The National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER). The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Activities pursued by early-career faculty should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

To access ORD's Early CAREER Program folder for resources and toolkits, click HERE. 

Young Investigator Program. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Program seeks to identify and support academic scientists and engineers who are in their first or second full-time tenure-track or tenure-track-equivalent academic appointment, who have received their doctorate or equivalent degree in the past seven years, and who show exceptional promise for doing creative research. The objectives of this program are to attract outstanding faculty members of Institutions of Higher Education (hereafter also called "universities") to the Department of the Navy's Science and Technology (S&T) research program, to support their research, and to encourage their teaching and research careers. Individuals who are holding non-profit equivalent positions are encouraged to apply.

Doctoral New Investigator (DNI) Grants. This program supports faculty from Ph.D.-granting departments within the first 3 years of their first academic appointment doing fundamental research in the petroleum field, in order to develop the next generation of engineers and scientists through support of advanced scientific education.

Young Faculty Award. The objective of the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) program is to identify and engage researchers in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic and non-profit research institutions and expose them to Department of Defense (DoD) needs and DARPA’s program development process.

Grants-in-Aid Program. The Grants-in-Aid program is designed for researchers at the assistant professor level who experience difficulty in competing for research funds because they have not yet become firmly established. Grants-in-Aid can also be made to senior scientists. All applications will be judged on the scientific merit and innovative aspects of the proposal, as well as on past performance and evidence of the applicant’s continued productivity. Grants-in-Aid are awarded for a one-year period and do not exceed $30,000.

Walter A. Rosenblith New Investigator Award. This new investigator award supports creative early career investigators, at the Assistant Professor or equivalent level, with outstanding promise who are interested in the health effects of air pollution.  

Young Investigator's Research Grants. HFSP Research Grants support innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries.

Air Force Young Investigator Program. The Fiscal Year 2025 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends to support young in career scientists and engineers who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees by 1 April 2017 or later showing exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigator to recognize the Air Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering.

Cottrell Scholar Award. The Cottrell Scholar Award honors and helps to develop outstanding teacher-scholars who are recognized by their scientific communities for the quality and innovation of their research programs and their academic leadership skills. The Cottrell Scholar Award provides entry into a national community of outstanding scholar-educators who produce significant research and educational outcomes.

Beckman Young Investigator Program. The Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Program provides research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of their academic careers in the chemical and life sciences, particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science.

New (Early Career) Investigator Program in Earth Science. The Early Career Research (ECR) Program’s vision is to empower the next generation of Earth science researchers to create a diverse and inclusive workforce that enables solutions to benefit society, respond to changes in the Earth’s system, and to support the Earth Science to Action. ECR is striving for excellence in Earth science sharing the five core values of discovery, diversity, inclusion, community, and action.

Nancy Grace Roman Technology (RTF) Fellowships for Early Career Researchers. The goals of the Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship in Astrophysics (typically referred to as the Roman Technology Fellowship) program are to give early career researchers the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to lead astrophysics flight instrumentation development projects and become principal investigators (PIs) of future astrophysics missions; to develop innovative technologies that have the potential to enable major scientific breakthroughs; and to foster new talent by putting early-career instrument builders on a trajectory towards long-term positions.

Early Career Faculty (ECF). The Early Career Faculty (ECF) component of the Space Technology Research Grants Program awards grants to accredited U.S. universities on behalf of outstanding faculty researchers early in their careers. ECF challenges early career faculty to examine the theoretical feasibility of ideas and approaches that are critical to making science, space travel, and exploration more effective, affordable, and sustainable. 

New and Early Stage Investigator Policies. Multiple opportunities. See Programs for Scientists Just Beginning Their Independent Careers.

Centennial Fellowship. The AMS Centennial Fellowship Program gives an award annually to an outstanding mathematician to help further their career in research. One award will be made for the 2025-2026 academic year in the amount of US$50,000. AMS membership will also be offered to the recipient for the duration of the fellowship. Acceptance of the fellowship cannot be postponed.

Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program. The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program supports the research and teaching careers of talented early career faculty in the chemical sciences. The Award, which requires an institutional nomination, is based on an independent body of scholarship attained in the early years of their appointment (see below), and a demonstrated commitment to education, signaling the promise of continuing outstanding contributions to both research and teaching. The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award provides an unrestricted research grant of $100,000.

Sloan Research Fellowships. Sloan Research Fellowships support fundamental research conducted by early-career scientists. The two-year $75,000 fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders