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The Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship is the Department of Defense's most prestigious single-investigator award, providing up to $3 million over five years for high-risk, high-reward basic research with the potential for transformative impact on future DoD capabilities.
VBFF deliberately funds 'blue sky, unfettered research' rather than tightly scoped deliverables, and artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomy, and the mathematical foundations of intelligent systems recur among the announced topic areas each competition cycle.
Fellows also become advisors to DoD scientific initiatives and mentor the next generation of scientists and engineers for the defense workforce, so the award carries a service and community-building dimension beyond the research funding itself. The competition is administered by the DoD Basic Research Office and typically proceeds in two stages: an institutional registration and white paper round, followed by invited full proposals.
Because the fellowship funds the individual rather than a project team, the review weighs the investigator's track record of field-changing work heavily alongside the proposed research direction.
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Tenured or tenure-track faculty at U.S. institutions of higher education. Nominations and submissions are made through the applicant's institution, which is typically limited in the number of candidates it may put forward. U.S. citizenship is not universally required but candidates must be eligible for DoD funding and able to satisfy the program's security and reporting requirements. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows up to $3,000,000 per fellowship over a five-year period, with the actual amount contingent on availability of funds, the specific topic, and the scope of the proposed work. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
DoD Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) for Transformative Basic Research Including Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy is funded by U.S. Department of Defense, Basic Research Office (Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
The NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering: Future Computing Research (Future CoRe) program (NSF 25-543) supports foundational computing research and education with a strong emphasis on AI and machine learning. The program funds research that advances the foundations of computing including AI/ML theory, algorithms, systems, and applications. Future CoRe supports small to medium-sized research projects that can have significant impact on computing foundations. The program has target dates of February 5, 2026 and September 10, 2026 for proposal submissions (note: these are target dates, not deadlines, meaning proposals may be submitted at any time but will be reviewed in batches around these dates). Investigators may not serve as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel on more than two proposals submitted within any consecutive 12-month period across all Future CoRe programs. This is one of NSF's primary mechanisms for funding fundamental AI and machine learning research at U.S. academic institutions, covering areas such as machine learning theory, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics foundations, and human-AI interaction.
The ONR Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (N00014-25-S-B001) is the Office of Naval Research's primary mechanism for soliciting research proposals across all naval science and technology priority areas. The BAA accepts proposals on a rolling basis through September 30, 2026 and covers ONR's full spectrum of research interests with particular emphasis on AI-related topics including autonomous maritime systems, human-machine teaming, machine learning for sensor fusion, cooperative autonomous swarm technology, undersea autonomy, and AI-enabled decision superiority. Proposals can be funded through multiple mechanisms including individual investigator grants, the Young Investigator Program (~$510K over 3 years for early-career faculty), and Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards ($1.5M/year for 3-5 years for research teams). ONR recommends contacting relevant program officers before submitting to discuss alignment with current research priorities. The BAA supports basic research (6.1), applied research (6.2), and advanced technology development (6.3) across the full range of naval-relevant science and engineering disciplines.
DE-FOA-0003600 is the DOE Office of Science's FY 2026 open, rolling solicitation for financial assistance, providing roughly $500 million across seven program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Isotope R&D and Production. AI and machine learning research is supported directly through Advanced Scientific Computing Research, while Biological and Environmental Research funds atmospheric process research, environmental systems process research, and earth-energy systems modeling — making this a major channel for AI-enhanced climate and earth system modeling work. DOE anticipates 200 to 350 new awards ranging from $5,000 to $5 million each, with project periods from six months to five years. The FOA opened September 30, 2025 and accepts applications on a rolling basis through the end of FY 2026.
AFOSR's open Broad Agency Announcement — the single front door to Air Force basic research funding — closed on March 23, 2026 for mandatory review under Executive Order 14332, and proposals submitted in its final week must be resubmitted to a replacement that has no posted date. Meanwhile NRL's Long Range BAA takes white papers only through September 30, and the Air Force's new $99 million command-and-control BAA runs to 2028 with a March 15, 2027 white paper date for FY28 money. A field guide to the rolling-solicitation channel while it is in flux.
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