Engineering Index and Search

CoE Directory CoE Site Index

Sign Ons

ERI Funding Opportunities

Welcome to the ERI Funding Opportunities Site

College of Engineering campus
Research drives excellence in the College of Engineering by serving as a magnet to attract and retain outstanding faculty and students. Funding opportunities relevant to the College of Engineering will be posted here. If you are interested in pursuing any of these opportunities please contact Lori Jarmon (ljjarmon@iastate.edu, 294-3316) for assistance or additional information. New opportunities are posted weekly. To have the new opportunities delivered directly to your inbox please subscribe using your ISU email address. One email per week.

Crystal Substrate Bonding Technologies and Algorithms (CRYSTAL) Webinar

DARPA

Solicitation: DARPA‐SN‐25-57

https://sam.gov/opp/3ee4921500324f38918f8a004fb11ecb/view

Posted Date: March 11, 2025

Registration Due Date: April 1, 2025 by 12:00 pm ET  REISTER HERE

Webinar Date: April 02, 2025 at 11:00 am ET

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a live virtual webinar to provide information about the Crystal Substrate Bonding Technologies and Algorithms (CRYSTAL) Advanced Research Concepts (ARC) Opportunity (DARPA-EA-25-02-04). The webinar will include information specific to the CRYSTAL ARC Opportunity as well as an overview of the ARC initiative. Registrants will hear from Government personnel and leading researchers in related fields and participate in question-and-answer sessions. The virtual webinar will be held on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Registration is required for all attendees of the webinar.

Overview: DARPA/DSO has issued an ARC Opportunity, inviting submissions of abstracts
for innovative exploratory research concepts in the technical domain of wafer bonding of thinfilm crystals (https://www.darpa.mil/ARC). ARC Opportunities are designed to allow an
individual researcher the opportunity and time to focus on nascent, paradigm-shifting ideas for
national security. This ARC Opportunity, titled CRYSTAL, is issued under the master ARC
Exploration Announcement (EA), DARPA-EA-25-02.

 

Discover DSO Day (D3)

DARPA

Solicitation: DARPA-SN-25-59

https://sam.gov/opp/c5ad671182824fbba3d875273b32118e/view

Posted Date: March 10, 2025

Registration Due Date: April 08, 2025 by 5:00 pm  REGISTER HERE 

Event Date: April 23-24, 2025

DARPA seeks to identify and pursue high-impact research initiatives across a broad spectrum of science and engineering disciplines for the U.S. Department of Defense. The objective of this event is to connect DSO with the science and technology community to help generate world-leading technologies and capabilities for U.S. national security, which is critical to the Office’s mission of creating and preventing scientific surprise. DARPA DSO focuses on nascent and emergent technologies that may result in breakthrough capabilities for U.S. national security applications and the demonstration of the potential of these technologies through targeted development efforts.
DSO research opportunities are broadcast through a variety of mechanisms, including program solicitations such as Broad Area Announcements (BAAs), Disruption Opportunities (DOs), and Advanced Research Concepts (ARCs). DARPA designed these opportunities to enable the global research community to pursue breakthrough ideas while understanding that such ideas often include substantial technical risks.
DSO is interested in engaging with the broad research and development community to tackle complex challenges and validate impactful research concepts and ideas that address DARPA’s mission and lead to transformative capabilities.

Replicating industrial coil coating processes in a laboratory setting

Halo

https://www.halo.science/request_for_solutions/replicating-industrial-coil-coating-processes

Posted Date: March 10, 2025

Proposal Due Date: April 30, 2025

We are a global leader in coatings, developing advanced solutions for durability, aesthetics, and performance across diverse industries, from construction to automotive and industrial applications.

Coil coating is a continuous, automated process used to apply coatings to metal sheets before they are fabricated into final products. This process is widely used across industries to enhance corrosion resistance, improve aesthetics, and add functional properties to metal substrates, which are later stamped, bent, and formed after coating application.

We are looking to replicate real-world coil coating production conditions in a laboratory setting. This could involve a small-scale pilot line or alternative methods that mimic key industrial parameters.  The ideal solution would be able to simulate coating applications in similar production settings while ensuring coatings meet key performance standards, such as appearance, dry film thickness, gloss control, adhesion, and flexibility—critical factors in predicting coating performance and ensuring consistency from lab to production.

