Simons Centers of Excellence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

About this funding opportunity

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Science, Society & Culture Home Science, Society & Culture LOI Open Date

October 1, 2026 LOI Submission Deadline

November 12, 2026 LOI Decision Notifications & Full Application Open Date

December 17, 2026 Full Application Submission Deadline

February 9, 2027 Full Application Decision Notifications

March 25, 2027 Award Start Date

September 1, 2027 General Inquiries

sfgrants@simonsfoundation.org Technical Assistance

samsupport@simonsfoundation.org Office Hours

Monday, Friday, 9:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m. Eastern time Office Closures

The Simons Foundation offices will be closed December 24, 2026-January 1, 2027, and January 18, 2027.

The Simons Foundation’s Science, Society and Culture division is accepting applications for the Simons Centers of Excellence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities program. Deadline for application submission: 12 p.m. (noon) Eastern time on November 12, 2026. Opportunity

The Simons HBCU Centers of Excellence program, funded by Simons Foundation International (SFI) and administered by the Simons Foundation (SF), will support up to two Centers of Excellence (“CoEs”) at HBCU institutions in mathematics, physics and ecology & evolutionary biology. The program aims to foster research excellence and collaboration, and to provide pathways for students to successfully enroll in graduate STEM programs.

Each CoE will be an ambitious research and training hub grounded in cutting-edge computational, data-driven, and theoretical basic science and mathematics. Proposals with experimental or observational science projects that meaningfully supplement a primary computational, data-driven or theoretical program will be considered in exceptional cases.

The CoE must be anchored at a single HBCU institution, which will serve as the lead applicant and host of the center. However, CoEs are strongly encouraged to engage nearby institutions and establish partnerships with leading research institutions. Collaborative arrangements with other institutions should be described in the proposal.

Research output of CoEs will be expected to be of the highest quality, advancing the development of the respective field, with well-defined scholarly deliverables disseminated via open-access repositories and peer-reviewed journals. Eligibility

Each Center of Excellence (“CoE”) must be established in an accredited Historically Black College and University as defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, or an academic institute that is part of an HBCU.

Each CoE will be expected to benefit nearby institutions by welcoming other scientists to participate in their scholarly activities and by stimulating the work of younger researchers from those institutions. Each proposal will be required to clearly outline concrete plans for the CoE to serve as a hub of excellence for nearby institutions.

CoEs will be expected to seek scientific exchanges with leading research institutions that prioritize basic science and mathematics. Plans for partnerships with institutions with concretely identified resources supporting such partnerships will be an important…

Topic areas: General and Cross-cutting R&D, Education and Training, Gender Equality and Diversity.

Funding amount

This grant provides Varies in funding.

Deadline

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; there is no single fixed deadline.

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to the following applicant types:

• Not specified by the program.

Eligibility

The program did not publish a separate eligibility statement. See the official opportunity page for the full eligibility criteria.

Agency

Simons Centers of Excellence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities is administered by Simons Foundation (Simons), listed via Simons Foundation.