Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions (R15 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Questions regarding this Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) may be emailed to Daniela Petchik, Grants Management Specialist at petchik.daniela.m@dol.gov and Brinda Ruggles, Grant Officer at ruggles.brinda@dol.gov. We encourage prospective applicants and interested parties to use the Grants.gov subscription option to register for future updates provided for this particular TEGL.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to invite proposals for funding from Tribal Colleges and Universities, Tribal Serving Institutions, Community Colleges on or near Tribal Lands, and other Trade Schools on or near Tribal Lands interested in providing innovative hands-on, in-person manufacturing training and technical assistance through rapid reskilling of employees for 8(a) and HUBZone eligible small businesses , under the U.S. Small Business Administration's Empower to Grow Program (formerly known as 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program).

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites applications for projects to expand, improve, or transform the utility of mammalian cancer and tumor models for translational research. With this NOFO, the NCI intends to encourage submission of projects devoted to demonstrating that mammalian models or their derivatives used for translational research are robust representations of human biology, are appropriate to test questions of clinical importance, and provide reliable information for patients' benefit. These practical goals contrast with the goals of many mechanistic, NCI-supported R01 projects that employ mammals, or develop and use mammalian cancer models, transplantation tumor models, or models derived from mammalian or human tissues or cells for hypothesis-testing, non-clinical research. Among many other possible endeavors, applicants in response to this FOA could propose demonstrations of how to overcome translational deficiencies of mammalian oncology models, define new uses of mammalian models or their genetics for unexplored translational challenges, advance standard practices for use of translational models, test approaches to validate and credential models, or challenge current practices for how models are used translationally

The Secretary of Labor, through MSHA, may award grants to State, Tribal, and Territorial Governments (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to assist them in developing and enforcing State mining laws and regulations, improve State workers’ compensation and mining occupational disease laws and programs, and improve safety and health conditions in the nation’s mines through Federal-State coordination and cooperation.   MSHA encourages State training programs to prioritize health and safety training for new and small mining operations. MSHA also encourages grant recipients to address, in their training and education programs, contract employee safety and occupational health hazards, powered haulage and mobile equipment safety, mine emergency preparedness, mine rescue, electrical safety, training for new and inexperienced miners, managers and supervisors performing mining tasks, and falls from heights. Applicants are encouraged, where applicable, to support the President’s goals of increasing the discovery and mining of critical minerals, by developing or creating training and compliance assistance programs to assist operators extracting critical minerals, including coal. The President has declared a National Energy Emergency to discover and mine critical minerals. Executive Order (EO) 14156, Declaring a National Energy Emergency (2025). To increase the response, on March 20, 2025, the President also directed the appropriate federal agencies to take immediate actions to increase mineral production. EO 14241, Immediate Measures To Increase American Mineral Production (2025). In response, the mining industry may experience increases in the reopening of idled mines and developing new mines in the search for these critical minerals. With these increases, new and innovative programs to train new miners or retrain miners for extracting specific critical minerals are vital. The Department of Energy (DOE) published a list of critical materials for energy, Federal Register :: Notice of Final Determination on 2023 DOE Critical Materials List . On May 29, 2025, DOE added metallurgical coal used for steelmaking to the Critical Material list, 90 Federal Register 22711 (2025). The Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, in consultation with other federal agencies published the list of critical minerals, What are Critical Minerals? | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov) . Moreover, on April 8, 2025, the President amended EO 14241 and declared coal a critical mineral. EO 14261, Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending EO 14241 (2025). On January 12, 2026, the President extended the National Energy Emergency declared in EO 14156 for another year. Notice of January 12, 2026, Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Energy, 91 Federal Register 1667-68 (2026). 

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to encourage individuals who have not had substantial biomedical research experience, or who have the potential to significantly benefit from additional biomedical research experience to pursue further studies or careers in research. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on: (1) Research Experiences, (2) Curriculum or Methods Development and (3) Outreach. The NCI’s mission is to conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs concerning cancer. This funding opportunity seeks to facilitate educational activities that encourage students to become knowledgeable about cancer and available to focus on cancer later in their careers. To promote broad interest in pursuing a career in biomedical research via early intervention strategies, the NCI Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Program will support efforts to create and maintain an institutional program to engage grades 6-12 and/or undergraduate students in cutting edge cancer research experiences. The proposed institutional programs may also provide research experiences for the grade 6-12 teachers and undergraduate faculty members. The goals are to inspire interest in biomedical sciences, help envision research as a career path, and strengthen practical research and career skills. In alignment with these goals, institutions may develop unique programs that capitalize on their research strengths and are responsive to their target populations.

