Funding Opportunities

Please see below for a curated list of upcoming funding opportunities. The Center for Social Science Scholarship and the Maryland Institute for Policy, Analysis, and Research (MIPAR) assist faculty members and departments in finding funding opportunities and in providing researchers with pre-award and post-grant management assistance. To set up an appointment, email socialscience@umbc.edu. 

Via our partnership with Hanover Research, also please open this link for a grants calendar that provides a list of upcoming funding opportunities, especially geared for early career researchers.

Sloan Fellowship on Aging (Harvard) 
Deadline: December 2, 2019 

The Sloan Fellowship on Aging and Work is a two-year, interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship that addresses the challenges of aging societies and labor force participation in the U.S. The HCPDS is able to offer this program thanks to generous funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
For more information. 

NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science Technology Integration (OSTI)
Deadline: December 6, 2019 

NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) is soliciting research proposals to support NOAA’s development of the community-based, coupled, comprehensive earth modeling system, the Unified Forecast System. The UFS is designed to provide more accurate forecast guidance through operational numerical weather prediction applications. These applications span local and global domains, and predictive time scales from sub-hourly to seasonal.
For more information. 

Humanities Center Fellowship (University of Rochester)  
Deadline: December 10, 2019 

Applicants’ proposals must address the theme of "Translation and Transformation." Projects might address:  the meanings and uses arising from the communication of a written text in a language or format other than the one it which it originated; the theory and politics of translation in its cultural and social dimensions, including issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and religion; art, film, dance, and music in relation to literary works and historical events; the popularization of science and humanistic thought; the role of the translator; the publication and marketing of translated texts; the transformative nature of digital media; the adaptation or persistence of beliefs and practices as a consequence of cultural encounters; and similar matters. Applicants may be in any field of humanistic study, including anthropology, art and art history, classics, English, history, modern languages and cultures, music, philosophy, or religion.
For more information. 

U.S. Embassy Buenos Aires PAS Annual Program (State Department)
Deadline: December 31, 2019 

The U.S. Embassy Argentina Public Affairs Section (PAS) announces the availability of funding through its Public Diplomacy Grants Program. This Annual Program Statement outlines funding priorities, strategic themes, and procedures for submitting requests for funding.The Grants Program supports projects proposed by U.S. and Argentine academic, cultural, educational, and other non-profit organizations and/or individuals that fulfill U.S. Embassy goals and objectives: to promote economic prosperity and security through academic and cultural initiatives seeking to increase understanding between U.S. and Argentine people and institutions. 
For more information. 

Environmental Education (EPA) 
Deadline: January 6, 2020 

Under the Environmental Education Grants Program, EPA seeks grant applications from eligible applicants to support environmental education projects that promote environmental awareness and stewardship and help provide people with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. This grant program provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques.
For more information. 

ACLS American Council of Learned Societies Digital Extension Grants
Deadline: January 8, 2020 

ACLS invites applications for ACLS Digital Extension Grants, which are made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This program supports digitally based research projects in all disciplines of the humanities and related social sciences. It is hoped that these grants will help advance humanistic scholarship by enhancing established digital projects, extending their reach to new communities of users, and supporting teams of scholars at all career stages as they participate in digital research projects.
For more information. 

Campus Cyberinfrastructure (NSF)
Deadline: January 21, 2020 

The Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program invests in coordinated campus-level networking and cyberinfrastructure improvements, innovation, integration, and engineering for science applications and distributed research projects. Learning and workforce development in cyberinfrastructure is explicitly addressed in the program. Science-driven requirements are the primary motivation for any proposed activity.
For more information. 

