ONR · US

Fiscal Year 2027 Young Investigator Program (YIP), N0001426SF004

Deadline October 30, 2026
Award Not stated on the public NOFO page; historical ONR YIP awards have run approximately $510,000 total over 3 years (up to about $170,000 per year), though recent DoD YIP cycles have trended toward larger multi-year budgets
Announced August 17, 2026
Early Career Defense Academic Early Career Nonprofit

What this means for your lab

This is a research grant to an early-career faculty member, not a dedicated equipment award, but the budget can include laboratory instrumentation alongside personnel and supplies. At this funding level a PI could equip part of a lab with a variable-temperature scanning probe microscope, a small ultra-high-vacuum surface-analysis chamber, or a compact closed-cycle cryostat for low-temperature transport or spectroscopy measurements, though most of a YIP budget typically goes toward salary and graduate student support rather than a single large instrument.

Who can apply

Early-career faculty. Applicants must be in their first or second full-time tenure-track or tenure-track-equivalent academic appointment, have received a PhD or equivalent degree on or after January 1, 2019, and be employed at a US institution of higher education or US non-profit research organization.

Read the official announcement ↗ Always confirm dates and eligibility against the agency’s own posting.