Advancing Research Capacity at HBCUs through Exploration and Innovation | 23 626

Opportunity Information: Apply for 23 626

The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity titled "Advancing Research Capacity at HBCUs through Exploration and Innovation" (Funding Opportunity Number 23-626) is built around an Ideas Lab model, meaning the centerpiece is an intensive, facilitated workshop designed to convene diverse participants and rapidly generate bold, workable solutions to a defined grand challenge. In this case, the grand challenge is strengthening the research capacity of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), with an emphasis on expanding their ability to finance, conduct, and sustain high-quality research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Rather than funding isolated projects in the traditional sense, the solicitation is structured to stimulate new thinking, partnerships, and practical frameworks that can change how HBCUs build and maintain research capability over the long term.

The opportunity is specifically aimed at bringing together the people who shape research ecosystems at HBCUs, including faculty researchers, staff, research administrators, and academic leaders. The intention is to create a setting where these participants can jointly explore barriers and opportunities and then design innovative, transformative approaches that can be implemented across campuses and across institutions. A major theme is collaboration: the Ideas Lab is meant to spark both inter-institutional networks (HBCU-to-HBCU collaborations) and intra-institutional alignment (improving coordination within an institution among researchers, administrative offices, and leadership). The expected outcomes lean toward shared solutions that can be adopted, adapted, and sustained, rather than one-off fixes that disappear when a single grant ends.

In terms of what NSF is hoping to see come out of the Ideas Lab, the solicitation emphasizes new models and practices that sustainably increase research capacity. This includes creating durable collaborative structures that help institutions plan and develop projects more effectively, improving institutional practices that support proposal development and research management, and strengthening research infrastructure across human, cyber, and physical dimensions. The framing also highlights shared resourcing as a strategy, such as pooling expertise, facilities, cyberinfrastructure, tools, and other assets in ways that make it easier for HBCUs to conduct basic research in NSF-supported STEM fields. Another recurring objective is improving access to practical information and resources that make research more feasible, such as tools for project planning, mechanisms for institutional support, and pathways that reduce friction in launching and managing research programs.

The rationale for this investment is tied to national priorities around equity, excellence, and workforce development in STEM. The solicitation explicitly aligns with the National Science Board’s Vision 2030, which underscores the importance of diversity in the STEM workforce and the systems that produce it. NSF points to the outsized role HBCUs play in educating and advancing Black/African American STEM talent: although HBCUs represent a small share of four-year colleges in the United States, they award a significant portion of STEM bachelor’s degrees to Black/African American students. The opportunity also notes the strong pipeline effect to doctoral education, citing that a meaningful share of Black/African American STEM doctoral recipients earned their undergraduate degrees at HBCUs. In other words, strengthening HBCU research capacity is positioned not only as an institutional development goal, but also as a national strategy for broadening participation and strengthening the country’s STEM enterprise.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary NSF grant opportunity in the science and technology research and development category, spanning multiple NSF CFDA areas (including 47.041, 47.049, 47.050, 47.070, 47.074, 47.075, 47.076, 47.079, 47.083, and 47.084). The agency anticipated making about four awards, with an award ceiling of up to $3,000,000. The original closing date listed for submissions was April 24, 2024, and the opportunity record indicates it was created on September 27, 2023. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional clarification expected in the full solicitation’s eligibility section, which typically means applicants should review the official NSF text carefully to confirm institutional and participant requirements tied to the Ideas Lab format.

Finally, the solicitation grounds its approach in research development best practices, referencing work by Preuss, Eck, Fechner, and Walker (2020) on research development and the workforce that supports it. That reference signals NSF’s interest in capacity building that goes beyond equipment and facilities and includes the systems, staffing, and institutional processes that allow research programs to be conceived, funded, executed, and scaled. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as an NSF-led convening and funding mechanism meant to generate actionable, networked, and sustainable approaches that expand what HBCUs can do in STEM research and how effectively they can compete, collaborate, and lead within the broader national research landscape.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Advancing Research Capacity at HBCUs through Exploration and Innovation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.049, 47.050, 47.070, 47.074, 47.075, 47.076, 47.079, 47.083, 47.084.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 27, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 24, 2024. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $3,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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