Below are highlights of recent funding opportunities from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Department of Energy, and Office of Naval Research:
AFOSR Releases FY 2024 STEM Program FOA
This funding opportunity was shared by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC on January 19, 2024.
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) recently released its fiscal year (FY) 2024 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Program Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). The FOA seeks applications that "provide solutions that establish, build, and/or maintain STEM educational pathways and workforce opportunities for diverse U.S. citizens directly relevant to AFOSR science and technology areas.” The Department of the Air Force (DAF) recognizes the connection between meeting its S&T workforce needs and improving STEM education and outreach outcomes; AFOSR therefore encourages projects that improve the capacity of education systems to create meaningful STEM experiences. Projects must aim to increase engagement in STEM through education and outreach to students and the current workforce with the goal of enhancing critical skills in the following AFOSR STEM topic areas:
- Engineering and Complex Systems
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Information and Networks
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Physical Sciences
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Chemistry and Biological Sciences
Projects should seek to meet DOD’s overall STEM goals, which include stimulating community engagement in Department of Defense (DOD) STEM programs to ensure DOD STEM opportunities are impactful; utilizing multiple different career pathways that appeal to the current and future STEM workforce; broadening participation in STEM education; and using evaluation and assessment tools to improve the efficacy and efficiency of STEM education and workforce programs.
Sources from academia, non-profit organizations, and industry are eligible to apply. Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges or Universities are especially encouraged to apply, and applicants are strongly encouraged to consider under-represented and underserved populations in their project plans. DOD anticipates $1.8 million in total funding for this program; proposers may submit proposals where the period of performance may last up to three years (one required “Base Year” with two additional “Option Years”) requesting no more than $150,000 per year. Proposals are due by April 12, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET.
More information is available in the full FOA, which can be found
here or at
www.grants.gov under the solicitation number “FOAAFRLAFOSR20240002.”
Department of Energy Funding Opportunities in Fundamental Research, Applied Energy, and Emerging Technologies
This funding opportunity was shared by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC on January 26, 2024.
DOE recently released funding solicitations for Energy Frontier Research Centers, advancing computing, and accelerator research and development as well as in various applied energy topics including industrial decarbonization, marine energy, and cybersecurity. Current ASCR opportunities include:
| Exploratory Research for Extreme-Scale Science |
January 19
Pre-applications due February 29 |
$8 million |
DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program is seeking innovative, high-impact proposals to advance scientific computing and extreme-scale science. This year, DOE is seeking applications in 5 topic areas:
- technology innovations to accelerate science through visualization;
- scalable space-time memories for large discrete/agent-based models;
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neuromorphic computing;
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advanced wireless; and
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quantum hardware emulation.
Award sizes will range from $250,000 to $550,000 per year over two years depending the composition of the team and the lead institution. DOE strongly encourages applications led by or in partnership with non-R1 Minority Serving Institutions and ESPCoR institutions. Lead institutions are limited to five applications.
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| Data Reduction for Science |
January 16
Pre-applications due March 19
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$15 million |
DOE plans to make up to 10 awards for proposals focused on the development and use of data reduction techniques and algorithms for more efficient analysis and use of massive data sets produced by DOE experiments, user facilities and simulations. Awards for research universities will range from $150,000 to $400,000 per year over three years. A lead institution can only submit up to two applications.
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Over the next few months, DOE plans to release funding calls in computational materials science, biofuels and bioproducts microbial research, and accelerator traineeships and quantum information science for high energy physics applications as well as applied energy topics such as bioenergy, vehicle technologies, new ARPA-E programs, and new Industrial Assessment Centers. Many larger-scale opportunities will be contingent on final FY 2024 congressional appropriations, such as Energy Earthshot Research Centers and foundational university grants, Microelectronics Science Research Centers, the Carbon Basin-scale Assessment and Storage Evaluation initiative and regional energy-water demonstration facilities. The attached document provides additional details on each of these opportunities.
Advancements in Artificial Intelligence for Science Funding Opportunity
This funding opportunity was shared by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC on February 13, 2024.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, is issuing a $36 million funding opportunity announcement for basic computer science and applied mathematics research in the fundamentals of artificial intelligence (AI) for science. Specifically, advancements in this area are sought that can enable the development of:
- Foundation models for computational science
- Automated scientific workflows and laboratories
- Scientific programming and scientific-knowledge-management systems
- Federated and privacy-preserving training for foundation and other AI models for science; and
- Energy-efficient AI algorithms and hardware for science
The development of new AI techniques applicable to multiple scientific domains can accelerate progress, increase transparency, and open new areas of exploration across the scientific enterprise. To learn more about this funding opportunity announcement, including application requirements and eligibility, visit the ASCR funding opportunities website.
Total Estimated Funding: $36 Million
Deadline for Letters of Intent (required): March 19, 2024 at 5:00 pm ET
Deadline for Applications: May 21, 2024 at 11:59 pm ET
View the Funding Opportunity Announcement here.
ONR Releases FY 2025 Young Investigator Program (YIP)
This funding opportunity was shared by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC on February 14, 2024.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) released its fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the Young Investigator Program (YIP). This program provides early career university faculty a path into the Navy’s research enterprise through multi-year research grants. The YIP specifically helps ONR identify promising tenure-track faculty who demonstrate the ability to deliver innovative research aligned with ONR’s research priorities. The YIP program is also offered by other Department of Defense (DOD) agencies, such as the Army Research Office (ARO) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), in addition to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through its Young Faculty Award (YFA) program.
ONR will only accept proposals that pursue research in its outlined research and technology areas and are of interest to ONR program officers. A full list of the areas of interest to ONR can be found here and a current list of ONR program officers can be found here. ONR also strongly encourages potential applicants to review the following best practices to aid in developing successful proposals:
- Contact the ONR program officer before submitting a proposal to discuss research ideas (informal white papers may be submitted to facilitate this discussion);
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Try to understand the program officer’s interests and portfolio;
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Review the ONR website; become familiar with Navy terminology and how your proposal aligns with Navy research priorities;
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Demonstrate merit with a record of publishing in peer reviewed journals and a strong letter of support from the university and/or department (Applications received without at least one letter of support will not be considered for award); and
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Submit a complete curriculum vitae (CV) with the proposal package.
Due Date:
Technical and eligibility questions must be submitted before 12:00 PM EST on April 16, 2024, and proposals are due before 5:00 PM EST on April 30, 2024. Proposers may send a brief, informal pre-proposal or white paper to facilitate discussion of a research idea with the appropriate ONR program officer and must copy [email protected] when reaching out to initiate further discussion.
Total Funding and Award Size: Typical awards will be funded at $750,000 over three years. Proposers may request up to $250,000 for each year-long interval of research. ONR anticipates making up to 25 awards, with no more than five awards made per each of the Navy’s S&T Departments.
Eligibility and Limitations: This FOA is directed towards single Principal Investigators (PIs), and Co-PI’s are not allowed. The PI must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident, with a first or second full-time tenure track or tenure-track-equivalent role and received their degree on or after January 1, 2017. U.S. higher education institutions that award degrees in STEM, along with U.S. nonprofit organizations operating for scientific and educational services, are eligible to submit proposals. Prior ONR YIP recipients may not apply. Additional eligibility and submission instructions can be found in the full FOA.
Sources and Additional Information:
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The full FOA is available on www.grants.gov under the solicitation number “N0001424SF004.”
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Information on ONR’s technology areas can be found here.
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Information on ONR’ program officers can be found here.