Saptaparna Bhattacharya
Funding opportunities

Current funding opportunities

A curated list of funding opportunities relevant to the group's program — SMEFT and multiboson physics, event generators and GPU computing, ML for HEP, and future colliders — from DOE, NSF, and private foundations — plus awards and travel support for students and postdocs — sorted by how quickly the eligibility window closes after starting a faculty position. Colors indicate the funder. Links go to the live pages; always confirm deadlines there. Last reviewed: August 2026.

No opportunities match that search.

Years 1–3 of a faculty appointment

Packard Foundation Annual · institutional nomination
Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering
$875,000 over five years for faculty within the first three years of their careers; 20 fellows chosen annually from 50 invited institutions, each nominating internally by mid-March. Two caveats: SMU must hold an invitation for the cycle, and Packard excludes research involving large national facilities such as accelerators.
Research Corporation (RCSA) Annual · proposals due Jul 1
Cottrell Scholar Award
$120,000 over three years for integrated research and teaching in physics, astronomy, or chemistry. A single-year window keyed to the start of the first tenure-track appointment — roughly the third year (the 2026 cycle covered 2023 starts) — so the year band determines exactly one eligible cycle.

Pre-tenure

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Nominations due Sep 15, 2026
Sloan Research Fellowship
$75,000 over two years for tenure-track faculty who are untenured as of the nomination deadline, in physics and six other fields. Department-nominated (letter from chair or senior colleague); the 2027 cycle closes September 15, 2026.
NSF Annual · summer deadline
CAREER: Faculty Early Career Development
NSF's flagship early-career award integrating research and education, open to untenured assistant professors — no fixed year cap, but the clock stops at tenure. Annual cycle with deadlines in late July.

Within 6 years of the first appointment

Universities Research Association Annual · spring nominations
URA Early Career Award
$10,000 honorarium recognizing outstanding work at or with Fermilab — HEP, cosmology, or accelerator science — within six years of first tenure-track appointment (career breaks excluded). Nominations for the 2026 cycle closed in April; the next round opens in spring.

Within 10 years of the Ph.D.

DOE Office of Science Annual · pre-apps in fall
Early Career Research Program
Five-year single-PI awards for researchers within ten years of their Ph.D. FY 2027 cycle pre-applications are typically due in the fall — relevant for group members approaching independence.

Any career stage

Universities Research Association Fall round due Aug 31, 2026
URA Visiting Scholars Program
Up to $50,000 supporting faculty, postdocs, and students from URA member institutions for research residencies at Fermilab — travel and lodging, or salary support for extended stays. Two rounds per year; the fall 2026 round closes August 31 at 6 pm EDT.
Fermilab LPC Rolling
LPC Guests & Visitors Program
Short-term travel support for CMS members — students through faculty — to visit the LHC Physics Center for collaborative work, talks, or hands-on training. Requests are considered on a rolling basis.
Simons Foundation Rolling LOI
Targeted Grants in Mathematics & Physical Sciences
Funding for high-risk projects of exceptional promise in the physical sciences, with no fixed budget cap or deadline — letters of intent are accepted on a rolling basis.
Simons Foundation Annual · institutional nomination
Simons Investigators in Physics
Long-term support (roughly $100,000 per year for five years, renewable) for outstanding theoretical scientists, nominated by their institutions each fall. Theory-leaning — most relevant for phenomenology-oriented collaborators.
DOE Office of Science Open now · rolling
FY 2026 Open Call (DE-FOA-0003600)
The annual continuation solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program — the standing route for HEP research proposals across all frontiers. Pre-applications accepted on a rolling basis.
DOE Genesis Mission Quarterly windows
Genesis Open Models Initiative
Rolling calls for pretraining datasets, fine-tuning data/evaluations, and open-weight scientific models. The BEACON SMEFT corpus targets these windows; next cycle expected ~November 2026.
DOE HEP Reference
All HEP funding opportunities
The HEP office's live index of open FOAs, lab announcements, and program-specific calls — the page to check when this snapshot ages.
NSF MPS Accepted anytime
MPS Physics Research Programs (NSF 26-523)
The new consolidated solicitation for the Division of Physics — replacing the individual PHY program solicitations, with proposals accepted at any time as of August 2026. The route for EPP-Experiment proposals.
NSF PHY Program page
Elementary Particle Physics — Experiment
The EPP-Experiment program page: scope, contacts, and current funding routes for LHC and future-collider experimental research.

Students & postdocs

Awards, travel support, and residencies for group members — including international opportunities through the COMETA COST Action, the European multiboson network the group is active in. The URA Visiting Scholars Program above is also open to students and postdocs.

