***Limited Submission***

Blavatnik Family Foundation
Program: 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists
Synopsis: Supports, honors and celebrate young faculty members working in the three disciplinary categories of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Chemical Sciences. Nominations are accepted from an invited group of research universities, independent research institutions, academic medical centers, and government laboratories from around the United States. Nominees must have been born in or after 1983; currently hold a tenured or tenured-track position at an invited institution; hold a doctorate; conduct independent research in one of the disciplinary categories in the Life Sciences; Physical Sciences & Engineering; and Chemical Sciences. Nominations of qualified members of underrepresented groups are encouraged.
Award details: $250K awarded to one Blavatnik National Awards Laureate in each disciplinary category. Five nominees in each disciplinary category will be recognized as Finalists and will receive $15K in unrestricted funds.
USC Internal announcement: https://rii.usc.edu/limited-submissions/blavatnik/
Announcement on website: http://blavatnikawards.org/awards/national-awards/
USC Internal due date: October 15, 2024.
Nomination due date: December 4, 2024.
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***Limited Submission***

NSF / Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE); STEM Education; and Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP)
Program: Safety, Security, and Privacy of Open-Source Ecosystems (Safe-OSE)
Solicitation #: NSF-24-608
Synopsis: Supports impactful, mature open-source ecosystems to address important classes of safety, security, and privacy vulnerabilities. “Mature” signifies that the ecosystem in question has already established a robust community of contributors, an extensive group of users, a managing organization that steers the development of the product, and the essential infrastructure needed to keep the ecosystem running. Mature OSEs’ vulnerabilities can be technical (e.g., vulnerabilities in code, side-channels potentially disclosing sensitive information) and / or socio-technical (e.g., supply chain issues, insider threats, biases, and social engineering), as long as they are deemed significant in the context of the OSE. The goal of the Safe-OSE program is to catalyze meaningful improvements in the safety, security, and privacy of the targeted OSE that the managing organization does not currently have the resources to undertake. The program especially focuses on efforts in which enhancing the safety, security, and privacy of the OSE will lead to demonstrable improvement in its positive societal and economic impacts.
Award details: Each award will be for 24 months. The budget for Year 1 may be up to a maximum of $500K and the budget for Year 2 should be up to a maximum of $1M, for a total budget of up to $1.5M per award.

USC Internal announcement: https://rii.usc.edu/limited-submissions/nsf-24-608/
External Announcement on website: https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/safe-ose-safety-security-privacy-open-source-ecosystems/nsf24-608/solicitation
USC Internal due date: October 18, 2024.
Preliminary Proposal due date: January 14, 2025. Second Tuesday in January, Annually thereafter
Full proposal due date: April 22, 2025. Fourth Tuesday in April, Annually Thereafter
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American Heritage® Chocolate
Program: Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Chocolate History Grant
Synopsis: Supports project(s) that investigate and / or educate on the history of chocolate, uncover new chocolate innovation, development of cocoa science as well as highlight the chocolate making process. Anticipated audience reach will also play an important role in determining grant recipients.
Award details: American Heritage will award a minimum of $50K for grants. Winners are required to attend the annual meeting of the Heritage Chocolate Society to be held February 19-20, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Announcement on website: https://www.americanheritagechocolate.com/grants/
Application due date: October 26, 2024.
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Luce / American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
Program: Dissertation Fellowships in American Art
Synopsis: Supports graduate students pursuing research on the history of art and visual culture of the United States, including all aspects of Native American art, and who are at any stage of their Ph.D. dissertation research or writing. Encourages applications from Ph.D. candidates from all degree-granting institutions in the United States. Eligibility requirements include being a doctoral student at a university in the United States in art history or a related field, such as Native American and Indigenous studies, ethnic studies, or African American studies; and be a US citizen, permanent resident, Indigenous person residing in the United States through rights associated with the Jay Treaty of 1794, DACA recipient, asylee, refugee, or individual granted Temporary Protected Status in the United States.
Award details: $38K stipend, plus up to $4K in travel and research expenses.
Announcement on website: https://www.acls.org/competitions/luce-acls-dissertation-fellowships-in-american-art/
Application due date: October 30, 2024.
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American Mathematical Society (AMS)
Program: AMS Young Scholars
Synopsis: Supports summer mathematics programs for mathematically talented high school students. The goal of the program is to aid and promote programs that support and nurture mathematically talented youth in the United States, and to make these opportunities available to the broad pool of all mathematically talented high school students living in the United States. Several past and current awardees are colleges and universities.
Award details: Awards of $2,5K-$15K are made annually to support existing summer programs that touch hundreds of talented and highly motivated mathematics students. The number of programs supported each year varies. No institutional overhead or indirect costs will be covered with these award funds. Funding is for one year and it is expected that half of the funds will be used for student scholarships and half for program expenses.

