Focused Funding Opportunities and Informational Updates
for The College of Information Science &Technology
Spring 2026 issue #1
JSYK: Just So You Know!
Happy New Year!
I am looking forward to a 2026 filled with new experiences and meaningful accomplishments—and I hope many of those grow out of our shared research goals. Last year brought some unexpected changes and barriers to our research funding landscape. Despite those challenges, we achieved notable successes and explored new opportunities to extend how we identify and pursue research support.
Building on those lessons, this year I will focus on bringing more tailored, strategically aligned funding opportunities to your attention. This includes an increased emphasis on corporate-sponsored and foundation opportunities, while continuing to closely monitor federal funding mechanisms.
I also hope we can think creatively together about how your areas of expertise might evolve into new—or not yet obvious—research directions and funding pathways.
As always, if something in MavOps sparks your interest, I am happy to help you think through and develop a proposal. And if you are aware of resources, solicitations, or specific RFPs that would be valuable to include, please feel free to send them my way.
In the external funding opportunities listed below, you will see collaboratoria hashtags between the red and blue lines. These appear to be a strongest fit for the solicitation.
This is not meant to exclude any fit you might determine, but perhaps to help you focus on your top interests!
Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Computing Systems (#AI&ACS) Examines advanced AI techniques and their integration into complex computing systems, with an emphasis on practical applications.
Cybersecurity (#CYBRSEC) Focuses on minimizing risk to information systems due to cyber threats.
Human-Centered Computing (#HCC) Focuses on improving the interactions between humans and computers across diverse contexts and fields.
3D Interfaces & Simulation (#3DI&SIM) Explores the design and use of immersive 3D environments for education, training, and research.
Bioinformatics & Health Informatics (#BIO&HEALTH-INFO) Integrates biology, computer science, and informatics to analyze biological and health data.
Computing Education (#COMPEDU) Focuses on improving, innovating, and expanding accessibility to computing education.
UNeMed has kicked off their Back-of-the-Napkin contest. Eligible entries will be limited to medical devices and innovations related to artificial intelligence programs or systems, software tools and applications, and research tools and judged by UNeMed’s internal Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC). Submissions will be evaluated for their novelty, market potential and possible intellectual property protection.
Selected entries will be awarded additional development and financial support, which may include prototyping, feasibility testing, other developmental guidance and support as deemed most appropriate by STAC.
Click the link above for complete information.
Internal Application Process for FY27 NU Collaboration Initiative
Feel free to reach out to me for a strategic editing pass!
NuRamp Application Enter budget details and upload a budget justification (PDF) in the NuRamp online application.
Key Dates Submit application in NuRamp by Jan 14, 2026. Routing signatures completed by Jan 23, 2026.
ORCA Contacts for Questions Deanna Marcelino – Project Manager, ORCA
Sara A. Myers, Ph.D. – Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Creative Activity
UNO ORCA Student Funding
Proposal deadline: Rolling while funds available. Submissions re-opened January 5, 2026 for a Summer 2026 timeline (activities occurring May-August 2026)
CAIG supports interdisciplinary projects that advance AI methods while addressing major geoscience questions (Earth system processes and climate), requiring meaningful partnership between AI experts and geoscientists and delivering both geoscience advances and AI methodological innovations.
Focus Areas Aligned to CIST
AI/ML for Earth system modeling, climate/weather prediction, geophysical signal extraction
Proposal Deadlines: Notice of Intent, January 26, 2026; Full Proposal, April 27, 2026
RADIANT is a NASA Heliophysics Division program element supporting advanced AI (including the Helio foundation model “Surya”) to accelerate heliophysics research. Projects emphasize AI/ML tools, workflows, and AI-ready data products, with an emphasis on open-source, reusable software.
Proposals must be at ≥TRL 5 and aim to reach TRL 6 by end of project
Dual Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) and a mandatory anonymized Open Science and Data Management Plan (OSDMP)
Focus Areas Aligned to CIST
Deep learning/vision/time-series methods for heliophysics data
Proposal Deadlines: Rolling but deadline March 2, 2026
High-risk/high-reward research in advanced microsystems (microelectronics, photonics, quantum/bio-inspired circuits, sensing, secure computing) with transition potential for defense/dual-use applications.
