Tag: DARPA

Early-Career Research Programs

Pete Larson, Research Development

Several early-career research programs are coordinated annually through federal research agencies. Below is some information on programs of particular interest to Michigan Tech faculty. 

DARPA Young Faculty Award
Deadline: Executive Summary 10/26/20 (encouraged); Full Proposal 01/08/21Basic eligibility: Untenured in a tenure-track position OR tenured within 3 years of tenure date, employed at a US institution, no prior YFA award. For more information, click here.

Department of Energy (DoE) Early Career Research Program
Deadline: Pre-application (required) due 11/20/20. Full application due 02/16/20. Basic Eligibility: No prior DoE early career award; no more than 10 years since Ph.D. awarded, untenured assistant professor OR untenured associate professor on tenure-track. See solicitation for additional details. For more information, click here

National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Program
Deadline: July 26, 2021. Basic eligibility: Ph.D. in NSF-supported discipline, untenured and in a tenure-track position, no prior CAREER award, and limit of three submissions pre-tenure. See solicitation for additional details. For more information, click here. Due to the wide interest in this program across campus, the research development office offers a short series of sessions leading up to the NSF CAREER submission deadline each year. Watch your email for an invite to these sessions early in the spring semester.  

Several NSF directorates and programs have recently announced that the CAREER program is being re-focused to try to fund PI’s at an earlier career stage, rather than just before tenure. If you have been previously advised to not submit a CAREER proposal early in your career, the situation is now changing at NSF. 

There are also several other programs of potential interest, including the Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program and the Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (current year information not yet available), among others. If you’d like to discuss submission to any of these programs, feel free to reach out to the research development team (rd@mtu.edu) for assistance. 

DARPA Young Faculty Awards Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) program aims to identify and engage rising stars in junior faculty positions in academia and equivalent positions at non-profit research institutions and expose them to Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security challenges and needs. In particular, this YFA will provide high-impact funding to elite researchers early in their careers to develop innovative new research directions in the context of enabling transformative DoD capabilities. The long-term goal of the program is to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers in the research community who will focus a significant portion of their future careers on DoD and National Security issues. DARPA is particularly interested in identifying outstanding researchers who have previously not been performers on DARPA programs, but the program is open to all qualified applicants with innovative research ideas.  Final proposals are due by December 4, 2017.  Get more information here.