Announcement on website: https://www.ams.org/grants-awards/emp-epsilon
Application window: October 2024 to February 2025.
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Research Corporation for Science Advancement
Program: Cottrell Scholar Regional Meetings
Synopsis: Supports Cottrell Scholars and Holland Awardees who wish to host one-day regional meetings at their institutions. This initiative supports up to four regional meetings annually. Regional meeting themes in research or education are equally encouraged, provided they appeal to a broad cross-section of the Cottrell Scholar community and other participating scientists, including non-CS faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students from a variety of nearby institutions. Outreach to members of underrepresented groups and minority-serving institutions is strongly encouraged.
Award details: Up to $5K
Announcement on website: https://rescorp.org/cottrell-scholars/cottrell-scholars/regional-meetings
Applications due date: Anytime
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Alkermes
Program: The Alkermes Pathways Research Awards

Synopsis: Supports the next generation of researchers who are working on the front lines to advance our understanding of diseases in the field of neuroscience, specifically schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Areas of interest include
- Preclinical, clinical, translational and epidemiological research;
- Research on treatment and patient- centered outcomes

- Clinical and health economic outcomes using real-world data

- Outcomes research supporting continuity of care utilizing telehealth or other technology-based approaches
Eligible candidates have a MD or Ph.D. or equivalent; are within 5 years of initial academic appointment (i.e., assistant professor or postdoc); may be a recipient of a K award or other mentored research awards, but may not have received an NIH R01 or a DP2 award; and must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or a holder of temporary non-immigrant visa that is valid for the 2 years duration of the project period.
Award details: Up to $100K per project.
Announcement on website: https://www.alkermes.com/research-and-development/pathways
Application due date: November 30, 2024.
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Parkinson’s Foundation
Program: Independent Investigators — Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Awards
Synopsis: Supports promising early-career scientists for clinical, pre-clinical or basic research proposals for research that will advance understanding of PD. Successful projects should include a novel hypothesis and be inventive in methodology or approach. Funding is intended to bridge funding for early-career scientists’ pathway from mentored to independent research. Tenure-track assistant professors are eligible. Also, instructors who anticipate a tenure-track faculty appointment are eligible to apply with a letter from the department chair attesting the appointment will be made by the start of the award. Though not a limited submission, the Foundation will typically make one award per institution.
Award details: $300K total, including 10% of indirect cost. Up to 40% salary is permitted.

Announcement on website: https://www.parkinson.org/advancing-research/for-researchers/awards-independent-investigators#ImpactAwards
Letters of Intent due date: October 31, 2024.
Application due date: February 28, 2025.
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Melanoma Research Alliance
Program: 2024-2025 Request for Proposals
Synopsis: Supports pre-clinical, translational, and early clinical research with the potential to produce unusually high impact, near-term advancements in melanoma prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Proposals will be accepted for various categories of investigators, including Established Investigator Awards, Academic-Industry Partnership Award (for Established Investigator Award), Young Investigator Awards and Pilot Awards. Eligible PIs in any award category must hold a full-time faculty position at the assistant professor level, or above. The solicitation provides details for each award.
Award details: MRA plans at least $9.2 million in new funding in the 2024-2025 cycle.

