U.S. National Science Foundation Grants

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

The NSF Sociology program funds basic research on human social organization and processes of social change, supporting both original data collection and secondary data analysis using quantitative and qualitative methods. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any entity type), subject to clarifications in the full solicitation, but proposals are evaluated on intellectual merit and broader impacts and must be theoretically grounded research. Award amounts and deadlines are not specified here; in practice this supports academic researchers and their institutions.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

NSF's Water, Landscape, and Critical Zone Processes program funds research on Earth's near-surface hydrologic, geomorphic, and geochemical processes, and is restricted to U.S. nonprofit research organizations and accredited institutions of higher education. General nonprofits, small businesses, and individuals are not eligible. No specific award amount is listed.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

NSF's Facility and Instrumentation Request Process (FIRP) lets the atmospheric science research community request access to specialized instrumentation and facilities through the FARE program's Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities and Community Instruments and Facilities. Eligibility is unrestricted among standard NSF applicant types, but the opportunity is a facility-access request rather than a general project grant, and priority goes to Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences-related proposals. No specific funding amount is listed.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

The NSF Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Infrastructure Cluster supports oversight and operation of facilities that enable atmospheric and geospace research, including the National Center for Atmospheric Research, community instrumentation, and data services. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any entity type), subject to clarifications in the full solicitation. Award amounts and deadlines are not specified here; this is oriented toward research facilities and institutions rather than typical small nonprofits or individuals.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

The U.S. National Science Foundation's Environmental Sustainability program funds fundamental engineering research on sustainable systems that balance human well-being with protecting natural systems, including circular bioeconomy engineering, industrial ecology, life cycle assessment, and green engineering. Eligibility is broad (open to any type of entity, subject to clarifications in the solicitation), but proposals typically come from universities and research institutions with qualified principal investigators. Award amounts and deadlines are not specified here; review the full NSF solicitation.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

An NSF research program open to any type of eligible entity (universities, nonprofits, and other research organizations, per standard NSF rules) funding fundamental research in environmental engineering, including pollution prevention, remediation, and sustainable water treatment. Eligibility is broadly described as unrestricted, subject to standard NSF proposal rules; no award amount or deadline is listed in this posting.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

The U.S. National Science Foundation's Engineering of Biomedical Systems (EBMS) program funds fundamental, transformative research that integrates engineering and life sciences to address biomedical problems, such as models of healthy and diseased tissues, biomanufacturing of tissues and organs, and systems combining living and non-living components. Eligibility is broad (open to any type of entity, subject to clarifications in the solicitation), but in practice proposals come from universities and research institutions with qualified principal investigators. Award amounts and deadlines are not specified here; review the full NSF solicitation.

U.S. National Science Foundation · From $200K

Open to any type of entity (subject to NSF clarifications), this NSF MultiPLEx program funds ambitious international multilateral research partnerships that address grand challenges and require collaboration with at least two countries other than the US. Awards run up to about three years and typically start around $200,000; the funds support only the US research team, so international partners must seek their own national funding. This is well suited to US research institutions leading global collaborations.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

This NSF program funds fundamental research on civil infrastructure resilience — buildings, water/wastewater systems, energy infrastructure, and transportation — including how these systems withstand climate change and extreme hazards like earthquakes and floods. Eligibility is unrestricted, meaning most institution types can apply, though NSF's standard grant mechanisms are typically oriented toward universities and research institutions. No specific award amount or deadline is listed in this posting, so applicants should check the full solicitation for funding levels and submission windows.

