; Robust Mesh Tracking for Volumetric Capture; Advanced Image Processing enabled by AI; Novel Actuator; Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence for Wireless Communications; Reconfigurable Reflector Type Materials; Individual Treatment Effect Estimation; Acoustic Metamaterials; Novel Technologies for GaN-based VCSELs; and Intelligent Sensing of Patient-Reported Outcomes. 
Microsoft_AI
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 28, 2020
Sponsor Deadlines: October 5, 2020
Award Information: Azure compute credits worth $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, plus additional resources including technical advice and support, online Azure training materials, and invitations to the AI for Earth Summit for networking and education opportunities.

AI for Earth grants provide access to Microsoft resources to support projects that change the way people and organizations monitor, model, and manage Earth's natural systems. Researchers who already have access to a labeled dataset and are ready to start using Azure AI tools and cloud computing, may apply for Azure compute credits through this grant. Microsoft's areas of focus for AI for Earth are agriculture, food, biodiversity, and/or climate change. Microsoft recommends that the main applicant has a demonstrated background in environmental science and/or technology (such as a PhD degree), and that at least one member of the team has strong enough technical skills to complete the project successfully.
Facebook_fellowship
Sponsor Deadline: October 1, 2020
Award Amount: Award includes paid tuition and fees, a $42,000 annual stipend to cover living and conference travel costs, a paid visit to Facebook headquarters for the annual Fellowship Summit, and various opportunities to engage with Facebook researchers.
 
The Facebook Fellowship is a global program designed to encourage and support promising doctoral students who are engaged in innovative and relevant research in areas related to computer science and engineering at an accredited university. The program is open to students in any year of their PhD study.
 
Fellowships are available in the following areas:
  • Applied Statistics
  • AR/VR Computer Graphics
  • AR/VR Photonics and Optics
  • AR/VR Privacy and Ethics
  • Blockchain and Cryptoeconomics
  • Computational Social Science
  • Computer Vision
  • Database Systems
  • Distributed Systems
  • Economics and Computation
  • Energy Efficient Video Compression
  • Instagram/Facebook App Well-being and Safety
  • Machine Learning
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Networking
  • Privacy and Data Use
  • Programming Languages
  • Security and Privacy
  • Social and Economic Policy
  • Spoken Language Processing and Audio Classification
  • Systems for Machine Learning
NetApp
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: Award amounts vary, however they usually cover a significant amount of the cost for a graduate student to work on the project for a year. FAS and SEAS applicants must request an indirect cost rate of 69% on sponsored research applications to industry.  
 
The NetApp Faculty Fellowship (NFF) program was established to encourage leading-edge research in storage and data management and to foster relationships between academic researchers and NetApp's technical community. The NFF program accepts research proposals from full-time faculty and post-graduate researchers employed by an accredited university that has a PhD program in the field of the proposal's principal investigators.
 
The NFF program is interested in proposals that describe an innovative project that a researcher desires to pursue over the next one to three years. The proposed research must have some alignment with NetApp core technology and business interests (storage and data management). A sponsor from NetApp will be assigned to communicate and in some cases may collaborate with the project's PI(s) and team. 
 
Topics of particular interest include:
  • Data security in next generation data centers
  • Data management and security in hybrid clouds
  • Data center and enterprise networking
  • Novel data systems, including NoSQL databases, big data systems, and data streaming systems
  • IoT and real time analytics
Amazon
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: The amount awarded is at the discretion of the awards panel and may be based on the number of applicants and number of awards granted during an award cycle. Awards can include funding and AWS Promotional Credits. 69% overhead is required per FAS/SEAS policy.
 
The AWS Machine Learning Research Awards (MLRA) program funds eligible universities, faculty, PhD students and post-docs under the supervision of faculty, that are conducting novel research in machine learning (ML). The goal is to enable research that accelerates the development of innovative algorithms, publications, and source code across a wide variety of ML applications and focus areas. Selected applicants will receive awards that include unrestricted cash funding as well as AWS Promotional Credits. Award recipients will receive an invitation to attend an annual research seminar and may receive live one-on-one training sessions with Amazon scientists and engineers.
 
Full-time faculty members and university departments leading a team of students and postdocs at education institutions in North America and Europe which are conducting innovative research related to Machine Learning are eligible to apply. Awards provided to faculty or university institutions will support the researchers identified in the application conducting research under the guidance of this PI.

U.S. Department of Defense
DoD_fundres
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 21, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: August 28, 2020
Award Amount: Proposals may be written in two options, of a maximum budget of $1.5M each. The options may be consecutive or executed in parallel, and the statement of work and research directions in each option are entirely at the discretion of the proposer. A proposer may choose to submit a proposal that contains only one option. Single option proposals are subject to the budget limitation of $1.5M. The maximum period of performance for this program is 3 years.
 
The overarching goal of this research program offered by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) is to enhance and extend the understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of future information warfare, towards rapid detection, tracking and prediction of attempts at social manipulation. The problem requires the deep integration of two, currently distinct scientific fields, mathematics and social sciences. While modern mathematical methods are often and well-used in social science studies, this research program is going well beyond the state of the art and is calling for the development of a new mathematical foundation for describing, analyzing and predicting human social behavior at multiple scales and in complex and dynamic environments, thus laying the groundwork for a new field.
 
The PI may submit only one application in response to this FOA. This funding announcement estimates two federal awards.
 DoD_DARPAtemp
DARPA Disruption Opportunity (DO): Thermal Engineering using Material Physics (TEMP)*
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 25, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 1, 2020
Award Amount: The total award value for the combined Phase 1 base (3 month Feasibility Study) and Phase 2 option (15 month Proof of Concept) is limited to $1,000,000.
 
DARPA's Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is issuing a Disruption Opportunity (DO) inviting submissions of innovative basic or applied research concepts in the technical domain of radiative heat transfer. The TEMP DO seeks novel concepts that will leverage developments in materials and physics to control the direction and wavelength of thermal transport by radiation in the visible spectrum in extreme thermal environments. DARPA is specifically interested in solutions that result in at least ten percent improvement in radiative heat transfer performance over the state of the art. Solutions should focus on a generic application and should propose metrics traceable to quantifiable improvements in performance that are relevant to the chosen application. All efforts must include an initial modeling phase that produces feasible material designs to include an analysis of robustness to environmental conditions and design variation. Following this initial phase, refinement of the designs can accompany laboratory scale demonstration and experimental verification. Successful efforts will also provide indications that proposed solutions are manufacturable and scalable to be commercially relevant.
 
This DO is issued under DARPA's Program Announcement for Disruptioneering, DARPA-PA-20-01.

DoD_poly23
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 25, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 1, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $100,000 for 1 year
 
The purpose of this Polyplexus Pilot Topic Opportunity Notice is to provide public notification of a research and development funding opportunity on the Polyplexus online platform. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) invites participation in Polyplexus, which is an online, professional, technical conversation between the research community and DARPA Program Managers that will lead to the opportunity to submit abstracts and full proposals for a research and development project. The shared task of this group is to rigorously explore the trends and possible applications of emerging science and technology in a specific technical area defined by a participating Program Manager. The online discussion culminates in an opportunity to submit an abstract and subsequently a proposal describing a proposed research project. The initial technical area under consideration in this announcement is to explore analytic techniques that enable accurate prediction of nonstationary dynamical processes. The topic will be refined as the incubator conversation evolves. The updated topic can be found in the "Modeling and Prediction of Complex Dynamical Events (Topic 23)" incubator located on the polyplexus.com website.
 
The process, evaluation criteria, abstract submission instructions, and proposal submission instructions are described in the most recent amendment of the BAA for Polyplexus Pilot 3 (HR001119S0075).
DoD_VBFF
Sponsor Registration Deadline (required): August 26, 2020
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (required): August 28, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): January 15, 2021
Award Amount: The maximum award will be $3M over 5 years.
 
The Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) program is sponsored by the Basic Research Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD (R&E)). VBFF supports innovative basic research within academia, as well as opportunities intended to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers for the defense workforce. This FOA seeks distinguished researchers for the purpose of conducting innovative basic research in areas of interest to the DoD and fostering long-term relationships between the VBFF Fellows and the DoD. VBFF is oriented towards bold and ambitious "blue sky" research that may lead to extraordinary outcomes such as revolutionizing entire disciplines, creating entirely new fields, or disrupting accepted theories and perspectives. Faculty with tenure at the time of proposal submission, with a record of substantial scientific contributions and the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to conduct the proposed research as the principal investigator (PI), are invited to submit an application. The PI must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
 
This FOA is for single investigator grant proposals for basic research in one or more of the following technical subject categories of interest to the DoD. Submitted proposals must identify which of those areas it best corresponds to. Innovative ideas that do not fall under any of the defined categories in that list are also welcome, and can be submitted under the "Other" category:
  • Applied Mathematics and Computational Science
  • Networks and Artificial Intelligence
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Fundamentals of Bioengineering
  • Quantum Information Science
  • Electronics, Photonics and Quantum Materials
  • Engineered Materials and Structures
  • Other Fields of Research
Recent Recipients: Adam Cohen (CCB, 2018), Marcus Greiner (Physics, 2018), Philip Kim (Physics, 2018), Michael Brenner (Physics, 2017), Jennifer Lewis (SEAS, 2016), Hongkun Park (CCB, 2016), Alan Asparu-Guzik (CCB, 2015), and Misha Lukin (Physics, 2015)

DoD_DARPAvspells
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 1, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 9, 2020
Award Amount: The level of funding for individual awards made under this solicitation has not been predetermined and will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. The V-SPELLS program is a 48 month program organized into three phases: Phases 1 and 2 will be 18-months each, followed by a 12-month Phase 3.
 
