Funding Opportunities

As funding opportunities are announced and shared with the Office for Research & Graduate Education we will compile the opportunities, here. This page will be updated periodically as new opportunities come about.

External Funding Opportunities

Foundation for Food and Agriculture (FFAR)

Manure Management Literature Review
The objective of this short-term research agreement is to conduct a literature review of the manure management literature applicable to U.S. dairy and develop a white paper on the state of academic research relevant to this topic. This work may be used to inform a future FFAR research convening or program. We are seeking a scientist with expertise in dairy manure management and experience conducting literature reviews and familiarity with U.S. agricultural supply chains and stakeholder organizations.

The primary task is evaluating recent literature and relevant reports and drafting of a white paper on critical research needs related to the systems-level manure management and the innovation-level research on specific technologies and practices of U.S. dairy production. The white paper should assess published literature and literature syntheses regarding the topics listed below and identify areas of research community consensus (or lack) on key conclusions and future research needs.
Deadline: Proposals are being accepted until a successful candidate or team is selected.

Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research
The Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research (ROAR) program provides nimble deployment of funds to support research and outreach in response to emerging or unanticipated threats to the nation’s food supply or agricultural systems. ROAR participants, including but not limited to university researchers, farmers or producers, commodity groups and government officials, may apply for funds in response to an outbreak for development of diagnostics, monitoring and mitigation strategies. The ROAR program fills the gap until traditional, longer-term funding sources can be secured.
Deadline: Ongoing

National Institute of Health (NIH)

Development of Resources and Technologies for Enhancing Rigor, Reproducibility, and Translatability of Animal Models in Biomedical Research (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
The Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) encourages research project grant applications aimed at developing and implementing broadly applicable technologies, tools, and resources for validating animal models and enhancing rigor, reproducibility, and translatability of animal research. Research projects submitted under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) should be hypothesis driven with strong preliminary data. Proposed studies, models, resources, or technologies under this NOFO must either address research interests of multiple NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs), explore multiple organ systems, or be applicable to diseases and processes that impact multiple organ systems in order to align with ORIP’s NIH-wide mission and programs. Applications should aim to enhance the rigor, reproducibility, and translatability of animal research through the development and implementation of technologies, tools, and resources that have significant impact across a broad range of research areas using animal models. Applications must demonstrate how the proposed resources and technologies impact rigor and reproducibility of animal studies.
Deadline: June 05, 2025

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Environmental Sustainability
The Environmental Sustainability program is part of the Environmental Engineering and Sustainability cluster together with 1) the Environmental Engineering program and 2) the Nanoscale Interactions program. The goal of the Environmental Sustainability program is to promote sustainable engineered systems that support human well-being and that are also compatible with sustaining natural (environmental) systems. These systems provide ecological services vital for human survival. Research efforts supported by the program typically consider long time horizons and may incorporate contributions from the social sciences and ethics. The program supports engineering research that seeks to balance society's need to provide ecological protection and maintain stable economic conditions.

There are five principal general research areas that are supported: Circular Bioeconomy Engineering, Industrial ecology, Green engineering, Ecological engineering, Earth systems engineering.

Deadline: Full proposal accepted anytime. For additional information regarding the removal of deadlines for this program, please refer to the Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 18-082) and Frequently Asked Questions (NSF18-083).

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Foundational and Applied Science Program
The AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program supports grants in six AFRI priority areas to advance knowledge in both fundamental and applied sciences important to agriculture. The six priority areas are: Plant Health and Production and Plant Products; Animal Health and Production and Animal Products; Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health; Bioenergy, Natural Resources, and Environment; Agriculture Systems and Technology; and Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities. Research-only, extension-only, and integrated research, education and/or extension projects are solicited in this Request for Applications (RFA). See Foundational and Applied Science RFA for specific detail.
Deadline: July 17, 2025

Other Funding Agencies

Ohio Grape Industries Committee (OGIC)
The Ohio Grape Industries Committee (OGIC) is ready to accept viticulture and enology funding proposals for FY26-27 (July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027) for the following programs:

You can also view the research priorities and industry prioritization survey results, for your reference.

