Engineering Research Initiation (ERI)

Key facts

Copied from the official Grants.gov record. Last verified October 29, 2026.

Program name

Engineering Research Initiation (ERI)

Issuing agency

U.S. National Science Foundation

Opportunity number

24-590

Funding type

Grant

Funding purpose

Science and Technology and other Research and Development

Status

Open (posted)

Application deadline

Closes September 16, 2027

Published award range

From $200,000

Estimated total program funding

$11,000,000

Cost sharing or match required

No

Eligible applicants (official categories)

• Others (see Additional Information on Eligibility)

Relevant to

BusinessesHow we determined this: Listed as 'Others'; the agency's eligibility text mentions businesses (flagged for review).

Geographic restrictions

None stated in structured data (federal opportunities are often nationwide). Check the eligibility details and full announcement for any limits.

Assistance Listing (CFDA)

47.041

Official source

View on Grants.gov ↗ · Agency information link ↗

Application URL

www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/363233 ↗Apply through Grants.gov (Workspace) using the application package on the official listing, unless the full announcement names a different submission system.

Source identifier

Grants.gov opportunity ID 363233 · Funding opportunity number 24-590

Posted

July 17, 2026 · Source last updated October 13, 2026

Last verified

October 29, 2026 (against Grants.gov)

Data completeness

100% of key fields published by the source

Record confidence

loweligibility described only in free text (in review).

Eligibility details (from the agency)

*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.

Description (from the official listing)

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/).

Agency contact

NSF grants.gov support grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov
grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov