Current Funding Opportunities

Solicitation updated 01/22/2010 — The Selection Criteria regarding the "Statement of the Problem" for this solicitation has changed.
Instrumental analysis plays an important role for forensic science practitioners in many areas, including but not limited to, trace evidence, fire and arson investigation, toxicology, and controlled substances. NIJ seeks proposals for funding research and development of instrumental analysis techniques to address the need(s) of State and local forensic science practitioners. In FY 2010, priority will be given to research that focuses on the development of novel techniques to analyze and interpret evidence; improvements in the reliability, reproducibility, selectivity, and sensitivity of current methods used in crime laboratories for forensic analysis; instrumental systems to improve analysis throughput; instruments for onsite presumptive and/or confirmatory analysis of evidence; and novel approaches and enhancement of current approaches to interpret data derived from evidence, including assessment of the significance of association.

NIJ seeks proposals for funding research and development to enhance forensic scientists’ ability to identify, capture, visualize, analyze, and preserve impression evidence and pattern evidence. In FY 2010, priority will be given to research that focuses on tools and methods that will allow faster, more widely applicable, more rugged, less costly, or less labor-intensive identification, collection, preservation, and analysis of impression and pattern evidence; studies in fluid transfer and fluid dynamics, specifically blood, to analyze bloodstain patterns; studies to examine the mechanical properties of materials (fracture mechanics) in physical match analysis of evidence; and research on the effect of environmental factors on impression and/or pattern evidence.  Pattern and impression evidence may include, but is not limited to, firearms and tool marks, footwear impressions, tire tread impressions, bite marks, blood spatter, friction ridges, fracture match, and questioned documents.

NIJ seeks proposals for research and development to enhance forensic crime scene examination and medicolegal investigations. Proposed projects may focus on, but are not limited to, crime scene examination, medicolegal death investigations, forensic pathology, forensic anthropology, forensic odontology, and fire scene analysis.  In FY 2010, priority will be given to research that focuses on new or improved forensic tools and technologies that will allow for the detection and identification of evidence at a crime scene; tools and technologies to assist the forensic pathologist and medicolegal death investigator in determining the cause and manner of death; research and development into the use of forensic virtual autopsy as a tool in post-mortem examination; studies in forensic taphonomy to better estimate time since death; research into the cause and manner of suspicious pediatric deaths; forensic studies on the physics of wounding as related to trauma analysis; and updated forensic morphometric standards to better assess the biological profile of unidentified human remains.

NIJ seeks proposals for funding to research, develop and demonstrate technologies that will enhance the safety of law enforcement officers and other criminal justice practitioners. These technologies and studies may include equipment worn, carried or used by criminal justice officers. Some efforts also may include the environment that an officer works in on a day-to-day basis. A major focus area of this solicitation is issues of vehicle safety and lighting.

NIJ seeks proposals for the operation of the Criminal Justice Communications Technology Center of Excellence, a component of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center System. The center conducts testing, evaluation, technology assistance programs, and other services with regard to communications tools and technologies intended for use by law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies.

NIJ seeks proposals for the operation of the Corrections Technology Center of Excellence, a component of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center System. The center conducts testing, evaluation, technology assistance programs, and other services related to corrections tools and technologies intended for use by institutional and community corrections and other criminal justice agencies.

NIJ seeks proposals for funding for states and units of local government to identify, review and investigate violent crime cold cases that have the potential to be solved using DNA analysis, and to locate and analyze biological evidence associated with these cases. Experience has shown that cold case programs can solve a substantial number of violent crime cold cases, including homicides and sexual assaults. Advances in DNA technologies have substantially increased the successful DNA analysis of aged, degraded, limited, or otherwise compromised biological evidence. As a result, crime scene samples once thought to be unsuitable for testing may now yield DNA profiles. Additionally, samples that previously generated inconclusive DNA results may now be successfully analyzed using newer methods.

NIJ seeks proposals for funding for research, development, testing, or evaluation of improved sensor and surveillance technologies for criminal justice application. NIJ will also consider applications proposing to apply new technologies that were not specifically developed for criminal justice applications.

NIJ seeks applications for funding for research, development, testing and evaluation initiatives that address the geospatial technology needs of State and local law enforcement agencies. NIJ will also consider — for use within the law enforcement or criminal justice operational environments — the application of new technologies not developed specifically for law enforcement.

NIJ seeks applications for fund for research and development of technology to help state and local law enforcement agencies better manage high speed vehicular pursuits. Vehicular pursuits represent a significant challenge for law enforcement agencies, in part because safe and effective vehicle immobilizing technology tools are not commercially available, and because pursuit outcomes may involve property damage, human injury and loss of life and potential liability

NIJ seeks applications for funding to develop alternatives to conducted energy less-lethal devices for law enforcement and corrections applications.

NIJ seeks qualified applicants for funding to develop effective solutions to provide law enforcement agencies with the ability to continue to communicate effectively (via voice, video, data, or other means), at the data rates necessary to conduct law enforcement operation, in (1) the absence of an adequate operating communications infrastructure and/or (2) in the presence of multiple, overlapping communications infrastructures with varying attributes.

NIJ seeks proposals for funding for research and development of biometric technologies that will positively confirm an individual’s identity at 1,000 meters for law enforcement application.

The Crime and Justice Research and Evaluation solicitation is NIJ's solicitation for investigator-initiated social and behavioral research and evaluation on topics relevant to State, local, tribal, or Federal criminal and juvenile justice policy and practice. Most crime and justice topics that are relevant to policymakers and practitioners are eligible for consideration. Applications submitted under the Crime and Justice Research and Evaluation solicitation that appear responsive to other targeted NIJ solicitations may be transferred to those solicitations at the discretion of NIJ.

NIJ seeks proposals for research and development to enhance the forensic uses of DNA technology, with a focus on technologies that result in faster, more robust, more informative, less costly or less labor-intensive identification, collection, preservation and analysis of biological evidence. In FY 2010, priority will be given to research that focuses on general improvements to the "front end" of the forensic DNA analysis process; physical separation of the components of a mixture; identification and characterization of biological marker systems that have the potential to reveal additional or more powerful information about the source of the biological evidence; improved tools for examining aged, degraded, limited, damaged, inhibited or otherwise compromised DNA evidence; novel methods for genetic profiling; identification and characterization of genetic marker systems that have the potential to advance the tools available for forensic pathology examinations; and development of new or enhancement of current forensic databases for use in estimating frequencies of DNA (or other genetic marker) profiles.

NIJ is interested in funding projects in support of criminal justice researcher-practitioner partnerships, as well as capturing, in detail, relevant accounts of these collaborations. Such partnerships have frequently been encouraged in solicitations for research. However, this solicitation specifically aims to support activities that capture and build on these efforts and that provide opportunities for creating, enhancing, and sustaining criminal justice researcher-practitioner partnerships that will lead to better criminal justice policy, practice, and research.

The NIJ Ph.D. Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) program provides awards for research on crime, violence, and other criminal justice-related topics to accredited universities that support graduate study leading to research-based doctoral degrees. NIJ invests in doctoral education by supporting universities that sponsor students who demonstrate the potential to successfully complete doctoral degree programs in disciplines relevant to the mission of NIJ. Applicants sponsoring doctoral students in policy and health sciences or in an education field are eligible to apply only if the doctoral research dissertation is in an NIJ-supported discipline (i.e., social and behavioral sciences, operations technology, information and sensors research and development, and investigative and forensic sciences).