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Limited Submission: data.org Activate AI Economic Opportunity Challenge (Deadline: December 17, 2025)
Sponsor: data.org
Program: Activate AI: Economic Opportunity Challenge
https://data.org/initiatives/challenges/activate-ai-economic-opportunity-challenge/
Program number: 2026
Award amount: $115K in grant funding in addition to access to technical assistance
Number of applications UW can put forward: 1
OR internal deadline: 12/17/2025
OSP deadline: 12/29/2025
Sponsor deadline: 1/8/2026
Program Description:
The Activate AI: Economic Opportunity Challenge is a global call for innovative AI applications that empower people and communities, and that unlock economic opportunity for a resilient future.
With the launch of this challenge, data.org and Zoom are seeking out projects that drive AI workforce development and organizational capacity, develop pathways to create future friendly jobs leveraging data and AI, and build climate resilient communities for a green economy.
Pre-Proposal Instructions:
Please submit as one combined pdf labeled with PI’s Lastname, Firstname:
- A one‐page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach.
- If the final application requires a statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.
- CV (not biosketch) of the PI including past grant funding.
to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, December 17, 2025. Proposals are due to the sponsor 1/8/2026 so you will need to have your materials in to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 12/29/2025 if given the go‐ahead by the Limited Submissions review committee.
Other open limited submissions opportunities, as well as the limited submissions review committee review and selection process, are here: http://depts.washington.edu/research/funding/limited-submissions. Please feel free to email us at limitedsubs@uw.edu with questions or information on any limited submission opportunities that should be but are not already listed on that page. If you are interested in other private funding opportunities, visit the Corporate and Foundation funding opportunities page.
Deadline December 17, 2025
DARPAVERSE Special Topic (Deadline: December 31, 2025)
DARPA has launched a new Special Topic Area: DARPAVERSE, aimed at transforming how warfighters, analysts, and program managers collaborate and model complex systems. The DARPAVERSE Program seeks to create an environment where users can develop multi-domain models of concepts and scenarios in less than a day.
This is your opportunity to put your innovation directly in front of DARPA and the Department of War, and to be part of a new approach to mission-driven modeling and simulation. You are encouraged to submit early to ensure time for any resubmissions or refinements before the DARPAVERSE deadline closes.
DARPAVERSE Program Announcement
Deadline: December 31, 2025
Limited Submission: Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) (Deadline January 14, 2026)
Sponsor: NSF
Program: Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM)
Program number: NSF 25-514
Award amount: $2,000,000 (funding varies according to track)
Number of applications UW can put forward: 2 (that do not overlap in discipline)
OR internal deadline: 1/14/2026
OSP deadline: 2/20/2026
Sponsor deadline: 3/3/2026
Program Description:
The main goal of the S-STEM program is to enable academically talented, low-income students to pursue successful careers in promising STEM fields. Ultimately, the S-STEM program seeks to increase the number of academically promising low-income students who graduate with an S-STEM eligible degree and contribute to the American innovation economy with their STEM knowledge. Recognizing that financial aid alone cannot increase retention and graduation in STEM, the program provides awards to institutions of higher education (IHEs) not only to fund scholarships, but also to adapt, implement, and study evidence-based curricular and co-curricular[a] activities that have been shown to be effective in supporting recruitment, retention, transfer (if appropriate), student success, academic/career pathways, and graduation in STEM.
To be eligible, scholars must be domestic low-income students with academic ability, talent, or potential and demonstrated unmet financial need who are enrolled in an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree program in an S-STEM eligible discipline. Proposers must provide an analysis that articulates the characteristics and academic needs of the population of students they are trying to serve. NSF is particularly interested in supporting the attainment of degrees in fields identified as critical needs for the Nation. It is up to the proposer to make a compelling case that such a field serves a critical need in the United States.
Track 1 Institutional Capacity Building – UW is not eligible for Track 1 due to previous NSF S-STEM awards.
Track 2 Implementation: Single Institution
Track 2 projects must be led by a PI who is (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines being pursued by the targeted scholars, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in one of the eligible disciplines and can dedicate the time necessary to assure project success. The leadership and management team should also include a STEM administrator at the level of department head or above.
Track 3 Inter-institutional Consortia
Track 3 projects support multi-institutional collaborations that focus on a common interest or challenge. Inter-institutional Consortia projects represent diverse collaborations, including partnerships between 2-year colleges and 4-year colleges and universities, between 4-year colleges and graduate programs, or between comparable institutions looking to implement and study parallel interventions. For example, a collaboration among community colleges and four-year institutions may focus on issues associated with successful transfer of low-income students from 2-year institutions to 4-year programs. In another example, a multi-institutional collaboration may focus on factors that contribute to the success or degree attainment of domestic, low-income students in different types of institutions. Track 3 proposals may request up to $5 million total for up to 6 years.
Pre-Proposal Instructions:
Please submit as one combined pdf labeled with PI’s Lastname, Firstname:
- A one‐page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach.
- If the final application requires a statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.
- CV (not biosketch) of the PI including past grant funding.
to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, January 14, 2026. Proposals are due to the sponsor 3/3/2026 so you will need to have your materials in to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 2/20/2026 if given the go‐ahead by the Limited Submissions review committee. Other open limited submissions opportunities, as well as the limited submissions review committee review and selection process, are here: http://depts.washington.edu/research/funding/limited-submissions. Please feel free to email us at limitedsubs@uw.edu with questions or information on any limited submission opportunities that should be but are not already listed on that page. If you are interested in other private funding opportunities, visit the Corporate and Foundation funding opportunities page.
Deadline January 14, 2026
AAAS NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize (Deadline: February 14, 2026)
Sponsor: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Program: NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize
https://www.science.org/content/page/noster-science-microbiome-prize
Program number: 2026
Award amount: $25,000
Sponsor deadline: 2/14/2026
Program Description:
The NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize has been established to reward innovative research by young investigators working on the functional attributes of the microbiota of any organism that has potential to contribute to our understanding of human or veterinary health and disease or to guide therapeutic interventions.
Entrants must be early career scientists who hold an M.D., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D at the time of entry, and have received their degree in the last 10 years.
While the research may be part of a larger team effort, an eligible entrant must be a single individual and the essay must focus on their contribution. The applicant must have done or directed all of the work and it must have been performed in the last three years.
Text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools cannot be used to generate or edit the submission nor its accompanying figures, images, or graphics, without explicit permission from the Science editors. Furthermore, prior to publication of the winning entries, winners will be required to sign Science’s License to Publish, wherein the entrant must warrant that they have followed this requirement.
Deadline: February 14, 2026
