Georgia Tech Research Roundup — October 1, 2026

Georgia Tech’s bi-weekly Research Bulletin brings a busy slate of opportunities for faculty, researchers, and students this week, spotlighting a manufacturing innovation showcase, two competitive federal funding programs, and additional research grants open for proposals.

Manufacturing USA Virtual Showcase — Oct. 16

Georgia Tech faculty, staff, postdocs, and students are invited to the Manufacturing USA Virtual Showcase on Friday, October 16, 2026, from 12:00–1:30 PM ET (virtual). The event offers a look at research, funding, and workforce development opportunities through Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing USA memberships. Participating institutes span a wide range of advanced manufacturing disciplines — from additive manufacturing and AI-driven robotics (ARM Institute) to synthetic biology (BioMADE), flexible hybrid electronics (NextFlex), and biopharmaceutical manufacturing (NIIMBL). Registration is available through Microsoft Teams.

NSF X-Labs Initiative: AI for Physical Systems

Georgia Tech is holding an internal competition for the NSF X-Labs Initiative, Topic 3: AI for Physical Systems, which supports mission-driven teams developing transformative platform technologies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems, sensing, and human-machine collaboration. Phase 0 awards carry up to $1.5 million over nine to twelve months, with Phase 1 scaling to approximately $50 million per year over two to three years. The internal Notice of Intent (NOI) deadline is October 18, 2026. An NSF Q&A webinar is scheduled for October 14, 2026.

Department of War MURI — FY27

The Department of War has released its FY27 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) solicitation, targeting high-risk, high-impact basic research conducted by multidisciplinary university teams addressing future national security priorities. Awards may reach $1.5 million per year over five years. White papers are optional but strongly encouraged and are due November 20, 2026; full proposals are due April 9, 2027. The solicitation covers 16 priority research topics.

NSF Translation to Practice (TTP)

The National Science Foundation’s Translation to Practice program (NSF 25-540) supports research bridging the gap between foundational science and real-world application. Three tracks are available: TTP-T (Translational, up to $1.2M over 36 months), TTP-P (Partnership, up to $2M over 48 months), and TTP-E (Exploration, up to $600K over 24 months, rolling submissions). Deadlines for TTP-T and TTP-P are November 17, 2026 and May 18, 2027. Each PI or Co-PI may hold only one active TTP proposal at a time across all tracks.

Source: Georgia Tech Research Bulletin, Office of the Chief Research Operations Officer, October 1, 2026