Fabrication and testing of aluminum cylindrical batteries

Novelis / Halo

https://www.halo.science/request_for_solutions/cylindrical-battery-case-manufacturing

Posted March 03, 2025

Proposal Due Date: April 30, 2025

Advancing aluminum alloy battery cases from concept to market-ready solutions requires addressing several key challenges. Selecting the right aluminum alloy is crucial, as it must possess the appropriate mechanical properties to ensure sufficient sidewall strength, meeting burst pressure requirements and operational demands. Optimizing the tempering process is also important to enhance properties like tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation, ensuring the alloy performs effectively under stress.

Comprehensive evaluations, including corrosion resistance must also be conducted to ensure the material’s long-term reliability. Real-world testing will help identify potential failure points and refine the design to meet safety and performance standards. These steps are essential to unlocking the potential of aluminum battery cases as an innovative and sustainable solution for electric vehicles.

What we’re looking for

We are looking for a partner to fabricate a fully functional cylindrical battery incorporating Novelis’ aluminum alloy battery case and perform comprehensive performance testing. Novelis will either provide raw materials for the case, which the partner will fabricate, or deliver a pre-fabricated case ready for battery assembly. The partner must build the battery using the provided case and conduct testing, including cell charge/discharge performance, cell skin temperature measurements, and other critical evaluations to assess performance and durability.

Our must-have requirements are:
  • Ability to produce cylindrical battery cells incorporating the provided cases, ideally in 4680 or a similar large format (21700 cells may also be considered)
  • Expertise in conducting comprehensive cell performance testing

 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI)

ONR / ARO / AFOSR

Solicitation(s): N0001425SF002, W911NF25S0004, NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250002

https://www.onr.navy.mil/work-with-us/funding-opportunities/fiscal-year-fy-2026-department-defense-multidisciplinary

Posted Date: March 04, 2025

White Paper Due Date: May 02, 2025 by 5:00 pm ET

Proposal Due Date: September 05, 2025 by 5:00 pm ET

SPECIAL NOTE (1): Applications must be ‘VALIDATED’ by Grants.gov by the application deadline, which can take up to 48 hours after successful submission. See Section II.D.6.d.i. Timely Receipt Requirements and Proof of Timely Submission. It is strongly recommended that applications be submitted at least 2 business days ahead of the stated deadline.

The MURI program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education (hereafter referred to as “universities”) that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD.

Proposals from a team of university investigators are expected when the necessary expertise in addressing the multiple facets of the topics may reside in different universities. By supporting multidisciplinary teams, the program is complementary to other DoD basic research programs that support university research through single-investigator awards. Proposals shall name one Principal Investigator (PI) as the responsible technical point of contact. Similarly, one institution shall be the primary awardee for the purpose of award execution. The PI shall come from the primary institution. The relationship among participating institutions and their respective roles, as well as the apportionment of funds including sub-awards, if any, shall be described in both the proposal text and the budget.

Topics:
Topic 1: (AFOSR) Characterization and Modeling of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere
Topic 2: (AFOSR) Ethical Constructs and Adaptive Learning Systems
Topic 3: (AFOSR) Structured Light for High Field, High Intensity Laser-Matter Interactions
Topic 4: (AFOSR) Optics with Dynamically Reconfigurable Arrays of Molecules and Atoms (OhDRAMA)
Topic 5: (AFOSR) 2D/3D heterostructures via remote epitaxy
Topic 6: (ARO) Fungalphabet: Deciphering the Hidden Language of Fungal Networks for Environmental Intelligence
Topic 7: (ARO) Evolving Chemistry and Biology to Degrade Polymers with Stable Chemical Bonds
Topic 8: (ARO) Space-time Metamaterials for Multi-dimensional Wave Transformation
Topic 9: (ARO) Altermagnetic Topology
Topic 10: (ARO) Ontology Engineering for Machine Learning in Open-ended Sensor, Model, User Systems
Topic 11: (ARO) Entanglement Engineering with Holographic Duality

 

Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied Research at the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Soldier Center

DoD

Solicitation: W911QY25R0023

https://sam.gov/opp/e8c7609f0f154df4afda846595bca888/view

Posted Date: March 04, 2025

Concept Paper Due Date: February 27, 2030 by 4:30 am ET

The mission of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (DEVCOM Soldier Center) is to “provide the Army with innovative science and technology solutions to optimize the performance of our Soldiers”. The DEVCOM Soldier Center is the Soldier’s research center – ensuring dominance through superior scientific and engineering expertise across the following core competencies:
• Aerial Delivery
• Army Training Technology
• Individual/Collective Protection
• Material Science – Fiber/Textile
• Military Nutrition/Food Service Logistics
• Soldier Performance/Integration

