Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program: Instrument Acquisition or Development - Track 2 Only

This competition is for Track 2 Only. Competitions for Tracks 1 & 3 are closed.

This MRI award supports the acquisition of a multi-user research instrument that is commercially available through direct purchase from a vendor, or for the personnel costs and equipment that are required for the development of an instrument with new capabilities, thereby advancing instrumentation capabilities and enhancing expertise for instrument design and fabrication at academic institutions.

An MRI research instrument need not be physically located in a conventional laboratory setting, nor does an instrument need to be "physical" at all. MRI continues to support distributed/networked instruments and cyberinstrumentation that is not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. 

• Track 2: MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,400,000 up to and including $4,000,000; one (1) submission allowed.

*Please Note Funder’s Limitations for Subawardees:

The MRI program requires that an institution's role as a subawardee (funded at 20% or greater of the NSF budget) on another (lead) institution’s proposal be counted towards its allowed number submissions in Track 2.

Please see a full description of these conditions in InfoReady.

Institutional Limit: 1 Proposal

Internal Deadline: September 11, 2024, 4:45pm

Funder Deadline Window: October 15 - November 15, 2024, 5:00pm CT

Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research

The intent of this solicitation is to request proposals from organizations who are willing to serve as resource providers within the NSF Advanced Computing Systems and Services (ACSS) program. Resource providers would (1) provide advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources in production operations to support the full range of computational- and data-intensive research across all of science and engineering (S&E), and (2) ensure democratized and equitable access to the proposed resources.

For this deadline, NSF is currently accepting Category I Proposals:

Category I, Capacity Resources: Resources proposed in this category are intended to be operational deployments of production computational resources that will provide maximum capacity and throughput to support the broad range of computation and data analytics needs in S&E research. The deployments are expected to adhere to a vision of an advanced computing ecosystem as a federated set of resources and services that are heterogeneous in architecture, resource type, and usage mode to collectively meet the Nation’s foundational needs for world-leading computing capabilities.

Institutional Limit: 1 Proposal

Internal Deadline: September 11, 2024, 4:45pm

Funder Deadline Window: October 29, 2024, 5:00pm CT

Showcase Your Research at

2024 CCTS Translational Symposium

"Discovery to Delivery: Exploring Translational Science Frontiers," 

September 25-27, 2024

Ross Bridge Renaissance Golf Resort and Spa

Birmingham, Alabama

Poster presentation submissions are now open for this year's CCTS symposium. Present your research, connect with peers, and build collaborations at this premier networking event. Posters must relate to translational science and research.

Submissions Due: September 6th

Symposium details

Register to attend

Alabama Higher Education AI Exchange

October 10-11, 2024 

Biggio Center Mell Classroom Building, 231 Mell Street

Auburn University, in partnership with the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, invites you to the Alabama Higher Education AI Exchange, an event to supercharge AI literacy, collaboration, and access for the state’s higher education community.  

The Alabama Higher Education AI Exchange will feature three tracks:

• The Research track invites presentations and discussions on how artificial intelligence can enhance research, as well as research focused on artificial intelligence and related topics. 
• The Teaching & Learning track invites presentations and discussions on the opportunities and challenges that artificial intelligence tools present for academic work, both inside and outside the classroom. 
• The Business Operations & Student Services track invites presentations and discussions on using AI tools to improve efficiency in administrative and managerial functions, with a particular interest in practices that enhance student services. 

Register for Pre-Conference Sessions

Register for the Conference



Submit a Poster or Serve as a Panelist!

All researchers and practitioners are invited to share their expertise and experience on artificial intelligence. Submit an online interest form located at the following link:

https://aub.ie/aipresenter

Hanover Research Webinars

Introduction to Grantseeking for Administrators

Thursday, August 29, 2024

11:00am CT

Administrators play a pivotal role at their institutions in facilitating proposal development, grant submission, and project management. This session will provide a primer on the grants world through the lens of these professionals, looking at how they can best support their colleagues in the pursuit and management of grant funding.

Register here.

• Upcoming in September: Scaling Up Your Research
• Recently posted to the archives: Storytelling in Grantwriting

Hanover Research Queue Proposal Review Availability

Slots available after October 10, 2024



In order to provide resources for faculty and staff, Auburn University has partnered with Hanover Research for a number of grant development solutions including Pre-proposal Support; Proposal Development; and Capacity Building. Their full-service grant development solutions are available to set goals, build strategies to achieve key grant-seeking objectives, and develop grant proposals that are well-planned, researched, and written. 

For information regarding Hanover’s core capabilities and project timelines, click here. If you are interested in a slot in the queue, please e-mail Tony Ventimiglia.

Research Development and Grantwriting Newsletter

This online publication is a great source for current STEM and Humanities funding opportunities, tips and resources. Published by Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC, access is available only for Auburn University faculty, staff and students with a valid user ID. 

In the August issue:

• August 2024 Select List of Humanities, HSS, and Arts Opportunities & News

• Writing for NIH’s New Review Criteria

• Supplemental Funding Requests to NSF

• You’ve Submitted Your CAREER Proposal: What Now?