The U.S. Department of State's Embassy Cairo announces an open competition to identify a qualified provider organization to support the placement and administration of two English Language Fellows (ELFs) in Egypt for a 28-month program period. This program addresses a critical operational need: the successful implementation of the English Language Fellows program requires an international or local partner with expertise in human resources management, visa facilitation, financial administration, and logistical support to ensure Fellows can focus on their educational mission while receiving comprehensive administrative support throughout their assignment. The English Language Fellows program brings American English language teaching professionals to Egypt to work with local institutions, train Egyptian English teachers, develop curriculum, and strengthen English language education capacity. These Fellows serve as cultural ambassadors while providing technical expertise in modern TESOL methodologies, educational technology, and professional development. The success of this program depends on seamless administrative support that allows Fellows to maximize their impact on Egyptian educators and students. The selected provider organization will serve as the primary administrative partner responsible for: (1) recruiting, vetting, and selecting two qualified American English Language Fellows in coordination with U.S. Embassy Cairo; (2) managing all financial aspects including monthly salary disbursement, housing allowance payments, and reimbursement for approved expenses; (3) facilitating visa issuance and work permit processes in coordination with Egyptian authorities and Embassy staff; (4) providing ongoing logistical support including housing arrangements, local orientation, and problem-solving assistance; (5) ensuring compliance with U.S. government regulations, Egyptian labor laws, and program requirements; and (6) maintaining regular communication with Embassy staff and Fellows to address issues promptly and ensure program success. This program directly advances the Trump Administration's core foreign policy objectives by making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous through strategic educational partnerships. By building English language capacity in Egypt through American expertise, the program creates lasting partnerships that facilitate trade, cultural exchange, and mutual understanding—all essential components of a prosperous and secure bilateral relationship in a strategically vital region. The Fellows program represents a cost-effective model for projecting American values and expertise while building sustainable institutional capacity in partner nations. Eligible applicants include educational organizations, non-governmental organizations, human resources firms, and institutions with demonstrated experience in personnel management, visa facilitation, financial administration, and support services for international professionals. The selected organization must have the knowledge of local regulatory requirements, and capacity to provide responsive support to American professionals working in the Egyptian context. Success will be measured through: timely recruitment and placement of two qualified Fellows (both Fellows in-country and working within 60 days of program start), effective financial management (100% on-time salary and allowance payments with accurate expense reimbursement), successful visa facilitation (all required permits obtained within regulatory timeframes), responsive logistical support (housing secured, orientation provided, issues resolved within 48 hours), and overall Fellow satisfaction (90% of Fellows rating provider support as "good" or "excellent" in end-of-program evaluations). This strategic partnership will enable the English Language Fellows program to achieve maximum impact on Egypt's English language education sector while ensuring American professionals receive the administrative support necessary to succeed in their educational mission. The provider organization will serve as a critical bridge between U.S. government priorities, American Fellows' needs, and Egyptian institutional requirements.

This initiative seeks to solicit applications for research projects that address the link between social disconnection including both objective social isolation as well as perceived social isolation (otherwise known as loneliness) and suicide in late-life. Emphasis is placed on research that identifies neurobiological and environmental mechanisms associated with social isolation and loneliness that increase risk for suicidal thoughts and behavior in late-life, that uses an experimental therapeutics approach to identify targets and develop and test interventions to prevent late-life suicide, and that develops new and modifies existing service delivery models to enhance social connection in late-life to prevent suicide.

Although the majority living with schizophrenia and related disorders are over 35 years old, including those first diagnosed and those aging with the illness, the mechanisms underlying the generation and trajectory of the illness remain poorly understood. The purpose of this initiative is to advance translational research to better understand the emergence and trajectory of schizophrenia and related disorders in mid to late life, and to identity targets for future development of prevention and treatment efforts.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) encourages research on the biology of high-confidence risk factors associated with complex brain disorders, with a focus on the intracellular, transcellular, and circuit substrates of neural function. For the purposes of this NOFO, the term complex can refer to a multifactorial contribution to risk (e.g., polygenic and/or environmental) and/or highly distributed functional features of the brain disorder. Studies may be either hypothesis-generating (unbiased discovery) or hypothesis-testing in design and may utilize in vivo, in situ or in vitro experimental paradigms, e.g., model organisms or human cell-based assays. While behavioral paradigms and outcome measures can be incorporated into the research design to facilitate the characterization of intracellular, transcellular, and circuit mechanisms, these are neither required nor expected. Studies should not attempt to model disorders but instead should aim to elucidate the neurobiological impact of individual or combined risk factor(s), such as the affected molecular and cellular components and their relationships within defined biological process(es). This can include the fundamental biology of these factors, components, and processes. The resulting paradigms, component pathways, and biological processes should be disseminated with sufficient detail to enrich common and/or federated data resources (e.g., those contributing to the Gene Ontology, Synaptic Gene Ontology, FAIR Data Informatics) in order to bridge the gap between disease risk factors, biological mechanism and therapeutic target identification. The present NOFO (R01 activity code) can be used for applications to further develop lines of inquiry where feasibility or proof-of-concept has been established. Applicants proposing exploratory research at the early and conceptual stages of project development should apply to the companion R21 NOFO PAR-24-025

The goal of this NOFO is to support doctoral candidates from a variety of academic disciplines for up to two years for the completion of the doctoral dissertation research project. Research projects should align with NIDA funding priorities detailed here (https://www.drugabuse.gov/funding/funding-priorities). This award will facilitate the entry of promising new investigators into the field of substance use/substance use disorder (SU(D) research, enhancing the pool of highly talented SU(D) researchers.