January 14, 2026

The Patterson Family Foundation (PFF) released its call for Cycle One of their 2026 Grant Opportunities with LOIs due by February 18, 2026, and invited full proposals due by April 3, 2026.  This foundation limits the number of LOIs that can be submitted by an organization.  As such, there will be a limited submission competition conducted by the Office of Research Development (ORD) to determine which LOI’s will go forward from K-State and the K-State Foundation. If you are interested in submitting an LOI to Cycle One, please complete the form here by 5 pm on January 26, 2026. Groups whose LOIs will move forward to PFF will be notified by early February.

A second limited submission opportunity for Cycle Two applications (LOIs due May 13, 2026) will be announced in late February.

Topic areas of interest to the PFF are listed below; please note that although Riley County is not within the PFF catchment area, if the work you are doing takes place in a KS or western MO county with fewer than 50,000 residents, you are eligible to apply. Funding amounts vary by opportunity.

Economic Opportunity: 
- Entrepreneurship and Business Support
- Trades and Workforce Development
- Innovation in Economic Opportunity
- Rural Housing Solutions

Education:
- Literacy Advancement
- Career and Technical Education
- Early College Pathways
- Adult Learning; Primary and Specialty Care Access

Health Care:
- Primary and Specialty Care Access
- Healthcare Workforce Opportunities
- Mental Health Services
- Chronic Disease Prevention, Screening, and Education
- Maternal Health
- Innovation in Healthcare

Community Engagement:
- Community Foundation Opportunities
- Community Needs

The Office of Research Development will host an information session on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) EPSCoR Research Fellows program (formerly known as EPSCoR Track 4) on January 15 at 3:30 pm via zoom. This NSF program provides an opportunity for early career and non-tenured and tenured assistant/associate faculty to establish strong collaborations with the option to spend extended or periodic time (e.g., one, two, or three-month summer extended visit) at the nation's premier research facilities. The fellowship period may be used to initiate new collaborative relationships, to expand existing partnerships in ambitious new directions, or to make use of unique equipment not available at the PI's home institution. Successful fellowships will positively impact and potentially transform the recipient's research career trajectory.

This session will provide background on this program as well as discuss eligibility and proposal preparation requirements. A panel of EPSCoR Research Fellows awardees will also provide first-hand information on what it takes to be successful in this program and how this award has affected their career.

If you are interested in attending this information session, please register here.

Please note that to accommodate holding this information session, the notification due date for this limited submission program has been pushed back to January 22, 2026.  If an internal competition is needed, the internal preproposals will be due 2/17/2026.

Kansas Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol is an annual event where undergraduate students from the state’s public universities present their research to legislators and state officials through a poster session. Showcasing projects from a wide range of disciplines, the event highlights the valuable role of undergraduate research in addressing issues important to Kansas and demonstrates how higher education contributes to the state’s civic, economic, and community development. Each university may select up to five outstanding projects to represent their institution.
 
The 2026 Kansas Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol will be February 26, 2026 from 2-4 p.m. in the 2nd Floor Rotunda.

Questions about this opportunity should be directed to the Scholar Development and Undergraduate Research office. Applications are now open and available here.

The deadline for applying is January 26, 2026 at midnight.

The University Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Student in Research has been established to recognize outstanding individual contributions in research for the purpose of the discovery and creation of new knowledge at K-State. The award is for an undergraduate student who has demonstrated excellence in research in any field of study.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2026 Distinguished Undergraduate Student in Research Award.

The Distinguished Undergraduate Student in Research Award recipient will receive an engraved plaque and prize of $1,000.00. This award will be presented at the Spring Campus-Wide Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on Thursday, April 23, 2026.

Students who are eligible for this award may be nominated by KSU faculty, students, staff, or administrators. Any questions can be directed to the Scholar Development and Undergraduate Research team at SDUR@k-state.edu.

More information and the link to nominate can be found here.

Finalists for this award will be invited for an interview. The deadline for nominations is February 15, 2026.

The University Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in Research has been established to recognize outstanding individual contributions to the development of undergraduates in research projects at Kansas State University. Nominations are now being accepted for the 2026 University Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in Research.

The University Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in Research recipient will be awarded a plaque and prize of $4,000.00. This award will be presented at the Spring Campus-Wide Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on Thursday, April 23, 2026.

Faculty who are eligible for this award may be nominated by K-State faculty, students, staff or administrators. Any questions can be directed to the Scholar Development and Undergraduate Research team at SDUR@k-state.edu.

More details about the awards and the nomination form are available here.

The deadline for nominations is February 15, 2026.

Registration for the Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium is now open! The Symposium offers undergraduate students a valuable opportunity to showcase their research and to practice communicating their findings to a broad audience.  This year the symposium will be part of One K-State Research Week (April 17-24).

This year’s Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 with registration open from now until March 27, 2026.

Registration can be found here. 

NSF webinars & office hours:

January 14, 2026 2-3 p.m.