DARPA's Information Innovation Office (I2O) is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of software verification and assurance by enabling piecewise, compatible-by-construction enhancement of software components in legacy United States Department of Defense (DoD) systems, and creating methods and tools to recover succinct models of domain data abstractions and logic from the source code, adding enhancements at the level of these models, and converting them to performant new component implementations, which are verified to be compatible and secure.
 
The program is divided into four Technical Areas (TAs):
  • TA1 - Automated, iterative interactive program understanding
  • TA2 - Compositional DSL programming, component specification inference
  • TA3 - Verified layer flattening and distribution
  • TA4 - Demonstration and Evaluation
DARPA anticipates making awards totaling approximately $40 million under this BAA, including multiple awards in Technical Area 1, Technical Area 2 and Technical Area 3; and a single award for Technical Area 4.
DOD_geoint
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 4, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 14, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $600,000 for a maximum of 12 months
 
NGA is soliciting proposals for applied geospatial research and development that will support economic and humanitarian recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and inform efforts to anticipate and mitigate subsequent waves of the pandemic, as well as biological threats in the future. This topic seeks to fund retrospective analyses of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic that explore the nexus of human behavior, human mobility, and spatial heterogeneity in infectious disease transmission. Predictive analyses that build upon historical data will be considered as well. Proposed efforts should focus on cases outside of the United States.
 
The outcome of this effort will be a mechanistic analytic framework and software tool that allows the user to: (1) quantify spatiotemporal variation in sociocultural variables of interest, (2) quantify spatiotemporal variation in adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), (3) identify sociocultural variables that correlate with adherence to NPIs, and (4) estimate relationships between spatiotemporal variation in adherence to NPIs and infectious disease outcomes.
 
Please note that in this study, NGA is not interested in approaches that rely upon the use of survey data. Rather, successful applications will propose to leverage scalable, digital data sources to address the research topics of interest (e.g., exploitation of geo-tagged social media data to quantify spatial variation in sentiment toward travel restrictions, exploitation of digital mobility proxy data to quantify spatial variation in adherence to those interventions, etc.). NGA will not provide data sets, and encourages applicants to integrate public/open source or commercial data sets into the study design.

DoD_MURI
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 4, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 14, 2020
Award Amount: Typical annual funding per grant is in the $1.25M to $1.5M range. The amount of the award and the number of supported researchers should generally not exceed the limit specified for the individual topics in the solicitation. Each individual award will be for a three-year base period with one two-year option period to bring the total maximum term of the award to five years.
 
The Department of Defense (DoD) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), one element of the University Research Initiative (URI), is sponsored by the DoD research offices, including the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The MURI program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD. DOD's MURI program addresses high-risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. The program has regularly produced significant scientific breakthroughs with far reaching consequences to the fields of science, economic growth, and revolutionary new military technologies. Key to the program's success is the close management of the MURI projects by Service program officers and their active role in providing research guidance.
 
The FY 2021 MURI competition is for the topics listed below:
 
White papers and proposals addressing the following topics should be submitted to the Office of Naval Research (ONR):
  • Topic 1: Molecular Qubits for Synthetic Electronics
  • Topic 2: A Brain-based Compositional Framework for Robust Computer Vision
  • Topic 3: Littoral Ocean Dynamics off Rocky Coasts and Shorelines
  • Topic 4: Fog and Turbulence
  • Topic 5: Dynamic Tuning of Thermal Transport
  • Topic 6: Chemically and Thermally Insensitive Super/Ultra-Hard Materials
  • Topic 7: Narrative, Moral and Social Foundations of Social Cyber-Attack in Social Media
  • Topic 8: A Dynamics and Control Theory of Safe, Cognitive and Learning Systems
  • Topic 9: Understanding Turbulence-Chemistry Interactions in Non-Equilibrium, High-Speed Flows
  • Topic 10: Predicting Organic Molecular Decomposition 
White papers and proposals addressing the following topics should be submitted to the Army Research Office (ARO):
  • Topic 11: Anomalous Dipole Textures in Engineered Ferroelectric Materials
  • Topic 12: Cyber Autonomy through Robust Learning and Effective Human/Bot Teaming
  • Topic 13: Highly Heterogeneous Meta-macrostructures Created via Fine-particle Interactions
  • Topic 14: Non-Silica Inorganic Material Phases Synthesized from Genetically Modified Diatoms
  • Topic 15: Novel Mechanisms of Neuro-Glio Bio-Computation and Reinforcement Learning
  • Topic 16: Quantum Network Science
  • Topic 17: The Same is Different: Integrating Multiple Phenomena in Single Materials
  • Topic 18: Tunable Dilute Anion III-Nitride Nanostructures for Stable Photocatalysis
White papers and proposals addressing the following topics should be submitted to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR):
  • Topic 19: Mechanisms of Novel Reactivity in Aqueous Microdroplets
  • Topic 20: Topological Plasma Electromagnetics
  • Topic 21: Interfacial Engineering of Superconductors
  • Topic 22: Targeted Optical Stimulation of Individual Retinal Photoreceptors
  • Topic 23: Quantum Random Access Memory
  • Topic 24: Metasurface Edge Sensing, Processing and Computing
  • Topic 25: Non-Hermitian Programmable Materials at Exceptional Points
  • Topic 26: Mathematical Foundations for Enabling Robust Optimal Design of Hypersonic Systems
White papers and proposals addressing the following OSD topic should be submitted to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR):
  • Topic 27: Advanced Modeling of Evolutionary Cyber Eco-Systems with Autonomous Intelligence
DOD_CDMRP
Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Proposals/Pre-Applications (required): September 10, 2020
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 24, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): December 3, 2020
Award Amount: The anticipated total costs budgeted for the entire period of performance will not exceed $2M. The maximum period of performance is 2 years.
 
This Funding Opportunity Announcement is a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) through the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) Combat Readiness - Medical Research Program (CRRP) for the Rapid Development and Translational Research Award (RDTRA). The CRRP vision is to deliver high-impact medical solutions throughout the continuum of care to increase survivability and readiness of the Warfighter in diverse operational settings. The DoD FY20 CRRP RDTRA program seeks to develop innovative solutions to increase medical readiness, mitigate fatalities, optimally treat life-threatening injuries, and promote positive long-term outcomes. While the CRRP focuses on capability gaps in frontline care, the program also considers how chronic disorders typically associated with pre-deployment readiness (e.g., sleep, gastrointestinal conditions) may influence the delivery of care in deployed environments and contribute to injury susceptibility and recovery. Innovations developed by CRRP-supported research may be applied proactively as a way to establish medical readiness ahead of deployment, in-theater at the point of injury or during periods of prolonged care, or during transport/en route care within and from theater to hospital settings. These solutions will not only help to minimize the morbidity and mortality of combat-related injuries sustained by the Warfighter, they will also often translate to civilian care. The proposed research must be relevant Projects funded under this BAA must be for applied and clinical research (excluding clinical trials) not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement.
 
Proposals/applications submitted to the FY20 CRRP RDTRA must address at least one of the FY20 CRRP RDTRA Focus Areas (see BAA for the list). Approximately 4 awards are anticipated.

DoD_HEALR
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 10, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 17, 2020
Award Amount: The amount of resources made available under this BAA will
depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. Proposers may include an Option to participate in the Embedded Entrepreneurship Initiative (EEI), which provides up to $250,000 to complete milestones, quarterly access to a senior commercialization advisor, and connection to key transition partners and investors. HEALR is divided into three sequential phases: Phase I (Base) for 24 months; Phase II (Option 1) for 18 months; and Phase III (Option 2) for 12 months.
 
DARPA's Biological Technologies Office (BTO) is soliciting proposals for its Harnessing Enzymatic Activity for Lifesaving Remedies (HEALR) program to develop new medical countermeasures against bacterial pathogens and their toxins by leveraging host degradation and deactivation pathways.
 
The HEALR program includes three technical areas (TAs) that will run concurrently for the duration of the program. Proposals that do not address all TAs will be deemed non-conforming and may not be considered for review.
 
The three technical areas are:
  1. Technical Area 1 (TA1): Microbial Targeting. Develop and demonstrate innovative methods to screen and identify new threat-binding ligands against microbial targets.
  2. Technical Area 2 (TA2): Host Machinery Engagement. Develop and demonstrate new strategies to engage cellular processes to degrade or deactivate targets.
  3. Technical Area 3 (TA3): Platform Integration. Develop the tools to integrate threat and host binding ligands to rapidly construct, optimize, and deliver safe and effective countermeasures against new microbial threats.
Multiple awards are anticipated.
DoD_RAP
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: Review not required for awards made directly to individuals
Sponsor Deadlines for Full Proposals: November 1, 2020
Award Amount: Awards include stipends ranging from $45,000 to $80,000, health insurance, professional travel, and relocation. Awards are for up to 12 months (Summer Faculty awards are for 8-14 weeks), with the possibility of extension through a second or third year.
 
