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Greetings,
We are excited to share this funding opportunity from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office (CPO). The CPO is soliciting proposals for a FY 2027 grants competition focused on Super Intelligence/Machine Learning Innovation to Advance NOAA's Earth System Science and Support Hazard Resilience. More information about the award can be found in the synopsis and links below. For a full list of currently open opportunities that have been announced through our office, please visit our Current Opportunities web page. As a reminder, our Research Development team is available to provide proposal development support to FAS ladder faculty.
- Sponsor Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: November 17, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT (November 18, 2026 at 2:59 AM ET)
- LOIs are not required, but strongly encouraged.
- OSP review is not required at the LOI stage.
- OSP Deadline: February 2, 2027 at 9:00 AM ET
Departments or areas may require additional time for proposal review and submission. Please discuss a timeline with your grants administrator.
- Sponsor Full Application Deadline: February 9, 2027 at 11:59 PM PT (February 10, 2027 at 2:59 AM ET)
- Award Amount: Up to $250,000 per year over 1-3 years
Program Overview
The NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), or "NOAA Research," provides the research foundation for understanding the complex systems that support our planet. As part of OAR, the Climate Program Office (CPO) supports mission-driven research to advance understanding of climate and to deliver actionable information to society to help Americans plan and respond. This program aims to accelerate innovation in NOAA's Earth system science and to inform hazard resilience decision making through the application of Super Intelligence (SI)/Machine Learning (ML). Proposals will focus on examining the application of SI/ML to advance NOAA's capabilities across the following three Priority Areas (detailed below): 1) multi-annual to decadal prediction, 2) hazard resilience decision-support information, and 3) extreme heat predictions and preparedness. Applicants may elect to address one or multiple of these Priority Areas.
Projects from this competition will aim to enhance partnerships and accelerate progress for SI/ML innovation across NOAA, including across OAR laboratories, with the NOAA Center for AI and the National Weather Service (NWS) as well as other NOAA service Line Offices, advancing extramural research through competitive research. This program may fund up to 15 new awards.
Priority Areas
- SI/ML Innovation to Advance Multi-Annual to Decadal Prediction: Proposals responsive to Priority Area 1 will focus on addressing gaps in NOAA modeling and prediction capabilities, examining how SI/ML innovation can accelerate the development of multi-annual to decadal (M2D) Earth system climate predictions (at 2–10 years lead times) and reliable predictive information for decision-relevant applications. Proposed research should address one or both of the following objectives:
- Accelerate Predictability Discovery and Diagnosis
- Improve Computational Efficiency and Predictive Systems
- SI/ML Innovation for Hazard Resilience Decision Support: Proposals responsive to Priority Area 2 will focus on SI/ML innovations to support resilience to weather and climate hazards through risk-informed decision making. Proposed research should address one or more of the following objectives:
- Evaluate Current and Potential SI/ML Applications for Hazard Decision Support
- Identify SI/ML Adoption Enabling Socio-Technical Factors
- SI/ML for Extreme Heat Thresholds, Prediction, and Preparedness: Proposals responsive to Priority Area 3 will focus on SI/ML innovation to improve predictions of extreme heat and enhance preparedness. Proposed research should address one or more of the following objectives:
- Identify and Model Critical Extreme Heat Thresholds and Interactions
- Identify Extreme-Heat Enhanced Prediction Opportunities
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants are:
- Institutions of higher education
- Other nonprofits
- Commercial organizations
- Local and federally recognized Tribal governments
- Federal agencies that possess the statutory authority to receive transfers of funds
- Foreign or international institutions are not eligible to apply.
- Current or previous grantees are eligible to apply for a new award that builds on, but does not replicate, activities covered in existing or previous awards.
LOI and Application Process
- While LOIs are strongly encouraged, applicants are not required to submit them and may submit a full application even if they have not submitted a LOI.
- The LOI should provide a concise description of the proposed work and a statement regarding its relevance to the Competition. The LOI should be no more than two pages in length.
- A response to the LOI from CPO (e-mail or letter) will be sent to the investigator within four weeks after the LOI due date encouraging or discouraging a full application based on its relevance to the Competition. Full applications will be encouraged only for LOIs deemed relevant.
Selection Criteria
- Once full applications have been received and reviewed for compliance and completeness, proposals will be reviewed by a panel of both Federal and/or non-Federal subject matter experts who will score them based on the following criteria:
- Importance/relevance and applicability of proposed projects to the program goals (25% weight)
- Technical/scientific merit (50% weight)
- Overall qualifications of applicants (15% weight)
- Project costs (10% weight)
Additional Information and Resources
Interested applicants may read the full funding opportunity announcement for more information. Applicants may also find NOAA budget guidance on the program website.
CPO anticipates that funding decisions on applications will be made during Spring/Summer 2027; decisions are contingent upon allocation of funds to CPO from NOAA. Funding for successful applicants is expected to begin during summer 2027 for most approved projects. Applications should use September 1, 2027, as the start date unless otherwise directed by the Competition Manager.
Questions from FAS or SEAS faculty about this opportunity may be directed to FAS Research Development. |
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RESOURCES
Research Development maintains a Sample Proposal Library of successful proposals from recent award recipients that are available to FAS and SEAS faculty by request; please email Research Development to request to view a proposal. For more information on Research Development's resources—including lists of internal funding programs, early career funding programs, and sabbatical fellowships—please visit the Funding Opportunities web page. Previous editions of FAS Funding Focus (FFF), a resource series tailored to help FAS faculty and staff navigate the ever-evolving landscape of grants and funding, are accessible in the FFF archive.
SEARCH FOR OPPORTUNITIES WITH PIVOT
All Harvard affiliates can search for opportunities and set up alerts using Pivot, a searchable database of federal and private funding opportunities. Information on Pivot, including a one-page user guide, and other funding opportunity databases available to the Harvard community can be found on the Funding Databases web page.
PIVOT CURATED SEARCHES
Curated funding opportunity lists are funding search topics of broad interest. The following curated lists can be further refined in Pivot based on your funding needs. To view the results you must be on a Harvard network or logged in to your Pivot account. Information on setting up a Pivot account can be found in our one-page Pivot user guide.
Additional curated lists are available on the Funding Databases web page. We continue to add to and refine these lists based on feedback. Please feel free to reach out to us at research_development@fas.harvard.edu with any suggestions you may have. |
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Your Research, Our Mission |
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