Office of Research update: October 2026

October 9, 2026

See whose work is getting funded, browse upcoming events and learn about available funding resources.

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New Awards Received

Principal Investigator: German Reyes-Villanueva
Project Title: Study and Mechanistic Understanding of the Influence of Boron Fiber Hybrid Composites on the High Strain Rate Behavior of Carbon Fiber Composites
Sponsor: Specialty Materials
Award Amount: $99,603

This project seeks to determine the effect adding boron fibers to carbon fiber composites — materials already widely used in aerospace and defense structures — can make them better at surviving high-speed impacts such as ballistic events. Reyes-Villanueva will combine a review of existing material data with a hands-on experimental program that fires projectiles at specially designed composite panels and measures how damage spreads and is absorbed, using high-speed cameras and advanced imaging techniques. The findings will provide engineers with a clearer roadmap for designing lighter, tougher composite structures that can better withstand extreme loading conditions in military and aerospace applications.  

U-M Principal Investigator: Jie Shen
Project Title: Sustainability-Focused Computing Innovation and Education for the Digital Transformation of Electric Vehicles
Sponsor: Venturewell
Award Amount: $82,236

The goal of this initiative is to drive institutional transformation and ecosystem-level change at UM-Dearborn by strengthening its STEM innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem through the integration of sustainability-focused computing education, industry collaboration and community engagement. This effort embeds sustainability into computing research and curriculum, particularly within senior design courses, enabling students to engage in hands-on, project-based learning in emerging fields such as AI, edge computing and digital engineering. 

Shen, in collaboration with Brahim Medjahed, Bruce Maxim and Kas Kasravi aim to facilitate this transformation through three coordinated mechanisms: an industry-engaged Edge AI consortium addressing mobility safety, the Dearborn Modeling and Simulation Studio as a hybrid innovation hub for prototyping and early-stage intellectual property development, and inclusive outreach initiatives that expand participation in STEM innovation across economically distressed communities in Metro Detroit.

U-M Principal Investigator: Angubeen Khan
Project Title: Rooted in Faith, Grounded in Health: Using Community-Engaged Approaches to Design a Faith and Reproductive Justice Informed Sexual and Reproductive Health Intervention for SWANA Muslim Americans
Sponsor: Society of Family Planning
Award Amount: $60,000

Angubeen Khan is an assistant professor in the College of Education, Health & Human Services. Her interdisciplinary research, which is grounded in a reproductive justice lens and community-engaged approaches, explores South West Asian and North African (SWANA) American women’s reproductive autonomy, contraception use and pregnancy outcomes at the intersection of culture, religion and migration. Her research lays the groundwork for a community-engaged intervention that incorporates faith-based paradigms and a reproductive justice framework into a healthy and equitable relationships and sexual and reproductive health education curriculum for SWANA Muslim Americans adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in Southeast Michigan. Through the Society of Family Planning's Changemakers Award, she will participate in training activities that strengthen her community-engaged partnerships, grantsmanship, methodological understanding and development of experimental design and effective process and program evaluation, and mentorship skills to support emerging SWANA scholars through the Nisa Research Lab.   

Principal Investigator: Hong Tae Kang
Project Title: Development of Integrated Physics-based Data-driven Fatigue Model to Predict Defect-related Fatigue Life Degradation of Automotive Structural High Pressure Die Castings (HPDC)
Sponsor: Ford Motor Company
Award Amount: $152,474

The use of large high-pressure die-cast (HPDC) aluminum components in vehicles is expected to grow significantly, creating a need to predict their durability before the actual parts are manufactured. Current computer simulations often rely on small laboratory test pieces produced under ideal conditions. However, large castings can have different material properties because of variations in metal flow, cooling, mold design, and other manufacturing conditions. These variations can create defects such as gas porosity, shrinkage pores, oxides, and cold shuts, which can significantly reduce fatigue life under repeated loading. Existing methods have difficulty predicting the effect of these complex defects, so the automotive industry often relies on conservative safety factors. This can lead to unnecessary weight and limits the ability to optimize component designs. This project aims to better understand how manufacturing defects affect fatigue life and identify the defects that have the greatest impact on durability. The results will be used to establish practical design criteria and develop a predictive fatigue model that combines physics-based understanding with data-driven methods, enabling more accurate durability predictions before components are manufactured.

U-M Principal Investigator: Xin Xia
Project Title:  ACPD: Acquiring Complete Pedestrian Datasets in Distributed Locations and Environments Project
Sponsor: Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration
Awarded Amount: $250,000.00

The Federal Highway Administration of USDOT has awarded Dr. Xia $250,000 through its Exploratory Advanced Research Program for his project titled "Acquiring Complete Pedestrian Datasets in Distributed Locations and Environments." As the lead institution on this 18-month project, the UM-Dearborn team will deploy portable multi-modal sensor suites — integrating LiDAR, cameras, radar, and GPS — at selected sites in Dearborn to collect pedestrian data across a range of locations, weather and lighting conditions. The team will develop automated sensor-fusion and deep learning methods to detect, track and classify pedestrians, and will reconstruct three-dimensional models of each collection site so the resulting datasets can be reused by the broader research community

Announcements

  • Navigate agency changes. Join OVPR Strategic Intelligence and Federal Relations for The Funding Insider webinars.
    • Oct. 21: NSF messaging and agency priorities (register)
  • Corporate and Foundation Relations is hosting a Foundations 101 Information Session on Nov. 4.
  • Explore practical ways to incorporate AI into your research through the MIDAS Hands-On AI for Research tutorial series.

