NC State's Research Development Office has shared these funding opportunities. Opportunities of particular interest to our College's faculty are highlighted in yellow. To view previously announced funding opportunities, visit the RDO website.
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 Dates!
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.
The PI Launchpad: From Science Idea to NASA Mission Workshop
Are you thinking about developing your first flight mission proposal in the next few years but have no idea where to start? If you are a researcher in any NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) discipline who wants to take your career to the next level but have not yet held a leadership position on mission proposals or large science teams, this is the workshop for you. Join NASA November 18 - 20, 2019 in Tucson, AZ for Launchpad: an expenses-paid three-day workshop that will teach you the skills to get your mission idea off the ground. Between 35-40 participants from the pool of applicants will be selected. For those not selected, there are plans to hold additional Launchpads in 2020 and beyond. Applicants should be currently at US institutions.
Applications are due October 15, 2019. Selected participants will be contacted by October 28, 2019.
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.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) provides funding to support crosscutting nuclear energy research and development (R&D), and associated infrastructure support activities, to develop innovative technologies that offer the promise of dramatically improved performance for advanced reactors and fuel cycle concepts, while maximizing the use of DOE resources. The development of nuclear energy-related infrastructure and basic capabilities in the research community is necessary to promote R&D that supports nuclear science and engineering (NS&E), DOE-NE’s mission, and the Nation’s nuclear energy challenges. DOE is seeking applications under the Infrastructure FOA in the following areas:
- University Research Reactor Upgrades Infrastructure Support
- General Scientific Infrastructure (GSI) Support for Universities
An application to either of these FOA areas is restricted to equipment or activities
supporting research, teaching, and education, such as the purchase, set-up, and vendor installation costs for equipment and instrumentation, as well as building modifications that immediately support the installation and operation of the equipment.
Internal deadline - For General Scientific Infrastructure (GSI) Support, please submit a 3 page pre-application that addresses the requirements in the solicitation to Tracy Brown (tracy_brown@ncsu.edu) by 5:00 p.m. on 10/8/2019. For Research Reactor Upgrade Support, please submit your materials to Dr. Ayman Hawari (ayman.hawari@ncsu.edu), the Nuclear Reactor Program Director, by 5:00 p.m. on 10/8/2019.
Limit - 1 per institution, per area (GSI, Reactor Upgrade)
Sponsor deadline - 11/13/2019
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.
Internal Funding Opportunities
NC State faculty, staff and students require access to instrumentation, equipment, facilities, software, and databases in order to conduct the world-class research that is expected at a major research university. Extramural support for the acquisition and/or development of research instruments may be obtained through proposals to external public (federal and state) or private (foundation) sources. The NC State Laboratory Research Equipment Program (LREP) supplements these sources with University funds since many external-funding opportunities are poorly matched to specific, lower-cost needs. The Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) has set aside $100,000 for this program. The maximum award from ORI for LREP-funded equipment is $25,000 per proposal.
Scientific discoveries and hypothesis testing require access to modern research instrumentation. The newly formed Molecular Education, Technology, and Research Innovation Center (METRIC) is an NC State Shared Core Research Facility that provides access to state-of the-art equipment capable of addressing a diverse range of scientific questions. Although many NC State faculty, staff and students are familiar with METRIC research platforms, others may be reluctant to apply these powerful technologies to their research due to costs-of-entry. To address this gap in funding the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science (KIETS) will provide matching funds for a new internal seed-funding program, termed the METRIC Pilot Project Program (MPPP). MPPP supports research efforts of single investigators as well as multi-investigator teams. The overarching goals of the Program are to stimulate interdisciplinary research, enable NC State researchers to access METRIC platform technologies and secure preliminary data to be used to attract extramural research funding from a variety of agencies. A total of $25,000 has been committed by KIETS for FY20. KIETS funds MUST be matched one-to-one with funds from other non-federal sources (“in-kind” matches are not allowed). Award amounts will range between $2,000 and $10,000 including the required matching funds.
Inter-Institutional 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.
Non-limited Funding Opportunities
*Student opportunity STEM Bridge Scholarship for Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) Students Program
The National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program champions diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by recruiting, retaining and preparing a diverse workforce, and proactively engaging and serving diverse populations. NC Space Grant is committed to building inclusive research, education, and public outreach programs that serve people with unique backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives and ways of thinking. Recognizing that some students have historically been underserved and underrepresented (i.e., minority groups that are not represented in the science, engineering, technology, or math (STEM) fields in numbers proportional to their composition in the U.S. population) NC Space Grant supports scholarships targeted to these individuals in order to help diversify the STEM workforce of the future.To encourage talented underserved and underrepresented individuals (women, minorities and persons with disabilities) to pursue STEM related careers, NC Space Grant will implement the STEM Bridge Scholarship Program. This is a competitive scholarship program for underserved and underrepresented freshman and sophomore undergraduate students.
Application due date: 10/7/2019
The STEM Pre-Service Teacher Education Scholarship program is designed for students enrolled in STEM-related teacher education degree programs at the undergraduate level (pre-service teachers). Scholarship recipients will be required to complete a series of NASA STEM Digital Badges, participate in professional seminars, and attend a cohort field trip to NASA Langley Research Center.
Application due date: 10/7/2019
*Student opportunity NC Space Grant Team Experience and Competition Awards
NC Space Grant awards funding to undergraduate/graduate teams to help them participate in national competitions either sponsored or sanctioned by NASA or another STEM-related organization (NASA Student Launch Initiative, NASA Robotic Mining, NASA Human Robotics Competition, Shell Eco-Challenge, AUVSI Competition, etc.). Competitions should be in the fields of engineering, science, technology and/or mathematics (STEM), and complement the academic studies of the team members. Competitions must provide students with a hands-on experiential learning opportunities related to one or more of NASA’s Mission Directorates. NC Space Grant anticipates supporting 6-8 team competition grants of up to $5,000 (based on available funding). Funds can be used to purchase supplies and materials to support the team project, and/or cover registration and travel expenses.
Application due date: 10/15/2019
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* 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
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)
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences looks to accelerate multidisciplinary research projects studying the effects of environmental chemicals on maternal physiology, and endocrine and metabolic functions during and shortly after pregnancy, as well as potential long-term maternal health effects caused by environmental exposures. This program will consider both animal model studies and human-based studies that leverage existing cohorts and biorepositories. Proposals are limited to $300,000 direct costs/year for 5 years.
Application due date: 12/6/2019
*New NIH: Environmental Risks for Psychiatric Disorders: Biological Basis of Pathophysiology (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences looks to stimulate research to understand the biological basis by which environmental exposures alter brain and behavioral functioning to increase risk for psychiatric disorders with onset in late-childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. A range of approaches are encouraged, from mechanistic experiments using whole organism models or in vitro and in vivo systems to human studies that add new data collection activities and/or make use of extant data or biospecimens. Investigations that further advance our understanding of the joint contribution of genes and environment in the risk for psychiatric disorders are welcomed. Application budgets are limited to $400,000 direct cost/year, and a maximum project period of 5 years. For smaller exploratory studies, there is an R21 sister funding announcement, PAR-19-385 (https://grants.nih.gov/
Application due dates: 12/10/2019, 11/16/2020, 11/16/2021
*New 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
NIH/FDA: Tobacco Regulatory Science (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
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
*New 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
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.
