Engineering Research Initiation (ERI)
U.S. National Science Foundation · Engineering (47.041)
Posted 17 Jul 2026 · 9 days left
In plain terms
The U.S. National Science Foundation funds early-career engineering researchers at U.S. academic institutions who have not yet received substantial federal research funding, with grants starting at 200,000 US dollars. Applicants must hold a doctoral degree, be at non-R1 institutions, and have received less than 200,000 dollars in prior federal research support over the past five years, with applications due by 9 October 2026.
A generated summary of the donor's text; the original wording is below.
Summary
The NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) seeks to build engineering research capacity across the nation by investing in new academic investigators who have yet to receive sufficient research funding from Federal Agencies. The Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) program will support new investigators as they initiate their research programs and advance in their careers as researchers, educators, and innovators. This funding opportunity aims to broaden the base of investigators involved in engineering research and therefore is limited to investigators that are not affiliated with “very high research activity” R1 institutions (according to the Carnegie Classification https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/).
Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.
Who can apply
- academia_research
Eligibility and conditions
Show the eligibility text from the source
Applicant types: Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
*Who May Serve as PI:
The PI of an ERI proposal must hold a doctoral degree in a field supported by NSF and must hold an appointment at an ERI-eligible institution. Postdoctoral fellow researchers are not eligible to serve as PI on an ERI proposal.
At the time of the proposal submission deadline, the PI may not have been a PI or Co-PI on any current or prior awarded NSF research grant (including subaward) or have had research support from any other Federal Agency (within the United States or abroad) totaling $200,000 or more within the past five (5) calendar years from the proposal submission deadline date, with the following exceptions:
Grants not directly for research purposes such as workshops, conferences, travel, instrumentation and equipment (e.g., Major Research Instrumentation; MRI), Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students (REU) and Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Sites, etc.;
Awards that exclusively support pre-tenure-track activities (postdoctoral fellowships and Graduate Research Fellowships/GRFP);
I-Corps, Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards; and
Awards that originated as NSF or other Federal funds but were distributed locally without naming the submitting ERI PI in the Federal funding proposal (such as: NASA Space Grant Project or other non-NSF federally-funded opportunities, NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program.).
The Department Chair's/Dean's letter must explicitly verify each of the PI eligibility criteria. See Section V.A. for additional information.