Announcement on website: https://www.curemelanoma.org/research/request-for-proposals/mra-general-rfp
Applicant Checklist due date (for Young Investigator award only): October 21, 2024.
Proposal due date: November 4, 2024.
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Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC) Research Foundation
Program: Pilot Grants and Full Grants
Synopsis: Supports the following ACC topics: (1) MYB: mechanisms of action and therapeutic inhibition; (2) NOTCH: Mechanisms of action and therapeutic inhibition; (3) Cell surface markers and related therapies; (4) Tumor immune microenvironment and appropriate immunotherapies; (5) Diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers; and (6) Cell lines and cultures.
Award details: Pilot grants are up to $50K and will be awarded for projects that generate preliminary data or prove a concept that may be followed up with a larger proposal. Full grants are typically $100K to $300K for projects of 1 to 3 years.
Announcement on website: https://accrf.org/research/grants/grant-opportunities/
Application due date: Rolling basis with 2-3 review seasons annually.
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NASA / ROSES 2024
Program: Exobiology
Synopsis: Supports, broadly, research that advances understanding of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the Universe. Research is centered on the origin and early evolution of life, the potential of life to adapt to different environments, and the implications for life elsewhere. More specifically, seeks projects on the following areas of interests
- Prebiotic Evolution: includes the formation of prebiotic organic molecules and their delivery to planetary surfaces, the forms in which prebiotic organic matter has been preserved in planetary materials, and determining what chemical systems could have served as precursors of metabolic and replicating

systems on Earth and elsewhere, including alternatives to the current DNA-RNA-protein
basis for life.
- Early Evolution of Life and the Biosphere: further investigation of two natural repositories of evolutionary history available on Earth to investigate: the molecular record in living organisms and the geological record.
- Evolution of Advanced Life: determining the biological and environmental factors leading to the origin of eukaryotes and the development of multicellularity on Earth and the potential distribution of complex life in the Universe.
- Large scale environmental change and Macro-evolution: includes an evaluation of environmental factors. Of particular interest are mass extinction and mass radiation events.
- Biosignatures and Life Elsewhere: focuses on relating what is known about the origin of life on Earth to the potential for the origin and establishment of life under conditions prevailing on other planetary bodies, and basic research on the formation and preservation of biosignatures under non-Earth conditions, including studies that constrain or extend concepts of possible chemical evolution relevant to the origin, evolution, and distribution of life.

Award details: Expected program budget for new awards is ~3M, of which ~20-25 projects are expected to be awarded. Maximum duration of projects is 4 years, though typically projects are 1-3 years.
Announcement on website: Exobiology
Proposal due date: Proposals may be submitted anytime.
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NSF / Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Engineering, and STEM
Program: ECosystem for Leading Innovation in Plasma Science and Engineering (ECLIPSE): Special Focus on PFAS and Microelectronics via Dear Colleague Letter (DCL)
DCL #: 24-130
Synopsis: Supports interdisciplinary research for (1) removal of per- and polyfluroalkyl substances from the environment and (2) novel and more efficient methods for fabrication of microelectronics. Proposals should clearly articulate the fundamental scientific and / or engineering challenge in plasma science and engineering that is proposed to be overcome; and how the proposed resolution of the stated scientific and / or engineering challenge will address either of the two focus areas under this DCL. Proposals submitted in response to this DCL should be responsive to and will be considered within the ECLIPSE meta-program, PD 24-110Z.
Announcement on website: ECLIPSE.DCL
Proposal due date: For consideration in the FY2025 funding cycle, proposals responsive to this DCL should be submitted directly to the ECLIPSE program description PD 24-110Z by 5 p.m. submitter's local time on November 18, 2024.
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NSF / Multiple Directorates and NIH / National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Program: Molecular Foundation of Biotechnology (MFB)
Solicitation #: 24-607
Synopsis: Supports collaborative, creative, cross-disciplinary high-risk, high-reward projects to develop cutting-edge tools and methods that will accelerate understanding of RNA function in complex biological systems across various sectors, including agriculture, energy and global health.
Award details: Award sizes must not exceed $1.5M in total costs (direct and indirect) for the entire project and duration of up to 3 years. The project budget and duration must be commensurate with the scale and scope of the research.

