The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 includes funding for basic and applied research.  Most of these funds will be distributed through existing programs at federal agencies.  This site is intended to be an information clearinghouse for the RIT community and is updated regularly.

ARRA has the following impacts across all federal agencies:

• Significant funding will come through competitive grant programs
• Most of this will be direct from federal agencies, but some will flow to states
• Agencies have until May 1 to present plans for ARRA funds, and these plans are subject to OMB approval
• Agencies will use the majority of ARRA funds on proposals in the pipeline. They do not expect to issue many new rfps.
• In the spirit of the ARRA, funds are meant to be obligated within 2 years, and should result in job creation and stimulating economic activity.
• ARRA funds will be subject to unprecedented oversight and reporting requirements.

Attached is a spreadsheet developed by the Executive Chamber and NYSTAR seeking to identify the various sources of funding available through the stimulus package. 

Key features of the ARRA for NSF:

• $3 billion overall for NSF through ARRA. NSF's FY08 budget was $6.1 billion, FY09 is in negotiation. $2.5 billion is for research and related activities, $500 million will go to the major research instrumentation program ($300 million) and facilities modernization ($200 million).
• Research grants will be distributed across all NSF supported activities and will primarily fund highly ranked proposals submitted since October 1, 2008.
• NSF will not make continuing awards with stimulus funding. All ARRA funds will be accounted for separately from other NSF funds.
• NSF is unlikely to provide supplemental funding for existing grants with stimulus funds. Exceptions may include CAREER awards, MRI and scholarship/fellowship programs.
• NSF has not stated they will waive the cost sharing requirement for the MRI program, although many groups have called for them to do so.

Further information:

 NSF Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
 NSF: Upcoming Grant Deadlines

NIH received $10.4 billion from ARRA.  Their FY 08 budget was $29.6 billion, and like NSF, the FY 09 appropriation has not been made. The final bill allocates $7.4 billion to be distributed proportionally among the NIH's institutes and centers (ICs). With NIH success rates running below 20 percent for grant competitions, the hope is for NIH to distribute these funds through regular, already scheduled grant review cycles without sacrificing quality. Another $300 million for NCRR would provide competitive awards for instrumentation and other capital equipment for research. And the final stimulus bill also gives NIH $400 million to be transferred from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for 'health care comparative effectiveness research.' The stimulus appropriation would give NIH a total FY 2009 budget of $39.9 billion.

Other features of NIH's developing plans include:

• A tentative plan to distribute $8.2 billion in scientific research across
  • Approved but not funded applications.  NIH will consider projects where significant work can be completed in two years.  The principal funding instrument they will consider will be the R01.   They may renegotiate scopes of work with potential awardees.  The distribution is to be determined.
  • Administrative and competitive supplements to existing awards.  Administrative supplements will be targeted to further the specific aims of an approved grant at the discretion of a program officer.  Competitive supplements will fund new specific aims from existing awards.  These will likely require peer review, and a process for submission is not yet defined.
  • NIH Challenge grants are new and will focus on select challenges in health and science.  Topics are still under consideration, and should be announced through RFAs by the end of March.  Some tentative parameters for this program have been discussed: overall funding will be $100 - $200 million, themes will cut across NIH centers, individual grants will run for two years with funding of up to $1 million in total costs per year.
• New investigators may receive preferences.
• All funds must be obligated by September 30, 2010 and NIH expects that most or all spending will occur by that date.
• On March 4, 2009, NIH announced Challenge Grant (RC1) applications that propose novel research in areas that address specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research methods that would benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area in significant ways. Deadline: April 27, 2009.

Further information:

 NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research (RC1)
 NIH's Role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

DOE received the following from ARRA:

• $1.6 billion for the Office of Science for research in climate science, biofuels, high energy physics and other areas
• $2.5 billion for applied research in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• $400 million to support the Advanced Research Projects Agency or ARPA-E, a new agency
• $3.4 billion for fossil energy research and development
• $2 billion for Advanced Battery Manufacturing grants to support manufacturing of advanced vehicle batteries and components. Awards will be made to manufacturers in the US.

Further Information: DOE has made fewer public plans than NSF and NIH.  To follow them as they develop, I recommend the following:

  DOE Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
 DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

ARRA provides $400 million for earth science, planetary science, heliophysics, and astrophysics, to accelerate the development and launch of key earth science climate research missions highlighted in a 2007 National Academies Study. ARRA also includes $150 million in stimulus funding for aeronautics research.

Further Information:

 NASA Information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

DOL received $3.95 billion for Workforce Investment Act programs, including $750 million for competitive grant programs for worker training and placement in high growth sectors, including energy efficiency and renewable energy industries and health care.  (As of March 5, this had not been

Further Information:

 DOL Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009