Grants / Department of Defense / Air Force Office of Scientific Research

NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250006: Air Force Fiscal Year 2026 Young Investigator Program (YIP)

Closed Closed September 19, 2025 Opportunity NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250006 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Air Force Fiscal Year 2027 Young Investigator Program (YIP) (FA955026S0003). Status: Closes December 4, 2026 (27 days left). It is in our archive of Air Force Office of Scientific Research notices from 2025.

• Award ceiling$450,000
• Award floor$150,000
• Total funding$4.5 million
• Expected awards50
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits, colleges and universities, small businesses and businesses.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities, small businesses, businesses.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program awards averaged $943,430; this notice allows up to $450,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (59% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

This is a special Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement (NOFO) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), which will hereafter generally be referred to as “we, us, our, or AFOSR.” The Fiscal Year 2026 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends to support individual early in career scientists and engineers who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees by 01 April 2018 or later showing exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigator to recognize the Air Force and Space Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering. Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for- profit, or non-profit research organizations where the principal investigator (PI) is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular, non-contractor position. A YIP PI must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Researchers working at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, or a Department of Defense (DoD) Laboratory are not eligible for this competition. YIP awards are funded up to $150,000 per year for three years, for a total of $450,000. No single year may exceed $150,000. Please review the remainder of this announcement for additional information. Under this competition, an anticipated thirty-seven (37) traditionally funded YIPs and two (2) YIPs funded in partnership with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) in the Quantum Information Sciences research discipline may be awarded. There may be potential for an additional 37 YIPs funded from other AFOSR research funding. All actions are based on the availability of funds. KEY DATES: Pre-proposal inquiries due NLT 04 JUL 2025 Government response posted NLT 11 JUL 2025 White papers due by 25 JUL 2025 Feedback anticipated NLT 22 AUG 2025 Proposals due by 19 SEP 2025 Anticipated award date 01 MAR 2026

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, FA955026S0003, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.