National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes, Accelerating Research, Transforming Society, and Growing the American Workforce (NSF)
Deadline: January 28, 2020 

Artificial Intelligence has advanced tremendously and today 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 datasets and streaming data, and algorithmic advances in machine learning have made it possible for AI development to create new sectors of the economy and revitalize industries. Continued advancement, enabled by sustained federal investment and channeled toward issues of national importance, holds the potential for further economic impact and quality-of-life improvements. To support this research area, the NSF is funding two tracks. (1) The Planning Track will support planning grants for durations of up to two years, and for up to a total of $500,000 to enable teams to develop communities and capacity for full Institute operations through diverse and sustained activities. (2) The Institute Track will support cooperative agreements of between $16 million and $20 million for between four and five years (up to $4 million per year). Institute proposals must convey clear and concrete plans for foundational AI research, use-inspired motivation and technology transition opportunities, the education and workforce development activities to be undertaken, and plans for multidisciplinary research community building appropriate to the proposed Institute's vision and mission. NSF plans to make 1-6 Institute Awards and approximately 8 Planning Grants.
For more information. 

Butler-Williams Scholars Program for Faculty (NIH) 
Deadline: February 14, 2020 

The 2020 Butler-Williams Scholars Program (formerly the Summer Institute on Aging Research) includes lectures, seminars, and small group discussions in research design relative to aging, including issues relevant to aging of ethnic and racial minorities. Lectures will cover topics in research on aging, including: the biology of aging; genetics and Alzheimer's disease; and health, behavior, and aging. Discussion sessions will focus on methodological approaches and interventions. The program also will include consultation on the development of research interests and advice on preparing and submitting research grant applications to NIA.
For more information. 

Building Capacity in STEM Education (NSF)
Deadline: June 5, 2020 

ECR’s Building Capacity for STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) solicitation supports projects that build individuals’ capacity to carry out high quality STEM education research that will enhance the nation’s STEM education enterprise and broaden the pool of researchers that can conduct fundamental research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development. Specifically, ECR: BCSER supports activities that enable early and mid-career researchers to acquire the requisite expertise and skills to conduct rigorous fundamental research in STEM education. ECR: BCSER seeks to fund research career development activities on topics that are relevant to qualitative and quantitative research methods and design, including the collection and analysis of new qualitative or quantitative data, secondary analyses using extant datasets, or meta-analyses.
For more information. 

Evidence for Action (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) 
Deadline: April 2, 2019 

Evidence for Action (E4A), a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), funds research that expands the evidence needed to build a Culture of Health. A Culture of Health is broadly defined as one in which good health and well-being flourish across geographic, demographic, and social sectors; public and private decision-making is guided by the goal of fostering equitable communities; and everyone has the opportunity to make choices that lead to healthy lifestyles. RWJF’s Culture of Health Action Framework, which was developed to catalyze a national movement toward improved health, well-being, and equity, guides E4A’s program strategy.
For more information. 

And please don't miss out on these Internal Opportunities:  

Translational Research with UMBC-ICTR
UMBC is pleased to announce a joint funding opportunity in partnership with the University of Maryland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR).
The Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) Grant Program provides starter funds for projects specifically focused on innovative, translational research that involves faculty from the UMB Schools, UMBC, and collaborative partners.

• A Letter of Intent(LOI) is due on Monday, December 23, 2019 by 5:00 pm

• The Application Deadline is Monday, January 6, 2020 by 5:00 pm

• Budget - up to $50,000 in direct cost.

• The Funding Period will be for 12 months from May 1, 2020 to April 31, 2021

  • Awardees will be announced in April 2020

  • No-cost extensions or carry-overs are not permitted.

• UMBC applicants must have a UMB Co-PI collaborator

For further details on this funding opportunity please see the Call for Proposals.

Strategic Awards for Research Transitions (START)
Deadline: Friday, February 14, 2020 at 11:59pm

Competed annually, UMBC's START awards provide up to $25,000 in research funding for faculty members who will use these funds to better position themselves for further scholarly work that is not internally funded. To that end, priority is given to untenured, tenure track faculty members still establishing themselves, to tenured faculty members who are re-establishing themselves after interruptions, and to tenured faculty members entering new areas dependent on interdisciplinary collaboration.

Summer Research Faculty Fellowship (SURFF)
Deadline: Friday, February 21, 2020 at 11:59pm

Also competed annually, the SURFF program provides $6,000 in summer salary to early-career faculty members who would benefit from the opportunityto focus on establishing their scholarly independence.

Please email any questions related to these programs to Dr. Don Engel, Assistant Vice President for Research, at donengel@umbc.edu.