Current funding opportunities

> Please submit an intent to apply form and review the internal proposal deadline policy prior to beginning the proposal process. 

> With Pivot, you can easily explore new avenues for funding, view funding opportunities uniquely matched to your area of research, and collaborate with colleagues. Using your Fresno State ID, you can create and save personalized search criteria. Access Fresno State’s subscription by activating your profile in the Pivot database.

November 17, 2025

Centers for Chemical Innovation (NSF): This program supports research centers focused on major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges. CCIs that address these challenges will produce transformative research, lead to innovation, and attract broad scientific and public interest. CCIs integrate research with strong broader impacts, including innovation, education, broadening participation, and informal science communication. There are no eligibility restrictions. Proposals are due by November 17, 2025.

American Philosophical Society: Exploration and Field Research. The society invites applications for its Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research grants program, which will provide grants of up to $5,400 in support of exploratory field studies for the collection of specimens and data and to provide the imaginative stimulus that accompanies direct observation. Proposals that are archival in nature or museum-based will typically not be considered. Proposals are due by November 17, 2025.

November 19, 2025

Collaborative Research (NEH): This program supports groups of two or more scholars seeking to increase humanistic knowledge through manuscript preparation for collaborative print publications, or the planning of an international collaboration. Projects must pursue significant research questions and lead toward a tangible interpretive product. The work can be rooted in a single field or cross disciplines. Proposals are due by Nov. 19, 2025.

National Geographic Society: Programs and Research to Benefit the Planet. NGS aims to support projects or research that enacts the future today, and aims to support projects that cultivate in learners of any age the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to take action in ways that benefit the planet and its people. Proposals are due by November 19, 2025.

FEDERAL OPPORTUNITIES

Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (NSF): LSAMP is an alliance-based program, whereby a group of IHEs work together to diversify the nation's STEM workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to persons from LSAMP populations. LSAMP populations are defined as persons from groups underrepresented in the STEM enterprise. There are no eligibility restrictions. Proposals are due in November 2025 for most tracks.

USDA/NIFA: 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. Deadlines vary by priority area.

NSF: Hispanic-Serving Institutions -Enriching Learning, Programs, and Student Experiences Grant Opportunity. The HSI:ELPSE solicitation supports projects that are purposefully designed to meet students where they are, accounting for both their assets and the challenges they may face. Identities and experiences are not determined solely by membership in a single monolithic population of students (e.g., Hispanic, first-generation, commuter, etc.). Deadline is Feb. 11, 2026.

National Science Foundation STEM K-12 (NSF) 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. While this RFP includes educational programming as a supported activity, it should be kept in mind that research is the central focus. Proposals are accepted at any time.

NIH: Stephen I. Katz Early Stage Investigator Research Project Grant (R01): This program supports an innovative project that represents a change in research direction for an early stage investigator and for which no preliminary data exist. Applications submitted must not include preliminary data. Applications must include a separate attachment describing the change in research direction. Standard NIH dates apply through May 2028.

December 1, 2025
Myocarditis Foundation: Research Grants:
The program provides $50,000 stipends to physician-scientists up to ten years post-MD/PhD to support early-stage myocarditis research and preliminary data collection for long-term studies. Applicants must be up to ten years post-MD/PhD.

Elsa U. Pardee Foundation: Cancer Research:
This foundation funds one-year cancer research projects that foster new approaches or help early-stage investigators establish their research programs.

American Cancer Society: Research Scholar Grants Program:
This program supports independent, self-directed investigators pursuing research across the cancer continuum in areas such as etiology, treatment, survivorship, and health equity. Applicants’ first faculty appointment must have begun less than ten years ago.

Cancer Research Institute: CRI Clinical Innovator:
This program supports investigator-initiated clinical trials in immunotherapy designed and led by academic researchers to address unmet needs and advance patient care.

American Lung Association: Research for Public Health and Public Policy:
Grants of up to $50,000 per year for two years support studies that inform or evaluate public health and policy interventions for lung disease prevention and air quality improvement.

Rheumatology Research Foundation: K and R Bridge Awards:
This program provides bridge funding for early and mid-career investigators to sustain critical rheumatology research affected by federal budget cuts.

