Biological Sciences (47.074)
Biological Sciences (Assistance Listing 47.074) is run by the National Science Foundation. It awarded $4.2 billion in 6,885 grants from fiscal 2021 to 2025, about $609,810 per award on average. 25 funding opportunities are open or forecast now.
The typical award was $348,702. Half of the 6,885 awards fell between $131,268 and $707,408, and they ranged from $1 to $194 million.
- Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$4.2 billion
- Grant awards6,885
- Typical award$348,702
- Awarded in FY 2025$805 million
- Size rank105 of 1824
- Type of assistanceProject grants
Key findings
- Annual funding fell from $853 million in fiscal 2021 to $805 million in fiscal 2025.
- It is the 105th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
- The 20 largest recipients received 35% of the money.
- Awards went to recipients in 53 states and territories.
What the program funds
To promote the progress of the biological sciences and thereby strengthen the Nation's scientific enterprise; to increase scientific knowledge and enhance understanding of major problems confronting the Nation; to catalyze advances at the intersection of biotechnology, quantum, and artificial intelligence to deliver impact.
Open opportunities
- Unlocking Dataset Value for AI-Enabled Scientific Discovery (AI Datasets)
- National Science Foundation Translation to Practice (NSF TTP)
- EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: Focused EPSCoR Collaborations (FEC)
- GROWING CONVERGENCE RESEARCH (GCR)
- Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1
- Mid-Career Advancement (MCA)
- Pathways to Enable Secure Open-Source Ecosystems (PESOSE)
- NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL)
- EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII): EPSCoR Research Fellows
- Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable Open Science (FAIROS)
- EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program (EGFP)
- Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)
- Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Excellence in Research (HBCU - EiR)
- Plant Biotic Interactions
- Core Research in Biological Sciences (BIO Core)
- National Science Foundation National Innovation Corps Teams (NSF National I-CorpsTM Teams) Program
- Facilitating Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions: (RUI and ROA-PUI)
- Infrastructure Capacity for Biological Research (Capacity)
- Infrastructure Innovation for Biological Research (Innovation)
- Long Term Research in Environmental Biology
- Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR): Workshop Opportunities
- Plant Genome Research Program
- Cyberinfrastructure for Public Access and Open Science
Rules from the program listing
Matching requirements
This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.
Award range and average, in the agency's words
Range Low: $4,000 Range High: $23,097,784 Average: $258,322
Funding history and past recipients
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Biological Sciences (47.074) awarded$4.2 billion across 6,885 grant awards, an average of $609,810 per award.
Who usually wins
Colleges and universities received 82% of the money, businesses 14% and individuals 2.3%.
| Recipient type | Awards | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colleges and universities | 5,674 | $3.4 billion | 82% |
| Businesses | 494 | $593 million | 14% |
| Individuals | 616 | $95.8 million | 2.3% |
| Other | 91 | $64.6 million | 1.5% |
| Small businesses | 9 | $5.1 million | 0.1% |
| State and local governments | 1 | $406,962 | less than 0.1% |
By state
52 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.
| State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| California | 864 | $471 million |
| Ohio | 176 | $463 million |
| New York | 483 | $288 million |
| Massachusetts | 357 | $180 million |
| Texas | 297 | $176 million |
| Arizona | 163 | $164 million |
| Pennsylvania | 270 | $160 million |
| Colorado | 223 | $138 million |
| Michigan | 248 | $126 million |
| Illinois | 191 | $125 million |
| Florida | 232 | $119 million |
| Georgia | 191 | $116 million |
| North Carolina | 252 | $115 million |
| Missouri | 164 | $104 million |
| New Jersey | 126 | $103 million |
| Connecticut | 113 | $99.4 million |
| Indiana | 158 | $86.0 million |
| Wisconsin | 145 | $82.4 million |
| Virginia | 165 | $78.8 million |
| Washington | 155 | $74.9 million |
| Maryland | 157 | $74.4 million |
| Oregon | 120 | $66.9 million |
| Minnesota | 101 | $61.3 million |
| Tennessee | 106 | $54.2 million |
| Alabama | 89 | $50.9 million |
| New Mexico | 78 | $44.5 million |
| District of Columbia | 100 | $40.2 million |
| Kansas | 71 | $38.2 million |
| Iowa | 64 | $36.4 million |
| Utah | 77 | $34.1 million |
| South Carolina | 72 | $30.6 million |
| Louisiana | 71 | $30.2 million |
| Nebraska | 61 | $29.6 million |
| Idaho | 49 | $27.9 million |
| Nevada | 55 | $27.1 million |
| Rhode Island | 121 | $27.0 million |
| Montana | 56 | $26.4 million |
| Arkansas | 38 | $22.9 million |
| Kentucky | 45 | $19.8 million |
| Delaware | 33 | $17.5 million |
| Oklahoma | 42 | $15.9 million |
| Hawaii | 38 | $15.5 million |
| Puerto Rico | 26 | $14.6 million |
| Maine | 35 | $14.5 million |
| Mississippi | 33 | $14.0 million |
| Wyoming | 32 | $13.9 million |
| New Hampshire | 35 | $12.4 million |
| West Virginia | 18 | $11.7 million |
| Alaska | 14 | $9.5 million |
| North Dakota | 18 | $9.4 million |
| Vermont | 20 | $9.3 million |
| South Dakota | 19 | $9.2 million |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 1 | $91,246 |