The NRC Research Associateship Programs (RAP) promote excellence in scientific and technological research conducted by the U.S. government through the administration of programs offering graduate, postdoctoral, and senior level research opportunities at sponsoring federal laboratories and affiliated institutions. In the NRC Research Associateship Programs, prospective applicants select a research project or projects from among a large group of Research Opportunities. Prior to completing an application, prospective applicants should contact the Research Adviser listed with the selected Research Opportunity(ies) to assure that funding will be available if the application is recommended by NRC Research Associateship Programs panels.
 
Prospective applicants should carefully read the details and eligibility of the program to which they are applying. Some laboratories have citizenship restrictions (open only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents), and some laboratories have Research Opportunities that are not open to senior applicants (more than 5 years beyond the Ph.D.). When searching for Research Opportunities, applicants may limit their search to only those laboratories which match their eligibility criteria. In addition, applicants should note application deadlines, as not all laboratories participate in all reviews.
DTRA_stri
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers: Rolling through March 2, 2025
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: Rolling through March 2, 2025
Award Amount: DTRA SI-STT estimates the total program budget divided among multiple awardees at approximately $1,950,000 per year. The preferred period of performance for studies is 6-9 months to maximize opportunities for operational relevance. Given the need for timely research, in most but not all cases, the period of performance shall not exceed 12 months from the effective date of award.
 
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Strategic Integration Directorate, Strategic Trends and Effects Department, Strategic Trends Division (SI-STT) is announcing to industry and academia the intent to solicit white papers and proposals for research studies, strategic dialogues, and tabletop exercises (TTXs) through this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). This strategy provides an acquisition tool to support SI-STT's Strategic Trends Research Initiative (STRI) with the flexibility to solicit white papers and proposals from the external expert community and make awards for expert-driven research efforts that meet present, emerging, and future needs.
 
Per priorities identified by the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS), SI-STT seeks proposals and white papers for research studies, strategic dialogues, and TTXs addressing the following five focus areas:
  • Identify the utility of deeper, more meaningful relationships with existing allies, partners, and establish new relationships with non-traditional partners as a mechanism to compete against key strategic competitors;
  • Understand the implications of key strategic competitors' emerging capabilities on the United States' ability to maintain operational advantage and project power;
  • Identify emerging WMD-related threats of concern for the future battlespace;
  • Consider the role and application of WMD risk reduction tools and approaches (e.g. arms control) in an era of Great Power competition; and/or
  • Explore the utility and applicability of applying a Counter Threat Network (CTN) approach to better characterize and address cross-domain threats posed by priority threat actors.
Within these five broad focus areas, DTRA SI-STT is specifically interested in credible, timely, operationally relevant and actionable research products (studies, strategic dialogues, and TTXs) that are aligned with seven thrust areas outlined below in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020:
  • Thrust Area 1: Competition with Revisionist Powers
  • Thrust Area 2: Emerging Threats
  • Thrust Area 3: Counter Threat Networks (CTN)
  • Thrust Area 4: Strategic Security and Risk Reduction
Track 1.5 and Track 2 Strategic Dialogues with:
  • Thrust Area 5: Allies, partners, and non-traditional partners
  • Thrust Area 6: Key strategic competitors
Tabletop Exercises (TTXs) that are focused on:
  • Thrust Area 7: Competition with Revisionist Powers (with a focus on WMD-related issues)
The funding will be provided for study projects, strategic dialogues (Track 1.5 and Track 2 meetings), and TTXs. Applicants are encouraged to propose projects in all categories, which are aligned with distinct thrust areas.

If you are interested in DoD funding opportunities, please note:
The Defense Innovation Marketplace is a centralized source for Department of Defense science and technology (S&T) planning, acquisition resources, funding, and financial information. 

U.S. Department of Energy
DOE_covid
 
DOE is soliciting ideas about how DOE and the National Labs might contribute resources to help address COVID-19 through science and technology efforts and collaborations. Through its user facilities, computational power, and enabling infrastructure, DOE has unique capabilities that the scientific community may leverage for the COVID-19 response and recovery. DOE does not provide medical and clinical work; instead, the Department's mission complements the efforts of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and other Federal partners by helping to understand the scientific phenomena contributing to COVID-19, from the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the disease, to models that can mimic its spread. DOE supports significant biologically focused facilities and resources, including the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC), Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL), and DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase). These and other DOE resources may be used for many studies, such as:

  • Developing high-throughput multiplex technologies to characterize virus-host interactions, determine phage resistance mechanisms in nature, identify the degree of specificity for each bacterial resistance mechanisms across diverse phage types, and understand the coevolution of hosts and their phages, which can ultimately be used to design better phage therapeutic treatments and tools for precision microbiome engineering;
  • Improved modeling for understanding natural viral populations and persistence in the environment, as well as predictive modeling for viral stability and evolution in changing environmental conditions;
  • Understanding virus-microbiome community composition, function, and evolution;
  • Synthetic biology of key target viral proteins to rapidly develop improved vaccines or therapeutics; and
  • Synthetic biology to construct viral genome variants and test viral stability, persistence, and resilience in the environment.
 
The Department encourages submission of scientific questions that underpin COVID-19 response and that the research community may answer using DOE user facilities, computational resources, and enabling infrastructure. Please send research questions that the scientific community may address with DOE resources by email to SC.DCL@science.doe.gov. The Department is acting rapidly to leverage, and when appropriate provide prioritized access to, the full range of DOE user facilities and other facilities available at national laboratories to support the national and international effort to address COVID-19. 
DOEother
Other DOE Opportunities

Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)
iarpa_sci
Registration Deadline: August 17, 2020
Proposers' Day WebEx Conference: August 20, 2020 1:00PM-5:00PM
 
IARPA will hold a virtual Proposers' Day meeting on August 20, 2020 to introduce the SCISRS program to potential proposers, provide information on its objectives, and collect feedback on the SCISRS draft Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) technical section to be posted on https://beta.sam.gov/ prior to the Proposers' Day, in anticipation of publication of a program BAA. The goal of the SCISRS program is to develop smart radio techniques to automatically detect and characterize RF anomalies in complex RF environments. The specific types of anomalies include low probability of intercept (LPI) signals, altered or mimicked signals, and abnormal unintended emissions.
 
IARPA holds Proposers' Days to provide information to assist potential performers to evaluate whether and how they might respond to the Government's research and development solicitations and to increase efficiency in proposal preparation and evaluation. The SCISRS Proposers' Day is open only to registered potential proposers, and not to the media or the general public. The meeting will be held entirely on the WebEx video conference platform, and a recorded video of the meeting will be made available to the public on the IARPA website at https://www.iarpa.gov/index.php/research-programs/scisrs.
 
Pre-registration is required and closes on August 17, 2020 at 5:00 pm EDT. To register, visit https://www.client-meeting.net/scisrs-conference. As an option to facilitate teaming, potential proposers may submit a Capabilities Statement (5 pages maximum, 12 point font with 1 inch borders) and a completed Teaming Information Form (included at the initial link above) to IARPA. Deadline for these submissions is August 28, 2020 at 5:00 pm EDT. Before the Proposers' Day meeting, attendees may submit comments or questions regarding the SCISRS draft BAA technical section by emailing dni-iarpa-baa-20-03@iarpa.gov.

briar
Sponsor Deadline: TBD
 
IARPA is planning to release an open competition Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to solicit proposals for a new research and development (R&D) program called BRIAR (Biometric Recognition and Identification at Altitude and Range). The BAA is anticipated to be released in Q4 of FY20. The BRIAR Program aims to develop software algorithm-based systems capable of performing whole-body biometric identification at long-range and from elevated platforms. More information will be provided when the full solicitation is released.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
NASA_heroA
Sponsor Deadline for FLAGSHIP Step-1 Proposals (required): September 1, 2020
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for FLAGSHIP Step-2 Proposals (if invited): December 1, 2020
Award Information: Up to $400,000 per year for 3 years
 
Proposals are solicited in this Appendix by NASA in the area of Habitability and Sensory Stimulation for Long-Duration Missions. NASA seeks to better understand the mechanisms of behavioral health problems and whether certain forms of sensory and/or social stimulation can also function as coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, adversity, and directed attention; particularly when these are restorative. NASA is interested in reducing the likelihood and consequence of behavioral health and performance decrements related to sensory monotony in isolation and confinement anticipated in future exploration missions, by developing and validating countermeasures delivered via the habitat and/or environmental systems to maintain and augment the sensory needs of astronaut crew members living and working in the isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environment of deep space.
 
1-2 new awards are anticipated.