Mellon Foundation: 2026 Higher Learning Program:
This program supports research and curricular projects in the humanities focused on AI and normalcy, encouraging interdisciplinary and community-based collaborations. Applicants must register by this date.

Teagle Foundation: Cornerstone Learning for Living initiative
This program is designed to revitalize the role of the humanities in general education, and in doing so, expose a broad array of students to the power of the humanities; help students of all backgrounds build a sense of belonging and community; strengthen the coherence and cohesiveness of general education; and increase teaching opportunities for humanities faculty.

Wenner-Gren Foundation: Anthropological Workshops, Conferences. The Foundation invites applications for its conference and workshop grants program, which will award grants to support meetings and events that promote the development of inclusive communities of anthropologists and advance significant and innovative research. The aim of the program is to help organizers make conferences and workshops more inclusive and accessible by covering costs for scholars who might not otherwise be able to attend. The maximum grant awarded through this program is $20,000.

December 2, 2025
Plastic Surgery Foundation: Breast Surgery Research:
This grant supports studies that advance understanding and improve outcomes in reconstructive or aesthetic breast surgery, including topics such as implant safety and surgical innovation.

Children’s Tumor Foundation: Young Investigator Award:
This program provides up to $200,000 over two years to early-career researchers studying neurofibromatosis, offering seed funding to generate data for larger grants. Letters of intent are due by this date.

December 4, 2025
Michael J. Fox Foundation: Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders:
This fellowship expands the global base of neurologists specializing in Parkinson’s and other movement disorders by training clinician-researchers to lead scientific and clinical advances.

Innovations for Poverty Action: Research on Human Trafficking:
This program awards $10,000–$75,000 for early-stage research on interventions to reduce or respond to human trafficking, supporting concrete next-step project activities.

December 5, 2025
CART Fund: Exploratory and Developmental Alzheimer’s Disease Research Projects:
This program encourages early-stage Alzheimer’s disease research by supporting conceptual projects with strong potential for future impact. Letters of intent are due by this date.

Hearing Health Foundation: Emerging Research:
This program funds groundbreaking studies aimed at preventing and curing hearing loss and tinnitus, offering multiple award types for different career stages. Letters of intent are due by this date.

December 10, 2025
Rita Allen Foundation: Chronic Pain Research:
This program awards $150,000 over three years to early-career investigators pursuing innovative research on the molecular biology of pain and basic science mechanisms related to new analgesic development.

December 11, 2025
Aspen Institute, Pivotal: Workplace Innovation Now Challenge. This initiative aims to discover and scale bold ideas to help women thrive and everyone win in a rapidly changing workplace. The grant competition aims to source and scale innovative solutions to address barriers like caregiving responsibilities and biases that tend to disproportionately impact women and are harmful for everyone. 

December 15, 2025
Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation: Mental Healthcare Research:
This foundation supports research to improve access to mental healthcare for children and adolescents, particularly those in under-resourced communities.

Spencer Foundation: Small Education Research Projects:
This program funds education research projects with budgets up to $50,000 for one to five years, supporting diverse perspectives and methods aimed at improving education globally.

December 16, 2025
Gates Foundation: Reducing Costs of Maternal, Child Nutrition Products:
This RFP seeks bold, scalable innovations that reduce costs of maternal and child nutrition products by at least 50% while maintaining quality and accessibility in LMIC health systems.

December 17, 2025
Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research: Crop Packaging Program:
This program supports research developing sustainable, compliant packaging alternatives for specialty crops that meet emerging global regulations and reduce single-use plastics.

December 18, 2025
American Association for Cancer Research: Breast Cancer Research from Young Investigators:
This initiative funds innovative breast cancer research by young investigators, offering $450,000 over three years to support high-impact, creative projects. Applicants must be tenure-track.

Anytime
Voloridge Health: Preventive Health Science Clinical Research Awards:
This program offers up to $50,000 in data science services to researchers advancing preventive health science, including predictive risk modeling and co-publication opportunities.

January 7, 2026
Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants (DOE):
This program supports projects to design, implement, test, and validate strategies for refurbishing existing coal power plants to improve efficiency, emissions reduction, and system reliability.