Funding Wizard

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites small businesses to submit Phase I research applications under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Science and technology-based firms with strong research capabilities in any of the areas listed in Section 9.0 of this NOFO are encouraged to participate. Applications must sufficiently identify and clearly address a specific NIST technical program area that falls within one of the research areas described in Section 9.0 (see Section 3.02.02(1)) or a NIST-patented technology available for licensing.

The NIST Training for Improving Plastics Circularity (TIPC) Grant Program seeks to advance the development of coursework and hands-on training resources in polymer measurement methods, manufacturing, and systems thinking that will promote a skilled workforce to support expansion and increased scale of circular domestic plastics industries. The Program will support academic coursework development and implementation at the associates or bachelors’ level or the development of a continuing education program for an existing workforce, related purchases and installation of equipment, and/or possible training experiences to help promote the development of a skilled and distributed workforce focused on the growing field of circular plastics.

The NIST Center for Neutron Research is seeking competitive applications from eligible applicants for activities that will advance the research of NCNR users and NIST scientists by: (i) operating neutron instrumentation at the NCNR; (ii) developing new neutron instrumentation and measurement capabilities at the NCNR; (iii) conducting collaborative research with NIST scientists and visiting researchers at the NCNR; (iv) broadly disseminating the results from neutron research and the development of new neutron measurement technologies to the scientific community; (v) research on neutron delivery systems, such as cold sources, beams and guides, nuclear reactor core analysis, optimization, and methodologies to support novel neutron source concepts; and (vi) undertaking education and outreach activities that promote the use of neutrons by academic and industrial scientists and that contribute to the development of the next generation of neutron scientists.

The CHIPS Incentives Program aims to catalyze long-term economically sustainable growth in the domestic semiconductor industry in support of U.S. economic and national security. This is the first Notice of Funding Opportunity under this program. It seeks applications for projects for the construction, expansion, or modernization of commercial facilities for the front- and back-end fabrication of leading-edge, current-generation, and mature-node semiconductors. For more information, additional resources, and instructions on how to apply, please visit chips.gov. Note that all applications must be submitted through the CHIPS Incentives Portal at http://applications.chips.gov. If you have any questions on how to apply, please email apply@chips.gov.

The NIST Precision Measurement Grants Program (PMGP) is seeking applications from eligible applicants to support significant research in the field of fundamental measurement or the determination of fundamental constants.

The NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), authorized by 15 U.S.C. § 278k, is seeking applications from eligible applicants to enter into cooperative agreements to operate MEP Centers in the States of Arizona and Maryland with the District of Columbia. These MEP Centers will provide manufacturing extension services to small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) in the States outlined above. These new MEP Centers will become part of the MEP National Network™ 1, which consists of 51 MEP Centers2 located in each State and in Puerto Rico, and over 1,400 trusted advisors and experts at approximately 450 MEP service locations. By statute, when an MEP Center has operated for a period of 10 consecutive years, a competition must be conducted to select an eligible entity to operate the Center. The MEP Centers in the States of Arizona and Maryland are each nearing 10 consecutive years of operation. See Section I. of this NOFO for additional information regarding the MEP Center program.

The NIST PREP is seeking applications from eligible institutions of higher education in the U.S. and its territories that offer two- or four- year degrees in academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to establish and manage a program to support collaborative research relationships in the NIST labs. Eligible applicants may apply to establish and manage a program at the relevant NIST campuses in Boulder, Colorado (CO) (PREP Boulder), Gaithersburg, Maryland (MD) (PREP Gaithersburg), and/or Charleston, South Carolina (SC) (PREP Gaithersburg).

The NIST Transfer of Graphene for Graphene-based Devices Grant Program is seeking applications from eligible applicants for research activities to determine effective and efficient methods of transferring graphene grown on SiC (secondarily copper or other chemical vapor deposition (CVD) substrates) to target substrates that are required in many graphene-based devices, especially for high-end applications. The characterization of graphene on said target substrates is necessary and will be used to determine the quality of the resulting graphene. Characterization techniques may include but are not limited to optical microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, SEM, TEM, AFM, and Raman spectroscopy. Quantifying and minimizing defects induced during the transfer is critical to device performance. The electronic, photonic, and other properties of transferred graphene are also of interest. The program’s primary goal is for the recipient to develop and publish a methodology for transferring large-area and high-quality graphene with high reproducibility and scalability to enable commercialization of graphene devices.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites FY 2021 NIST SBIR Phase I awardees to submit Phase II research applications under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Only FY 2021 NIST SBIR Phase I awardees are eligible to submit applications in response to this NOFO for Phase II of their projects.

All applications will be evaluated and judged on a competitive basis. Applications will be initially screened to determine eligibility, completeness, and responsiveness to this NOFO (see Sections 4.02 and 8.01). Applications passing the initial screening will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria (see Sections 4.03 and 4.06). Each application will be judged on its own merit.