Eligibility​:

Faculty, research faculty, technical staff, postdoctoral scholars, and enrolled Ph.D. candidates from research institutions or national laboratories in the U.S. and abroad are eligible to apply. Individuals must hold an active appointment and be paid by their institution. Ongoing relevant research activity in either biology or mathematics/theory, or the potential for such, is desirable. Applicants from teaching-intensive colleges, minority-serving institutions, and non-PhD-granting institutions are encouraged to apply.​

 

Application:

For Fall 2026 and Winter 2027, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. 

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For FRGA visits in May 2027 and beyond applications will be reviewed three times per year:

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Additional processing time for post-review may take up to six months for international or non-resident visitors who need a visa and up to two months for domestic visitors. Please consider this timing when submitting your application.

Please note that non-U.S. citizens will need to obtain an appropriate visa or visa waiver and the purpose and duration of their visit will be subject to what the specific type of visa allows. Most international visitors will visit NITMB with a WB visa waiver or B-1 visa, which allows independent research or independent academic collaborations and durations of up to 3 or 6 months.

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In addition, it is very important for international visitors to be covered by health insurance while in the U.S. NITMB does not provide health insurance for participants.

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Materials needed for submission:

A single individual should submit all compiled materials on behalf of the group. The formatting of all documents should be in 11-point font, single-spaced, with minimum 0.5-inch margins.  Please submit a single PDF file that merges all these parts:

1. Curriculum vitae for each participant (NSF CV or NIH biosketch format may be used; 5 pages maximum)

2. A Research Plan (instructions below; 2 pages maximum, excluding references.)

3. Letter of institutional support: Required for any postdoctoral scholar or PhD candidate participants, from a principal investigator, department chair, or supervisor

4. Participant email list: A list of email addresses for all participants should accompany the application.

 

Research Plan:

Please describe the proposed work of your Focused Research Group by addressing the following questions.

 

Please limit the text of your submission to 2 pages; embedded figures are acceptable and references may use additional pages.

• What is the central research question that the group proposes to investigate? What methodologies does the group plan to employ to address this question?

• What specific and tangible goals do you aim to achieve while at NITMB? What key deliverables do you anticipate from your Focused Research Group?

• Why is this specific group of participants essential for the project’s success?

• When would you like to visit and how long would you like to stay?

• What financial assistance are you requesting?

 

Additional Guidance:

• Merit Review criteria for NITMB Focused Research Groups:

  1. The extent to which the research will have a high reward or impact, even if it is high risk.

  2. How well the results strengthen and broaden our knowledge of or develop new discoveries in both biology and mathematics/theory/computation.

  3. How well the research integrates mathematics with biology, with investigators providing complementary expertise.

  4. The extent to which the project broadens the portfolio of NITMB-supported research.

  5. If the proposal includes trainees, the quality of the plan for their participation.

• Collaborations between mathematicians/theorists/computationalists and experimentalists/empiricists are encouraged, but projects are not required to have an experimental component and may use pre-existing data. 

• Please note that NITMB does not support research with a primary goal of human health or clinical application.

• Illustrative examples of “new mathematics” include (but are not limited to):

  1. Novel use of some branch/type of math in the study of a phenomenon 
(e.g., applying topology to a problem previously only addressed with regression models)

  2. The first time a phenomenon is quantitatively addressed
 (e.g., establishing a metric for 2D shapes)

  3. New pure and applied mathematics addressing theoretical holes
 (e.g., relaxing simplifying assumptions)

 

Expectations: NITMB Focused Research Group Award participants should…

• Engage in cross-disciplinary research, engaging both math/theory/computation and experimental/empirical biology.

• Acknowledge NITMB support in relevant publications and products by adding the text:
  This research was supported in part by grants from the NSF (DMS-2235451) and Simons Foundation (MPS-NITMB-00005320) to the NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NITMB).​