Young Faculty Award (YFA) 2027

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals for its Young Faculty Award (YFA) 2027, a cooperative‑agreement program that funds early‑career faculty (or equivalent non‑profit researchers) to pursue high‑impact, fundamental research in one of 18 predefined topic areas. Eligible investigators must be within the first 12 years after a Ph.D. (or ≤ 3 years post‑tenure) and have no prior DARPA YFA award. The award provides up to $500,000 for a 24‑month base period, with optional $500,000 Director’s Fellowship (additional 12 months) and an optional $225,000 U.S. citizen graduate‑student component (concurrent with the base). Required deliverables include quarterly progress reports, a final technical report, and mandatory travel to Washington, DC and San Diego. Proposals must be submitted via an executive‑summary (via BAAT) followed by a full proposal (via Grants.gov) with a suite of mandatory attachments (A–G). • Eligibility: U.S.-based tenure‑track/tenured faculty or equivalent, no prior YFA, citizenship restrictions for key personnel. • Funding: $500 k base, optional $500 k fellowship, optional $225 k graduate‑student; total possible $1.225 M. • Timeline: Posting 20 Oct 2026, executive‑summary due 5 Nov 2026, full proposal due 13 Jan 2027 (4 pm ET). • Scope: Choose one of 18 topic areas ranging from numerical analysis of prompt engineering to photonic activation functions; no applied research or CUI allowed.