Research Initiation Awards
Funding Agency:
- NASA
The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Research Initiation Awards (RIA) program aims to broaden the base of institutions involved in the SMD research and technology development ecosystem. The program has two principal objectives: 1) Enable investigators with no prior or recent research funding to pursue research at institutions underrepresented in the SMD ecosystem to initiate activities that, over the course of a two-year period, will provide the foundation for a competitive, sustainable, and productive program of research. • First, the proposing institution may not be a “Doctoral University with Very High Research Activity” (i.e., an R1 institution) according to the Carnegie Classification guide. • Second, the PI may not have received Federal funding as PI of a project that is related to the proposed research activities within the last five years (with exceptions described in Section 2.2). 2) Enable undergraduate students affiliated with the proposing investigator to perform cutting-edge research in an SMD-relevant field. Funding for undergraduate students is a required element of the proposed project. An RIA award, including indirect costs, must not exceed $300,000 for a duration of 24 months. SMD acknowledges that institutional teaching and service commitments at nonR1 institutions may be high, and therefore encourages proposers to include funding for teaching buyouts (to include sabbaticals) and/or summer salary, as appropriate and allowable by the proposing institution.
Total request to NASA may not exceed $300,000
$2,000,000
August 15, 2024
Maggie Yancey Science Mission Directorate NASA Headquarters Washington, DC 20546-0001 Email: hq-smd-ria@mail.nasa.gov