ACS Petroleum Research Fund
ACS Petroleum Research Fund supports researchers at nonprofit institutions with seed funding for fundamental petroleum and fossil-fuel research to establish new directions and advance scientific education.
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Funder: American Chemical Society
Due Dates: October 9, 2026, 5:00 PM ET (Fall deadline) | March 12, 2027 (Spring deadline)
Funding Amounts: DNI: $110,000 over two years; competitive UR/UNI departmental supplements: $25,000
Summary: Seed funding for fundamental petroleum and fossil-fuel research that establishes new research directions at nonprofit institutions.
Key Information: Investigators should not have published or received another agency’s funding for the proposed research topic.
Description
The Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) is an endowed fund managed by the American Chemical Society. It supports fundamental research directly related to petroleum and fossil fuels at nonprofit institutions, generally colleges and universities, in the United States and other countries. Grants provide seed support for new research directions and advance scientific education through research experiences for students and postdoctoral researchers.
The petroleum field includes petroleum, natural gas, coal, shale, tar sands, and similar materials. Supported disciplines include chemistry, earth sciences, chemical and petroleum engineering, polymers, and materials science. Sustainability and green chemistry topics can fit, including catalytic studies of petroleum-derived substrates and methane and carbon dioxide upgrading or utilization. Commercial development or optimization of petroleum products and processes falls outside PRF’s fundamental-research scope.
