AFOSR Young Investigator Research Program (YIP)

The AFOSR Young Investigator Research Program sits under the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and supports early-career scientists and engineers doing basic research with Air Force relevance. It is aimed at investigators who earned their doctorate within the past seven years and hold a regular full-time appointment at a US institution. Awards typically run to $150,000 a year for three years, or $450,000 total, with exceptional proposals considered case by case. Eligible hosts include US universities, industrial labs, and nonprofit research organizations; the principal investigator must be a US citizen, national, or permanent resident, and researchers at FFRDCs and DoD labs are excluded. The program is best suited to researchers who can connect fundamental science to the Air Force mission while staying inside the basic-research frame. It is a recurring annual route tied to AFOSR's funding opportunities, so applicants need to track the current call and shape the proposal around AFOSR's research priorities rather than treating it as a standing open intake.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.