If you have any questions, please contact Christy Eckstein at (614) 381-0412 or christy.eckstein@agri.ohio.gov.
Deadline: April 18, 2025

Burroughs Wellcome Fund - Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund aims to stimulate the growth of new connections between thinkers working in largely disconnected fields who might together change the course of climate change’s impact on human health. In the three years between Fall 2023 and Summer 2026, we will dedicate $1M to supporting small, early stage grants of $2,500–$50,000 toward achieving this goal.

We are mainly but not exclusively interested in activities that build connections between basic/early biomedical scientific approaches and ecological, environmental, geological, geographic, and planetary-scale thinking, as well as with population-focused fields, including epidemiology and public health, demography, economics, and urban planning. Also of interest is work piloting new approaches or interactions toward reducing the impact of health-centered activities, such as developing more sustainable systems for health care, care delivery, and biomedical research systems.

Another area of interest is preparation for the impacts of extreme weather and other crises that can drive large-scale disruptions that will immediately impact human health and the delivery of health care. Public outreach, climate communication, and education efforts focused on the intersection of climate and health are also appropriate for this call. This program supports work conceived through many kinds of creative thinking. Successful applicants include academic scientists, physicians, and public health experts, community organizations, science outreach centers, non-biomedical academic departments, and more.

Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis through July 2026. A review will be conducted quarterly. Deadline dates for the upcoming cycles are:

April 24, 2025
July 24, 2025

Ohio Soybean Council
The mission of the Ohio Soybean Council is to invest soybean checkoff funds to maximize the value of soybeans and increase profit opportunities for Ohio farmers. To achieve this mission, the Ohio Soybean Council Board of Trustees has developed a three-year strategic plan with several key goals and objectives. A copy of the OSC Strategic Plan is linked for your reference, and also will be available on the online project management system.

After you have clicked on “Create New Proposal” in the online proposal system, you will see a form that requests basic information regarding your proposal, including contact information, an executive summary and a project budget. In addition to completing this information, please attach a document of no more than six pages in either PDF (.pdf) or Word (.doc) format that addresses the following:

OSC Goal the project would address – please choose from the three OSC Goals in the OSC Strategic Plan;
Budget – provide a detailed line-item budget – preference will be given to projects that do not contain capital spending and can be completed within 12 months;
Project Purpose – describe what the project is designed to accomplish and how it would enhance profit opportunities for Ohio Soybean farmers;
Project Relation to OSC Objectives – describe how this project will assist OSC in accomplishing one or more of the objectives listed in the OSC Strategic Plan;
Project Work Plan – describe how you propose to accomplish the work outlined in the proposal;
Measureable Project Milestones – describe project milestones (not less than quarterly), and describe how progress and success will be measured for the project;
Project Team Members – provide relevant information regarding the background and capabilities of the applicant that would allow OSC to judge the ability of the applicant to successfully complete the project;
Project Partnerships – identify any support from third parties on the budget summary form; also list each collaborator and whether the support is in-kind, financial, or both.

Please note: Plant Research proposals should include a list of other research projects in which the principal investigator is participating. This should include the title and brief description of the project, the funding source, time period of research and the amount funded.

If you have any questions, please contact Kirk B. Merritt, Executive Director, Ohio Soybean Council.
P: (614) 476-3100 | E: kmerritt@soyohio.org
Deadline: Quarterly

Awesome Foundation Grant
A micro-granting organization, funding “awesome” ideas, The Awesome Foundation set up local chapters around the world to provide rolling grants of $1000 to “awesome projects.” Each chapter defines what is “awesome” for their local community, but most include arts initiatives and public or social practice art projects.
Deadline: None

Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) (FY 2026)
DoD's MURI program addresses high-risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. The program was initiated 40 years ago, and it has regularly produced significant scientific breakthroughs with far reaching consequences to the fields of science, economic growth, and revolutionary new military technologies. Key to the program’s success is the close management of the MURI projects by Service Program Officers and their active role in providing research guidance.

