July 8, 2026

Kansas State University researchers who want to turn ag innovation into validated businesses are invited to apply for the Ag45 cohort of the National Science Foundation Great Plains I-Corps program.  

The new Great Plains I-Corps: Ag45 cohort is a seven-session program to help teams that are developing agriculture or ag-related technologies to validate their ideas and build a strong foundation for commercialization. The cohort includes several weeks of virtual sessions and an in-person reception and conference Sept. 15-18 in Fargo, North Dakota.  

The program is free to join for any K-State faculty and students. Applications are due Monday, July 13. Learn more and apply at gp-icorps.org/events/ag45. 

Ag45 cohort participants get: 

Up to $3,000 in support funding to use toward customer discovery efforts 

Access to ag industry experts and professionals  

A validated commercialization plan 

The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps, or I-Corps, program equips researchers and innovators with the tools to translate federally funded discoveries into market-ready technologies, startups and industry partnerships. Learn more about the I-Corps program at gp-icorps.org.  

The National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program provides support for the acquisition of a multi-user research instrument that is commercially available through direct purchase from a vendor, or for the personnel costs and equipment that are required for the development of an instrument with new capabilities.  It is also a limited submission program, with the number of proposals K-State can submit typically restricted to three. If you are interested in applying to this program, you must notify (working title, team list, track submitting to, short synopsis) the Office of Research Development by 5 pm on July 14, 2026, via ordlimitedsubs@ksu.edu. 

A confounding factor is that the program’s website says that this year NSF will be issuing a new RFA for the MRI program, but it is not clear when this will be released or what changes might be made.  Even with this uncertainty, we have decided to continue with our typical internal limited submission process so that we will be in the best position to move forward when an RFA is finally released.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mary Lou Marino at mlmarino@ksu.edu.

Open Access (OA) means that scholarly work is available online without financial, legal, or technical barriers for readers. OA does not mean authors give up ownership of their work; rights, reuse, and sharing are still governed by publication agreements and licenses. In practice, there are several routes to Open Access, only one of which incurs an Article Processing Charge (APC): Gold OA usually means publishing in a fully open access journal, sometimes with an article processing charge (APC); Diamond OA (sometimes Platinum OA) is a form of open access where the work is free to read and authors are not charged APCs, often because costs are supported by libraries, universities, scholarly societies, or consortia. Here at K-State, K-State Libraries runs New Prairie Press, a Diamond OA publishing program that supports open access journals, books, textbooks, and conference publications; Green OA means depositing a version of your work, often the accepted manuscript, in a trusted repository so it can be discovered, read, and preserved even if the final published version remains behind a paywall. At K-State, K-State Research Exchange (K-REx) is the university’s institutional repository and is available for Green OA deposit.

Open Data is the related idea that research data should be shared in ways that make it findable, accessible, reusable, and appropriately preserved, while still respecting privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, and other legitimate limits. Federal policy is increasingly moving in this direction. The 2022 OSTP public access memo, often called the Nelson Memo, directs federal agencies to make federally funded publications and their supporting data publicly accessible without embargo, and the current OMB-2026-0034 docket includes proposed federal grant rule changes that touch both publication costs and data/evaluation costs. For K-State researchers, the takeaway is: open access and open data expectations are becoming a normal part of the research lifecycle, especially for federally funded work.

K-State Libraries can help you think through which route makes sense, whether that means using an OA publishing agreement, depositing an accepted manuscript in K-REx, publishing through New Prairie Press, or planning for data sharing and preservation earlier in the project: ope@ksu.edu

Further Reading:

- OpenAccess.nl. (n.d.). What is open access? 
- Nelson, A. (2022). Ensuring free, immediate, and equitable access to federally funded research. Office of Science and Technology Policy. 
- Office of Management and Budget. (2026). Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance. Federal Register. 
- K-State Libraries. (n.d.). New Prairie Press. 
- K-State Libraries. (n.d.). K-State Research Exchange. 

NSF webinars & office hours:

Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowships provide early career researchers the opportunity to pursue independent research of their own choosing that supports the mission of ARL. 

Applicants:
- Must have completed all requirements for a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree in the physical sciences, life sciences, computational sciences, behavioral sciences, or engineering by October 1, 2026
- May not be more than five years beyond the award date of their Ph.D. or Sc.D. by the fellowship application deadline
- Must demonstrate exceptional qualifications with respect to academic and scholarly achievement, as evidenced by research and publication
- Are expected to have conducted research on a major scientific or engineering problem during their thesis work or have provided a new approach or insight, evidenced by a recognized impact in their field

There are no citizenship requirements to apply; however, selected fellows must pass a Department of Defense (DoD) clearance process, requiring a background security investigation. Foreign nationals must hold or anticipate holding a visa accepted by the program and must get further DoD approval, requiring a background investigation. 

Fellowship Benefits:
- Full-time, one-year in-residence appointment at ARL, renewable for up to three years based on performance
- Annual stipend of $115,000
- Health insurance (including dental and vision)
- Relocation assistance
- Professional travel allowance

Watch the recording of the most recent informational webinar to learn more about the program and application process. 

Qualified candidates can find additional information and apply by July 9, 2026, at https://arldpf.nationalacademies.org.

The NIAID Small Business Program will be hosting virtual SBIR/STTR Office Hours events on July 8, 2026, and August 5, 2026, from 12-1 p.m. These events will include a brief SBIR/STTR program overview and then members of the NIAID Small Business Program staff will be available to answer your questions, which can be submitted in advance during registration.

Please register and select either the July or August event date, then join us for an informative session.

As each event is capped at 100 registrants, spots are available on a first come first served basis. 

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced a Pitch Day for the Multi X Office (MXO) to catalyze future research efforts.

The MXO Pitch Day aims to fund scientific discovery solutions within three specific thrust areas: a world beyond electronics, foundations beyond components, and materials beyond nature and current synthetic practice. DARPA is seeking proposals from non-traditional organizations, small businesses, and university principal investigators who have not previously received a DARPA-funded award as a prime performer. The program seeks to reduce technical uncertainty and generate new concepts in non-electronic or hybrid physical approaches, resilient components for extreme environments, and novel material synthesis.

Performers are expected to provide a clear technical approach, risk mitigation strategy, and evidence of feasibility for efforts not to exceed 12 months in duration.

The event will be held in-person on November 2, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois, with abstract submissions due by July 29, 2026. Total funding per award is capped at $500,000.

The full solicitation is available here.