Skip to content

Office of Sponsored Projects

VP for Research

Main Navigation

NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program

Skip Menu

Grants Toolbox

NSF Career 22-586

The NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program  is one of the Foundation's most prestigious awards, supporting early-career faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the effective integration of the two. CAREER awards are highly competitive, and applicants are encouraged to begin planning well in advance. A distinguishing feature of this program is the requirement to articulate long-term career goals and describe how the award will support your professional development.

The 2026 CAREER award deadline is July 22, 2026. All NSF proposals submitted by the University of Utah need to be prepared in Research.gov.

See NSF's CAREER Submission Timeline.

NSF maintains current institutional requirements, and the University of Utah has:

  • An active SAM.gov certification
  • A SAM Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)
  • Valid SAM.gov and NSF registrations
Technical or discipline-specific questions should be sent to the relevant CAREER Directorate or Division contacts listed on NSF's program page. General inquiries can also be directed to the Faculty Early Career Program email.

NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from all eligible faculty, with specific encouragement for women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Award Information

CAREER awards provide a minimum of $400,000-$500,000 (depending on the directorate) over 5 years.

Applicants should confirm maximum or typical budget expectations with their Program Officer. 

Eligibility

To be eligible, PIs must:

  • Hold a doctoral degree in an NSF-supported field
  • Be engaged in research in science, engineeing or education
  • Hold at least a 50% tenure-track (or equivalent) assistant professor
  • Be untenured
  • Have not previously received a CAREER award

Each PI may submit only one (1) CAREER proposal per annual competition and may not exceed three reviewed CAREER submissions in their career.

PECASE Eligibility

CAREER proposals require several solicitation-specific documents, including:

  • A Department Letter
  • An optional PECASE eligibility statement

These elements are detailed in the NSF Research.gov proposal checklist.

CAREER Proposal Elements

CAREER proposals require solicitation specific elements including a departmental letter and optional PECASE eligibility document. The CAREER proposal elements are outlined at the bottom of the NSF Research.gov Checklist.

NSF Research.gov Checklist

Resources

Last Updated: 2/10/26