COMETA COST Action 2026 edition: Aug 25 – Sep 4
COMETA School on Multiboson Physics
A ten-day training school for PhD students and early postdocs covering multiboson theory, polarization, EFT, and hands-on experimental techniques — squarely on the group's physics. The 2026 edition is running now; watch the COMETA site for the next edition and its application window.
COMETA COST Action Periodic calls
COMETA travel grants & research visits
Travel grants, workshops, and short-term scientific missions across the European multiboson network. COST travel funding primarily supports Europe-affiliated members, but COMETA membership includes US researchers and its meetings are open — the group's ties (talks at COMETA workshops) make visits and speaking slots easy to arrange.
Universities Research Association Annual · spring nominations
URA Tollestrup Award for Postdoctoral Research
$10,000 honorarium for outstanding postdoctoral work performed in conjunction with a Fermilab experiment, accelerator project, or the theory/astrophysics groups — within six years of the Ph.D., non-tenure-track. The 2026 cycle closed in April; the next opens in spring.
Universities Research Association Annual · spring nominations
URA Doctoral Thesis Award
$10,000 for the year's outstanding Ph.D. thesis conducted at or in collaboration with Fermilab, judged on clarity, originality, and physics content. Theses defended in the prior calendar year qualify; nominations due each spring.
Fermilab LPC Annual · ~mid-Sep deadline
Meenakshi Narain Graduate Scholars at the LPC
A funded year (renewable to two) at the LHC Physics Center for USCMS PhD candidates to pursue thesis research at Fermilab with a resident mentor. Requires candidacy, a defined thesis project, and three letters; applications via AcademicJobsOnline each fall.
Fermilab LPC Annual · fall applications
LPC Distinguished Researcher Program
Fellowships bringing CMS researchers — postdocs through faculty — into residence at the LPC with travel support and a platform for leadership roles. Applications run each fall for the following calendar year.
US ATLAS Ongoing
US ATLAS Center (ATC) at Brookhaven
The ATLAS counterpart to the LPC: residencies, analysis support, and training at BNL for US ATLAS members — a natural base for students and postdocs to spend focused analysis time with resident experts. Arrangements are made directly with the ATC rather than through a fixed call.
NSF Physics apps due Oct 23, 2026
Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
$37,000 annual stipend plus $16,000 cost-of-education for research-based graduate study. For seniors, recent graduates, and first-year grad students (second-years ineligible); the physics/astronomy panel deadline is October 23, 2026, with reference letters due October 16.
IRIS-HEP Annual · spring applications
IRIS-HEP Fellows Program
Funded 2–4 month fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students to build research-software skills with a mentor on HEP software projects — a strong match for the group's ML and generator work. Summer applications get priority review in late March.
Hertz Foundation Annual · ~late Oct deadline
Hertz Fellowship
Five years of flexible graduate funding in the applied physical sciences for seniors and first-year graduate students — among the most generous and least restrictive PhD fellowships. Applications close in late October each year.
DOE / Krell Institute Annual · apps due mid-Jan
Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF)
Four years of full support for PhD students using high-performance computing in their research — squarely relevant to GPU event generators and ML surrogates — including a 12-week practicum at a DOE lab. Applications due mid-January.
L'Oréal USA / AAAS Annual cycle
For Women in Science Fellowship
$60,000 grants for five women postdoctoral scientists each year, usable flexibly for research, travel, or dependent care. Applications run annually — check the AAAS page for the current window.
American Physical Society Annual · due Jun 1
M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship
Up to $45,000 for one year to support physicists — primarily women — returning to research after a career interruption; covers salary, travel, equipment, and dependent care. Requires an institutional affiliation; applications due June 1 annually.
DOE Office of Science Two cycles · ~May & Nov
Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Awards
Supplemental awards placing PhD candidates at a DOE national lab for 3–12 months of thesis research with a lab collaborator — the standard route for an extended Fermilab or Argonne stint. Two calls per year, typically closing in early May and early November.

Undergraduates

DOE Office of Science Spring '27 apps due Sep 30, 2026
Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)
Paid research internships at DOE national labs — a 10-week summer or a full semester, mentored by lab scientists. Applications for the spring 2027 term close September 30, 2026; the summer term application follows in winter.
US CMS Annual · ~winter apps
PURSUE: US CMS Undergraduate Internship
A paid 10-week summer research experience inside the CMS collaboration — analysis, detector, and software projects at Fermilab and USCMS universities. Applications open in the winter for the following summer; a natural on-ramp into the group's physics.
Goldwater Foundation Annual · campus nomination
Barry Goldwater Scholarship
The premier undergraduate award for sophomores and juniors headed toward research careers in the natural sciences. No direct applications — SMU must nominate, with the national deadline the last Friday of January and campus deadlines well before; students should contact SMU's campus representative in the fall.
NSF Site-specific deadlines
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) — Physics
Funded summer research placements at physics REU sites nationwide, including several in particle physics and at collider-affiliated groups. Each site sets its own deadline, mostly January–February for the following summer.

Suggest an addition or correction: saptaparnab@smu.edu. This page is a hand-curated snapshot; deadline details change — the agency and foundation links are authoritative.