NASA_heroB
Sponsor Deadline for OMNIBUS1 Step-1 Proposals (required): September 1, 2020
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for OMNIBUS1 Step-2 Proposals (if invited): December 1, 2020
Award Information: Up to $150,000 for 1 year
 
NASA is soliciting investigations lasting no more than one year that provide innovative approaches to any of the risks and gaps contained in the Integrated Research Plan (IRP) of the Human Research Program (HRP). The results of these short-term investigations are anticipated to deliver new tools, techniques, or knowledge that could lead to novel breakthroughs addressing one or more of the risks and gaps in the IRP. These short-term investigations may provide initial results testing a new scientific approach, or they may provide the initial proof-of-concept for a new technology or method that has not yet been proven as a means to address a risk or gap in the IRP. All short-term investigations are expected to produce novel scientific knowledge or technology development that can stand alone to address a risk or gap in the IRP, but these investigations may also provide the necessary preliminary results to justify a full proposal to a future NASA solicitation. NASA is also soliciting novel research ideas that might not be directly aligned with HRP's identified risks from new investigators who have not received funding from NASA HRP, NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, or the Translational Research Institute for Space Health in the last ten years. For this Omnibus opportunity, proposals that use the ISS are not permitted; however, proposals that use ground analogs and parabolic or suborbital flights are allowed.
 
5-10 new awards are anticipated.
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 1, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 9, 2020
Award Information: $1M-$2M for up to 2 years. The budget request for a single year may not exceed $1.2M. Follow-on infusion opportunities for successful awards are anticipated.
 
In this new Appendix, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) solicits proposals from accredited U.S. universities for innovative lunar surface space technology research and development of high priority to NASA's Mission Directorates. This Lunar Surface Technology Research (LuSTR) Opportunities Appendix is being released in support of STMD's Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII); LSII technologies will enable human and robotic exploration on the Moon and future operations on Mars. As part of the LSII portfolio, LuSTR solicits ideas from universities for the creation of requisite technologies for lunar surface exploration and to accelerate the technology readiness of key systems and components. A tenet of the Space Technology Research Grants (STRG) Program, and this LuSTR opportunity, is to foster interactions between NASA and the university-led teams to accelerate the infusion of the technologies into NASA missions.
 
Proposals must respond to one of the following six topics:
 
  • Topic 1 - Advanced Technologies for the Extraction and Processing of Water from Regolith
  • Topic 2 - Determining the Spatial Distribution and Geotechnical Properties of Water-Bearing Regolith
  • Topic 3 - Flexible Power Distribution for Difficult-to-Reach and Mobile Applications
  • Topic 4 - Advanced, Radiation-Tolerant Power Electronics
  • Topic 5 - Low-Temperature Batteries
  • Topic 6 - Advanced Power System Control for Interoperability
 
A PI or Co-I may participate in no more than two proposals in response to this Appendix. NASA plans to make up to 10 awards as a result of this Appendix.
NASAUnsolicited
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2020
Award Amount: Proposed budget should be commensurate with the scope of the project.
 
NASA encourages the submission of unique and innovative proposals that will further the Agency's mission. While the vast majority of proposals are solicited, a small number of unsolicited proposals that cannot be submitted to those solicitations and yet are still relevant to NASA are reviewed and some are funded each year. Proposals should be submitted at least six months in advance of the desired starting date.
 
Before any effort is expended in preparing a proposal, potential proposers should:
  1. Review the current versions of the NASA Strategic Plan and documents from the specific directorate, office, or program for which the proposal is intended to determine if the work planned is sufficiently relevant to current goals to warrant a formal submission.
  2. Potential proposers must review current opportunities to determine if any solicitation already exists to which the potential project could be proposed. 
  3. Potential proposers should review current awards (e.g., by doing key word searches at Research.gov, or at the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) grant status page, and the NASA Life and Physical Sciences Task Book) to learn what, if any, related work is already funded by NASA. Such preparation reduces the risk of redundancy, improves implementation, and sometimes results in collaboration.
After those three things have been done, the proposer may contact an appropriate NASA person to determine whether NASA has any interest in the type of work being proposed and if any funding is currently available. Proposals should be submitted at least six months in advance of the desired starting date.
NASAother
Other NASA Opportunities
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH_covid
 
NIH has compiled Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Information for NIH Applicants and Recipients of NIH Funding at the link above. This includes guidance for proposal submission and award management, answers to frequently asked questions, and funding opportunities.
 
To get funding as quickly as possible to the research community, NIH is using Urgent and Emergency competing revisions and administrative supplements to existing grant awards. This approach allows NIH to leverage resident expertise, getting additional funding to those researchers who are already working with other organisms, models, or tools so that they can quickly shift focus to the novel coronavirus. These Urgent and Emergency competitive revision Funding Opportunity Announcements allow NIH to fund applications quickly, often in under three months, sometimes much quicker than that, because evaluation for scientific and technical merit is done by an internal review panel convened by staff of the NIH awarding institute or center rather than by our traditional peer review process. These opportunities require applications to be submitted in response to an Emergency or Urgent Notice of Special Interest (NOSI). In addition to the opportunities for revisions and supplements to existing awards, other notices of special interest seek full research project grant proposals to conduct research on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-2019 through an array of parent FOAs. NIH is maintaining a list of COVID-19 specific notices of special interest in the funding opportunities section at the link above. 
NIH_nibib
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: February 16, June 16, and October 16, annually
Award Amount: $400,000 in direct costs over 3 years
 
This Trailblazer Award is an opportunity for NIH-defined New and Early Stage Investigators (https://grants.nih.gov/policy/early-investigators/index.htm) to pursue research programs of high interest to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) that integrate engineering and the physical sciences with the life and/or biomedical sciences. A Trailblazer project may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept, or high risk-high impact, and may be technology design-directed, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven. Importantly, applicants must propose research approaches for which there are minimal or no preliminary data. A distinct feature for this FOA is that no preliminary data are required, expected, or encouraged. However, if available, minimal preliminary data are allowed. Preliminary data are defined as material which the applicant has independently produced and not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal.
 
A Trailblazer project may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept or have high risk-high impact goals. Importantly, the proposed research for this FOA may be technology design-directed and may or may not be hypothesis-driven. In the context of this FOA, innovation encompasses approaches to address well-defined, unmet biomedical research needs through the development of new methods, ideas, or technologies; early steps along the path toward delivery of a new capability or method; and the integration of existing components in a previously unproven format. High-impact projects should transform our understanding or practice by applying an innovative approach to an important biomedical challenge. For projects supported by a Trailblazer Award, successful results should provide a solid foundation for further research under other funding mechanisms, such as the R01. Applicants will be considered ineligible for this funding opportunity if they have submitted an R01, R15 or any other R21 application, with NIBIB as the primary IC within the same review cycle.
nih_EIA
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: Though the pre-proposal deadline has passed, potential applicants to be hosted by Harvard schools in the University Area may contact Erin Hale via email at erin_hale@fas.harvard.edu in order to be considered for the Harvard nominations.
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline (if nominated): August 28, 2020
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if nominated): September 4, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $250,000/year in direct costs for up to 5 years plus applicable indirect costs
Eligible Applicants: Date of terminal doctoral degree or completion of post-graduate clinical training of the PI must be between June 1, 2019 and September 30, 2021. At the sponsor application deadline, the PI must not have served as a post-doctoral fellow following a previous doctoral degree for more than twelve months and must not yet have research independence.
 
The NIH Director's Early Independence Award Program supports exceptional investigators who wish to pursue independent research directly after completion of their terminal doctoral degree or post-graduate clinical training, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career. Though most newly graduated doctoral-level researchers would benefit from post-doctoral training, a small number of outstanding junior investigators would benefit instead by launching directly into an independent research career. Applications in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. The primary requirements are that the research be highly innovative and have the potential for unusually broad impact.
 
To be eligible, at the time of application, candidates must have received their most recent doctoral degree or completed clinical training within the previous fifteen months or expect to do so within the following twelve months. By the end of the award period, Early Independence Award investigators are expected to be competitive for continued funding of their research program through other NIH funding activities and for permanent research-oriented positions.
 
This is a limited submission opportunity and only two applications may be submitted by Harvard University from the University Area (Cambridge Campus) to each solicitation (COVID and non-COVID). Potential applicants to be hosted by Harvard schools in the University Area must submit a pre-proposal to Erin Hale via email at erin_hale@fas.harvard.edu in order to be considered for the Harvard nominations. The pre-proposal should include:

  • A two-page research proposal. Subsequent pages for references and/or graphics may be included and do not count toward the page limit.
  • A current CV
  • A letter of support from the department chair or program director of the candidate's proposed host department/program at Harvard. The letter should describe the position details, the institutional resources to be committed, and the commitment of the host to the career development of the applicant.
 
Applicants should also specify if they intend to apply to funding opportunity announcement RFA-RM-20-014 (non-COVID-19-related research) or funding opportunity announcement RFA-RM-20-021 (COVID-19-related research).
NIH_U01
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 8, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 15, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $300,000/year for 2 years
 
NIH is issuing this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) in response to the declared public health emergency for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). This emergency FOA from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides an expedited funding mechanism as part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Radical (RADx-rad) initiative.
 
This RFA will support the early stage development of an innovative platform that integrates biosensing with touchscreen or other digital devices to achieve detection and tracing of SARS-CoV-2 in real-time. Projects are expected to demonstrate proof-of-concept of SARS-CoV-2 detection with high sensitivity and specificity, sensor functionality, and automatic detection by touchscreen or other digital devices. To achieve the goal of this FOA, the proposed project needs to be milestone driven and carried out by a multidisciplinary team with complementary expertise.

