NIH @ NC State Grantsmanship Series
The Research Development Office’s (RDO) Proposal Development Unit (PDU) invites everyone in the NC State community to participate in the NIH @ NC State Grantsmanship Series. These monthly seminars will acquaint you with the basics of NIH. Registration is not required, but please fill out the interest form so that the team can let you know about any event updates.
Next up: Writing NIH Grant Applications
Topics include: Decoding the funding opportunity announcements, approaching the specific aims and public health relevance sections, and writing with the reviewers in mind.
Date: 10/23/2019, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Location: 4280 Talley Student Center
Other Training Opportunities
The North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present an introduction to NIH R grant mechanisms. Information presented includes examples of different types of R awards, the structure of the application, assessing readiness to apply, grant preparation strategies, and resources.
Date: 10/21/2019, 8:30 - 10:15 am
Location: Brinkhous-Bullitt, Room 219
The North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present an introduction to NIH and foundation career development awards. Information presented will include examples of different types of awards, the structure of the application, assessing readiness to apply, grant preparation strategies, and resources.
Date: 10/21/2019, 8:30 - 10:15 am
Location: Brinkhous-Bullitt, Room 219
Save the Date!
Join your fellow researchers for NASA Day at UNC being held on November 7, 2019, during University Research Week. UNC is inviting the broadest possible audience of researchers, with presentations about how to work with NASA, details about the Artemis mission to the moon, and collaborative research opportunities across the agency. There will be presentations from leaders representing NASA’s Mission Directorates – Human Exploration & Operations, Science, and Space Technology – with opportunities to learn about how your research fits with NASA’s mission portfolio.
Limited Submission Funding Opportunities
These programs are those that limit the number of applications that the university can submit. If you are interested in applying to one of these programs, please click the "Notification of Interest" link and fill out the form. Only those who fill out the form by the deadline will be eligible to participate in internal reviews. For more information about the limited submission process and the limited submission calendar, go here.
NIH: Data Science Research: Personal Health Libraries for Consumers and Patients (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
The National Library of Medicine seeks applications for novel informatics and data science approaches that can help individuals gather, manage and use data and information about their personal health. A goal of this program is to advance research and application by patients and the research community through broadly sharing the results via publication, and through open source mechanisms for data or resource sharing.
Limit - 1 per institution
Sponsor deadline - 1/17/ 2020
The goal of the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program is to develop a diverse pool of scientists earning a Ph.D., who have the skills to successfully transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) provides support to eligible, domestic institutions to develop and implement effective, evidence-based approaches to biomedical training and mentoring that will keep pace with the rapid evolution of the research enterprise. NIGMS expects that the proposed research training programs will incorporate didactic, research, mentoring and career development elements to prepare trainees for careers that will have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the Nation.
Limit - 1 per institution
Sponsor deadline - 1/28/2020
Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM) 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 the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports. CCE STEM solicits proposals for research that explores the following: ‘What constitutes responsible conduct for research (RCR), and which cultural and institutional contexts promote ethical STEM research and practice and why?' Successful proposals typically have a comparative dimension, either between or within institutional settings that differ along these or among other factors, and they specify plans for developing interventions that promote the effectiveness of identified factors. CCE STEM research projects will use basic research to produce knowledge about what constitutes or promotes responsible or irresponsible conduct of research, and how to best instill students with this knowledge.
Limit - 1 per institution
Sponsor deadline - 2/22/2020
Many research questions in biomedical science can be pursued by single investigators and their close collaborators and are adequately supported by individual and multiple PD/PI research grants. However, the scope of some scientific problems is beyond the capabilities of a small group of investigators. Such complex and challenging research questions benefit from the integrated efforts of teams of research laboratories employing complementary approaches and having diverse areas of intellectual and technical expertise, and the necessary resources to accomplish a unified scientific goal. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages Collaborative Program Grant applications from institutions/organizations that propose to conduct research to address complex and challenging biomedical problems, important for the mission of NIGMS, through deeply integrated, multidisciplinary research teams. Applications should address critical issues and be sufficiently challenging, ambitious, and innovative that objectives could not be achieved by individual investigators. Applications may address any area of science within the NIGMS mission, which is to support basic research that increases understanding of biological processes at a range of levels, from molecules and cells to tissues, whole organisms and populations.