Federal Updates 

  • Recent NSF updates:
    • In a Dear Colleague Letter, NSF leadership announced a move toward a streamlined portfolio funding model and plans to experiment with longer award timeframes, milestone-based grants, and flexible grant structures. The letter introduces four frontier initiatives: 1) Future of Intelligence, 2) Frontier of Quantum Phenomena, 3) Advanced Materials and Matter, and 4) Foundations of Biological Design. Watch for forthcoming opportunities in these areas.
    • NSF has issued an RFI seeking feedback on potential topics for future NSF X-Labs funding opportunities. Responses are due by Oct. 30. The RFI follows a new solicitation on AI for Physical Systems (see Limited Submissions below) and previews of upcoming topics on predicting protein structure and computational efficiencies.
  • Recent NIH updates:
    • NIH encourages applicants to complete the optional PHS Assignment Request Form to suggest institute assignments, study sections, and needed expertise.
    • NIH will extend modified peer-review practices for the Jan. 2027 Advisory Council.

Events

IRB On-the-Road: Drop-In Sessions for UM-Dearborn

Elizabeth Molina, UM-Dearborn’s Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison, will offer IRB On-the-Road drop-in sessions during Fall 2026. These sessions provide faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students with an opportunity to ask questions and receive guidance on IRB processes prior to proposal or application submission.

Session Dates, Fall 2026:

  • Oct. 21. 2 –3:30 p.m.
  • Nov. 18.  2 –3:30 p.m.
  • Dec. 16.  2–3:30 p.m.

Format: Zoom Room - access the room and wait to be invited by the host.

Grant Prix: Finding Funding in a Changing Landscape

This webinar will offer strategies for identifying research funding as sponsor priorities and the broader funding landscape evolve.

Dates: 

• Oct. 15. Writing for Action: From Great Science to Compelling Proposals
• Nov. 19. Finding Funding in a Changing Landscape

The Funding Insider: NSF Messaging and Agency Priorities

OVPR Strategic Intelligence and Federal Relations will discuss current NSF messaging and agency priorities.

Collaborating with Community Partners in Grant Seeking

Community partnerships can strengthen proposals, expand resources, and make your work more compelling to funders. Building these relationships requires trust, shared goals, and clear communication.  This Hanover Research session will show you how to identify the right partners, structure collaborations that benefit all parties, and craft proposals that demonstrate collective impact.​

MXO Spark Tank

DARPA's Multi X Office (MXO) is hosting Spark Tank, an in-person event for prospective proposers, future collaborators, and innovators interested in engaging with DARPA. Participants will hear directly from MXO Program Managers, learn about emerging research priorities, and schedule one-on-one sidebar meetings to discuss research alignment and strengthen future funding competitiveness. The event is designed to help researchers better understand DARPA's mission, identify collaboration opportunities, and prepare more competitive proposals. 

Introducing the Michigan National Survey Panel (M-Panel) 

The U-M Institute for Social Research’s Survey Research Center will introduce M-Panel, a resource for collecting nationally representative survey data from U.S. adults, including an oversample of Michigan residents.

Assessing Alignment & Competitiveness in Grant Prospecting

While many grant seekers have access to a wealth of information about funding opportunities, finding the right fit can still be a challenge. This Hanover Research session focuses on the art of grant prospecting beyond the initial identification of potential targets, helping you to achieve meaningful alignment with funder priorities by spotting key indicators and red flags in your evaluation process.​

Research Resource Highlight

Preserving Interrupted Research for Public Access: Research Interrupted: The Research Data Continuity Collection is an open-access Deep Blue Data collection designed to preserve unfinished research, especially datasets from projects halted by stop-work orders or grant terminations. By making these materials publicly discoverable, the collection helps recognize the completed work and supports future research use. Deposits may include collected data, project objectives, progress notes, impact statements, proposals, and other supporting documentation, all curated and preserved under Deep Blue Data policies with flexibility for incomplete projects.

Funding Opportunities

NIH R15 Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions

The AREA program supports small-scale biomedical research projects at eligible undergraduate-focused institutions that receive limited NIH funding. Projects are intended to provide meaningful biomedical research experiences for undergraduate students while strengthening the institution’s research environment.

NSF Unlocking Dataset Value for AI-Enabled Scientific Discovery (AI Datasets)

The AI Datasets program supports efforts to unlock the value of existing scientific datasets by making them more accessible, easier to integrate, and ready for automated AI-driven analysis and scientific discovery. Activities may include AI-enabled feature extraction and metadata generation, dataset integration, and development of robust data pipelines for automated analysis.

  • Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Proposal Due: Nov. 4
  • Funding Amount: Planning grants up to $200,000; Impact awards up to $2 million; Flagship awards up to $5 million
  • Learn more about NSF AI Datasets

Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

Energy, Water, and Resource Engineering

This program supports fundamental research to advance energy, water, and resource management and to safeguard health. Better use of domestic resources will make U.S. manufacturing, energy, and water systems more efficient and secure. 

  • Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Proposal due: Rolling Deadline
  • Funding amount: varied. Consult with PO to discuss project scope and budget before applying. 

MI Water Energy Technology Research Program

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Energy Unit is offering a grant for a college or university in the state of Michigan to research an emerging, responsible clean energy technology that utilizes this state’s water resources in an efficient and/or sustainable manner and produce a corresponding research document. The State anticipates the grant period will start upon execution of a grant agreement and will end on August 31, 2028.

  • Sponsor: Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
  • Proposal due: Oct. 30, 2026
  • Funding amount: $2,500,000 total

Engineering Biological and Biomedical Systems

This program supports fundamental engineering research that advances understanding and control of biological and physiological systems to improve human health. Research may include novel biomedical technologies, biosensing platforms, biomanufacturing innovations, rehabilitation engineering, and mechanistic studies that integrate engineering principles with biological sciences. The program does not primarily support drug design, drug delivery, or animal model development.

  • Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Proposal Due: Rolling Deadline
  • Funding Amount: Varies; applicants are encouraged to consult with the program officer regarding project scope and budget.

NIH S10: Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) Program

The SIG program supports acquisition of a single, expensive, state-of-the-art commercial instrument or integrated system shared by NIH-funded investigators. At least three NIH-funded Major Users are required.

  • Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Opportunity: PAR-27-022 – Shared Instrumentation Grant Program
  • Proposal Due: July 1, 2027
  • Funding Amount: $300,000 -$5,000,000
  • Note: NIH’s former Basic Instrumentation Grant (BIG) pathway has been reissued under the SIG program.

Humanity AI Open Call

The open call supports communities’ collective power to shape how artificial intelligence is built, governed, and used. U-M Corporate and Foundation Relations can help researchers assess fit, identify partners and strengthen proposals.

ARPA-H Emerging Health Innovators

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health program supports early-career investigators addressing major U.S. health care gaps while introducing them to the ARPA-H model of ambitious, high-impact research.

Team Science Accelerator

The Team Science Accelerator supports interdisciplinary teams pursuing high-risk, high-reward basic research across the physical sciences and adjacent fields.

NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation: Wave-Based Computing

  • Required Concept Outline Deadline: Nov. 19
  • Full Proposal Deadline: Feb. 11, 2027 at 5 p.m. submitting organization’s local time
  • Funding: Track 1: $100,000-$400,000 for up to two years; Track 2: up to $2,000,000 for four years
  • Learn more about NSF EFRI Wave-Based Computing

Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI)

The MURI program supports multidisciplinary university research teams conducting high-impact basic research relevant to national defense priorities.

Limited Submissions and Internal Opportunities

The following is a select list of calls for intent to submit and limited-submission internal competitions coordinated by the U-M Office of the Vice President for Research and the Medical School. For a more detailed list, visit U-M Research Commons.

NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program: Instrument Acquisition or Development

UMOR is reopening the internal competition for the NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program. NSF is expected to release a new solicitation soon, and program details and deadlines may change. Submission to the internal competition is required for consideration for a full proposal. Researchers planning an MRI submission should inform their department chair, Dean’s Office and Facilities of their equipment plans.

  • Internal deadline: Nov. 2 by 5 p.m.
  • Sponsor submission window: Oct. 15–Nov. 16, 2026 (original NSF window; subject to change)
  • Funding: $100,000-$4,000,000
  • Institutional limit: Maximum of three proposals in Tracks 1 and 2 (no more than two in Track 1 and one in Track 2), plus one additional submission in the newly defined Track 3
  • View the internal competition and apply through InfoReady
  • Questions: [email protected]
  • For troubleshooting questions related to the InfoReady Review submission portal, please contact [email protected]. 

NIH S10: Instrumentation Grant Program for Resource-Limited Institutions

This limited submission S10 program supports research instrumentation at resource-limited institutions. At least three major users are required at the time of application. Neither the PD/PI nor the major users are required to hold an existing NIH award.

Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards

These competitive research awards provide seed money for junior faculty members that often result in additional funding from other sources. The award amount provided by ORAU is $5,000. The applicant’s institution is required to match the award with at least an additional $5,000. This grant has a duration of one year, running from July 1 to June 30, with award notifications issued in early June.

Arts Research: Incubation & Acceleration (ARIA): Faculty Research Funding Program

A joint U-M Arts Initiative and OVPR program supporting arts-centered research and creative practice across all three U-M campuses, including UM-Dearborn. Interdisciplinary teams of two U-M faculty Co-PIs are especially encouraged.

Bold Challenges Accelerate Program 2027

The program supports interdisciplinary teams pursuing transformational, large-scale external grants. Services may include team facilitation, project management, graphic design and proposal review.

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