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Annual announcement typically posted Aug-Sep on SAM.gov and Grants.gov
DARPA Young Faculty Award is sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The DARPA Young Faculty Award program identifies and engages rising academics in early-career research positions, particularly those with minimal prior DARPA funding, to expose them to Department of Defense (DOD) needs.
The Defense Sciences Office (DSO) within DARPA has open topic areas in Physical Sciences, including open quantum systems, quantum-enhanced sensing, novel qubit platforms, complex chemical systems, nuclear systems and beams, nuclear particle/photon interactions, and nonequilibrium thermodynamics.
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Department of War organization. Young Faculty Award (YFA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) The objective of the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) program is to identify and engage researchers in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic and non-profit research institutions and expose them to national security needs and DARPA’s program development process.
The YFA program provides funding, mentoring and industry and national security contacts to awardees early in their careers so they may develop their research ideas in the context of national security needs. The long-term goal of the YFA program is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who will focus a significant portion of their career on national security issues.
The annual research announcement seeking YFA applications is typically posted to the grants. gov , and sam. gov websites between August and September.
YFA 2026 Research Announcement Administrative (as of Jan. 12, 2026) Technical (as of Dec. 15, 2025) RSS feed for Opportunities Young Faculty Award | Ep 74
According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Researchers at U.S. institutions early in their careers, with a focus on those with minimal prior DARPA funding. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The most recent published deadline was February 5, 2025, which has passed. This is an annual program, so a new cycle should follow. Check the funder's website for the next application window.
DARPA Young Faculty Award is funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Yes — this listing is flagged as national in scope, so applicants across the U.S. may apply, subject to the sponsor's other eligibility criteria.
Applications go through the funder's official portal — the Apply Now link on this page goes there directly.
Past winners and funding trends for this program
Operation Stonegarden (OPSG) is a federal grant program administered by FEMA through the Office of the Governor's Public Safety Office that funds enhanced border security cooperation among Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Border Patrol, and state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies. The program supports joint operations to secure land and water border routes, improve intelligence sharing, and expand 287(g) screening operations within correctional facilities. In 2025, the national priority is Supporting Border Crisis Response and Enforcement, covering training, operational coordination, and risk management. Eligible expenses include operational overtime costs, staffing support for screening activities, and training programs in immigration law, civil rights protections, and 287(g) procedures.
DoD Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) is sponsored by Department of Defense (DoD) - Office of Naval Research (ONR). The Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI), administered by the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research, supports basic research in science and engineering at U. S.
SBIR SF254-D1206: Knowledge-Guided Test and Evaluation Frameworks for proliferated Low Earth Orbit Constellations is sponsored by U.S. Air Force. DOD SBIR topic SF254-D1206: Knowledge-Guided Test and Evaluation Frameworks for proliferated Low Earth Orbit Constellations. Component: U.S. Air Force. Command: SDA. Solicitation: DoD SBIR 2025.4. Phase(s): D2PII, II, SPII. Status: Pre-Release. Open date: 3/4/2026.
MTO opened six SBIR topics on May 27 with a single June 24 close: nanopore proteomics, compact wideband tunable RF filters, 800°C-rated integrated circuits, passive thermal spreaders, radiation-hardened codesign, and low-resource computing for legacy hardware reuse. Together they map the office's bet on where U.S. semiconductor advantage gets reasserted — and which small businesses get to ride along.
Read articleDARPA's Defense Sciences Office and Biological Technologies Office pre-released four SBIR XL topics on June 3 with proposals open June 24 and due July 22. Read the four as a single coordinated bet on the deployed soldier — sensing, recovery, power, and pathogen defense — and the strategy for filing across the quartet becomes clear.
Read articleOn June 1, DARPA and NSF announced AI Forge — a jointly governed forum that will fund university-led research on three thrusts: AI interpretability, AI control, and adversarial robustness. The RFI on sam.gov closes June 22, 2026, at 5:00 PM ET. Project Ventures awards run roughly \$750K to \$3M with one-year durations and multiple awards expected annually. Administration runs through a nonprofit, intellectual property will be shared via open-source licensing, and CAISI at NIST is the third partner. Here is what the 15 priority research challenges look like and how U.S. universities should respond.
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