National Guard ChalleNGe Program

Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program is sponsored by DEPT OF DEFENSE. To maintain technological superiority in the scientific areas relevant to Air Force needs; to prevent technological surprise to our nation and create it for our adversaries; to maintain a strong research infrastructure composed of Air Force laboratories, industry, and universities; and to complement the national research effort. This listing is currently active. Program number: 12.800. Last updated on 2026-01-21.

Congressionally Directed Assistance is sponsored by DEPT OF DEFENSE. To implement Congressionally directed assistance for the purposes identified in the Department of Defense (“DoD”) annual appropriations act. The resulting assistance instruments support a variety of Congressional priorities. DoD awards the appropriate assistance instruments for the Congressionally identified purposes consistent with its authority, including applicable requirements for merit-based or competitive processes. This listing is currently active. Program number: 12.599. Last updated on 2026-01-20.

John S. McCain International Scholarship for Military Families (Gilman-McCain Scholarship) is sponsored by U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This scholarship provides awards for child and spousal dependents of active or activated United States military personnel to study or intern abroad on credit-bearing programs. This could benefit dependents of military personnel stationed at Camp Zama, Japan.

MFAI is the program to target if the research question is why modern AI works rather than what it can be made to do. NSF funds mathematical and theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence here, explicitly including the capabilities and limitations of foundation models, generative models, deep learning, statistical learning and federated learning, alongside the development of mathematically grounded design principles for current and next-generation AI systems. That framing has become considerably more consequential than it was when the solicitation first appeared: the empirical success of large language and diffusion models has outrun theoretical understanding of them, and a program funding rigorous accounts of foundation model behavior - expressivity, generalization, scaling, sample complexity, the mechanics of in-context learning - sits directly on that gap. Awards are $500,000 to $1,500,000 over 36 months with up to 15 awards per competition against roughly $8,500,000 in annual new-award funding, which puts the effective success rate in ordinary NSF core-program territory rather than the long odds of a center competition. This is a joint MPS and CISE program, and proposals that are genuinely bilingual - mathematically serious and connected to real machine learning practice - do better than those legible to only one of the two communities. A practical eligibility constraint catches some applicants off guard: PIs, co-PIs and senior/key personnel must hold a tenured or tenure-track position, or a primary full-time paid appointment in a research or teaching position, at an eligible U.S. organization, which excludes many postdoctoral and soft-money researchers from leading proposals. The October 9, 2026 deadline continues an established annual cycle on approximately October 10, so groups that miss it have a predictable next opportunity, and the recurring schedule makes MFAI worth building a multi-year strategy around rather than treating as a one-off.

Capital Region Chamber Unified Military Affairs Council Scholarship is sponsored by The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region (for Capital Region Chamber). This scholarship is for students whose parent(s) serve at specific military installations (Stratton Air National Guard Base, Navy Operational Support Center Glenville, Naval Support Activity Saratoga, Nuclear Power Training Unit Ballston Spa, Watervliet Arsenal, or Joint Force H…