AFRL/AFOSR Center of Excellence (CoE)

AFRL/AFOSR Center of Excellence — FOAs

Funds sustained university center partnerships with the United States defense research community.

The AFRL/AFOSR Center of Excellence (CoE) programme funds multi-year, multi-investigator collaborative basic research between outstanding U.S. universities and an Air Force Research Laboratory Technology Directorate. Each CoE is a three-way partnership involving AFOSR, a specific AFRL Technology Directorate (TD), and a university or consortium of universities selected through a competitive Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). The programme pursues three objectives: high-priority basic research in areas of direct Air Force interest, strengthening AFRL technical capabilities through university-lab interchange, and educating U.S. students in vital technology areas to create a future AFRL recruitment pipeline.

Grants are awarded for a three-year base period with an option to extend for two additional years, for a maximum of five years total. Award amounts are determined on a per-FOA basis and are not published on the programme landing page. New CoE topics are proposed annually by AFRL Technology Directorates to the AFOSR Chief Scientist, reviewed by a technical advisory committee, and approved by the AFOSR Director. Approved topics are then posted as individual FOAs on Grants.gov. Eligible applicants are outstanding U.S. universities or teams of universities; for-profit organisations are not eligible as prime applicants. The joint AFOSR-TD review panel selects the awardee from competitive applications submitted in response to each FOA.

Applicants should monitor Grants.gov for active CoE FOAs, which are topic-specific and issued irregularly rather than on a fixed annual schedule. Competitive proposals should demonstrate deep scientific expertise in the specific FOA topic, a credible plan for AFRL-university researcher interchange, and clear alignment with the sponsoring AFRL Technology Directorate's strategic research roadmap. Universities with established relationships with a specific AFRL directorate, or that have previously hosted CoEs, are typically well-positioned. There is no single agency contact for CoE; applicants should identify the AFRL TD and AFOSR program officer associated with a specific FOA and engage directly before submission.