Other Funding Opportunities

Researchers looking for funding opportunities can find Penn State limited submission listings as well as occasional calls and announcements from outside of the University. 

Upcoming Opportunities

Institute for Computational and Data Sciences Seed Grant 2024-2025

The Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) Seed Grant Program fosters innovative data- and computation-enabled research. The ICDS seed grant program encourages interdisciplinary research groups to develop competitive proposals for substantial external funding to tackle complex problems. For the purposes of this solicitation, proposals may include single-investigator or multi-investigator projects. We especially encourage proposals that bring together junior and senior faculty, or faculty from multiple academic units/colleges to lay the groundwork for ambitious interdisciplinary projects. Proposals with substantial overlap with projects that are already funded through external grants or other Penn State seed grant programs are ineligible for funding through this solicitation. However, proposals to bridge funding for projects that have been favorably reviewed but require compute or RISE engineering involvement in order to meet reviewer comments will be considered as long as the funding approval depends upon providing additional figures or analysis.

Internal Submission Deadline: Friday, March 29, 2024 at 5:00 pm

https://psu.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1931769

Nathan Cummings Foundation: Open Call for Letters of Inquiry

NCF has an open call for funding proposals, or Letters of Inquiry (LOIs), from January 16, 2024 through April 30, 2024. We are offering two types of funding opportunities: grants and program-related investments (PRIs). Both grant and PRI proposals must align with NCF’s interconnected goals of racial justice, economic justice, and/or environmental justice. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. All applicants will be notified about the status of their application within eight weeks of submission.

Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, April 17, 2024

https://psu.infoready4.com/CompetitionSpace/#competitionDetail/1929286

Environmental Research and Education Foundation: pre-proposal General RFP

Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF) is an IRS 501(c)3 non-profit organization and is one of the largest sources of funding for solid waste research in North America. The EREF Board of Directors has set an initiative to ensure research funded reflects EREF’s long-term strategic plan to address all areas of integrated solid waste management, with a strong focus towards research that increased sustainable solid waste management practices.

Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, April 22, 2024

https://psu.infoready4.com/CompetitionSpace/#competitionDetail/1915334

United Engineering Foundation: Grants Program

All funding for the grants comes from endowment earnings. The UEF gives between 5 – 10 grants per year totaling nearly $800,000.

UEF provides funding to proposals and programs whose chief purpose is to advance engineering for the welfare of humanity. Proposals must be consistent with the mission of UEF and priorities for giving, which include programs that focus on the following areas:

  • Diversity
  • K-12 Education
  • Engineering Ethics, Safety, Security and Leadership

Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, April 22, 2024

https://psu.infoready4.com/CompetitionSpace/#competitionDetail/1931141

Coastal Ecosystems Climate Resilience Request for Applications (RFA)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, aims to promote scientific progress towards the understanding of coastal ecosystem resilience by seeking applications proposing research to 1) characterize, quantify, and define indicators or metrics of resilience for various types of coastal ecosystems, especially those ecosystems that have climate mitigation and adaptation and/or blue (ocean-stored) carbon sequestration potential (Lovelock and Duarte, 2019); and 2) develop methods and approaches to advance economic valuation of resilience benefits provided by coastal ecosystems.

Deadline: May 1, 2024

https://www.epa.gov/research-grants/coastal-ecosystems-climate-resilience-request-applications-rfa

Penn State Inter-Institutional Partnerships for Diversifying Research

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences in collaboration with the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), Materials Research Institute (MRI), the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE), the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS), the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and the Cancer Institute (CU), is offering a new interdisciplinary seed grant program aimed at developing new or leveraging existent strategic partnerships and alliances with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The goal of the seed grant program is to perform collaborative work that advances research development capability as well as student and faculty training needed to support such research collaborations.

Internal Submission Deadline: Friday, May 10, 2024

https://psu.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1930143

Dear Colleague Letter: Research Collaboration Opportunity in Europe for NSF Recipients

This letter invites current NSF recipients to submit supplemental funding requests for research visits to any identified, appropriate ERC-funded European research group. NSF particularly encourages requests from NSF funded researchers who are early in their careers or who are still actively building their careers. Further, the letter gives instructions on how to submit supplemental funding requests and other relevant policies and requirements.

Deadline: May 17, 2024

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2024/nsf24053/nsf24053.jsp

Neurobiology in Changing Ecosystems (NiCE) (NSF 24-044)

Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie neural, physiological, and behavioral responses to anthropogenic environmental change is of vital importance in today's rapidly evolving world. The nervous system serves as an interface between an organism and its environment, and through it, perceives, responds, and adapts to change. Anthropogenic stressors such as noise pollution, ocean acidification, chemical pollution, temperature fluctuation and other human-generated environmental perturbations pose severe threats to organisms, thereby affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, September 30, 2024 at 4:00 pm

https://psu.infoready4.com/CompetitionSpace/#competitionDetail/1930966

XPRIZE Foundation Healthspan

XPRIZE Healthspan is a 7-year, $101M global competition announced in December 2023 and ending in 2030, to revolutionize the way we approach aging. People around the world are living longer, but not necessarily in better health. To tackle this challenge, competing teams will develop and test therapeutic target biological aging to improve function and extend healthy life. This globally collaborative effort will bring together scientists, clinicians, policymakers, industry experts and non-governmental agencies to drive new science and create a future where healthy aging is made possible for all.

Internal Submission Deadline: Thursday, October 31, 2024

https://psu.infoready4.com/CompetitionSpace/#competitionDetail/1925105

XPrize Foundation Revolutionizing Desalinization for Global Water Use

XPRIZE Water Scarcity is a 5-year global competition set to drive a step change in desalination technologies - reimagining systems, methods, and materials. Thereby facilitating the widespread use of desalination in a manner that supports greater socio-economic equity and environmental sustainability.

This competition will address issues across desalination and water scarcity in three ways:

  1. through encouraging new desalination systems to be more robust, affordable, and sustainable;
  2. by supporting novel membrane materials to make existing desalination more robust, affordable, and sustainable; and
  3. by exciting innovators across the globe to get involved in developing public perception campaigns to address water scarcity from a broader perspective.

Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, January 6, 2025

https://psu.infoready4.com/CompetitionSpace/#competitionDetail/1933862