Grant Funding Opportunities: 12/20/2013
Weekly Grant Funding Opportunities
Please feel free to send special funding search requests any time (susan_craft@ncbiotech.org). Please note that beginning July 1, 2013, grant funding requests will be rolled into our regular research and will include a fee of $100/hour. Also, let us know if any of your partners have submitted grant applications to funding announcements posted in the weekly grant alert emails. We would love to hear of their successes!
Visit NCBiotech’s Funding Gateway page to get more information on funding announcements, links to opportunity search databases and grant development tips.
Announcements
NCET2’s annual University Startups Conference will be held in Washington, DC, March 20-21, 2014. The conference aims to bring together universities creating startups with VCs, angel investors, SBIR program managers and Fortune 500 technology scouts funding them. The conference also includes NSF, NIH, NIST, DOD, DOE, DHS and other government agencies working on improving the Innovation Economy by increasing the quality and quantity of startups coming out of universities. Click here for more information and to register.
Grant Opportunities
Deadline: 1/17/2014 (LOI); 3/19/2014 (application)
Agency: National Institute of Food and Agriculture — Department of Agriculture
Program: Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grants Program
Description: The purpose of the BRAG program is to support the generation of new information that will assist Federal regulatory agencies in making science-based decisions about the effects of introducing into the environment genetically engineered organisms (GE), including plants, microorganisms (including fungi, bacteria, and viruses), arthropods, fish, birds, mammals and other animals excluding humans. Investigations of effects on both managed and natural environments are relevant. The BRAG program accomplishes its purpose by providing Federal regulatory agencies with scientific information relevant to regulatory issues.
Award Amount: $25,000 - 1,000,000
Website: www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/rfas/biotech_risk.html
Eligibility: US public or private research or educational institutions or organizations
Deadline: 1/30/2014
Agency: USDA
Program: Biorefinery Assistance Program
Description: This Notice announces the acceptance of applications for funds available under the Biorefinery Assistance Program (the “Program”) to provide guaranteed loans for the development and construction of commercial-scale biorefineries or for the retrofitting of existing facilities using eligible technology for the development of advanced biofuels. This Notice announces approximately $76 million in carry over budget authority that will support a program level of approximately $181 million. The purpose of this Program is to assist in the development and construction of commercial-scale biorefineries and the retrofitting of existing facilities using eligible technology for the development of advanced biofuels. The Agency will make guarantees available on loans for eligible projects that will provide for the development, construction, and/or retrofitting of commercial biorefineriesusing eligible technology, as defined in 7 CFR 4279.202(a).
Award Amount: Varies
Eligibility: Individuals; entities; Indian tribes; units of state or local government; corporation; farm cooperatives; farmer cooperative organizations; association of agricultural producers; national laboratories; institutions of higher education; rural electric cooperatives; public power entities; consortium of any of the above entities.
Deadline: 2/1/2014
Agency: Toshiba America Foundation
Program: Grants for Grades 6-12: $5,000 or or more
Description: Toshiba America Foundation accepts applications from teachers who are passionate about making science and mathematics more engaging for their students.
Award Amount: Varies
Website: www.toshiba.com/taf/612.jsp
Eligibility: TAF funding is usually directed to K-12 schools. Educational nonprofits and universities working with K-12 teachers are occasionally considered, but please call the foundation first
Deadline: 2/3/2014
Agency: National Institutes of Health
Program: Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration (EUREKA) for Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System (R01)
Description: This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks Research Project Grant (R01) applications addressing exceptionally novel hypotheses and/or remarkably difficult problems in neuroscience and disorders of the nervous system. This announcement is for support of new rather than ongoing projects, and is not intended for pilot research. The proposed research may have a high risk of failure, but it must promise results with especially high impact should it be successful. The research should be groundbreaking, innovative, original and/or unconventional, with the potential to solve important problems or open new areas for investigation.
Award Amount: Varies
Website: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-MH-14-214.html
Eligibility: State, county or city governments; public and private institutes of higher education; school districts; small businesses; nonprofits; Native American tribal organizations; others
Deadline: 2/4/2014
Agency: National Science Foundation
Program: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education
Description: A well-prepared, innovative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce is crucial to the Nation's health and economy. Indeed, recent policy actions and reports have drawn attention to the opportunities and challenges inherent in increasing the number of highly qualified STEM graduates, including STEM teachers. Priorities include educating students to be leaders and innovators in emerging and rapidly changing STEM fields as well as educating a scientifically literate populace; both of these priorities depend on the nature and quality of the undergraduate education experience. In addressing these STEM challenges and priorities, the National Science Foundation invests in research-based and research-generating approaches to understanding STEM learning; to designing, testing, and studying curricular change; to wide dissemination and implementation of best practices; and to broadening participation of individuals and institutions in STEM fields. The goals of these investments include: increasing student retention in STEM, to prepare students well to participate in science for tomorrow, and to improve students' STEM learning outcomes. Recognizing disciplinary differences and priorities, NSF's investment in research and development in undergraduate STEM education encompasses a range of approaches. These approaches include: experiential learning, assessment/metrics of learning and practice, scholarships, foundational education research, professional development/institutional change, formal and informal learning environments, and undergraduate disciplinary research. Both individually and integrated in a range of combinations, these approaches can lead to outcomes including: developing the STEM and STEM-related workforce, advancing science, broadening participation in STEM, educating a STEM-literate populace, improving K-12 STEM education, encouraging life-long learning, and building capacity in higher education. The Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE), in collaboration with other NSF directorates, continues to support research and development leading to and propagating interventions that improve both the quality and quantity of STEM graduates. A number of recent publications provide guidance. For example, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report, Engage to Excel, recommends widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices that engage students in active learning as an important means to enhance retention of STEM majors. Other recommendations include increased use of discovery-based laboratories and course-based research. The National Research Council report, Discipline-based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering, provides an analysis of effective practices and a research agenda for continuing to build the knowledge base on how to improve undergraduate STEM education. The Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development offer guidance on building the evidence base in STEM learning. Research and development efforts that increase our understanding of effective undergraduate STEM teaching and learning provide the foundation for building the STEM workforce of tomorrow and improving scientific literacy. Recognizing that the preparation of a globally-competitive workforce, including future teachers, and a scientifically literate populace requires excellent STEM education, DUE supports the improvement of the undergraduate STEM education enterprise through funding research on design, development, and wide-spread implementation of effective STEM learning and teaching knowledge and practice, as well as foundational research on student learning. DUE supports projects that build on both fundamental research in undergraduate STEM education and prior research and development that provide theoretical and empirical justification for the proposed efforts. Proposals should describe projects that build on available evidence and theory, and that will generate evidence and build knowledge. NSF accepts unsolicited proposals to support projects that address immediate challenges and opportunities facing undergraduate STEM education, as well as those that anticipate new structures and functions of the undergraduate learning and teaching enterprise. In addition, NSF accepts unsolicited proposals for developing Ideas Labs in biology, engineering, and geosciences that will bring together relevant disciplinary and education research expertise to produce research agendas that address discipline-specific workforce development needs.
Award Amount: Varies
Website: www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504976
Eligibility: Unrestricted