Facilitating Research at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions
Funding for research projects at predominantly undergraduate institutions to engage faculty, build research capacity, and integrate research with undergraduate education through RUI and ROA opportunities.
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation
Due Dates: October 8, 2076 (Application deadline) | Rolling (Proposals accepted anytime, subject to disciplinary program deadlines)
Funding Amounts: $56 million estimated total funding; RUI typically $75,000 to several hundred thousand dollars annually for 3 years; ROA typically up to $80,000 for 2–12 months
Summary: Supports faculty research at predominantly undergraduate institutions, strengthening research capacity and integrating research with undergraduate education.
Key Information: Eligible institutions must have awarded 20 or fewer Ph.D./D.Sci. degrees in NSF-supported fields across the previous two academic years.
Description
NSF’s Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) and Research Opportunity Awards (ROA) support research by faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs). RUI supports individual and collaborative faculty research that advances investigators’ professional fields, strengthens institutional research environments, and integrates research with undergraduate education. Requests may also involve shared research instrumentation, depending on opportunities within individual NSF programs.
ROA typically enables PUI faculty to work as visiting scientists with NSF-supported investigators at research-intensive organizations. These collaborations aim to strengthen faculty research and teaching at their home institutions while enhancing the host investigator’s research. All NSF directorates may support these activities, but some individual programs do not accept RUI/ROA submissions. Proposals compete within the relevant disciplinary programs, which make funding decisions from their existing research and education allocations.