NIH_U18
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 11, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 18, 2020
Award Amount: Application budgets are not limited but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project. The maximum project period is 2 years.
 
NIH is issuing this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) in response to the declared public health emergency for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). This emergency FOA provides an expedited funding mechanism as part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Radical (RADx-rad) initiative. Specifically, this FOA seeks to fund a single cooperative agreement for a Data Coordination Center (DCC) to serve as a communication center and data hub for RADx-rad awardees.
 
Specifically, this FOA is seeking applications for a portable sensing device to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs, i.e., scents or odors) emanating from skin or exhaled breath, saliva and different oral tissues from the oral cavity. These sensing devices must be able to associate VOC patterns to patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19. These devices are expected to actively detect VOCs from skin and oral cavities of COVID-19 patients, without being invasive, or affecting the integrity of the skin and oral cavity. For VOC monitoring, these sensing devices can be Electronic-nose (E-nose) technology or Gas Chromatography. Therefore, this program is called SCENT, which stands for Screening for COVID-19 by Electronic-Nose Technology. This FOA seeks to advance novel biosensing technologies that are innovative, safe, and effective using integrated artificial intelligent, pattern recognition and machine learning systems that would make it possible for the detection, diagnosis, prediction, and monitoring of COVID-19 in clinical, community and everyday settings.
 
This FOA requires multidisciplinary collaborations to ensure project success. Disciplines may include: biomedical engineers, material scientists, biosensing experts, software engineers, chemists, dentists, clinicians, virologists, clinical trialists, biostatisticians, data analysts and/or other relevant experts in academia and industry.
 
Please note that organizations are limited to submitting one proposal in response to this FOA. If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please contact Erin Hale in FAS Research Development at erin_hale@fas.harvard.edu.
NIH_R61
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 23, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 30, 2020
Award Amount: $500,000 maximum direct costs per year in the R61 phase and $1,000,000 maximum direct costs per year in the R33 phase. Applicants may request up to two years of support for the R61 phase, and up to two years of support for the R33 phase.
 
NIH is issuing this FOA in response to the declared public health emergency for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). This emergency phased innovation funding opportunity announcement (FOA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides an expedited funding mechanism as part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics radical (RADx-rad) Initiative.
 
This FOA will support innovative research to develop novel, new or unique and non-traditional approaches to 1) characterize the spectrum of SARS CoV-2 associated illness, including the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), and 2) identify and validate biomarkers and/or biosignatures for a prognostic algorithm to predict the longitudinal risk of disease severity after a child is exposed to and may be infected with SARS-CoV-2 to properly tailor his or her management and optimize health outcomes.
NIH_MIRA
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 25, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: October 2, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $250,000 direct costs per year for five years
 
The Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) is a grant to provide support for a program of research in an early stage investigator's laboratory that falls within the mission of NIGMS. For the purpose of this FOA, a program of research is a collection of projects in the investigator's lab that are relevant to the mission of NIGMS. The goal of MIRA is to increase the efficiency and efficacy of NIGMS funding. It is anticipated that this FOA will:

  • Enable investigators to apply earlier in their independent research careers, allowing them to secure grant funding that will launch and sustain successful research careers.
  • Enhance investigators' ability to move into research areas that are distinct from those of their postdoctoral mentors, which could lead to new scientific discoveries.
  • Increase the stability of funding for NIGMS-supported investigators, which could enhance their ability to take on ambitious scientific projects and approach problems more creatively.
  • Increase flexibility for investigators to follow important new research directions as opportunities arise, rather than being bound to specific aims proposed in advance of the studies.
  • More widely distribute funding among the nation's highly talented and promising investigators to increase overall scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs.
  • Reduce the time spent by researchers writing and reviewing grant applications, allowing them to spend more time conducting research.
  • Enable investigators to devote more time and energy to mentoring trainees in a more stable research environment.
 
Eligibility to apply for this FOA is limited to NIH defined Early Stage Investigators. ESI eligibility is determined at the time the application is submitted. Applicants who receive R01, SC1, DP1, DP2, or any other type of disqualifying award prior to issuance of the ESI-MIRA, are ineligible to receive the award. The PD/PI is required to devote at least 51% of his/her total research effort to this award. Only single PD/PI applications are allowed. 
nih_PA 
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 3, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 11, 2020
Award Amount: $700,000/year in direct costs for up to 5 years plus applicable indirect costs
 
The NIH Director's Pioneer Award supports individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose highly innovative approaches to addressing major challenges in the biomedical or behavioral sciences towards the goal of enhancing human health. Applications proposing research on any topic within the broad mission of NIH are welcome. Emphases are on the qualities of the investigator and the innovativeness and potential impact of the proposed research. Preliminary data and detailed experimental plans are not requested. To be considered pioneering, the proposed research must reflect substantially different ideas from those being pursued in the investigator's current research program or elsewhere. The Pioneer Award is not intended to expand a current research program into the area of the proposed project. While the research direction may rely on the applicant's prior work and expertise as its foundation, it cannot be an obvious extension or scale-up of a current research enterprise. Rather, the proposed project must reflect a fundamental new insight into the potential solution of a problem, which may develop from exceptionally innovative approaches and/or radically unconventional hypotheses. 
 
 nih_TRA
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 23, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 30, 2020
Award Amount: Application budgets are not limited but should reflect the needs of the proposed project.
 
The NIH Director's Transformative Research Award supports individual scientists or groups of scientists proposing groundbreaking, exceptionally innovative, original, and/or unconventional research with the potential to create new scientific paradigms, establish entirely new and improved clinical approaches, or develop transformative technologies. Consistent with this focus, Transformative Research Award applications should propose research substantially different from current mainstream research. Applications are welcome in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. Little or no preliminary data are expected. The Transformative Research application focuses on the importance of the problem, the novelty of the hypothesis and/or the proposed methodology, and the magnitude of the potential impact rather than on preliminary data or experimental details.
 
Towards the objective of funding the best possible science, NIH is piloting a process for initial peer review of applications received in response to this FOA in which the identity of the investigators and institutions are withheld until the last phase of review. Instructions for anonymizing components of the application must be carefully followed.
 
Non-COVID-19-related research proposals should apply to funding opportunity announcement RFA-RM-20-013. COVID-19-related research proposals should apply to funding opportunity announcement RFA-RM-20-020.
OtherNIHOpps
Other NIH Opportunities
National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters
NSFDCL_sentinels
Sentinel Cells for Surveillance and Response to Emergent Infectious Diseases (Sentinels)*
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Budgets should be appropriate to the scope of the project.
 
With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF highlights the interest of existing programs in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) and the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) in interdisciplinary research for the development of novel biological platforms that are capable of sensing and responding to emerging infectious agents. The mechanism of sensing should be adaptable and or evolvable such that the sentinel cells, or other appropriate biotechnology solutions, are robust to a range of emergent threats, and/or can easily be reprogrammed and deployed once a new threat is identified. The platform's response should be one or more of the following: alert the user, destroy the threat, protect the host, initiate an immune response or other strategies that would ensure mitigation of the threat. Sentinel cells and organisms that detect and respond to infectious agents with expanding footprints in a host population or expanding host ranges are of particular interest, as the early detection of these infectious agents might have value in preventing future pandemics. In addition, fundamental science and technology that would lead to the development of the envisioned sentinel cells and organisms are also of interest. Investigators are encouraged not to be limited in their approach, but to think broadly about innovations leveraging biology and engineering to advance adaptable detection of emerging biological threats. Proposals responsive to this DCL should be submitted to the program most closely related to the research:
 
 
The proposal title should be prefaced with "Sentinels:" Neither Division puts a limit on proposal budgets and expects budgets to be appropriate for the scope of the proposed project. The relevant programs in BIO/MCB and ENG/CBET all accept proposals without deadline. Proposals are reviewed as they are received.  Investigators interested in submitting a proposal are strongly encouraged to contact one of the Program Directors listed in the full Dear Colleague Letter.
NSFDCL_vrs
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: N/A
Sponsor Deadline: N/A
Award Amount: This award is a supplement to existing NSF awards. Supplements under this DCL will be supported based on proposal quality, availability of funds, and the discretion of the managing Program Director for the award for which the supplemental funding is requested.
 
Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation (NSF) is supporting alternate pathways to encourage veterans' engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) research and industry. NSF's commitment to broadening participation is embedded in its Strategic Plan and initiatives such as the Ten Big Ideas for Future NSF Investment which emphasize the need to pro-actively seek and effectively develop STEM talent from all sectors and groups in our society. NSF recognizes that veterans represent an underutilized workforce for U.S. STEM communities. Through this initiative, NSF hopes to provide additional support to some of the many veterans transitioning from active military service to civilian careers and exploring education options through the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
This Dear Colleague Letter continues the Veterans Research Supplement (VRS) program (NSF 14-124) to engage veterans in engineering research by providing supplements to active awards in the following Directorate for Engineering (ENG) Divisions/Offices:
 
 
The VRS affords veterans who are students, K-12 teachers, or community college faculty an opportunity to work with active ENG grantees to conduct basic and/or industrially relevant research to gain a deeper understanding of engineering. Veterans supported by VRS funding may participate in research activities with any active awardees or affiliated member companies supported by ENG programs. A request for a VRS may be submitted to one of the programs in the ENG Divisions listed above as a post-award supplement to an existing ENG award. Note: The grantee or PI may request VRS supplemental funds but cannot be the VRS participant.
DCL_iucrc
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: N/A
Sponsor Deadline: N/A
Award Amount: N/A
 
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) Program fosters long-term partnerships among academia, industry, and government in various technology sectors through multi-university, industry-focused research centers. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a great deal of uncertainty in the US economy, and across nearly all industry sectors. In recognition of the high level of industry engagement (within both existing and proposed future IUCRCs), the COVID-19 pandemic could present new challenges related to industry membership commitments at the current time and into the near future. Therefore, industry membership requirements could be more difficult to meet. Potential impacts may be in relation to confirming commitments related to both the retention of existing members and the recruitment of new members. To mitigate possible adverse effects of the COVID-19 hardship with respect to meeting Center/Site membership requirements, this Dear Colleague Letter offers guidance for IUCRCs with active NSF grants, applicable through December 31, 2020.
 NSFdcl_cyberAI
Cybersecurity Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: not required for Research Concept Outline stage
Sponsor Deadline: August 31, 2020 (Round 2)
Award Amount: up to $300,000 over 2 years
 
NSF is announcing its intention to fund a small number of Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) to encourage advances in cybersecurity education, an area supported by the Foundation's Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Education Designation (SaTC-EDU), CyberCorps®: Scholarships for Service, and Advanced Technological Education (ATE) programs. EAGER is a mechanism to support exploratory work, in its early stages, on untested but potentially transformative research ideas or approaches. This work may be considered especially "high risk - high payoff" in the sense that it, for example, involves radically different approaches, applies new expertise, or engages novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives. In particular, with this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF announces its interest in using the EAGER mechanism to encourage new collaborations between the Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and education research communities. Responses to this DCL will be handled as a two-step process:
  • Step 1: Teams are required to send a research concept outline, including project title, team members, institutions involved, and a summary of the project concept (up to two pages) by email to satc-edu@nsf.gov. To ensure proper processing, please begin the proposal title as well as the subject line of your initial email with: "EAGER: SaTC AI-Cybersecurity". NSF Program directors will review these research concept outlines and will invite the authors of those of most interest to submit full EAGER proposals.
  • Step 2: Those who have been invited will submit their EAGER proposal for review. Submissions received without an invitation from an NSF program director will be returned without review.
NSFDCL_future
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: February 3, 2021 (CS for All)
Sponsor Deadline: February 10, 2021 (CS for All)
Award Amount: varies by program
 
The purpose of this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is to encourage proposals to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Computer Science for All (CSforAll: Research and RPPs) and Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) programs that specifically investigate promising educational approaches to motivate and prepare preK-12 learners for computationally-intensive industries of the future. The CSforAll program aims to provide all US preK-12 students with opportunities to participate in rigorous computer science and computational thinking education in their schools through funding both research and research-practitioner partnerships. The ITEST program is an applied research and development program designed to broaden participation in STEM and information and communication technology (ICT) careers and career pathways by providing preK-12 youth with technology-rich learning experiences in formal or informal settings. The ITEST program deadline has passed.
 
This DCL also encourages Conference proposals to convene stakeholders with a range of relevant expertise and experience. These conferences may respond to pressing questions that would advance knowledge or practice; identify leverage points for addressing core issues; or set an agenda for future research and practice. Proposers are encouraged to contact a program officer prior to submitting a Conference proposal, and to follow the preparation and content requirements specified in NSF's Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide Chapter II.E.7.
NSFDCL_grsv
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Supplemental requests may be submitted at any time.
Award Amount: Varies; the only allowable expenses in the MPS-GRSV supplemental funding request are: student stipend and fringe benefits, consistent with institutional practices, tuition support, and any allowable indirect costs.
 
The Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) at NSF is now accepting supplemental funding requests to support one (additional) Ph.D. student per award, as long as the student is a United States veteran. The proposed MPS-GRSVs will afford veterans an opportunity to conduct research towards a doctoral degree with an NSF MPS Directorate active awardee. The MPS-GRSV program will support one (additional) Ph.D. student under each research award at any given time. The student's research project must be consistent with the research topic of the original MPS award and the term of an MPS-GRSV award may not exceed that of the underlying research project. The supplemental funding request will be internally reviewed by the managing program officer of the MPS award and any award is subject to the availability of funds.
DCL_erase
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Please refer to the Environmental Engineering program description for further information regarding the typical budget and duration of CBET-funded projects.
 
The Environmental Engineering program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) announces a special funding focus on new science and technologies for the treatment and remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to improve and protect public and environmental health. Priority topics for this special funding focus include:
 
  • Research that enables the development of technologies for mitigation, remediation, and/or treatment of PFAS in the environment;
  • Research that elucidates the underlying limitations of PFAS transformation reactions that could lead to potentially transformative, feasible technologies for PFAS remediation; and
  • Research that identifies biological, chemical, and/or physical reaction mechanisms for the treatment of fluorotelomer-based fluorosurfactants in AFFFs and other products.
 
The most competitive proposals will address fundamental engineering science that leads to advances in the mitigation, remediation, and/or treatment of PFAS in the environment. Although inclusion of a full technical economic analysis (TEA) in submissions is not necessary, proposers should provide a basis of comparison to existing technologies using preliminary data, theoretical arguments, and/or modeling to provide evidence of sustainability and feasibility. Individuals interested in submitting a proposal relevant to this special funding focus are strongly encouraged to contact the cognizant Program Officer(s) for the Environmental Engineering program.

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (NSF: CISE)
NSFCISE_crII
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Research Initiation Initiative (CRII)*
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: October 26, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: November 2, 2020
Award Amount: up to $175,000 for a period of 24 months
 
The NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) seeks to award grants intended to support research independence among early-career academicians who specifically lack access to adequate organizational or other resources. It is expected that funds obtained through this program will be used to support untenured faculty or research scientists (or equivalent) in their first three years in a primary academic position after the PhD, but not more than five years after completion of their PhD. Applicants for this program may not yet have received any other grants or contracts in the PI role from any department, agency, or institution of the federal government, including from the CAREER program or any other program, post-PhD, regardless of the size of the grant or contract, with certain exceptions as noted below. Serving as co-PI, Senior Personnel, Postdoctoral Fellow, or other Fellow does not count against this eligibility rule.
 
Importantly, the CRII program seeks to provide essential resources to enable early-career PIs to launch their research careers. For the purposes of this program, CISE defines "essential resources" as sufficient funds for 48 months of graduate student support. Faculty at undergraduate and two-year institutions may use funds to support undergraduate students, and may optionally use the additional RUI designation (which requires inclusion of a RUI Impact Statement) -- see here for additional information. In addition, submissions from all institutions may use funds for PI salary, postdoctoral scholars, travel, and/or research equipment.
NSFCISE_other
Other NSF: CISE Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (NSF: MPS)
NSFMPS_nigms
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: September 1, 2020 - September 18, 2020 (Submission Window)
Award Amount: up to $600,000 over 3 years (Track 1); up to $1.2M over 3-4 years (Track 2)
 
The Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) plan to support fundamental research in mathematics and statistics necessary to answer questions in the biological and biomedical sciences. Both agencies recognize the need to promote research at the interface between mathematical and life sciences. This program is designed to encourage new collaborations, as well as to support innovative activities by existing teams.

 NSFMPS_chedrp
Division of Chemistry: Disciplinary Research Programs (CHE-DRP)
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: varies by program; please see below
Award Amount: Average award size varies among programs but averages $150,000 per year for three years ($450,000 total) for single PI awards.
 
CHE supports a large and vibrant research community engaged in fundamental discovery, invention, and innovation in the chemical sciences. The projects supported by CHE explore the frontiers of chemical science, develop the foundations for future technologies and industries that meet changing societal needs, and prepare the next generation of chemical researchers. Some of the areas supported by CHE include:
 
  • designing, synthesizing and characterizing new molecules, catalysts, surfaces, and nanostructures - especially those with a focus on sustainability;
  • increasing our fundamental understanding of chemical specie, their structures, and their chemical transformations, kinetics, and thermodynamics;
  • developing new tools and novel instrumentation for chemical discovery, including those in sensing, communication, and data discovery science where increasing volumes and varieties of data are harnessed to advance innovation;
  • determining structure-function relationships in biological systems and contributing to our understanding of the fundamental rules of life;
  • observing, manipulating, and controlling the behavior of matter and energy in nanometer dimensions such as the quantum regime;
  • understanding chemical processes in the environment;
  • expanding chemical understanding through data sharing, mining, and repurposing; and expanding state-of-the-art data analytics tools in service of artificial intelligence and robotics for molecular and materials synthesis and characterization; 
  • solving complex chemical problems by the development of new theories, computations, models, and tools, including the synergistic combination of multiple types of instruments.; and
  • contributing to industries of the future as applied to the chemical sciences: quantum information systems, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and 5G.
 