Limit - 1 per institution, per review cycle
Sponsor deadline - 1/25/2020
The Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) Award is intended to identify the most talented Early Stage Investigators (ESIs) who intend to make a long-term commitment to research in the Environmental Health Sciences and assist them in launching an innovative research program focused on the understanding of environmental exposure effects on people’s health. Please note, this opportunity is limited by college and not at the university level. Interested faculty should contact their department head as well as their Associate Dean for Research (ADR) to understand how the college will select its nominee. Colleges should report their nominees to the RDO by emailing limited-submission@ncsu.edu
Internal deadline - Contact your college research office for information
Limit - Only 1 application per college
Sponsor deadline - 2/28/2020, by 5:00 p.m.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program addresses the need for a high quality STEM workforce in STEM disciplines and for the increased success of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who are pursuing associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Recognizing that financial aid alone cannot increase retention and graduation in STEM, the program provides awards to Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) to fund scholarships and to advance the adaptation, implementation, and study of effective evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities that support recruitment, retention, transfer (if appropriate), student success, academic/career pathways, and graduation in STEM. The S-STEM program encourages collaborations among different types of partners: Partnerships among different types of institutions; collaborations of STEM faculty and institutional, educational, and social science researchers; and partnerships among institutions of higher education and local business and industry, if appropriate.
Internal deadline - Contact your college research office for information
Limit - Only 1 application per college awarding STEM degrees
Sponsor deadline - 3/25/2020, by 5:00 p.m.
Scholar Award Opportunities
Innovation Crossroads is a fellowship program based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that matches aspiring energy entrepreneurs with the experts, mentors, and networks in technology-related fields to take their world-changing ideas from R&D to the marketplace. Through an annual call, up to seven entrepreneurs will be selected to transform their ideas into energy, advanced manufacturing, and integrated grid companies with financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Innovators will receive a fellowship that includes a personal living stipend, benefits, and travel allowance for up to two years, plus substantial funding to use on collaborative research and development at ORNL.
Application deadline: 10/31/2019, 5:00 p.m.
Internal Funding Opportunities
NC State Global offers funding for NC State faculty or staff to enhance research collaboration and academic exchange with the University of Adelaide in Australia.The strategic partnership between the University of Adelaide (UA) and NC State is a preferred relationship that leverages complementary strengths and trans-disciplinary scholarship to advance research collaboration and academic exchange. UA and NC State are now accepting proposals for the development of research collaboration. Co-funding up to AU $10,000 from UA and the equivalent amount from NC State (approximately US $6,750) per project will be made available for travel and to seed collaboration. This funding program is designed to provide pump-priming and early contact partner outreach with the expectation that they will lead to more substantive engagement resulting in high-quality outputs. Potential high-quality outputs include international research training for graduate students and/or early-career faculty, the publication of joint papers from collaborative research, or follow-on joint research funding bids.Proposals are invited from permanent, tenured or tenure track faculty or research professionals at NC State University (those who comply with Sponsored Programs eligibility requirements) and academic and
research only staff at the University of Adelaide.
Application Deadline-Online applications are due 10/31/2019 through the Office of Global Engagement’s website.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s NC TraCS Institute partners with NC State’s Office of Research and Innovation and the Comparative Medicine Institute (CMI) to promote interdisciplinary inter-institutional collaborative research teams. This pilot program is designed to encourage and facilitate novel clinical and translational research that applies or accelerates discovery into testing in clinical or population settings. Cross-disciplinary translational research addressing the development of therapies, diagnostics or devices applicable to human disease and clinical research/trials are areas of interest for these awards.
