Grant Support - Funding Opportunities by Category

• Junior Faculty & New Investigator Programs
• Student and Postdoctorate Support
• Instrument Development & Acquisition
  

Junior Faculty & New Investigators

DARPA Computer Science Study Group (CSSG)
Award Amount: ~$100,000 Phase 1; ~$500,000 Phase 2; ~$250,000 Phase 3
Award Duration: 3-4 years for all 3 phases
Application Deadline: August 11, 2008 (Early submission is strongly encouraged, as proposals will be reviewed as they are received.)

Eligibility: Participants should be no more than seven years beyond receiving a doctoral degree.

DARPA is seeking interested participants to join in the Computer Science Study Group (CSSG). The objective of the CSSG is to rapidly identify ideas in the field of computer science that will provide revolutionary advances to the Department of Defense (DoD). This opportunity is for selection to participate in Phase I of the program.

Phase I consists of both a series of briefings and visits to a variety of military sites and facilities over the course of a 12-month period, as well as individual research programs.

Phase II consists of a 12 to 24-month research effort that leverages Phase I experiences and research. Phase II proposals will support revolutionary ideas for fundamental research in the broad computer science field to provide capabilities relevant to the DoD mission.

Phase III consists of a 12-month research effort that leverages the Phase II results.

Technologies of Interest: The following list not exhaustive. A successful participant may well have research interests in other areas. See RA for descriptions of each of these technologies.
- Bio-inspired Exploitation Systems
- Biometrics
- Cognitive Unifying Exploitation Theory
- Complexity Theory
- Computational Mapping and Terrain Visualization
- Computer Graphics
- Computer Vision
- Detecting Deviations from Normalcy
- Information Accessibility, Integration, and Management
- Machine Learning
- Network Management and Modeling
- Novel Sensing and Information Gathering
- Pattern Recognition
- Programming Languages
- Reasoning with Uncertainty
- Smart Surveillance Systems
- Software Engineering
- Computational Epidemiology

NIH NIDCD Small Grant Program (R03)
Division: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Award Amount: Up to $100K/year
Award Duration: 3 years
Proposal Deadline: June 27, 2008

The NIDCD Small Grant Program is intended to support basic and clinical research of scientists who are in the early stages of establishing an independent research career. It cannot be used for thesis or dissertation research. The research must be focused on one or more of the areas within the biomedical and behavioral scientific mission of the NIDCD: hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, or language.

NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program
Division: Multiple
Award Amount: $400K (minimum)
Award Duration: 5 years
Proposal Deadline: July 22, 2008 (BIO, CISE, EHR); July 23, 2008 (ENG); July 24, 2008 (GEO, MPS, SBE, OPP)

CAREER awards are for faculty members beginning their independent careers. The intent of the program is to provide stable support at a sufficient level and duration to enable awardees to develop careers as outstanding researchers and educators who effectively integrate teaching, learning and discovery. Successful PIs will propose creative, integrative and effective research and education plans, developed within the context of the mission, goals and resources of their organizations, and which will build a firm foundation for a lifetime of contributions to research, education and their integration.

Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program (YIP)
Award Amount: $100K/yr
Award Duration: 3 years
Proposal Deadline: July 22, 2008

Eligibility
- Must have received Ph.D. within the last five years (May 2003).
- Must engage in research that the Air Force is interested in (see below)

Synopsis
AFOSR's YIP supports scientists and engineers who have received a Ph.D. or equivalent degrees in the last five years, and show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The objective of this program is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigator to recognize the Air Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering.

Research Areas

• Aerospace, Chemical and Material Sciences Directorate:
  Boundary Layers and Hypersonics
  Ceramic and Nonmetallic Materials
  Combustion and Diagnostics
  Mechanics of Multifunctional Materials and Microsystems
  Metallic Materials, Capt. Brett Conner
  Molecular Dynamics
  Organic Materials Chemistry
  Polymer Matrix Composites
  Space Power and Propulsion
  Structural Mechanics
  Surface and Interfacial Science
  Theoretical Chemistry
  Unsteady and Rotating Flows
• Mathematics, Information and Life Sciences Directorate:
  Biological Response Profiling and Assessment
  Biomimetics, Biomaterials, and Biointerfacial Sciences
  Biophysical Mechanisms
  Chronobiology
  Cognition & Decision
  Computational Mathematics
  Distributed Intelligence
  Dynamics and Control
  Information Fusion
  Optimization and Discrete Mathematics
  Sensory Systems
  Socio-Cultural Modeling
  Software and Systems
• Physics and Electronics Directorate:
  Atomic and Molecular Physics
  ElectroEnergetic Physics
  Electromagnetics
  Electronic and Photonic Materials
  Electronic Devices and Multimodal Sensing Concepts
  High Density Optical Memory
  Laser and Optical Physics
  Optoelectronics - Components and Information Processing
  Physical Mathematics and Applied Analysis
  Quantum Electronic Solids
  Remote Sensing and Imaging Physics
  Sensing, Surveillance and Navigation
  Sensors in the Space Environment
  Space Sciences
  University NanoSatellites

HHMI 2009 Early Career Scientist Competition
Award Amount: Various by year (salary + $150,000, $200,000, and $250,000 per year, for the first 3 years. In the final three years, the laboratory budget will be $300,000 per year)
Award Duration: 6 years
Proposal Deadline: The deadline for submitting an intent to apply is April 30, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. (EDT). Only those who have submitted an intent to apply will be able to submit an application. The deadline for submitting applications is June 10, 2008, at 3:00 p.m. (EDT).

