Funding for New Faculty

These programs are intended for late postdoctoral investigators and new faculty, usually those at or below the rank of Assistant Professor. Consult each program’s web page for more information and actual deadlines. Find more opportunities by using Pivot and selecting “New Faculty/New Investigator” under “Requirements,” or by using Grant Forward and searching for “new faculty,” “new investigator,” or similar terms.

Department of Defense

Young Investigator Program, Office of Naval Research
Deadline: early January
Synopsis: ONR’s Young Investigator Program (YIP) seeks to identify and support academic scientists and engineers who are in their first or second full-time tenure-track or tenure-track-equivalent academic appointment and for FY2013, have begun their first appointment on or after 01 November 2007, and who show exceptional promise for doing creative research. The objectives are to attract outstanding faculty members to the Department of the Navy’s research program, to support their research, and to encourage their teaching and research careers. Proposals may request up to $170,000 per year for three years.

Young Investigator Program, Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Deadline: July or August
Synopsis: The Air Force YIP supports scientists and engineers who have received 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. Each award will be funded at the $120,000 level for three years. Exceptional proposals will be considered individually for higher funding levels and longer duration.

Broad Agency Announcement — Young Investigator Program, Army Research Office
Deadline: open
Synopsis: The ARO Young Investigator Program is included in the ARO Section of the ARL Core Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied Scientific Research. The objective of the YIP is to attract to Army research outstanding young university faculty members, to support their research, and to encourage their teaching and research careers. This program is open to U.S. citizens, Nationals, and resident aliens holding tenure-track positions at U.S. universities and colleges, who have held their graduate degrees (Ph.D. or equivalent) for fewer than five years at the time of application. YIP awards are up to $50,000 per year for three years.

Young Faculty Award, DARPA
Deadline: January
Synopsis: The objective of the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) program is to identify and engage rising research stars in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and expose them to Department of Defense needs as well as DARPA’s program development process. The YFA program provides funding, mentoring, and industry and DoD contacts to awardees early in their careers so they may develop their research ideas in the context of DoD needs. The program focuses on untenured faculty, emphasizing those without prior DARPA funding. The long-term goal is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers and mathematicians in key disciplines who will focus a significant portion of their career on DoD and national security issues.

New Investigator Awards, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
Deadline: varies by program
Synopsis: Funding program areas vary and may include: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Autism, Bone Marrow Failure, Breast Cancer, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Genetic Studies of Food Allergies, Gulf War Illness, Lung Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Neurofibromatosis, Ovarian Cancer, Peer Reviewed Cancer, Peer Reviewed Medical, Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic, Prostate Cancer, Psychological Health/Traumatic Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. Some of these program areas, such as Peer Reviewed Cancer, Prostate Cancer, and Traumatic Brain Injury have included New Investigator Awards.

Department of Energy

Early Career Research Program, Office of Science
Deadline: September for required preapplication, November for application
Synopsis: Supports the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulates research careers in the disciplines supported by the DOE Office of Science: Advanced Scientific Computing Research; Biological and Environmental Research; Basic Energy Sciences, Fusion Energy Sciences; High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics. Applicants must be no more than ten years beyond the Ph.D. at the deadline for the application.

National Institutes of Health

New and Early Stage Investigator Policies, NIH

In general, a Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) is considered a New Investigator if he/she has not previously competed successfully as PD/PI for a substantial NIH independent research award. In order to address both the duration of training and to protect the flux of new investigators, the NIH announced a new policy in fiscal year 2009 involving the identification of Early Stage Investigators. ESIs are New Investigators who are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or within 10 years of completing their medical residency at the time they apply for R01 grants. The NIH New and Early Stage Investigatorpage includes:

National Science Foundation

Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, NSF
Deadline: July
Synopsis: 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. The minimum CAREER award size is $400,000 for a five-year period except for the Directorate of Biological Sciences (BIO) or the Office of Polar Programs (OPP). For proposals submitted to BIO or OPP, the minimum award size is $500,000 over five years.

Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering (BRIGE), NSF Directorate for Engineering
Deadline: January
Synopsis: ENG offers this BRIGE funding opportunity to all beginning engineers with the intent of increasing the diversity of researchers in the engineering disciplines. BRIGE aims to support innovative research and diversity plans that contribute to recruiting and retaining a broad representation of engineering researchers especially those from groups that are underrepresented in the engineering population.

Ocean Sciences Research Initiation Grants (OCE-RIG), NSF Division of Ocean Sciences
Deadline: January
Synopsis: OCE offers Research Initiation Grants in an effort to increase the participation of under-represented groups in the ocean sciences. Grants provide start-up funding for researchers who have been recently appointed to tenure track (or equivalent) positions