Application Deadlines-11/19/2019, 3/24/2020, 7/28/2020, 11/17/2020
Non-limited Funding Opportunities
This is a call for research proposals that address a priority of Sea Grant and of the NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) in the South Atlantic Region. This priority is quantifying the impacts of coastal flooding on access to public and private infrastructure and quantifying how blocked access during flooding affects the economy of coastal communities. A successful proposal will be collaborative in nature and will include one principal investigator (PI) each from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. PIs will work in partnership with one or more end-users who will help shape the research problem and use the results of the work to guide specific actions to increase access in the coastal zone when it is impacted by flooding events. The end-user(s) might be state departments of transportation, local communities, or some other logical entity, and it may be that in each state, the most appropriate end-user will differ because of difference in jurisdiction over roads, causeways, and other access routes. The end-user(s) must be active partners in the project. They must be involved from the onset of creating a proposal, implementing the proposal tasks along with the research team, and in the execution of actions based on the research results.
Application due date: 10/25/2019
*Student Opportunity NASA ARMD University Student Research Challenge (USRC)
University Student Research Challenge seeks to challenge students to propose new aeronautics ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA Aeronautics. USRC will provide students, from accredited U.S. colleges or universities, with grants for their projects and it includes the challenge of raising a modest amount of cost share funds through crowdfunding platform. The process of creating and preparing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator - requiring students to act like entrepreneurs and taking action. Crowdfunding also raises awareness about students’ research among the public. The solicitation goal can be accomplished through project ideas such as advancing the design, developing technology or capabilities in support of aviation, by demonstrating a novel concept, or enabling advancement of aeronautics-related technologies. There have been a number of changes from the previous USRC pilot project, including NASA providing a larger share of funds and half of that being provided upfront. Notices of Intent (NOIs) are not required for this solicitation.
Application due dates: 10/31/2019, 2/26/2020, 6/24/2020
The ORNL Distinguished Staff Fellowships are awarded to outstanding early-career scientists and engineers with demonstrated success within their academic, professional, and technical areas, who have high potential to be future science leaders. These highly competitive fellowships are available across a variety of research disciplines, including materials, nuclear, neutrons, and computation. Distinguished Staff Fellows (DSFs) are expected to conduct scientific research of the highest quality and impact during their 3-year tenure appointment, become leaders in their fields, and be effective representatives of the Laboratory in their interactions with colleagues and with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other sponsors of R&D at ORNL. A key aspect of this fellowship program is a mentorship plan that is designed to facilitate the successful integration of each DSF into ORNL’s scientific community and the alignment of each fellow’s research activities with DOE missions. DSFs are expected to establish the foundation for a long-term career at ORNL. Applicants must have received their PhD in a STEM field before they begin a fellowship and can be no more than 5 years beyond receiving their doctorate when they apply. Applicants selected to become DSFs will be named to one of three fellowships, based on their scientific background.
Application deadline: 11/1/2019*
*Please note that the opportunity may close prior to this deadline if a qualified candidate is identified and/or hired.
*Student Opportunity* North Carolina Sea Grant and N.C. Coastal Reserve Coastal Research Fellowship
The North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve (Coastal Reserve) and North Carolina Sea Grant are accepting applications for the 2020 North Carolina Coastal Research Fellowship. The fellowship provides North Carolina-based graduate students with an opportunity to conduct research within one or more of the 10 sites that constitute the Coastal Reserve. Using the reserve sites as a research platform, fellows must conduct hypothesis-based research that addresses coastal management issues in one or more of the broad focus areas outlined in the RFP. One fellowship of $10,000 is anticipated for 2020. Only graduate students in good academic standing, attending an accredited North Carolina university or college are eligible to apply.
Application due date: 11/13/2019 by 5 p.m.
The SCGSR program supports supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to conduct part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory/facility in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist for a period of 3 to 12 consecutive months—with the goal of preparing graduate students for scientific and technical careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission.The SCGSR program is open to current Ph.D. students in qualified graduate programs at accredited U.S. academic institutions, who are conducting their graduate thesis research in targeted areas of importance to the DOE Office of Science. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral thesis/dissertation while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the host DOE laboratories/facilities.
