Our editorial team is keeping abreast of the current status of federally funded opportunities. Such opportunities advertised here, to our knowledge at time of publication, are active. However, please continue to check solicitation websites for updates to U.S. Government opportunities of interest.

What is a Limited Submission?

A limited submission solicitation places a cap on the number of proposals Auburn may submit to a sponsor. Auburn coordinates limited submissions with notifications via this newsletter and competitions created in the Auburn University Competition Space (InfoReady). To apply to any limited submission posted in this newsletter, click on the link within the announcement. Please refer to the Limited Submission Procedures page for a general list of requirements.

Found a Limited Submission opportunity that interests you?

If so, please contact the PSFS office sooner than later so that an internal competition can be created for a timely, university-wide, fair and equitable selection process that allows for ample time for review, feedback and revisions.

NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: Focused EPSCoR Collaborations (FEC)

The FEC program (formerly known as "EPSCoR Track-2 program") builds inter-jurisdictional collaborative teams of EPSCoR investigators in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) focus areas consistent with the current National Science Foundation Strategic Plan. Projects are investigator-driven and must include researchers from at least two EPSCoR eligible jurisdictions with complementary expertise and resources necessary to address challenges, which neither party could address as well or as rapidly independently. FEC projects have a comprehensive and integrated vision to drive discovery and build sustainable STEM capacity that exemplifies institutional, geographic, and disciplinary diversity.

The projects' STEM research and education activities seek to broaden participation through the strategic inclusion and integration of all individuals, institutions, and sectors. Additionally, EPSCoR recognizes that the development of early-career faculty is critical to sustaining and advancing research capacity. Proposals that address the national key critical and emerging technologies or NSF key technology focus areas are particularly encouraged.

Focus Area: "Building capacity towards use-inspired research"

Institutional Limit: One (1) Proposal

Internal Due Date: October 1, 2025, 4:45pm

Funder LOI Due: December 17, 2025, 5:00pm CT

Funding Opportunities

Society for the Humanities at Cornell: 2026-27 Fellowships

The Society for the Humanities at Cornell University seeks fellows for year-long residential fellowships who are conducting interdisciplinary research projects exploring the literary, historical, ethical, and political registers of survival. 

We invite humanistic research that engages or critiques the idea of survival. From environmental challenges (hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, famine, and rising sea levels) to political landscapes (wars, military action, regime change), we invite research that considers survival through questions of poetics, aesthetics, ethics, history, or biopolitics.  We welcome projects that collectively press us to confront the survival of care, creativity, freedom, prosperity, and knowledge. 

Proposals Due: September 22, 2025, 11:59pm ET

The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood

The Foundation is an R & D incubator of promising research and projects likely to improve the welfare (i.e. support, acculturation, societal integration and childcare) of young children, from infancy through 7 years in the United States. The Foundation’s goal is to provide seed money to implement those imaginative proposals that exhibit the greatest chance of improving the lives of young children, on a national scale.

The Foundation provides funding in the following areas:

• Parenting Education
• Early Childhood Welfare
• Early Childhood Education & Play

LOIs Due: September 30, 2025

Parkinson's Foundation

Launch Award

The Launch Award seeks to support postdoctoral researchers transitioning to independent careers in Parkinson’s disease research. At the end of the funding period, it is expected that awardees will become independent research group leaders with their own research space and research team. Combines mentored training (1-2 years) with independent research (2-3 years), fostering innovative programs and preparing awardees to lead research teams and establish independent laboratories.

LOIs Due: October 29, 2025

***

Impact Award

The Impact Award seeks "outside the box" projects with the goal of bringing new light to the biology of Parkinson’s disease (PD), a new approach to PD research, or testing a truly novel therapeutic idea. Projects should be based on groundbreaking or unconventional ideas that are unlikely to be funded through more traditional funding mechanisms. Both established researchers and newcomers to PD research are encouraged to apply.

LOIs Due: October 10, 2025

NSF: Geosciences Open Science Ecosystem, Track 2

The Geosciences Open Science Ecosystem (GEO OSE) encourages efforts to foster the adoption of open, inclusive, and equitable scientific practices across geoscience domains. The program supports development of innovative open science approaches that advance geosciences research and education through leveraging expanding information resources and computing capabilities. The program also supports initiatives to strengthen the capacity of current and future geoscientists to access, utilize, and collaborate within the growing ecosystem of open science resources.

Track 2: These awards target larger-scale activities aimed at fostering transformation of geoscience research communities toward open science practices. Projects should be designed to grow user/developer communities within the existing ecosystem of capabilities (e.g., data repositories, software packages, computational resources) toward broad and sustained efforts to embed open science practices in the day-to-day research/education workflows of geoscientists. Submission to Track 2 does not require prior Track 1 support, but all Track 2 proposals must thoroughly describe the nature, extent, and outcomes of relevant prior efforts.

Track 2 Proposals Due: November 14, 2025, 5:00pm CT

NSF: STEM (K12)

The NSF STEM K-12 program in the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings in the Directorate for STEM Education supports fundamental, applied, and translational research that advances STEM teaching and learning and improves understanding of education across the human lifespan and a range of formal and informal settings

Proposals are accepted at any time.

**Please note, the following solicitations are currently archived. Investigators who would have applied to these programs are particularly encouraged to consider NSF STEM K-12.

• Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
• Computer Science for All (CSforAll)
• Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12)
• Translation and Diffusion (TD)

Additionally, investigators who would typically submit to the EDU Core Research (ECR) solicitation for research in K-12 and informal settings are encouraged to apply to NSF STEM K-12.

Important Updates

Reminder: Mandatory Completion of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training, Research Security Training, ORCID Registration and Conflict of Interest Disclosure

by October 1, 2025

In accordance with federal mandates and Auburn University policy, all individuals engaged in research activities — faculty, staff and students — are required to complete the following by October 1, 2025:

• Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training (required since August 2022)
• Research Security Training (anticipated completion time – 1 hour)
• Registration for an ORCID ID (only required for individuals serving as Senior/Key Personnel)
• Completion or updating (if necessary) of the annual AU Conflict of Interest Disclosure (required for all full-time employees since October 2019, with submission through Endeavor required since January 2024.). If you filed a disclosure in 2025 and it is up-to-date, there is no need to update further until 2026.

Failure to complete these requirements by October 1 will result in a pause in the submission of any extramurally-funded proposal for those involved until these requirements are met. The Official

NASA Progress Report Clarification

NASA grantees should be advised that Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) through the required webform (effective 8/13/2025) https://www.nasa.gov/grant-cooperative-agreement-research-performance-progress-report-submission/) must not contain ITAR-controlled, proprietary, or otherwise sensitive information.

Should your documentation include such information, you are required to contact the STRG office in advance so that appropriate instructions and secure transmission procedures may be provided.

**Please note that only Principal Investigators and Authorized Organizational Representatives (AORs) are authorized points of contact for submissions via the webform.

For clarity, submission through the webform does not replace existing requirements; you must continue to transmit all required documentation to the designated email addresses specified in your reporting instructions.

NIFA Funding Update

NIFA announces that the following programs will be making new awards using the eRA grants management system in Q1 FY26:

• Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI)
• Equipment Grants Program (EGP)
• Farm Business and Benchmarking Program (FBMB)
• Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP)
• Food Safety Outreach Competitive Grants Program (FSOP)
• Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative (OREI)
• Renewable Resource Extension Act National Focus Fund Program (REEA-NFF)
• Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants Program (SPECA)
• Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program (SLSNCGP)

What Does This Mean for You?

Funding opportunities and applications for these programs will still use Grants.gov, but if you are planning on applying for one of the above opportunities, you will need to register for an eRA Commons account as soon as possible.

Visit The eRA Grants Management System Reference Center for a quick start guide and more eRA resources.

Upcoming eRA Training

Thursday, September 11, 2025

1:00pm - 3:00pm CT

The eRA team will be hosting a training to provide an introduction and high-level overview of eRA and its capabilities. This training is available to any potential grant applicants or current grant recipients.

Register Here to Join

Hanover Research Webinars

Cultivating Relationships with Foundations

Thursday, September 25, 2025

11:00am CT

Unlike most federal grantmakers, foundations can be mysterious and opaque – from the guidelines they publish to the decision making process. This session will delve into strategies and engagement practices to successfully develop relationships and partnerships with foundation funders.

Register Here.

• Upcoming Webinars in 2025
• Recently posted to the archives: Advanced Strategies for Enhancing Your Proposal Narrative

CCTS Tiers Webinar

How To Approach Conflict Resolution In Teams

October 10, 2025

12:00noon to 1:00pm

via ZOOM

Register

Hanover Research Queue Proposal Review Availability

Slots available after October 10

Auburn University has partnered with Hanover Research for a number of grant development solutions including Pre-proposal Support; Proposal Development; and Capacity Building. Hanover's full-service grant development solutions are available to set goals, build strategies to achieve key grant-seeking objectives, and develop grant proposals that are well-planned, researched, and written. 

For information regarding Hanover’s core capabilities and project timelines, click here. If you are interested in a slot in the queue, please e-mail Tony Ventimiglia.

Council on Government Relations (COGR) Resource Page

This resource page offers continually updated information concerning the 2025 Administration Transition in regards to federal funding.

Hanover GLC Modules for NIH, NSF-CAREER & Grant Development

The Hanover Research Grants Learning Center (GLC) on-demand grant development training portal offers faculty enrollees the unique opportunity to receive targeted training through self-paced, interactive modules with step-by-step guidance and templates for prospective applicants to develop compelling proposals. In addition to NIH and NSF-CAREER modules, AU faculty now have access to a variety of new modules on grant seeking, development and revisions.

Auburn faculty interested in signing up for this training should contact Christine Cline for registration information.

Free CITI Training Modules

Auburn subscribes to several training modules via the CITI Program website that may be of interest to researchers and research administrators. Each module is self-paced and can be finished in one or multiple sessions. Click on the link above to read descriptions.



• Essentials of Grant Proposal Development
• Essentials of Research Administration

CCTS: Clinical & Translational Science Research Program

The CCTS Partner Network invites applications for its CTS Research Program, designed to overcome key barriers in translating proven innovations into real-world practice. Projects may address EHR integration, decentralized trials, remote monitoring, health communication, and more.

Pre-applications Due: September 19, 2025, 11:59pm CT

The federal funding landscape is changing daily, necessitating extra due diligence on the part of funding seekers. When perusing a solicitation, 1) make sure you are viewing the latest version, 2) read all notes in the headers and margins, and 3) follow provided links to ensure a solicitation is still active and accepting applications.