To achieve the advances in required capabilities, Soldier Center is particularly interested in efforts along five research focus areas, which were identified and informed by how the Army may operate, organize, and equip in 2040. These are:
• Emergent Materials
• Human Performance and Training
• Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence
• Robotics and Autonomy
• Synthetic Biology

Reengineering Enabling Sleep Transitions in Operationally Restrictive Environments (RESTORE) Proposers Day

DoD

DARPA-SN-25-56

https://sam.gov/opp/71392f29db5c41aa9e90cbccf8e6dfd8/view

Posted Date:  February 28, 2025
Registration Due Date: March 11, 2025, by 05:00 pm EDT  Register Here: https://events.sa-meetings.com/RestoreProposersDay

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a Proposers Day to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of an anticipated Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Reengineering Enabling Sleep Transitions in Operationally Restrictive Environments (RESTORE) program. The Proposers Day will be held on March 14, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) in Arlington, VA. The event will be webcast for those who would like to participate remotely. Advance registration is required for attending the Proposers Day in person and viewing the webcast. Note that all times listed in this announcement and on the registration website are Eastern Time.

Call for Letters of Inquiry: Interdisciplinary Social Science Research on Energy System Interactions in the United States

Sloan Foundation

https://apply.sloan.org/prog/energy_system_interactions/

Posted Date: February 03, 2025

Proposal Due Date: March 25, by 5:00 pm ET

The Energy and Environment program at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation supports research, training, networking, and dissemination efforts to inform the societal transition toward low-carbon energy systems in the United States by investigating economic, environmental, technological, and distributional issues. The program is currently inviting Letters of Inquiry for interdisciplinary, collaborative social science research projects led by early- and mid-career scholars that analyze the systemic interactions and connections associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy in the United States. This Call for Letters of Inquiry is deliberately framed broadly to encourage the submission of research project ideas that examine the links and implications between different components of the energy system and how they relate to other aspects of the economy. It is expected that 4-6 grants will be awarded from the Call, and grant amounts are expected to be between $500,000 and $1,000,000 over a 2-4 year period.

SUPPLEMENTS FOR OPEN-SOURCE SCIENCE

NASA

Solicitation: NNH24ZDA001N-SOSS

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=983525/solicitationId=%7BC1EE705E-34F3-1143-637F-3D4581EB5AF5%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/F.08_%20SOSS_Amend109.pdf

Posted Date: February 21, 2025

Proposals Due: Open

Supplements for Open-Source Science solicits proposals to add an open science component to an existing “parent” ROSES award (see Section 2.1). The goal of this program element is to increase the accessibility, and reproducibility of the science from the parent award, to contribute back to the open-science communities relevant to the parent award, and/or provide cloud credits to further support or expand the parent award. Open-science components to add to a parent award may include:

a) Making the results of the parent award more accessible, inclusive, and usable
b) Contributing back to the open science communities used by or relevant to the parent award
c) Requests for Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits to support activities from the parent award. These credits shall be used towards computing services to support computing activities on the AWS cloud platform. These credits may also be used to provide cloud services for a workshop or hackathon supporting Open Science.

Request for Information (RFI) – Large bio-mechanical space structures

DARPA

Solicitation: DARPA-SN-25-51

https://sam.gov/opp/426e5868fcf74dd4ada3768b00b09234/view

Posted Date: February 26, 2025

Response Due Date: March 27, 2025, by 4:00 pm ET

Workshop Dates TBD

Given recent advances in metabolic engineering for rapid growth, extremophiles with novel
properties, biological self-assembly properties of tunable materials, and emergent mechanical
design principles of biological systems, DARPA is interested in exploring the feasibility of
“growing” biological structures of unprecedented size in microgravity. Rapid, controlled,
directional growth to create very large (500+ meter length) useful space structures would disrupt
the current state-of-the-art and position biology as a complimentary component of the in-space
assembly infrastructure. Some examples of structures that could be biologically manufactured and
assembled, but that may be infeasible to produce traditionally, include tethers for a space elevator,
grid-nets for orbital debris remediation, kilometer-scale interferometers for radio science, new selfassembled wings of a commercial space station for hosting additional payloads, or on-demand
production of patch materials to adhere and repair micrometeorite damage.
To address major barriers to the safe creation of 500-meter-long bio-mechanical structures in
space, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies
Office (BTO) is requesting information related to methods and new technical insights by which to
create and functionalize large, self-assembled, mechanically stable biological growths in space
that have structural rigidity (stiffness/strength). A hybrid workshop is planned in the San Francisco
Bay Area to discuss credible responses and assess if there are dramatically new technical insights
that may be worth investment by DARPA.

View All Opportunities