Application due date: 11/14/2019
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced tremendously and promises personalized healthcare, enhanced national security, improved transportation, and more effective education, to name just a few benefits. Increased computing power, the availability of large data-sets and streaming data, and algorithmic advances in machine learning (ML) have made it possible for AI development to create new sectors of the economy and revitalize industries. Continued advancement holds the potential for further economic impact and quality-of-life improvements. This program, a joint effort of the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), seeks to enable such research through AI Research Institutes. This program solicitation describes two tracks: Planning and Institute tracks. Submissions to the Planning track are encouraged in any areas of foundational and use-inspired research appropriate to NSF and its partner organizations. Proposals for the Institute track must have a principal focus in one or more of the following themes:
- Trustworthy AI;
- Foundations of Machine Learning;
- AI-Driven Innovation in Agriculture and the Food System;
- AI-Augmented Learning;
- AI for Accelerating Molecular Synthesis and Manufacturing;
- AI for Discovery in Physics
The National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes program anticipates approximately $120 million in grants next year to fund eight planning grants and up to six research institutes in order to advance AI research and create national nexus points for universities, federal agencies, industries, and nonprofits. Planning grants will total $500,000, and the Institute awards will total between $16,000,000 and $20,000,000 for up to five years (up to $4,000,000 per year).
Application due dates: 1/28/2020 (for Institute proposals) and 1/30/2020 (for Planning proposals)
The IUSE: EHR is a core NSF STEM education program that seeks to promote novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for undergraduate students. The program is open to application from all institutions of higher education and associated organizations. NSF places high value on educating students to be leaders and innovators in emerging and rapidly changing STEM fields as well as educating a scientifically literate public. In pursuit of this goal, IUSE: EHR supports projects that seek to bring recent advances in STEM knowledge into undergraduate education, that adapt, improve, and incorporate evidence-based practices into STEM teaching and learning, and that lay the groundwork for institutional improvement in STEM education. In addition to innovative work at the frontier of STEM education, this program also encourages replication of research studies at different types of institutions and with different student bodies to produce deeper knowledge about the effectiveness and transferability of findings. IUSE: EHR also seeks to support projects that have high potential for broader societal impacts, including improved diversity of students and instructors participating in STEM education, professional development for instructors to ensure adoption of new and effective pedagogical techniques that meet the changing needs of students, and projects that promote institutional partnerships for collaborative research and development. The IUSE: EHR program features two tracks: (1) Engaged Student Learning and (2) Institutional and Community Transformation.
Application due dates: Engaged Student Learning - 2/4/2020 and 8/4/2020 (Level 1), 12/4/2019 (Levels 2 and 3); Institutional and Community Transformation - 2/4/2020 and 8/4/2020 (Capacity Building), 2/4/2020 and 8/4/2020 (Level 1), 12/4/2019 (Level 2)
NIH: Perception and Cognition Research to Inform Cancer Image Interpretation (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
The National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering are collaborating on this announcement to facilitate research on the perceptual and cognitive processes underlying the performance of cancer image observers in radiology and pathology, in order to improve the accuracy of cancer detection and diagnosis. Projects may come in at any budget level, for a maximum project period of 5 years. For smaller exploratory studies, there is an R21 sister funding announcement, PAR-19-389 (https://grants.nih.gov/
Application due dates: 2/5, 6/5, and 10/5, through 1/8/2023.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health are expressing interest in collaborations between nutrition researchers and experts in ‘omics technologies. Applications should be submitted through one of the standard Parent Announcements for R01 grants. Although there are no set-aside funds for the program, interested investigators in this area are strongly encouraged to contact the program officers identified in the announcement before submitting an application.
