September 2, 2026

The Department of Defense (DoD) has released its FY26 Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR)—Capacity Building RFA, which is a limited submission program. 

Because of the short time until its due date, the Office of Research Development (ORD) is conducting an abbreviated internal competition program with the following steps:

Some notes of caution: Before you email your interest in submitting a white paper, please be sure to fully read the RFA as well as the white paper requirements. Remember this is a capacity-building rather than a research focused program. The submission requirements strongly reflect this.

Kansas State University has established an institutional membership with Atom Grants, providing faculty, staff and graduate students access to an AI-powered platform that makes finding and securing external funding faster and less burdensome.

The new partnership directly supports one of the central commitments of the Next-Gen K-State Strategic Plan: growing K-State's annual research expenditures to $350 million and faculty-initiated competitive awards to $300 million by 2030, while driving transformational discovery, innovation and scholarship across every college and campus. Reaching that goal means giving researchers better tools so they can spend less time hunting for opportunities and more time doing the work that defines K-State's land-grant mission of teaching, research and engagement.

Faculty, staff and graduate students who want a guided introduction to the platform are welcome to join one of the following live training sessions:

Thursday, Sept. 10 from 2:15-3 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 23 from noon-12:45 p.m.

More information about the platform can be found in K-State Today.

The National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) offers an opportunity formerly known as “Track-2”, now titled “Focused EPSCoR Collaborations” (FEC) that involves collaborations among researchers in two or three EPSCoR jurisdictions. The current FEC solicitation, NSF 24-573, lists current due dates but the topic area listed (Use-Inspired Research) is over two years old and it normally is changed every two years.

ORD has contacted NSF and learned that a new solicitation is in preparation, but we were unable to learn the new topic area or whether the same due dates will apply.

In the absence of solid information, we are still accepting internal notifications for this limited submission opportunity (via email to ordlimitedsubs@ksu.edu) through September 16, 2026, but we will not be asking PIs to prepare internal proposals immediately.

Rather, we are suggesting that researchers interested in applying to this opportunity focus on two things:

1. Make sure that the research you are proposing aligns with the new foundational research opportunity areas NSF announced last week 
2. Begin to identify potential industry partners for your work. This will become increasingly important for all government-funded research. Contact the Office of Corporate Engagement if you need assistance.

ORD staff will be reaching out to schedule individual meetings with all research teams that submit notifications of their interest in applying to the FEC program.

The Office of the Vice President for Research and K-State Libraries is excited to announce the continuation of the Posters, Pinot and Partnerships series for the fall 2026 semester.

The first session will take place from 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, September 10 on the 5th floor of Hale Library. This month's event will highlight research conducted by recipients of K-State's Global Food Systems Seed Grant Program, Game-changing Research Initiation Program and GRIPex awards. 

Register to attend here.

The Office of Research Development (ORD) is now hosting in-person office hours to assist and connect with K-State researchers. 

During ORD office hours, researchers can meet with members of the ORD team to discover funding opportunities, discuss specific funders and programs, review white papers or engage in casual conversation about research activity. 

The next session will take place September 10 from 2-4 p.m. at the Cornerstone Café inside Hale Library.

If you are interested in discussing your white paper, please send a copy of the paper to ord@ksu.edu at least three days in advance.

Additional office hours will be hosted at the Cornerstone Cafe from 2-4 p.m. on October 1, 15 and 29, November 19 and December 3 and 17.

Please contact ord@ksu.edu with any questions.

K-State faculty, staff, and graduate students can request guidance on practical, responsible, and research-informed uses of artificial intelligence.

AI Consultation Services is a one-year pilot designed to help members of the K-State community connect with the most appropriate support for their goals. Whether you are exploring AI tools for everyday work, planning a class session in the AI Studio, or considering how AI might be applied in a research project, our consultation teams can help you identify next steps.

Request a consultation:

General AI Literacy for faculty, staff, and graduate students seeking guidance on practical and responsible AI use.
AI Studio for individuals or teams who want hands-on exploration in a supported space.
Research Support for faculty, staff, and graduate students considering technical AI integration in research or scholarly project.

Register to attend upcoming events:

September 9: AI Instruction in the Classroom: Optional, Obligatory or Forbidden? 
September 10: Fine-Tuning LLMs - From Generic to Specialist: A Practical Walkthrough
September 16: Image Processing with AI: From Pixels to Intelligent Visual Understanding
September 24: LLMs 101: Chatting to Agents and the Engine Under the Hood

One of the key components of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) proposal is the personal statement. Beth Powers, Director of K-State’s Office of Scholar Development and Undergraduate Research, will lead a Writing Workshop that will give you a chance to test run your NSF GRFP personal statement. Your draft must be submitted to Beth Powers (bethpowers@ksu.edu) by noon on Friday, September 18. Each attendee will be assigned to review one peer’s application using a rubric provided. You will then lead feedback on that application. Beth will read all applications and facilitate a conversation where feedback is given to each person, and everyone gets a chance to learn from their own and others’ feedback.