Announcement on website: https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/mfb-molecular-foundations-biotechnology
Full proposal due date: December 16, 2024.
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NSF / Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO) and Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS)
Program: Use-Inspired Creativity Extension for the Bioeconomy via Dear Colleague Letter (DCL)
DCL #: 24-133
Synopsis: Supports existing awardees in selected clusters / programs/divisions within the Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO) and Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) to explore the Use-Inspired Creativity Extension for the Bio-economy (UICREX-Bioeconomy) to extend funding for research awards that have the potential to be translated into commercial activities in the U.S. bio-economy This opportunity is offered in collaboration with the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP). The use-inspired nature of these activities should demonstrate clear implications for the foreseeable benefits to society. The UICREX-Bioeconomy adds up to two years to the initial award period to offer the most creative concepts an extended opportunity to pursue adventurous, "high-risk" opportunities that are not necessarily covered by the original/current award. A highly competitive opportunity, awardees must have at least one annual report to be considered eligible for consideration. The use-inspired / translational potential should be documented in the annual reports of the current award. Use-inspired activities may include patents/patent applications, licensing, prototyping, and/or reported findings with a clear potential for further commercial development.

Announcement on website: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2024/nsf24133/nsf24133.jsp?WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Important date: Use-Inspired Creativity Extensions for the Bio-economy will be considered at any time. For consideration of funding in the fiscal year 2025, PIs should contact their cognizant NSF program director or NSF directorate contact prior to May 1, 2025.

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NSF / Across All Directorates
Program: Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE)
Solicitation #: 24-606
Synopsis: Supports a new pathway for translating research or innovation results by supporting the establishment of managing organizations that facilitate the creation and growth of sustainable, high-impact Open source ecosystems (OSEs) — broadly defined as a self-sustaining organization that enables the ongoing, distributed, asynchronous development of an open-source product that is designed to be publicly accessible, modifiable, and distributable by anyone under an open-source licensing model — around already-developed open-source products, tools, and artifacts. The POSE program aims to grow the community of individuals who develop and contribute to OSE efforts, and enable pathways to intentionally transition promising, robust open-source innovations into self-sustaining OSEs that could lead to new technology products or services with broad societal impacts. This solicitation seeks two types of proposals: first to scope and plan for an OSE (Phase I), and second to establish and expand (Phase II) a sustainable OSE based on an existing and robust open-source product that shows promise both in the ability to meet an emergent societal or national need and to build a community to help develop it.
Award details: $27.800M program funding for an estimated 30 to 50 awards.
Announcement on website: https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/nsf24606.pdf
Full Proposal due dates: Phase 1 proposals due January 14, 2024, and second Tuesdays in January thereafter. Phase 1 and 2 proposals due September 2, 2025, and first Tuesdays in September thereafter.
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NIH / National Institute of Nursing (NINR); Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR); and Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH)
Program: Advancing Health Equity through Interventions to Prevent and Address Housing Instability (R01)
NOFO #: RFA-NR-25-001
Synopsis: Support research that advances health equity through development, testing, and evaluation of interventions that prevent and address housing instability. Projects should develop, test, and/or evaluate the impact of a housing intervention on both health and housing outcome(s). NINR is interested in applications that focus on social determinants of health (SDOH) interventions that modify housing opportunities and/or interventions that address housing instability as a social risk by addressing individual and/or interpersonal-level housing needs. Topics of interest include (partial)
- Studies that examine community- or population-level programs or policies to prevent and address housing instability and its impact on health outcomes and health disparities, including studies that examine any unintended consequences of housing policies and programs on health

- Studies of interventions to address housing instability and one or more other pathways by which housing status (e.g., affordability, neighborhood, safety and quality) influences health and health disparities

- Studies of interventions to address housing instability and other related SDOH and/or social risks (e.g., interventions that address housing and food security, interventions that address housing and social connectedness, etc.)

Award details: Maximum budget request is $500K direct costs per year for a project period of 5 years.
Announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NR-25-001.html
Application due date: December 13, 2024.
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NIH / Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Program: NICHD Resource Program Grants in Bioinformatics (P41 — Biotechnology Resource Grants)
NOFO #: PAR-24-301
Synopsis: Supports the continued operation, maintenance, and dissemination of unique knowledge, data, and / or bioinformatics resources that are of major importance to the research community using animal models of embryonic developmental processes. These grants will support ongoing development and enhancement of the resources, user training and services, provision of community generated data storage and curation, wide dissemination of the tools and / or resources, and expansion of interoperability with other NIH bioinformatics resources. Examples of activities that this program is intended to support include (partial)
- Efforts to curate and annotate unique collections of data, information, or knowledge that support learning and research utilizing animal model systems