How might researchers charged with leading convergence research better plan, design, implement, and evaluate the integrative processes and products of their research? In this talk, Dr. Shalini Misra will:

(1) present an analytical framework to examine knowledge integration processes and products;
(2) describe how her team applied the framework to assess knowledge integration processes and products during the first two years of a five-year National Science Foundation Growing Convergence Research (GCR) project using a self-evaluation approach; and
(3) consider the efficacy of the various knowledge integration approaches used in the GCR project and share empirically derived recommendations for designing, implementing, and evaluating convergence research.

The zoom link can be found here.

The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) recently published a Roadmap for Workforce Development: Building Pathways and Innovations for the Critical and Emerging Technology Workforce (Workforce Development Roadmap) that aims to offer an actionable agenda to invigorate and empower the ambition of all Americans to join the workforce in critical and emerging technology sectors, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum technology, or related jobs. NSF TIP is seeking community input on the Workforce Development Roadmap.

As advances in critical and emerging technologies continue to rapidly expand and traditional industries adopt new technologies, the demand for a skilled or semi-skilled technical workforce is increasing across all economic sectors. Addressing the gap between the demand for, and the availability of, a labor force requires bold investment in workforce development that prepares individuals for higher-skill, higher-paying jobs that enhance economic mobility. The Workforce Development Roadmap lays out an investment framework to address this need through cross-sector collaborations and partnerships, innovative community-specific solutions, and expanded access to experiential learning and other training pathways.

NSF seeks input from individuals and organizations across all sectors on the Workforce Development Roadmap. Responses will be accepted until Jan. 15, 2026, in the Workforce Development Roadmap form, by emailing TIPWorkforce@nsf.gov, or by mailing your response to the attention of Mary Crowe, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA. Respondents can choose to provide feedback on one or more questions of interest or relevance to them. Each question is voluntary and optional. The response to each question has a 4,000-character limit, including spaces.

The BoSS program, or BioStabilization Systems, part of the ARPA-H program, is hosting a Proposers’ Day in Washington, D.C. on January 29, 2026, for talented teams interested in advancing the program.

BoSS aims to make cell and gene therapies more widely available by pioneering new technologies to produce, store, and transport cells without any need for refrigeration. Currently, these biologic therapies are incredibly sensitive to temperature changes and costly to transport, making them out of reach for many Americans. By making them shelf-stable, BoSS intends to improve access for patients and grow the market for cell-based therapies.

Register for Proposers’ Day at the BoSS program page. The deadline to register for in-person is January 16, 2026; the deadline for virtual attendance is January 25.

NSF is now operating under a continuing resolution that runs until January 30, 2026.

They are prioritizing the most pressing issues, including restoring the capacity to make awards and ensuring continued management and oversight of existing awards. 

Please visit the recently updated Resumption of Operations at NSF page on NSF.gov for information and answers to frequently asked questions.

The NSF I-Corps program is designed for research teams who want to explore the real-world impact of their innovations. By participating in I-Corps, your team will learn how to use the scientific method to validate the translational potential of your technology. This is about equipping your team with tools to translate research into solutions that matter.

Regional I-Corps offers a unique opportunity to begin assessing the value proposition of your technology by helping researchers explore how their technology can create real-world impact and think beyond the lab.

Teams should include an Entrepreneurial Lead, Technical Lead, and Industry Mentor (preferred). Industry mentors are strongly encouraged and can be provided upon request. The Technical Lead is typically a faculty researcher/innovator while the Entrepreneurial Lead is often a graduate student on their research team. Post doctoral fellows may serve as either the Technical or Entrepreneurial Lead. Industry Mentors are not necessarily sector specific.

5-week virtual program requirements
      - 8-10 hours/week (includes 2 hours class time + 30-minute coaching       meeting)
      - Attend and actively engage in all cohort meetings
      - Complete weekly homework
      - Participate in weekly 30-minute coaching meetings with your       instructor
      - Complete 20+ customer discovery interviews

Participant support of $2k to the Entrepreneurial Lead is based on successful cohort participation. The maximum number of teams allowed is 10.

University of Kansas application deadline: February 9, 2026.

Virtual Cohort Sessions: February 23, March 2, March 9, March 23, and March 30.

Apply here.

The success of NSF's peer review process depends on the willingness of qualified reviewers like yourself to share your time and expertise. Your experience and state-of-the-art knowledge enables you to provide helpful advice to NSF program officers on the merits of proposals and constructive comments to proposers that strengthen their projects.

In addition to providing a great service to NSF and the science and engineering community, you can benefit from reviewing and serving on panels. Reviewers gain first hand knowledge of the peer review process, learn about common problems with proposals, discover strategies to write strong proposals, and meet colleagues and NSF program officers managing programs related to their interests.

One of the best ways to learn about NSF Merit Review and what makes a strong NSF proposal is to become a reviewer. To become a reviewer for ENG programs, start by completing the recruitment form.