This session will be held on September 21 from 3:30-5pm. This session will be held via Zoom only. NOTE: To participate you MUST submit an essay by noon Friday the 18th.

Please register here.

On Thursday September 24, 2026, at 3:30 pm via zoom, the Office of Scholar Development and Undergraduate Research, the Graduate School and the Office of Research Development will host an overview of fellowship opportunities that are available to Graduate Students.  This session is geared toward graduate students and seniors planning on attending graduate school in any field. The session will feature descriptions of a wide range of award opportunities and links to resources that can assist with graduate fellowship searching and applying.  Key funding programs that will be discussed include NSF, DoD, DoE, NIH, Hertz Foundation, Fulbright and the American Association of University Women. Opportunities in the Humanities and Social Sciences will also be addressed, plus you will learn how to search for fellowships on your own.

To attend, please register here.

NSF webinars & office hours:

Halo (Halo Science) is an AI-powered R&D partnering platform that connects academic researchers, universities, and startups with corporate research and development teams. Below are their newest PulseCheck opportunities from companies currently looking for university partners through Halo. If any are relevant to your work, use the one-click feature to raise your hand to express your interest and connect with the sponsoring company. Make sure that 1)  “academic researchers” are listed as one of the eligible partners and 2) you have a researcher profile on the Halo Science Innovators Page. 

If you are contacted by the company and are asked to submit a one-page white paper or short proposal, please be sure to contact your OSP grants specialist and “cc” them on your submission as well as keep them in the loop as your interaction with the company unfolds.  Note Halo also has other opportunities on its marketplace with specific deadlines. These are also included in the Funding Connection when they are released.

Novel rodent deterrent and repellent technologies for outdoor use

Therapeutics for cognitive dysfunction and dementia in dogs

Rapid prototyping of paperboard cups and formed containers

Efficient inference and model compression for on-device agentic AI

Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute is now accepting letters of intent for the Fall 2026 Mock Study Section.

The Mock Study Section provides NIH-style feedback on completed applications prior to submission. The aim of the program is to increase the likelihood of success in the NIH review process and to train observers on the processes NIH uses to evaluate applications. Applications are reviewed, critiqued, and scored by three faculty researchers and discussed with other study section members at a public event. Feedback is returned to participants following the study section meeting, at least 5 weeks before the NIH standard grant deadlines. 

Important Dates:
September 4: Letters of Intent due.

October 23: Full proposals due.

December 7: Mock Study Section event at Children's Mercy Research Institute.

Submit your letter of interest.

Wednesday, September 16

These monthly virtual office webinars will focus on updates from the U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Biological Sciences and may be of interest to the biological sciences research community.

More information and registration can be found here.

The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (NSF MPS) has published five new funding opportunities supporting foundational research in astronomical sciences, chemistry, materials research, mathematical sciences and physics.

The five funding opportunities collectively span more than 40 research programs supported by NSF MPS. Each funding opportunity includes multiple foundational research programs grouped as follows:

• MPS Astronomical Sciences Research Programs (MPS Astro)
• MPS Chemistry Research Programs (MPS Chem)
• MPS Materials Research Programs (MPS Materials)
• MPS Mathematical Sciences Research Programs (MPS MathSci)
• MPS Physics Research programs (MPS Physics)

These funding opportunities do not have proposal deadlines. Proposals are accepted by NSF anytime, although some programs have recommended target dates. More information is available here.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a request for information on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review (https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=6a2b1c22c3fcfda46e0badd2).

Briefly, NIH is proposing a change in the initial peer review process such that the PI, applicant institution, and NIH staff would no longer receive a quantitative impact score based on individual reviews. They would receive a qualitative ranking placing the proposal into one of three categories: “Most competitive”, “Competitive”, or “Not discussed”.

Comments are invited for this proposed change and must be received by October 13, 2026. Researchers are welcome to respond from a non-K-State email account in their capacity as private citizens.

NEW! Application Walk-Through - Join IIE's Application & Selection Lead Catherine Matto for a pre-recorded overview of the Fulbright U.S. Scholar online application.

NEW! Watch our Application Writing Clinic for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar 2027-2028 Competition, Part II

Review detailed Application Instructions on the Fulbright Scholar Website.