The Complete Guide to NSF AI Funding: Every Program, Every Deadline
February 24, 2026 · 5 min read
David Almeida
Federal AI funding has never been more concentrated — or more consequential to navigate. The National Science Foundation runs the largest sustained public investment in AI research in American history, with more than $500 million committed across 27 institutes alone. Yet researchers frequently miss programs that fit their work because NSF's AI portfolio is distributed across six directorates with overlapping submission windows and distinct eligibility requirements. What follows is a complete map of every active program, organized by what matters most: who can apply, how much is available, and when proposals are due.
National AI Research Institutes: $20 Million Anchors for Long-Term Research
The AI Institutes program remains NSF's flagship AI investment. Each institute receives roughly $20 million over five years, positioning it as a long-term research anchor rather than a project grant. In July 2025, NSF announced a $100 million round — five new institutes plus a central hub — bringing the network to more than 30 active institutes spanning over 40 states.
The governing solicitation is NSF 23-610. Current themes under consideration include astronomical sciences and materials research, with NSF signaling that new themes will emerge in future competitions. The 2024 cohort included two NSF-Simons institutes for astronomy — one at the University of Texas at Austin and one at Northwestern — each funded at $20 million jointly. The 2025 cohort added the Cornell-led AI Materials Institute (AI-MI), backed in part by Intel.
If your institution is positioned to lead a multi-university consortium and can demonstrate a sustained, thematic research agenda, the Institutes program is worth a serious conversation with your program officer before any formal submission.
NAIRR: Access to Computing Without a Large Award
For researchers who need AI compute now rather than a five-year consortium grant, the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot provides a different entry point. NAIRR is not a cash grant — it provides access to computing platforms, datasets, models, and software contributed by NSF, the Department of Energy, and 28 private-sector partners.
Since launching in January 2024, the pilot has supported more than 400 research teams. Eligibility is deliberately broad: U.S.-based researchers at academic institutions, nonprofits, federal agencies, state and local governments, and even startups with existing federal grants can apply. Graduate students can apply with a faculty advisor's support letter.
The infrastructure piece is getting a permanent foundation. NSF issued solicitation NSF 25-546 for an NAIRR Operations Center, with letters of intent due December 15, 2025, and full proposals due February 4, 2026. NSF expects to fund a single organization up to $35 million over five years to stand up the permanent operations infrastructure. This is an institutional-scale competition, not an individual research award, but its outcome will shape computing access for the research community for years.
ExpandAI: Capacity Building at Minority-Serving Institutions
ExpandAI (NSF 23-506) is specifically designed for minority-serving institutions — HBCUs, HSIs, Alaska Native Serving Institutions, and Predominantly Black Institutions — seeking to build AI research and education capacity. NSF has allocated $7.5 million for FY 2026.
The program runs two tracks. Track 1, Capacity Building Pilots, funds early-stage institutions beginning to develop AI programs at up to $400,000 over two years. Track 2, ExpandAI Partnerships, funds more established MSIs forming or deepening collaborations with existing AI Institutes — the multi-organization arrangement enables MSIs to plug into the larger NSF AI ecosystem rather than compete against it.
Clark Atlanta University used a Track 2 award to create the first graduate AI degree programs at an HBCU. Alabama A&M used its award to build swarm computing infrastructure. These are not small additions to existing programs — they are institutional transformations. For MSI research officers considering ExpandAI, the relevant contact is ExpandAIProgram@nsf.gov.
CISE Future CoRe: The High-Volume Core Program
For most AI researchers, the most accessible NSF pathway is CISE Future Computing Research (Future CoRe), NSF 25-543. This is the evolved form of the former CISE Core Programs solicitation, covering foundational research across computing and communication foundations (CCF), intelligent systems (IIS), and computer and network systems (CNS) — the three divisions where most AI and machine learning research lives.
Awards run up to $1 million over four years. Typical projects come in at $150,000 to $250,000 per year. The program expects 400 to 600 awards per cycle on a total anticipated budget of $280 million. Proposals exceeding $300,000 in any single year require justification.
Deadlines fall twice annually: the second Thursday in September and the first Thursday in February. For the current cycle, the February target date is February 5, 2026. The September 2026 target is September 10, 2026. This biannual cadence gives research teams flexibility to time submissions around personnel availability and collaboration development.
Domain-Specific AI Programs: Health, Geosciences, and Cybersecurity
Three crosscutting programs fund AI applied to specific scientific domains, each with distinct award profiles and deadlines.
Smart Health (SCH), NSF 25-542 — a joint NSF-NIH program supporting high-risk, high-reward advances in AI and data science for biomedical and public health research. Awards reach up to $1.2 million over four years ($300,000 per year). The most recent deadline was October 3, 2025; watch for the next annual window.
Collaborations in AI and Geosciences (CAIG), NSF 25-530 — funds interdisciplinary teams applying AI to Earth system science. Each competition allocates $6 million to $10 million across five to nine awards, with projects running up to three years. Full proposals were due April 2, 2025. NSF has announced a total of $20 million committed to this program, and a future competition cycle is anticipated.
CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service, NSF 26-503 — designed for academic institutions running or building cybersecurity-AI programs tied to government workforce pipelines. The Innovation Track caps at $500,000; the Scholarship Track reaches $2.5 million. FY 2026 target date: April 3, 2026. FY 2027 target date: July 21, 2026. This program comes with a service obligation — scholarship recipients commit to government employment — so it suits institutions with existing pipeline relationships to federal agencies.
Where to Look Next
NSF publishes an updated AI focus area page at nsf.gov/focus-areas/ai that aggregates current solicitations, institute news, and NAIRR announcements. New Dear Colleague Letters — which can open narrow, time-sensitive windows within existing programs — appear without advance notice and merit a weekly check.
The landscape shifts fast. A team that missed the ExpandAI window can still apply for NAIRR compute access this month. A consortium building toward an Institutes proposal in 2027 can use a Future CoRe award to develop the preliminary results reviewers will expect. The programs are designed to be layered — and Granted makes it easier to track which ones are open, which are closing, and which match your organization's specific profile.
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