- Information and knowledge processing, including information extraction, integration of data from heterogeneous open access sources, event detection, and feature recognition within these datasets

- Other unique datasets or information tools of demonstrable utility for biomedical research using animal models of developmental processes

Award details: Budget requests may range from $500K to no more than $1.750M per year for direct costs and need to reflect the actual needs of the 5 year proposed project.
Announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-301.html
Application due dates: Multiple due dates through 2027. Next due date for all applications except AIDS applications is January 25, 2025.
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NIH / National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Program: Mechanism for Time-Sensitive Substance Use Research (R21)
NOFO #: PAR-24-398
Synopsis: Supports pilot, feasibility or exploratory research in priority areas in substance use epidemiology, prevention, and health services, including: 1) Research in response to sudden and severe emerging drug issues (e.g. the ability to look into a large and sudden spike in opioid or synthetic cannabinoid use/overdoses in a particular community); 2) Research in response to emerging trends and topics related to a change in federal, state, or local drug policy. The work proposed must be related to imminent policy change; 3) Research in response to unexpected and time-sensitive medical system issues (e.g. opportunities to understand addiction services in the evolving health care system); 4) Responses to unexpected and time-sensitive criminal or juvenile justice opportunities (e.g. new system and/or structural level changes) that relate to drug misuse and access and provision of health care service; 5) Research that examines the early implementation of new or newly changed federal, state, or local programs, policy, financing, or payment approaches related to substance use, substance use epidemiology, prevention, treatment, or recovery. Activities may include infrastructure-building partnerships among researchers and state or local organizations to address later implementation phases; 6) Research in response to natural disasters or newly emergent public health emergencies, to understand their impacts on drug markets, substance use epidemiology, prevention, treatment or recovery outcomes.
Award details: $275K for direct costs over a 2-year project period. No single year’s budget may exceed $200K.

Announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-298.html
Application due dates: Multiple due dates through 2027. Next due date for ALL types of applications is May 5, 2025.
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NIH / National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Program: Behavioral and Integrative Treatment Development (R01)
NOFO #: PAR-24-299
Synopsis: Supports the development and testing of behavioral and integrative treatments for drug and alcohol use, misuse, and dependence. reaffirms the continued commitment of NIDA to major programs of research on behavioral and integrative treatments. The term "behavioral treatment" is used in a broad sense and includes but is not limited to psychotherapies, cognitive, relapse prevention, remediative, rehabilitative, skills training, counseling, family, and exercise therapies. Screening, brief, computerized, adherence, prevention interventions for HIV risk behaviors, and interventions that target therapist training and fidelity are included. Integrative refers to combinations with other treatments, including pharmacotherapies or other complementary approaches. Areas of interest include (partial)
- Research that incorporates of genetic/epigenetic methodologies to help understand the variability in outcomes as result of therapeutic intervention

- Research on tobacco harm reduction strategies such as switching from combustibles to e-cigarettes; studies to promote vaping quitting.

- Studies that develop safe and effective psychosocial interventions to improve the outcomes of pharmacotherapies for SUDs including OUD and overdose reversal.

Award details: Applications budget is unrestricted, but must reflect the needs of a maximum 5 year project.
Announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-299.html
Application due date: February 5, 2025 for new applications; March 5, 2025 for resubmissions, renewals and revised applications. May 7, 2025 for all AIDS applications.
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From Corporate and Foundation Relations

(if interested please contact Kerri Bennett at kerriben@usc.edu>)

PepsiCo
Program: Lightweighting of PET bottles
Synopsis: Supports projects that will develop cost-effective and scalable technologies to enhance the structural stability and extend the shelf life of carbonated soft drinks in lightweight PET bottles while maintaining recyclability. The solution should increase the top-load capacity of bottles and maximize the volume a bottle can hold, while minimizing dents during production and RQL (rejectable quality limits) failures.
Award details: Funding will range from $25K to $100K.
Announcement on website: PET bottles

Proposal due date: October 31, 2024.
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