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is conducting a national competition in order to identify the nation's best biomedical scientists at a critical early stage of their faculty careers, and to provide them with flexible funding to develop scientific programs of exceptional merit. HHMI seeks scientists in all areas of basic biological and biomedical research, and in areas of chemistry, physics, computer science, and engineering that are directly related to biology or medicine.

Eligibility
- Must have between two and six years of experience since first appointed as an assistant professor or
equivalent position. To meet this requirement, the applicant’s first faculty position as assistant
professor must have begun no earlier than June 1, 2002, and no later than September 1, 2006
- May not hold more than one early career award (for example, the NIH Director’s New Innovator
Award, the NSF CAREER Award, or an early career award from a foundation).
- Must be able to devote a minimum of 75 percent of total effort to the direct conduct of
research.
- Must be engaged in research in one of the areas noted above.

Application Requirements
- A cv, a complete bibliography, and a list of current research support.
- A summary of the applicant’s major achievements (not more than 250 words; ~1/3 page)
- A summary of the main research directions that this appointment would enable (not more than
250 words; ~1/3 page)
- A summary of the applicant’s ongoing and planned research program (not more than 3,000
words; ~4-6 pages of text)
- PDF files of five selected publications that document the applicant’s most important scientific
contributions and a paragraph summarizing the importance of each publication.

Student and Postdoctorate Support

NIH Bridges to the Doctorate Program (R25)
Proposal Deadlines: September 18, 2008; January 22, 2009
Award Amount: TBD ($12M available per year for 6-9 awards)
Award Duration: Up to 5 years

The Bridges to the Future Program (Bridges to Baccalaureate and Bridges to Doctorate) responds to the national need for increasing the number of well-trained minority scientists in the fields of biomedical, clinical, behavioral and health services research. The program provides funding opportunities to: a) increase the transfer rates of students from targeted groups/populations from associate to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions and from master’s to doctoral degree- granting institutions; and b) increase the graduation rates of these transfer students with baccalaureate and Ph.D. degrees, respectively, in biomedical and behavioral sciences.

NOTE: NIGMS will conduct a Technical Assistance Workshop for Bridges to the Doctorate Program Directors, potential Program Directors, and others who have an interest in and intend to submit a new, revised or renewal application for Bridges to the Doctorate program. The workshop is scheduled for Friday, July 25, 2008 from 8:30 am-4:00 pm in Bethesda, MD.

NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (DDIG)
Directorate: Directorate for Biological Sciences
Division(s): Division of Environmental Biology; Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (Behavioral Systems Cluster)
Award Amount: up to $15,000
Award Duration: up to 2 years
Proposal Deadline: November 21, 2008

The National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants in Environmental Biology and Behavioral Systems provide partial support of doctoral dissertation research to improve the overall quality of research. Allowed are costs for doctoral candidates to participate in scientific meetings, to conduct research in specialized facilities or field settings, and to expand an existing body of dissertation research.

Instrument Development & Acquisition

NSF Instrument Development for Biological Research (IDBR)
Directorate: BIO
Award Amount: NA
Award Duration: up to 4 years
Proposal Deadline: September 5, 2008

The Instrument Development for Biological Research (IDBR) Program supports the development of novel instrumentation or instrumentation that has been significantly improved by at least an order of magnitude or more in fundamental aspects. Supported instruments are expected to have a significant impact on the study of biological systems at any level.

Examples of the type of development supported by the IDBR:

• New instrumentation that addresses emerging biological research needs with the capacity to transform biological research
• Novel instrument configurations (hybrids, etc.) that demonstrably address a fundamental biological research challenge
• Instrumentation that leverages advances in micro- and nano- fabrication and device design to provide new capabilities in measurement and observation of biological phenomena
• Concept and proof-of-concept of novel instruments for biological research
• New instruments that provide new capabilities for detection, measurement, and/or observation of biological phenomena, or that greatly extend currently achievable sensitivity, accuracy or resolution
• Sensors that meet emerging biological research needs and that have the potential to transform biological research at any level of organization
• Data acquisition and analysis tools that, through the development of novel devices/instruments, meet biological research needs

DoD Fiscal Year 2009 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP)
Award Amount: $50,000-$1,000,000
Award Duration: 2 years
Proposal Deadline: August 26, 2008 @ 4pm EDT

This announcement seeks proposals to purchase instrumentation in support of research areas of interest to the DoD. DURIP funds will be used for the acquisition of major equipment to augment current or develop new research capabilities. Individual proposals may request funding for more than one item of equipment if the requested items of equipment comprise a “system” that is used for a common research purpose.