Objectives
The NSF State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs Program is soliciting applications to support state or multi-state regional hubs, each structured as a coalition of institutions of higher education working in partnership with private industry, philanthropy, and state and local governments to:
- provision the necessary AI infrastructure;
- develop the scientific and technical workforce equipped to leverage these capabilities;
- and accelerate AI-enabled scientific discovery.
Consortia will be responsible for all funding for new or expanded computing, data, and AI resources, whether on-premises or cloud-based. NSF will fund each Hub’s consortium coordination, AI infrastructure workforce development, and faculty training and coursework development in leveraging AI for science.
For awarded grants, NSF will serve the catalytic role of prompting consortia to aggregate the necessary funding for procuring, deploying, operating, and maintaining AI infrastructure through partnerships with research institutions, industry, philanthropy, and state and local governments. Hub resources may enable autonomous laboratories and AI-enabled research experiences across degree and certificate programs, as well as stackable credits that build a technical workforce equipped to leverage AI for scientific discovery.
The key goals of the program are to:
- Expand Access to Compute
- Accelerate AI-Enabled Scientific Discovery
- Develop an AI for Science Workforce
Funding Information
Between $4 million and $12 million for 5 years. Only one award will be made per state or multi-state region.
NSF does not provide funding for acquisition of AI infrastructure, including computing, data, software, networking, storage, cloud services, or other AI systems or services, leaving that responsibility to regional and state consortia.
Eligibility
There are no restrictions on who may serve as the PI. An individual may participate in at most one proposal as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel for each deadline. This rule does not apply to advisory roles.
Internal Selection Process
BU may participate on only one application.
Interested faculty should submit the following materials via InfoReady Review by 8/20/2026:
- Abstract (250 words max) providing a high-level description of the proposed resources and an explanation of why the resources that will be made available are appropriately sized for scope and scale of research activities proposed
- List of proposed collaborators
- List of proposed consortium member organizations
As necessary, the Office of Research will review applications and coordinate with the institutional applicant.
Deadlines
Internal Materials Due: Thursday, August 20, 2026 by 11:59 pm ET
Anticipated Notification Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2026
External Materials Due: Wednesday, November 4, 2026