Proposals must be at ≥TRL 5 and aim to reach TRL 6 by end of project
Dual Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) and a mandatory anonymized Open Science and Data Management Plan (OSDMP)
Focus Areas Aligned to CIST
Hardware-aware AIEdge AI architectures
Co-design
Microsystem security/verification
Sensing + comms + intelligent networked platforms
Deep learning/vision/time-series methods for heliophysics data
Rolling or Recurring Federal Funding Opportunities
Proposal Target Dates (no hard deadline): February 05, 2026, First Thursday in February, annually; Second Thursday in September, annually
Future CoRe is the main umbrella for CISE “core” research. It covers algorithms, systems, networks, AI, HCI, data/ML, cyber-physical systems, and foundations of emerging technologies—essentially the full IS&T research spectrum.
Proposal Target Dates (no hard deadline): Jan 26, 2026, Last Monday in January, annually; Last Monday in September, annually
Flagship program for cybersecurity, privacy, resilience, and “trust in cyberspace,” spanning computing, AI, social/behavioral, mathematics, and education. Ideal for work in security, usable privacy, trustworthy AI, and socio-technical security.
Proposal Deadlines: May 4, 2026, First Monday in May, annually
Foundational methods for biomedical/healthcare digital twins and synthetic data/synthetic humans, emphasizing interdisciplinary mathematical and engineering foundations.
Proposal Deadline: Fourth Wednesday in July, annually
Early-career faculty submit CAREER proposals to a disciplinary program (e.g., a Future CoRe subprogram like SHF or HCC, or SaTC 2.0).
CAREER proposals are evaluated within those core programs but under the CAREER expectations (integrated research and education plan, career development trajectory).
Schmidt Sciences’ Humanities and Artificial Intelligence Virtual Institute (HAVI) is a philanthropic initiative which intends to spur innovative, domain-specific research outcomes from humanities scholars through the integral application of AI-inspired tools and techniques as well as produce insights from the humanities that will advance the development of AI.
Current AI models struggle with multilingual contexts, multimodal datasets, and the nuances of historical and cultural diversity, hindering their application in humanities disciplines. HAVI aims to address these limitations by fostering interdisciplinary collaborations between AI and humanities researchers, focused on developing and applying new AI techniques to answer complex and compelling humanities research questions.
Our approach expects humanities scholars to play integral roles in AI development, while AI researchers gain deeper understanding of data, models, and problem spaces from humanistic perspectives. This collaborative framework aims to produce breakthrough results that advance both AI capabilities and humanities scholarship.
Focus Areas Aligned to CIST
Human-centered and responsible AI (ethics, governance, societal impacts)
Collaboration between IS&T AI/HCI/data science faculty and humanities scholars
Sociotechnical studies of AI in education, work, and civic life
New computational tools and methods for humanities-centered AI research
Deadlines: LOI, March 11, 2026, Invited Proposal June 18, 2026
RSF Core Research Grants support rigorous social science research aligned with RSF’s core programs (e.g., Social, Political, and Economic Inequality; Future of Work) and selected special initiatives. Projects typically involve substantial empirical work with original or newly combined datasets, advanced methods, and clear implications for U.S. social and economic conditions, including technology, labor markets, inequality, and policy.
Focus Areas Aligned to CIST
Quantitative research on labor markets, platform work, automation/AI impacts, and workplace technologies.
Socio-technical systems analysis, data governance, and algorithmic decision-making in organizations and public service.
Projects where computing/AI methods are integral to social science questions (e.g., large-scale text or network analysis, algorithm auditing, bias and fairness in AI systems used in employment, credit, or housing).
Development or novel use of data infrastructure to study inequality, mobility, and the future of work.
Award summary:
Up to $200,000
Up to 2 years
Please send any leads you think should be included in MavOps!
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