Highlights From This Newsletter:

• Save the Date! 2026 Postdoctoral Scholar Appreciation Dinner
• Internal Funding Opportunities
• Upcoming Funder Events

Save the Date! 2026 Postdoctoral Scholar Appreciation Dinner

The 2026 Postdoctoral Scholar Appreciation Dinner will be held on Thursday, Sept. 24, for postdoctoral scholars, their families and faculty mentors. This event celebrates the important contributions postdoctoral scholars make to SU’s research and creative activities during National Postdoctoral Scholar Appreciation Week.

Limited Submission Opportunities

The following opportunities are active internal competitions. Competitions marked “Letter of Intent” require a short form only; please apply as soon as you know you are interested rather than waiting for the deadline.

NEW! 2026 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Early Independence Awards – Letter of Intent
Internal Letter of Intent Due Date: Thursday, July 30
Number of Internal Nominees: 2
This award helps talented new researchers begin their own independent research program soon after finishing their doctoral degree or clinical training, without first doing postdoctoral training.

NEW! 2026 NIH Seed Instrumentation Support (SIS) Program
Internal Proposal Due Date: Thursday, July 30
Number of Internal Nominees: 1
The SIS program aims to build new research capacity and develop a sustainable research program by supporting the purchase of a single commercially available biomedical research instrument currently unavailable in the institution.

NEW! 2026-2027 Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics – Letter of Intent
Internal Letter of Intent Due Date: Wednesday, Aug. 12
Number of Internal Nominees: 1
This program is designed to support projects that address a significant bioethics problem and extend beyond current work in bioethics, while fostering a community of scholars and alums committed to advancing the field.

November 2026 NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program
Internal Proposal Due Date: Friday, Aug. 14 (extended)
Number of Internal Nominees: 4
This program serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training in our nation’s institutions of higher education and not-for-profit scientific/engineering research organizations. We strongly encourage faculty to talk to their NSF program officer first to determine if the NSF Division will be receptive to an instrument request.

W. M. Keck Foundation Research Program – June 2027 Grant Cycle
Internal Proposal Due Date: Wednesday, Sept. 16 (extended)
Number of Internal Nominees: 3
This program seeks to benefit humanity by supporting basic science research projects that are distinctive and novel in their approach, question the prevailing paradigm or have the potential to break open new territory in their field.

_______

Internal deadlines for these opportunities have passed, but “slots” remain. Please email LimitedSubmissions@syr.edu if you are interested in applying to the sponsor.

2027 Searle Scholars Program

For more information about limited submissions and to view all opportunities, visit the Office of Research webpage.

Internal Funding Opportunities

Writing and Publishing (WRAP) Funding
This internal grant opportunity is designed to support faculty in “wrapping up” their single-authored or co-authored book projects and will help offset costs associated with the final stages of publication/production, when a book will soon appear in print or on digital platforms.
Deadline: Friday, July 31

Faculty Bridge Funding Program
This program allows a minimal level of activity while a proven principal investigator awaits expected federal funding, e.g., to prevent loss of key postdoctoral researchers, research faculty/staff or senior graduate students or loss of research materials in the interim period.
Deadline: Rolling 

Supporting Preliminary and Applied Research in Core Facilities (SPARC)
This program provides limited financial assistance to faculty investigators who wish to utilize University core facility instruments or services but do not currently have access to startup funds, discretionary accounts or active external grants to fund usage costs. This program is designed to reduce barriers to instrument access and to enable faculty to generate the preliminary data necessary to compete for external funding.
Deadline: Rolling

Team Building for Large, Collaborative Grants
These awards, intended for researchers with a track record of securing sponsored funding, aim to facilitate the development of collaborative research teams and support planning activities that enable the submission of a competitive research proposal to an external sponsor.
Deadline: Rolling

External Funding Opportunities

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
This award supports early-stage investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative research projects with the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the mission of NIH.
Deadline: Monday, Aug. 17

External Fellowship Opportunities for Summer and Fall 2026
An updated list of of external fellowships for humanities and creative arts faculty can be found on the Humanities Center website.

Upcoming Funder Events

Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences Early Career Network (BES ECN) Fireside Chat with Dr. Juan J. de Pablo
Thursday, July 30 | 3-4 p.m. | Zoom

This event will feature Dr. Juan J. de Pablo, inaugural executive vice president for global science and technology at New York University (NYU) and executive dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. An ECN member will talk with Dr. de Pablo about his career path, lessons he’s learned and advice he has for early-career scientists, followed by questions from the audience. Register for the event.

Understanding NIH’s Unified Funding Strategy: What the Research Community Needs to Know
Friday, Aug. 14 | 10-11 a.m. | Webinar

This webinar aims to increase awareness and understanding of NIH’s Unified Funding Strategy, which is designed to support NIH Institutes and Centers to make informed, transparent and flexible funding decisions. Targeted for members of the NIH extramural research community, NIH leadership will clarify the approach’s rationale, goals and implementation across NIH. The discussion will also address misconceptions and help foster communication between NIH staff and applicants, recipients, researchers and the wider research community. Register for the event.