U.S. National Science Foundation · $400K–$2M

Open to any type of entity (subject to NSF clarifications), the NSF RISBS program funds creation of computational tools and data infrastructure that enable basic social and behavioral science research, including major longitudinal surveys; it does not fund a PI's own research except in service of building the infrastructure. Awards range roughly from $400,000 to $2,000,000. In practice this large-award program is best suited to research institutions building shared data resources.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

The NSF Division of Chemistry is piloting no-deadline submission for its Chemistry of Life Processes, Chemical Structure and Dynamics, and Chemical Theory/Computational Methods programs. Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based nonprofit non-academic research organizations (such as independent museums, observatories, and research labs) and accredited U.S. institutions of higher education acting for their faculty; individuals and businesses do not qualify. No specific award amount is listed, and proposals may be submitted at any time.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

The NSF Chemical Process Systems (CPS) program funds fundamental research on chemical and biochemical processes to make manufacturing, energy, and biotechnology more efficient and sustainable, spanning catalysis, reactor design, separations, and process optimization. Eligibility is unrestricted, so universities, research organizations, and other entity types may apply. No specific award amount or deadline is listed in the program description.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

The NSF Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E) meta-program funds research that uses new computational and data-analysis approaches to drive breakthroughs across science and engineering disciplines. Eligibility is unrestricted, so universities, research organizations, and other entity types may apply, though proposals must have a significant computational or data-science component beyond typical methods. No specific award amount or deadline is listed.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

This NSF program supports state-of-the-art instruments and facilities for atmospheric research and education, including lower-atmosphere observing facilities and community instruments. Eligibility is unrestricted in principle, but note an important restriction: proposals to the Lower Atmospheric Observing Facilities track are accepted by invitation only and require contacting the program director first. Award amounts and deadline are not specified. This is best suited to universities and research institutions that operate or provide shared instrumentation.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, but in practice this NSF program funds fundamental research in solid mechanics, materials, and structural behavior, so it's primarily suited to university researchers and research institutions rather than typical nonprofits or small businesses. No award amount is specified, and no fixed deadline is listed here, so applicants should check NSF's current submission window.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

This NSF/NIFA Plant Biotic Interactions program funds research on how plants interact with viruses, bacteria, fungi, pests, and other organisms, spanning fundamental mechanisms through agriculturally relevant applications. Eligible applicants include U.S. nonprofit non-academic research organizations, two- and four-year U.S. institutions of higher education, USDA/NIFA-eligible entities (including state agricultural experiment stations, universities, research foundations, federal agencies, and U.S.-citizen/permanent-resident individuals), and groups of these. Foreign and international organizations are not eligible. Strictly ecological projects without underlying mechanisms are not appropriate. No award range or deadline is listed here.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

NSF's Operations Engineering program funds fundamental research on analytical methods (optimization, data science, simulation, decision and risk analysis) for improving operations in complex systems, with applications spanning manufacturing, public safety, health care, and energy. Eligibility is unrestricted among standard NSF applicant types. No award amount is specified in this listing.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

This NSF program funds fundamental engineering research on process systems, reaction engineering, and molecular thermodynamics, including reactor design, multi-scale modeling, and sustainable chemical manufacturing. Eligibility is unrestricted, meaning most entity types (including universities, businesses, and nonprofits) may submit, though NSF research awards are most commonly made to academic researchers. Funding amounts and a specific deadline are not listed, so confirm program details and proposal windows with the NSF disciplinary program officer.

U.S. National Science Foundation · Amount varies

This NSF program (RUI and ROA) supports research by faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions, helping build campus research capacity and integrate research with undergraduate education. Only accredited colleges and universities (including two-year community colleges) that have awarded 20 or fewer Ph.D./D.Sci. degrees in NSF-supported fields over the prior two academic years may submit; this is a restrictive institutional eligibility rule. Funding amounts and a fixed deadline are not listed, so contact the relevant NSF disciplinary program officer to confirm fit and timing.

U.S. National Science Foundation · From $50K

Only accredited two- and four-year U.S. institutions of higher education (including community colleges) may apply to this NSF National I-Corps Teams program, acting on behalf of their faculty; individuals, nonprofits, and businesses cannot apply directly. It funds NSF-supported researchers with entrepreneurial training, mentoring, and roughly $50,000 to assess the commercial potential of deep-technology inventions from foundational research. Multiple awards based on the same core technology generally are not supported, and international branch campuses require special justification.