Application due dates: between 2/5/2020 and 1/8/2022
This program is administered by NIH to address research topics identified by the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products. This year, the following topics have been identified as scientific interest areas: 1) Chemistry & Engineering, 2) Toxicology, 3) Addiction, 4) Health Effects, 5) Behavior, 6) Communications, 7) Marketing Influences, and 8) Impact Analysis. Application budgets are limited to $300,000 direct cost per year, for up to 3 years.
Application due dates: 2/13/2020, 7/17/2020, 2/13/2021
NIH: Genetic Architecture of Mental Disorders in Ancestrally Diverse Populations (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
The National Institute of Mental Health seeks applications proposing coordinated efforts to accelerate gene discovery for psychiatric disorders in cohorts of non-European ancestry to advance the important goal of global mental health discovery and equity. This FOA is one of several FOAs supporting a program called, “Ending Disparities in Mental Health” (EDIfy-MH). Projects may come in at any budget level, for a maximum project period of 5 years. For projects that will coordinate across multiple performance sites there is also a Collaborative U01 mechanism, PAR-20-027 (https://grants.nih.gov/
Application due dates: 2/14/2020, 9/15/2020, 9/15/2021, 9/15/2022
Fourteen Institutes and Centers of NIH are releasing this program as part of NIH’s Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet). Each of the 14 participating institutes has included areas of specific interest within the general topic of social connectedness, including understanding how disabilities/health conditions may impact social connectedness, understanding how social isolation leads to conditions like addiction or depression, and understanding basic neurophysiological and biomolecular processes impacted by social isolation or connectedness. Projects do not have a specific budget limit and should be 2-5 years in length. There is a sister funding opportunity announcement, PAR-19-384 (https://grants.nih.gov/
Application due dates: 3/17/2020, 3/17/2021
The far-reaching impact and rate of innovation in the computer and information science and engineering fields has been remarkable, generating economic prosperity and enhancing the quality of life for people throughout the world. The Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) has established the Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) program to provide the CISE research and education community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, fundamental research agendas that promise to define the future of computing and information. In planning Expeditions projects, investigators are encouraged to come together within or across departments or institutions to combine their creative talents in the identification of compelling, transformative research agendas that promise disruptive innovations in computer and information science and engineering for many years to come.
Preliminary proposal due date: 4/22/2020
*New NIH: Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for Early Stage Investigators (R35 - Clinical Trial Optional)
NIGMS is planning to issue a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to continue the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigators (MIRA-ESI) (R35) program . The FOA is intended for new applications from early stage investigators. An NIGMS MIRA for ESIs is intended to provide support for the program of research in an ESI’s laboratory that falls within the mission of NIGMS. Investigators receiving a MIRA will be required to relinquish their other NIGMS research funding, including Mentored Career Development (K) awards. Investigators with K awards from another Institute/Center of the NIH may receive an NIGMS MIRA but will be required to adjust their person-months of effort on those awards to be less than the number of person-months committed to the MIRA. MIRA PIs who received support from the NIGMS research grants of other investigators (for example, serving as collaborators and subcontractors on R01s and as project leaders on P01, P20, or P50 subprojects) will no longer be able to receive funds from those sources. With the reissuance of the MIRA-ESI FOA, NIGMS intends to make the following changes: 1) encourage eligible applicants to apply earlier in their independent research career; 2) enhance applicants’ ability to move into research areas that are distinct from those of their postdoctoral mentors; and 3) emphasize that preliminary data are neither required nor expected.
Estimated publication date of FOA: 5/1/2020
First estimated application due date: 10/5/2020
A unique strength of North Carolina Sea Grant is the ability to test new ideas, augment ongoing research efforts, stimulate innovation and respond to short-range, critical needs. To do so, Sea Grant provides minigrants when funds are available. Support goes to small projects costing less than $10,000, to allow scientists to gather samples and data when time is of the essence. The minigrant award may allow investigators to gather initial information or pilot test a whole new line of inquiry. Such early findings can subsequently spur major research and outreach efforts funded by other sources.
Application due dates: minigrants are processed on a rolling basis, as they are received.