The DOD MURI solicitation was released on March 5 with 22 topics. Please distribute to faculty whose work aligns with these topics and advise if you are aware of individuals who may want to lead a proposal or who are engaging as a collaborative partner on another University’s effort.
RDO will support these efforts and will announce a briefing or office hours to answer questions, encourage ideas, and facilitate team formation, with input from our DOD consultant as needed. White papers are due on May 2, but questions/ interactions with POs are only permitted through April 18. Since teaming happens quickly once the solicitation is released, we want to share this information as soon as possible to maximize participation across topics.

MURI is DOD’s largest basic research mechanism, providing up to $7.5 million over 5 years to support multidisciplinary, and almost always multi-university, research. There is a very interesting topic on fungal networks (Topic 6) that might speak to CFAES researchers.
White Paper Deadline: May 2, 2025

California Apple Commission (CAC)
In an effort to ensure that industry resources are being utilized in an efficient and effective manner, the California Apple Commission has established a policy to seek proposals from outside organizations and/or individuals that are interested in conducting research on behalf of the CAC.

Research Priorities for 2025-2026

Methods of increasing varietal size [Gala]
Mechanical pruning
Thinning methods
Any topic related to cost reduction/increasing the effectiveness of California apple production.
Mechanical harvesting for fresh apples
Development of apple varieties well suited for California conditions
Detecting 1-MCP at the retail level
Implement and evaluate the effectiveness of in store education and sampling of California apples
Fire blight management
GPS fresh apple acreage mapping
Frost detection/prevention technology
Management of codling moth
Packing house automation techniques

Deadline: May 30, 2025

Internal Funding Opportunities

President's Research Excellence Program - Spring 2025 Catalyst Competition
The President's Research Excellence (PRE) program provides seed support to catalyze and accelerate multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or convergent research teams pursuing external funding. Administered by the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge (ERIK), the program awards up to $2.5 million per year through two tiers of grants.

Accelerator grants of up to $50,000 for 12-month projects are awarded to small teams of 2-3 investigators from two or more distinct disciplinary perspectives that are formed to pursue curiosity-driven, high-risk, high-reward, pilot-scale research towards an identified proposal target. (CLOSED FOR SPRING 2025)
Catalyst grants of $150,000 - $300,000 for up to 24-month projects are awarded to medium or large teams of 3-5 investigators representing three or more distinct disciplinary perspectives that are formed to pursue high-impact research towards an identified national-leadership level or highly strategically significant proposal target.

During the spring semester, proposals are being accepted for Catalyst projects, with awarded projects beginning on August 1, 2025. Applications in any topic area are invited; however, during this cycle emphasis will be placed on space and/or defense-related research. These topics span nearly every discipline on campus, include approaches from fundamental to applied and involve a range of sponsor targets including NASA and the Department of Defense.

An additional competition for Accelerator grants will occur during spring semester. Depending on available funding, additional competitions may be announced.
Catalyst Letter of Intent Deadline: Friday, April 11, 2025

Spring 2025 Innovation and Commercialization Grants
The Spring 2025 Innovation and Commercialization Grants, offered by the Innovation and Commercialization Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge (ERIK), provide up to $50,000 in funding for research projects with commercialization potential in artificial intelligence and materials science.

Key Details:

Who Can Apply: Ohio State faculty and staff who have submitted an invention disclosure relating to AI or advanced materials on or before April 18, 2025. New invention disclosures can be submitted online here: https://go.osu.edu/inventiondisclosure
Funding Available: Up to $50,000 per project
Decision Timeline: Grants awarded by May 9

We would appreciate your support in sharing this opportunity through your channels, including department newsletters, digital screens, websites and social media. Please let me know if you need additional materials or have any questions.
Deadline: April 18, 2025

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