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Legislative Affairs

June 30, 2021

June 30, 2021 Special Higher Education Funding Update

JUNE 30, 2021

Federal Funding Opportunities

U.S. Department of Defense; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Defense Sciences Office releases Office-wide Broad Agency Announcement

The mission of the Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is to identify and create the next generation of scientific discovery by pursuing high-risk, high-payoff research initiatives across a broad spectrum of science and engineering disciplines and transforming these initiatives into disruptive technologies for U.S. national security. In support of this mission, the DSO Office-wide Broad Agency Announcement invites proposers to submit innovative basic or applied research concepts or studies and analysis proposals that address one or more of the following technical thrust areas:

  • Frontiers in Math, Computation and Design
  • Limits of Sensing and Sensors
  • Complex Social Systems
  • Anticipating Surprise

Proposals must investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances. DSO is explicitly not interested in approaches or technologies that primarily result in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.

U.S. Department of Defense; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Tactical Technology Office releases Redefining Possible Broad Agency Announcement

The Tactical Technology Office (TTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is soliciting executive summaries, proposal abstracts, and proposals for applied research, advanced technology development, platform demonstrations, or systems studies that aim to redefine the future of warfighting across four domains: Air, Ground, Maritime, and Space. The mission of TTO is to redefine access and delivery of effects to every domain in the battlespace: space, air, ground, sea, and undersea in support of national security policy. This includes both platforms as well as the enabling support elements for delivering effects, such as unit-level autonomy or human-machine collaboration. TTO accomplishes this mission by placing bold bets on developing new and novel system technologies and conducting platform demonstrations at a credible scale in realistic, operationally relevant conditions to support technology transition.

U.S. Department of Education releases Proposed Priorities for Discretionary Grant Programs with comments due July 30, 2021

The Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, has proposed the following six priorities for use in discretionary grant programs which reflect his vision for American education:

  • Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Students, Educators and Faculty
  • Promoting Equity in Student access to Educational Resources, Opportunities, and Welcoming Environments
  • Supporting a Diverse Educator Workforce and Professional Growth to Strengthen Student Learning
  • Meeting Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Needs
  • Increasing Postsecondary Education Access, Affordability, Completion, and Post-Enrollment Success
  • Strengthening Cross-Agency Coordination and Community Engagement to Advance Systemic Change

U.S. Department of Education; Office of Postsecondary Education Business and International Education Program applications due August 13, 2021

The Business and International Education Program provides grants to enhance international business education programs and expand the capacity of the business community to engage in international economic activities.

NEW: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Public Health Informatics and Technology Workforce Development Program applications due August 11, 2021

The goal of the new Public Health Informatics and Technology (PHIT) Workforce Development Program is to train at least 4,000 individuals in public health informatics and technology, with an emphasis on improving public health reporting through modern standards and computing, to expand the nation’s public health workforce. With a focus on educating and diversifying the public health workforce, and reducing longstanding health disparities and inequities, the program will prioritize recruiting underrepresented students from historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian-American and Pacific Islander serving institutions, and minority serving institutions. The curriculum should be culturally responsive and designed in a way that meets the needs of the local health care agencies and sets students up for success in the training program.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes of Health Research on Interventions that Promote the Careers of Individuals in the Biomedical Research Enterprise applications due October 13, 2021

This funding opportunity solicits applications that propose research designed to test training, mentoring, and networking interventions intended to enhance research-oriented individuals’ interest, motivation, persistence and preparedness for careers in the biomedical research workforce. Funded projects are expected to produce research findings that will guide the design and implementation of potential interventions in a variety of academic settings and career levels to enhance the diversity of the biomedical research workforce.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes of Health seeks research on The Role of Work in Health Disparities in the U.S.

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support innovative population-based research that can contribute to identifying and characterizing pathways and mechanisms through which work or occupation influences health outcomes and health status among populations with health and/or health care disparities, and how work functions as a social determinant of health.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes of Health; National Heart, Ling, and Blood Institute seeks Short-Term Research Education Program proposals to Enhance Diversity in Health-Related Research

The goal of this program is to support educational activities that enhance the diversity of the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research workforce by providing research experiences and related opportunities that enrich the pool of individuals from nationally underrepresented groups who will be available to compete for research opportunities in the mission areas of importance to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Forecasted NEW Opportunity: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes of Health Preventing Opioid Misuse and other Drug Use by Intervening on Social Determinants

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute on Aging, intend to promote a new initiative by publishing a funding opportunity sometime this fall for research on the impact of prevention strategies that actively address social determinants and that intervene at multiple levels of influence to reduce the risk of opioid misuse, polysubstance use, or risky substance use.

Forecasted NEW Opportunity: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes of Health Research to Address Vaccine Hesitancy, Uptake, and Implementation among Populations that Experience Health Disparities

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities intends to promote another new initiative by publishing a notice of special interest this winter to solicit applications for research highlighting the important need for community-engaged research to address vaccine hesitancy, uptake, and implementation among populations who experience health disparities.

NEW: National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan Grants to Organizations applications due August 12, 2021

The American Rescue Plan’s Grants to Organizations program will be carried out through one-time grants to support operations. Unlike other Arts Endowment funding programs that offer project-based support, Rescue Plan funds are intended to support day-to-day business expenses/operating costs, and not specific programmatic activities.

National Endowment for the Humanities Humanities Connections applications due September 14, 2021

The purpose of the Humanities Connections program is to expand the role of the humanities in undergraduate education by supporting innovative curricular approaches that foster partnerships among humanities faculty and their counterparts in the social and natural sciences and in pre-service or professional programs, such as business, engineering, health sciences, law, computer science, and other technology-driven fields, in order to encourage and develop new integrative learning opportunities for students.

National Science Foundation Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure letter of intent due July 15, 2021

The Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure (LEAP HI) program challenges the engineering research community to take a leadership role in addressing demanding, urgent, and consequential challenges for advancing America’s prosperity, health and infrastructure. LEAP HI proposals confront engineering problems that are too complex to yield to the efforts of a single investigator, that is problems that require sustained and coordinated effort from interdisciplinary research teams, with goals that are not achievable through a series of smaller, short-term projects. LEAP HI projects perform fundamental research that may lead to disruptive technologies and methods, lay the foundation for new and strengthened industries, enable notable improvements in quality of life, or reimagine and revitalize the built environment.

National Science Foundation GERMINATION: Germination of Research Questions for Addressing Critical Societal Challenges letter of intent due August 27, 2021

The GERMINATION program aims to foster the development of pedagogical frameworks, platforms and/or environments to enable participants to formulate research questions and ideas with potentially transformative outcomes. The extraordinary response of the STEM research community to the COVID-19 pandemic, exemplified by the record-breaking speed of novel vaccine development, highlights the outstanding capabilities at all levels of the research enterprise. The GERMINATION program seeks to harness the immense capacities of academic researchers to similarly address other critical global challenges through supporting the development of new pedagogical approaches that train researchers to formulate and develop key research questions.

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