Program News and Announcements

4 May 2023

ROSES-23: Research Initiation Awards (RIA) and SMD Bridge Program Seed Funding (BPSF)

NASA Research Initiation Awards:

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has established the Research Initiation Awards (RIA) program, which has two principal programmatic objectives:

1. Enable investigators at institutions underrepresented in the SMD ecosystem to initiate activities that, over the course of a two-year period, will provide the foundation for a competitive, sustainable, and productive program of research.
2. Enable undergraduate students affiliated with the proposing investigator to perform cutting-edge research in an SMD-relevant field.

RIA aims to broaden the base of investigators involved in the SMD ecosystem and therefore carries two key eligibility requirements. More information on the RIA ROSES-23 opportunity can found at the following link: Research Initiation Awards (RIA)

NASA SMD Bridge Program Seed Funding:

The primary high- level goal of the overarching SMD Bridge Program is to develop sustainable partnerships between NASA Centers or Facilities and Minority-serving Institutions (MSIs)—such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Primarily Black Institutions (PBIs), and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)—as well as Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) and Community Colleges.

Very highly research-intensive universities may also be included, if their participation benefits the partnership, and is sufficiently justified. These partnerships are expected to be led by faculty and focus on paid research and engineering positions for undergraduate and graduate students at participating institutions, with the goal of transitioning these science and engineering students from undergraduate studies into graduate schools and/or employment by NASA or related institutions, transitioning graduate students into positions at NASA or other STEM employment, and enhancing faculty research trajectories.

More information about the ROSES-23 SMD Bridge Program Seed Funding can be found at: SMD Bridge Program Seed Funding (BPSF)