As an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI), UCSB faculty are eligible to apply for a variety of federal grants. Learn about the available funding opportunities below.

Department of Education

Hispanic Serving Institutions Programs

*Denotes Limited Submission opportunities with only 1 application allowed per institution. Learn more  about Limited Submissions here. 

Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving Institutions Programs

USDA National Institute for Food & Agriculture (NIFA)

Hispanic-Serving Institutions Education Grants Program

Supports innovative teaching or education applications with potential to impact Hispanic-Serving Institutions to build capacity and then to become models for other institutions that serve underrepresented students, at the regional or national level.

  • Collaboration ($1m for 4 years) (*Limited Submission)
  • Regular ($250k for 4 years)
  • Conference ($50k for 2 years)

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

Humanities Initiatives at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Helps strengthen the teaching and study of the humanities by developing new humanities programs, resources, or courses, or by enhancing existing ones.

  • Up to $150,000 for 1-3 years

Awards for Faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Supports individuals pursuing scholarly research that is of value to humanities scholars, students, and/or general audiences. Awards can be used for a wide range of projects that are based on humanities research. 

  • Up to $60,000 for 12 months

National Science Foundation (NSF)

NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program)

Enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education at HSIs and to increase retention and graduation rates of undergraduate students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at HSIs.

  • NSF HSI Track 2: Implementation and Evaluation Project
    • $500,000 to $1M over 3-5 years
  • NSF HSI Track 3: Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP)
    • Up to $3M

NSF CAREER Program

The HSI program encourages proposals on research addressing issues about STEM education at HSIs to the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER).

Department of Defense (DOD)

DoD HBCU/MSI Research and Education Program

Increase the research and educational capacity of HBCUs/MSIs and to foster workforce diversity and entry of underrepresented minorities into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines important to national defense.

  • Average award amount: $820,000

Research and Education Program for HBCUs and MSIs Equipment/ Instrumentation *

* Denotes Limited Submission
Support the acquisition of equipment / instrumentation in research areas of interest to DoD and attract students to pursue studies leading to STEM careers.

  • Up to $600,000 over 12 months 

Army HBCU/MI Research Centers of Excellence

Supports innovative research and education at HBCUs and/or MIs, and will be focused on areas of high Army interest that provides a basis for future technology innovation.

  • ~$450K each year for five years

NASA Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP)

Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) INCLUDES

Facilitates the formation of MSI- led coalitions to broaden participation in engineering. MUREP INCLUDES enables MSIs to 1) organize and lead coalitions comprised of multiple organizations, institutions, agencies, and industries to implement novel programmatic endeavors or 2) support the expansion of existing successful programs or methodologies to address critical challenges with broad impact. 

  • $400,000 per year for 3 years

MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO)

Promote STEM literacy and to enhance and sustain the capability of institutions to perform NASA-related research and education, which directly supports NASA’s four Mission Directorates – Aeronautics Research, Human Exploration and Space Operations, Science, and Space Technology. 

  • $1,250,000/per year in any given year and shall not exceed a total of $3,000,000 over 3 years