This solicitation includes the programs below with the following submission windows:
  • Chemical Catalysis (CAT); Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms-A (CSDM-A); Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms-B (CSDM-B); Chemical Theory, Models and Computational Methods (CTMC); and Chemical Synthesis (SYN): September 01, 2020 - September 30, 2020
  • Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI); Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP); Environmental Chemical Sciences (ECS); and Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN): October 01, 2020 - November 02, 2020
 NSFMPS_phy
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: varies by program
Award Amount: varies/wide range

The Division of Physics (PHY) supports physics research and the preparation of future scientists in the nation's colleges and universities across a broad range of physics disciplines that span scales of space and time from the largest to the smallest and the oldest to the youngest. The Division is comprised of disciplinary programs covering experimental and theoretical research in the following major subfields of physics: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics; Elementary Particle Physics; Gravitational Physics; Integrative Activities in Physics; Nuclear Physics; Particle Astrophysics; Physics at the Information Frontier; Physics of Living Systems; Plasma Physics; and Quantum Information Science.

The Division of Physics strongly encourages single proposal submission for possible co-review rather than submission of multiple related proposals to several programs. PIs considering submitting more than one proposal to this solicitation, or who already have an active PHY award, are encouraged to first consult with the relevant program officer(s) before preparing a new proposal. This does not apply to awards from or submissions to the MRI, REU, and/or center programs, or in cases of renewal proposals.
NSF:MPS
Other NSF: MPS Opportunities
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering (NSF: ENG)
NSFENG_gen4
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 26, 2020 (Letter of Intent); September 25, 2020 (Preliminary Proposal); April 30, 2021 (Full Proposal)
Sponsor Deadline: September 2, 2020 (Letter of Intent); October 2, 2020 (Preliminary Proposal); May 7, 2021 (Full Proposal)
Award Amount: Invited full proposals will include a budget for each of the five years. Allowable budgets for the first five years are as follows: The budget for year one may be no more than $3,500,000, no more than $4,500,000 for year two, no more than $6,000,000 per year for year three, four, and five.
 
The goal of the ERC program has traditionally been to integrate engineering research and education with technological innovation to transform and improve national prosperity, health, and security. Building upon this tradition, NSF is interested in supporting ERCs to develop and advance engineered systems, which if successful, will have a high Societal Impact. ERCs create inclusive cultures not only to integrate scientific discovery with technological innovation through convergent engineered systems research and education, but also to benefit from the full participation of people traditionally underrepresented in engineering, stimulating creativity and fresh perspectives. ERCs build partnerships with industry, practitioners, and other key stakeholders to strengthen the innovative capacity of the United States in a global context. In addition to building capacity for research, innovation, and a diverse workforce, ERCs are expected to produce significant outcomes within the 10-year timeframe of NSF support and beyond.
 
ERCs should realize a vision of advancing an engineered system driven by clearly articulated societal impact and should have strong synergies or value-added rationale that justifies a center or institute-like approach. As part of creating sustainable positive impacts on society and communities, ERCs should focus on positive outcomes that can be seen within engineering communities and build and empower human resource capacity for their targeted engineering challenges. Beyond this, ERCs should contribute to the scientific enterprise by advancing research, science, engineering fundamentals, and research communities. This should be demonstrated with benchmarks against the state-of-the-art. ERCs should build knowledge, prepare students and researchers that respect and flourish in an environment with diverse perspectives, impact how engineering research is conducted and provide value for society.
NSFenf_PFI
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline for Research Partnership Track: October 26, 2020
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 6, 2021
Sponsor Deadline: January 13, 2021
Award Amount: Up to $250,000 for 18-24 months for the Technology Translation Track; up to $550,000 for 36 months for the Research Partnership Track
 
The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) offers researchers from all disciplines of science and engineering funded by NSF the opportunity to perform translational research and technology development, catalyze partnerships and accelerate the transition of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace for societal benefit. This solicitation offers two broad tracks:
  • The Technology Translation (PFI-TT) track offers the opportunity to translate prior NSF-funded research results in any field of science or engineering into technological innovations with promising commercial potential and societal impact. Concurrently, students and postdoctoral researchers who participate in PFI-TT projects receive education and leadership training in innovation and entrepreneurship. Successful PFI-TT projects generate technology-driven commercialization outcomes that address societal needs.
  • The Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track seeks to achieve the same goals as the PFI-TT track by supporting instead complex, multi-faceted technology development projects that are typically beyond the scope of a single researcher or institution and require a multi-organizational, interdisciplinary, synergistic collaboration. The PFI-RP track requires the creation and implementation of new multidisciplinary, multi-organization partnerships between academia, industry and other public and private entities to pursue new innovative technology development projects.
The intended outcomes of both PFI-TT and PFI-RP tracks are: a) the commercialization of new intellectual property derived from NSF-funded research outputs; b) the creation of new or broader collaborations with industry (including increased corporate sponsored research); c) the licensing of NSF-funded research outputs to third party corporations or to start-up companies funded by a PFI team; and d) the training of future innovation and entrepreneurship leaders.
 
Eligibility: All proposals submitted to the PFI program must meet a lineage requirement under one of the following two paths:
 
  1. NSF-supported research results: The PI or a co-PI must have had an NSF award that ended no more than seven (7) years prior to the full proposal deadline date or be a current NSF award recipient. The proposed technology development project must be derived from the research results and/or discoveries from this underlying NSF award.
OR
  1. NSF-supported customer discovery results through the NSF I-Corps Teams Program: The PI or a co-PI must have been a member of an award under the NSF I-Corps Teams Program. The PI or co-PI must have fully completed the training provided under the I-Corps Team award within the past four (4) years. The customer discovery activities performed under the NSF-funded I-Corps award must be based on the technology that is proposed to be translated within the PFI proposal.
 
Please Note: There is no limit to the number of applications to the Technology Translation Track but Harvard is limited to submitting only one application to the Research Partnerships Track. Potential applications must apply via the internal pre-proposal process in the link above.

NSFeng_UKRI

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission of a full proposal
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling; a Research Concept Outline (RCO) must be submitted to ENGUKRI@nsf.gov at least 60 days prior to the submission of a full proposal.
Award Amount: The overall funding for the program is established independently by each participating division. Budgets are not set aside separately but are, instead, parts of existing program budgets.

The Directorate for Engineering (ENG), Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET), the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), and the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) of the National Science Foundation and the Engineering, ICT and Manufacturing the Future Themes of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are pleased to announce the ENG-EPSRC Lead Agency Opportunity. The goal of this opportunity is to reduce some of the barriers that researchers currently encounter when working internationally. The ENG-EPSRC Lead Agency Opportunity will allow US and UK researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process.

Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of CBET, CMMI, and/or ECCS with the EPSRC Engineering, ICT and/or Manufacturing the Future Themes. Proposers choose either NSF or EPSRC to serve as the "lead" agency to review their proposal. The non-lead agency will honor the rigor of the review process and the decision of the lead agency. For research teams that would like EPSRC to act as lead agency, please see the instructions here. Proposers should review the CBET, CMMI, and ECCS Program Descriptions for research supported through these divisions and the EPSRC website for further information on what areas of research are eligible for support through this activity. Proposals are expected to adhere to typical proposal budgets and durations for the relevant NSF programs and EPSRC Themes from which funding is sought.

Please Note: A Research Concept Outline (RCO) must be submitted to ENGUKRI@nsf.gov at least 60 days prior to the submission of a full proposal. A proposal that is submitted without a previously approved RCO will be returned without review (RWR).
NSF:ENG
Other NSF: ENG Opportunities
National Science Foundation: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary
NSFCross_adbc
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: September 3, 2020
Sponsor Deadline (if nominated): October 9, 2020
Award Amount: Budgets for Thematic Collections Networks proposals should reflect the scope of work proposed and should not exceed four years in duration. The duration and size of the award will depend upon the number and size of the collections to be digitized. Partners to Existing Networks proposals may request up to $175,000 for a maximum of 3 years.
 
The ADBC program seeks to enhance and expand the national resource of digital data documenting existing vouchered biological and paleontological collections and to advance scientific knowledge by improving access to digitized information residing in vouchered scientific collections across the United States. This solicitation focuses on proposals for Thematic Collections Networks (TCN) and proposals for Partners to Existing Networks (PEN) to link with existing TCNs. For both TCN and PEN proposals, priority will be given to innovative projects that fill gaps in the effort to provide online access to specimen data for existing biological and paleobiological collections; integrate with other ongoing digitization activities; and increase the efficiency and lower the cost of digitization. TCN proposals will digitize existing specimens based on a particular research theme. This research theme may be a grand challenge for biodiversity, a part of a grand challenge, or another important research theme requiring information from existing collections. The collaborating institutions will conduct the actual digitization of the specimens (including imaging and mobilization of the data).
 
Please Note: Harvard University, as a single institution, is limited to submitting one proposal as the lead organization to the Thematic Collections Networks (TCN) Track. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, potential applicants must submit an internal pre-proposal via the link above.
NSFCross_ret
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: September 23, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: September 30, 2020
Award Amount: The total anticipated annual funding for both Sites and Supplements is approximately $5,800,000 per year, subject to the availability of funds. It is anticipated that approximately 9 Site awards will be made per year. The maximum total request for a Site is $600,000 for a duration of up to three years. Supplements are limited to a maximum of $10,000 per teacher and/or community college faculty for a duration of one year, subject to the availability of funds.

NSF's Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) have joined to support the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science program. This program supports active long-term collaborative partnerships between K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Computer and Information Science, and Mathematics (STEM) in-service and pre-service teachers, full-time community college faculty, university faculty and students, and industry partners to enhance the scientific disciplinary knowledge and capacity of the STEM teachers and/or community college faculty through participation in authentic summer research experiences with engineering and computer science faculty researchers. The research projects and experiences all revolve around a focused research area related to engineering and/or computer science that will provide a common cohort experience to the participating educators. The K-12 STEM teachers and/or full-time community college faculty also translate their research experiences and new scientific knowledge into their classroom activities and curricula. The university team will include faculty, graduate and undergraduate students as well as industrial advisors. As part of the long-term partnership arrangements, involvement of undergraduate/graduate students with the integration of the RET curricular materials into classroom activities is particularly encouraged.

Partnerships with inner city, rural, or other high-needs schools are especially encouraged. Proposals emphasizing broadening participation of underrepresented groups in Engineering and Computer Science, including women, persons with disabilities, veterans, African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, are also encouraged. These proposals could focus on participation of teachers who are themselves underrepresented, or teachers who serve large populations of underrepresented students. This announcement features two mechanisms for support of in-service and pre-service K-12 STEM teachers and full-time community college faculty: (1) RET supplements to ongoing ENG and CISE awards and (2) new RET Site awards. RET supplements may be included outside this solicitation in proposals for new or renewed ENG and CISE grants or as supplements to ongoing ENG- and CISE-funded projects. RET in Engineering and Computer Science Sites, through this solicitation, are based on independent proposals from engineering and/or computer and/or information science departments, schools or colleges to initiate and conduct research participation projects for K-12 STEM teachers and/or full-time community college faculty.
NSFCross_NRT
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: September 23, 2020
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent (required): December 6, 2020
Award Amount: up to $3,000,000 for up to 5 years
 
The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The NRT program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master's and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. The program is dedicated to the effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas through the use of a comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs. Proposals are requested in any interdisciplinary or convergent research theme of national priority, with special emphasis on one of six high priority areas (NSF Research Big Ideas):  
 
  • Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR)
  • The Future of Work at the Human Technology Frontier (HTF)
  • Navigating the New Arctic (NNA)
  • Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (WOU)
  • The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution (QL)
  • Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype (URoL)
 
Please Note: This is a limited submission opportunity, and Harvard is limited to participating in no more than two proposals in consideration for this opportunity. Participation includes serving as the lead organization, non-lead organization, or subawardee on any proposal. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, please submit an internal pre-proposal via the link above.
NSFCross_MRI
FAS/SEAS Pre-Proposal Deadline: September 29, 2020
Award Amount: Up to $4,000,000. Cost sharing of 30% of the total project costs is required.
 
The Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training in our nation's institutions of higher education and not-for-profit scientific/engineering research organizations. An MRI award supports the acquisition or development of a multi-user research instrument that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. MRI provides support to acquire critical research instrumentation without which advances in fundamental science and engineering research may not otherwise occur. MRI also provides support to develop next-generation research instruments that open new opportunities to advance the frontiers in science and engineering research. Additionally, an MRI award is expected to enhance research training of students who will become the next generation of instrument users, designers and builders. This is a limited submission opportunity and Harvard may submit up to three proposals in the "tracks" as defined below, with no more than two submissions in Track 1 and no more than one submission in Track 2. 

  • Track 1: Proposals requesting funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,000 and less than $1,000,000. Proposals that request funds from NSF less than $100,000 may also be accepted for the disciplines of mathematics or social, behavioral and economic sciences.
  • Track 2: Proposals requesting funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,000,000 up to and including $4,000,000.
 
To be considered for one the three Harvard nominations, potential applicants from FAS and SEAS must first submit a pre-proposal online using the link above no later than September 29, 2020.
NSFCross_CSSI
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: October 21, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: October 28, 2020
Award Amount: Elements awards shall not exceed a total of $600,000 and 3 years duration (up to $200,000 per year). Framework Implementations awards shall range from $200,000 to $1M per year and shall be 3 to 5 years in duration.
 
The Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation (CSSI) umbrella program seeks to enable funding opportunities that are flexible and responsive to the evolving and emerging needs in cyberinfrastructure (CI). This program continues the CSSI program by removing the distinction between software and data elements/framework implementations, and instead emphasizing integrated CI services, quantitative metrics with targets for delivery and usage of these services, and community creation. The CSSI umbrella program anticipates two classes of awards:
 
  • Elements: These awards target small groups that will create and deploy robust services for which there is a demonstrated need, and that will advance one or more significant areas of science and engineering.
  • Framework Implementations: These awards target larger, interdisciplinary teams organized around the development and application of services aimed at solving common research problems faced by NSF researchers in one or more areas of science and engineering, and resulting in a sustainable community framework providing CI services to a diverse community or communities.
 
Prospective Principal Investigators (PIs) should be aware that this is a multi-directorate activity and that they are encouraged to submit proposals with broad, interdisciplinary interests. Further, not all divisions are participating at the same level and division-specific priorities differ. Prospective PIs should also refer to the directorate/division-specific descriptions contained in Section II of this solicitation. Finally, it is strongly recommended that prospective PIs contact program officer(s) from the list of Cognizant Program Officers in the division(s) that typically support the scientists and engineers who would make use of the proposed work, to gain insight into the priorities for the relevant areas of science and engineering to which their proposals should be responsive. As part of contacting Cognizant Program Officers, prospective PIs are also encouraged to ascertain that the focus and budget of their proposed work are appropriate for this solicitation.

NSFCross_IGE
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: October 28, 2020
Sponsor Deadline: November 4, 2020
Award Amount: IGE Awards are expected to be up to three (3) years in duration with a total budget between $300,000 and $500,000. For the Hub award, $500,000 will be awarded in year one; remaining funds will be disbursed in years 2-5. The maximum award amount is $1,000,000 for five years.
 
The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master's and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. IGE focuses on projects aimed at piloting, testing, and validating innovative and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education. IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for their customization, implementation, and broader adoption. The program supports testing of novel models or activities with high potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches. The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity building needs in graduate education. Strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science centers, and academic partners are encouraged.
 
As a special emphasis under this solicitation, IGE seeks proposals that will result in a single cooperative agreement for the development and implementation of an IGE Innovation Acceleration Hub. The Hub will facilitate IGE awardee communications about research activities and outcomes and provide a platform for external stakeholder engagement. Only Hub proposals submitted to the November 2020 deadline will be considered for funding.
 
Please Note: This is a limited submission opportunity (LSO) and Harvard may submit only two proposals to this opportunity. Please contact Erin Hale at erin_hale@fas.harvard.edu if you are interested in applying.
NSFCross_erc
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 30, 2020
Sponsor Deadline (if nominated): February 22, 2021
Award Amount: $600,000 maximum for 5-year awards; $400,00 maximum for 3-year awards
 
The Ethical and Responsible Research (ER2) program funds research projects that identify (1) factors that are effective in the formation of ethical STEM researchers and (2) approaches to developing those factors in all STEM fields that NSF supports.
  • Standard Research Grants and Institutional Transformation Research Grants will use basic research to produce knowledge about what constitutes or promotes responsible or irresponsible conduct of research, and how to best instill this knowledge into researchers and educators at all career stages. Proposals can be collaborative.
  • Conference Proposals support thematic conferences designed to bring together researchers and students to foster new ER2 research, synthesize results across previously funded ER2 projects, and develop new ethical standards for STEM research. ER2 conference support is typically around $30,000 in direct costs.
  • Project Incubation Proposals provide funds for STEM researchers and administrators from multiple organizations to collaborate to develop and submit a full ER2 Standard Grant. Proposers must span at least two organizations. Those who intend to submit a proposal must consult with a cognizant NSF Program Officer before submitting to ascertain the suitability of the envisioned activity. Project Incubation proposals provide only one year of support, typically around $60,000 in direct costs.
The ER2 program will not consider proposals focused on ethics for medical students or in medical education. Proposals that address medical informatics, biomedical engineering, systems engineering and social scientific studies in health and medicine will be considered.
 
Please Note: Harvard University, as a single institution, is limited to submitting one proposal as the lead organization. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, potential applicants must submit an internal pre-proposal via the link above.
OtherCross
Other NSF: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary Opportunities
 

The FAS Research Development group publishes this monthly Funding Newsletter for SEAS faculty and researchers. The newsletter includes notable Federal, private, and internal Harvard funding opportunities. You are receiving this newsletter because you are subscribed to our mailing list. All Harvard University faculty and administrators may subscribe here, and you may unsubscribe at any time. Visit our email archive to see our past newsletters.  

In addition, you may access the Science Division Funding Spotlight here. Harvard affiliates also have access to Pivot, a funding opportunity database. You can also receive personalized suggestions on research funding opportunities via Harvard Link from the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning. 

For more information on our support services, please visit our website. 
For assistance, please contact:
Erin Hale, Senior Research Development Officer

Jennifer Corby, Research Development Officer
jcorby@fas.harvard.edu | 617-495-1590

Research Development | Research Administration Services | research.fas.harvard.edu