• Special Considerations When You’re Proposing to Address a Well-Known

• Forecasted Funding & Notice of Intent Opportunities

• Tensed about Tenses

• Understanding the Role of Your PO

• Research Grant Writing Web Resources

• Educational & Social Sciences Web Resources

• Agency News, Reports, Workshops & Roadmaps

• New Funding Opportunities

American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowships

ACLS invites research proposals from scholars in all disciplines of the humanities and interpretive social sciences pursuing research on topics grounded in any time period, world region, or humanistic methodology. ACLS aims to select fellows who are broadly representative of the variety of humanistic scholarship across all fields of study.

The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant, which can take the form of a monograph, articles, publicly engaged humanities project, digital research project, critical edition, or other scholarly resources. The fellowships support projects at any stage of development – beginning, middle, or end. This program does not fund works of fiction (e.g., novels or films), textbooks, straightforward translation (without significant scholarly interpretation and apparatus), or projects that are primarily pedagogical in focus.

Applications Due: September 25, 2024, 9:00pm ET

NIH: Mechanistic Studies to Investigate the Interrelationship Between Sleep and/or Circadian Rhythms and Substance Use Disorders (R01)

This program aims to support research project applications to expand knowledge on the biological mechanisms of the interrelationship between sleep/circadian rhythms and substance use disorders. These basic science experimental studies will offer insights into the fundamental processes that link SUDs to disorders of sleep/circadian rhythms and vice-versa, and may also have implications for managing risks associated with developing SUDs and/or identifying new targets for prevention and therapeutics.

LOIs Due: September 29, 2024, 5:00pm CT

NSF: Mathematical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence

NSF will sponsor research collaborations consisting of mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, engineers, and social and behavioral scientists focused on the mathematical and theoretical foundations of AI. The overall goal is to establish innovative and principled design and analysis approaches for AI technology using creative yet theoretically grounded mathematical and statistical frameworks, yielding explainable and interpretable models that can enable sustainable, socially responsible, and trustworthy AI. Specific research goals include:

• Establishing a fundamental mathematical understanding of the factors determining the capabilities and limitations of current and emerging generations of AI systems,
• The development of mathematically grounded design and analysis principles for the current and next generations of AI systems;
• Rigorous approaches for characterizing and validating machine learning algorithms and their predictions;
• Research enabling provably reliable, translational, general-purpose AI systems and algorithms;
• encouragement of new collaborations across this interdisciplinary research community and from diverse institutions.

Proposals Due: October 10, 2024, 5:00pm CT

Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program offers opportunities for independent research or study related to Smithsonian collections, facilities, and/or research interests of the Institution and its staff. Fellowships are offered to graduate students, predoctoral students, and postdoctoral and senior researchers to conduct independent research and to utilize the resources of the Institution with members of the Smithsonian professional research staff serving as advisors and hosts.

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program offers fellowships for research and study in the following fields and encourages applications of an interdisciplinary nature:

• Animal behavior, ecology, and environmental science, including an emphasis on the tropics;
• Anthropology, including archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, and physical anthropology; Astrophysics and astronomy;
• Earth sciences and paleobiology;
• Evolutionary & systematic biology;
• Folklife;
• History of science and technology;
• History of art, especially American, contemporary, African, and Asian art, twentieth-century American crafts, and decorative arts;
• Materials research;
• Molecular biology;
• Social and cultural history of the United States.

Applications Due: October 15, 2024, 11:59pm ET

USDA: National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP)

Through the NADPRP program, APHIS provides funds to support high-value projects that will help prevent the introduction and spread of foreign and emerging animal diseases that threaten U.S. agriculture. Each year, APHIS makes funding available to support projects in priority areas of animal disease preparedness and response which include projects that:

1. Develop, enhance, and exercise State and Tribal animal disease outbreak emergency response plans.
2. Support livestock and poultry biosecurity measures and programs.
3. Enhance capability and capacity for depopulation, carcass disposal, and decontamination in a disease outbreak.
4. Support animal movement decisions in a disease outbreak.
5. Enhance animal disease traceability during a disease outbreak.
6. Develop and deliver training & exercises to improve animal disease outbreak response capabilities.
7. Support outreach & education on animal disease prevention, preparedness, and response.

Applications Due: October 18, 2024, 11:59pm ET

NSF: Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure-1 (Mid-scale RI-1)

The NSF Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 Program (Mid-scale RI-1) supports either design activities or implementation of unique and compelling RI projects.

Mid-scale RI-1 design activities include the design efforts intended to lead to eventual implementation of a mid-scale class RI project.

Mid-scale implementation projects may include any combination of equipment, instrumentation, cyberinfrastructure, broadly used large scale datasets and the personnel needed to successfully commission the project.

Mid-scale RI-1 projects should involve the training of a diverse workforce engaged in the design and implementation of STEM research infrastructure. Projects should directly enable advances in any of the research domains supported by NSF. Projects may also include upgrades to existing research infrastructure. Proposals submitted by, or involving partnerships between institutions are encouraged.

Preliminary Proposal Due: November 18, 2024. 5:00pm CT

Update: NIH to Implement Use of Common Forms

by May 2025; Issues Guide Notice

NIH has issued implementation guidance of the Biographical Sketch and Current & Pending (Other) Support Common Forms for their mandatory use for all applications and Research Performance Progress Report(s) (RPPRs) submitted after May 25, 2025.

Read the NIH Guide Notice