NSF releases $1.5 billion for foundational research

On August 17, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) released $1.5 billion in competitive funding. See the press release: NSF announces $1.5B for foundational research to drive scientific breakthroughs for American technological leadership.

These funding opportunities are aligned with the memo: Ushering in a New Golden Age of American Innovation: Fiscal Year 2028 Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities.

Several of the opportunities update core programs to match NSF’s reorganization. The press release also notes that the solicitations “complement NSF’s announcement last winter that the agency is piloting changes to the merit review process, including new mechanisms to surface unconventional proposals that may not advance through traditional consensus-driven review panels. Early-career researchers are especially encouraged to apply across funding opportunities.”

Several of the opportunities include five-year funding options, for example, an ENG directorate posting states, “Where longer awards would benefit the pursuit of ambitious, transformative research and reduce administrative burden on investigators, NSF encourages proposals requesting up to five years of support.”

Please review the opportunities below and reach out to the Proposal Development Office (PDO) with questions and assistance in tailoring proposals.

Opportunities include:

Directorate for Engineering (ENG):  

• Engineering (ENG): Chemical, Bioengineering, Energy, and Transport Systems (CBET)
  • The Chemical Process Systems (CPS) program supports foundational engineering research in chemical and biochemical processes for chemicals, fuels, energy and materials.  
  • The Engineering Biological and Biomedical Systems (EBBS) program supports foundational engineering research on platforms, devices, organisms, tissues and processes that advance knowledge and control of biological functions.   
  • The Energy, Water, and Resource Engineering (EWRE) program supports foundational engineering research to manage energy, water, minerals and material resources.  
  • The Transport Phenomena (TP) program supports foundational engineering research to understand, model and control the transport of mass, momentum, energy and species across multiple scales.  
• Engineering (ENG): Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)
  • The Advanced Manufacturing, Design, and Operations (AMDO) program supports foundational research on advanced manufacturing, materials and service processes; their integration into facilities, supply chains and other systems; and optimal operation and design of these systems. 
  • The Engineering for the Built Environment (EBE) program supports foundational research on civil infrastructure and civil infrastructure systems, from materials to network sciences, for prosperous, resilient and safe communities. 
  • The Intelligent and Interactive Dynamic Systems (IIDS) program supports foundational research to advance the science and engineering of intelligent dynamic systems, including engineered systems that interact with people.  
  • The Mechanics of Advanced Materials Systems (MAMS) program supports foundational research on deformation and failure in engineered and biological materials.  
• Engineering (ENG): Electrical, Communications, and Computing Systems (ECCS)  
  • The Electronic, Photonic, Magnetic, and Quantum Devices (EPMQD) program supports foundational engineering research on novel classical and quantum devices, exploring matter’s electronic, photonic, and magnetic properties to enable new applications.
  • The Circuits and Systems for Communications and Sensing (CSCS) program supports foundational engineering research on classical and quantum aspects of advanced components, systems, and signal processing for communications and sensing. 
  • The Energy, Power, Control, and Learning (EPCL) program supports foundational research on systems and control, learning, optimization, artificial intelligence, and networked multi-agent systems, and their applications, with emphasis on power and energy systems. 
• Emerging Frontiers in Research and Communication (EFRI-2026/27): Wave-Based Computing (EFRI-WBC)
  • The EFRI-WBC supports foundational and transformative research to advance the development of computing approaches that harness the principles of wave dynamics. The EFRI WBC supports two tracks:  
    • Track 1: Exploratory approaches may be funded through EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) awards.
    • Track 2: Larger, multidisciplinary projects may be funded through four-year awards of up to $2 million.

Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE): 

• Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) 
  • Investigators are strongly encouraged to come together within or across departments or institutions to identify compelling, transformative research agendas that look ahead by at least a decade and promise disruptive innovations in computer and information science and engineering. Expeditions may advance a range of areas, including fundamentally new architectures for intelligence and the hardware and compute substrates that make them possible; rigorous physical and mathematical theories of how systems learn, generalize and can be interpreted; neuroscience-inspired approaches to learning, memory, reasoning and behavioral steering; intelligence embodied in the physical world through general physical intelligence, advanced robotics hardware, and novel architectures and learning paradigms for embodied systems; transformative approaches to next-generation communication and networking; and high-risk, high-reward areas that no single discipline could pursue alone.

Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS): 

• MPS Astronomical Sciences Research Programs (MPS Astro)
  • The NSF MPS supports foundational astronomical sciences research and instrumentation focused on exploring space and advancing fundamental understanding of the universe. 
• MPS Chemistry Research Programs (MPS Chem)
  • The NSF MPS supports foundational research through multiple programs in the chemical sciences including catalysis; measurement and imaging; mechanism, function and properties; structure and dynamics; synthesis; systems and solutions; theory, models and computational methods; chemistry of life processes; and macromolecular, supramolecular and nanochemistry. 
• MPS Materials Research Programs (MPS Materials)
  • The NSF MPS supports multiple materials research programs that advance fundamental understanding of materials, their properties and their potential applications including biomaterials; ceramics; condensed matter and materials theory; condensed matter physics; electronic and photonic materials; metals and metallic nanostructures; polymers; and solid state and materials chemistry. 
• MPS Mathematical Sciences Research Programs (MPS MathSci)  
  • The NSF MPS supports multiple research programs at the frontiers of discovery in theoretical and applied mathematical sciences. 
• MPS Physics Research Programs (MPS Physics)
  • The NSF MPS supports multiple research programs at the frontiers of discovery in physics to enable understanding of the fundamental aspects of nature at all scales, from the quantum effects inside atoms to the mysterious dark energy spanning the entire universe.  

• Core Research in Biological Sciences (BIO Core)
  • The BIO Core supports foundational and interdisciplinary research projects that expand knowledge of biology at any level of organization, from the molecular to the biome scale. NSF accepts proposals that cover scientific topics associated with legacy programs historically supported by NSF BIO and proposals that explore new areas of biological sciences.

• Geosciences Research: Atmospheric, Geospace, Earth, and Ocean Sciences (GEO Core)
  • The GEO Core supports foundational research projects that advance the frontiers of knowledge across all areas of the geosciences. This solicitation calls for proposals in three programs: Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) Program; Earth Sciences (EAR) Program; and Ocean Sciences (OCE) Program. Projects may focus on foundational research in a specific domain or cover multiple disciplines.

Thank you for partnering with us to respond to these competitive research opportunities.