ORSP Updates and Funding Opportunities – October 2, 2025

Announcements

• Each federal agency has issued its own guidance on operations during the shutdown (e.g., NSF’s dedicated webpage). In most cases, the guidance is the same: Continue preparing proposals and implementing your awards, and submit your reports on time. ORSP is here to help during this time of uncertainty; please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions as they arise.

• The eligibility criteria for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program have been revised. Deadlines vary by discipline, October 27 – 30, 2025. Please share this opportunity with your students. 

• Beginning November 1, all requests for International Travel and Visitors Engaged in Research must be completed through DASH Research. ORI is holding a virtual training session on Tuesday, October 28. A link will be shared one week before the event. In the meantime, resources and guides are available on the DASH Research SharePoint Site.

Limited Submission Competitions

The following programs have a limited submission requirement.

Sponsor/Program	Internal Deadline	Limitations or Special Considerations
ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards	November 5, 2025	Eligibility is restricted to full-time assistant professors within two years of their initial tenure track appointment at the time of application (i.e., appointment began between January 1, 2024, to January 7, 2026). This is a full internal competition. A letter from your Department Head is required. See link for template.

Internal Grant Competitions

Sponsor/Program	Deadline	Limitations or Special Considerations
Mocs Innovate Mini-Grant Program	December 15, 2025	Open to any UTC faculty or staff member. For additional information, please email Thomas-Lyons@utc.edu.
FY26 Open Publishing Support Fund	Rolling through 6/30/26	Lead authors/applicants are limited to 1 award per fiscal year.

External Funding Opportunities

ORSP has standardized the process for proposal notification, development, and submission. Click here to learn more and view required internal deadlines.

Looking for research development assistance? Learn more about ORSP’s Research Development services and request support here.

Sponsor/Program	Deadline	Limitations or Special Considerations
US Department of Energy FY 2026 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program	Open until September 30, 2026	Pre-Applications are encouraged. See the FOA for PO contact info.
NSF Economics	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.
NSF Division of Chemistry: Disciplinary Research Programs	No deadline	Individuals are limited to 2 proposals per year, regardless of role, across all 9 CHE core programs.
NSF Electrochemical Systems	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.
NSF Environmental Engineering	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.
NSF Biosensing	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.
NSF Manufacturing Systems Integration	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.
NSF Particulate and Multiphase Processes	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.
NSF Division of Materials Research: Topical Materials Research Programs	No deadline	Limited to 1 proposal as PI or Co-PI per federal fiscal year.
NSF Infrastructure Innovation for Biological Research	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.
NSF Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Core Programs	No deadline	UTC is not eligible for the Expand MCB in EPSCoR track.
NSF Atmosphere Cluster	No deadline	No eligibility limitations.

Sponsored Projects Policy Spotlight: Cost Sharing

Sponsored Projects Policy FI0210 outlines the types of cost share and UT policies for cost sharing on sponsored project budgets. It is UTC’s preference that only mandatory cost share be proposed to sponsors to avoid undue burden on departments.