At a glance

ORBIT Awards

These awards support the development of large-scale, interdisciplinary teams focused on securing major external research grants, center-level funding, or large one-time federal tranches directed at specific national problems.

Program Design

• Two awards of $250,000 each will be available each year; $500,000 total.
• At least one award is available for a proposal submitted by the October 1 deadline and one for a proposal submitted by the March 1 deadline.
• Any uncommitted funds will roll over to the next RFP cycle.
• Where merit warrants and funds have rolled over, these funds may be combined into a single $500,000 interdisciplinary project aligned with the university's strategic plan.
• Funding duration: 1 year, renewable once for a second year following a competitive progress review by ORD and approval by the Vice President for Research. Renewal requests are due 60 days before the end of Year 1.
• Activities may include team building, preliminary data collection, engagement with a consultant or funding agencies, and proposal development.
• Collaborative proposals involving multiple colleges or departments are required.

Submission Guidelines

Applications must include (11 pt Times New Roman, 1-inch margins):

• Abstract
• Detailed budget with justification
• Narrative (5-page max) with plans for external proposal submission
• Compliance approval letter or plans for submission of compliance materials
• Two-page CV(s)
• Funding history

For the March ORBIT proposal cycle, the Office of Research Development will use the CoSearch model to support the development of competitive interdisciplinary proposals. Teams planning to submit to the ORBIT program in the March cycle must participate in the CoSearch process.

Expected Outcome

Submission of a major interdisciplinary proposal (center-level, multi-investigator, or multi-institutional) within 24 months. An interim report documenting team formation, agency engagement, and proposal development milestones is due 30 days after the end of Year 1.

Proposal Evaluation

ORD-convened reviewers score each proposal on a 1 to 5 scale (1 = Poor, 5 = Outstanding) across the criteria below, weighted as shown. Rubrics explicitly consider alignment with the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan and with published priorities of federal funding agencies.

Requirement: proposals must include a short paragraph explicitly titled "Agency Priority Alignment", citing the agency, program, and the specific strategic priority, topic area, or solicitation language the project is designed to address.

Reviewers assess the credibility of the interdisciplinary team and the specific center-scale or large one-time funding target. For proposals requesting consolidation into a single $500,000 award, reviewers explicitly comment on the transformational potential at the institutional level and on K-State's positioning as a national leader in a critical grand-challenge domain.

Thematic Scope of Calls for Proposals

• LAUNCH, THRUST, and ORBIT calls are open to all disciplines and to all four Opportunity Agenda areas.
• Each call may include non-binding guidance identifying areas ORD judges to have the highest probability of external funding success, including emerging federal priorities announced since the previous cycle. Such guidance is advisory. Proposals developed organically by faculty outside the highlighted areas are welcome and will be scored on the same rubric, so that innovation in unanticipated directions is not disadvantaged.
• Where a sponsor restricts funds to a defined area, that restriction is expressed through a designated award series rather than by narrowing the base competition.

Purpose

The Kansas State University (K-State) Ad Astra Intramural Grants Program is designed to advance the university's research mission by supporting faculty-driven initiatives that enhance competitiveness for external funding, foster interdisciplinary research collaboration, and promote innovation leading to commercialization. This program consolidates internal funding opportunities under a unified framework administered by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR), through its Office of Research Development (ORD), and is funded in partnership with the One K-State Fund, through the Office of the President. The program aligns with the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan, particularly the Opportunity Agenda areas: community health and well-being, sustainability, global food security and biosecurity, and enabling technologies.

Two competitions per year, with proposals due October 1 and March 1, give faculty a predictable second opportunity to apply and allow the university to respond to high-risk, high-reward, time-sensitive federal opportunities. All Ad Astra competitions are at the university level. Proposals are solicited, reviewed, ranked, and awarded centrally by the OVPR.

Eligibility

• Only full-time K-State tenured or tenure-earning faculty members with a research component to their appointment are eligible to serve as Principal Investigators (PIs).
• Faculty with active, unexpended start-up funding must provide a detailed justification for why these funds are not available to be used to support the proposed program of research.
• Faculty reapplying for Ad Astra funds must demonstrate measurable success from any previous Ad Astra award, such as submission of an external grant proposal, receipt of external funding, peer-reviewed publications, or other verifiable research outcomes tied to the initial award.
• A PI may hold only one active Ad Astra award at a time and may submit to only one Ad Astra competition per cycle. Participation in a designated award series (see Designated Award Series below) does not count against this limit unless the sponsoring call states otherwise.
• Collaborative proposals involving multiple colleges or departments are encouraged where applicable to program goals and are required for ORBIT Awards.
• Applications must be certified by the Department Head and the college/unit Associate Dean for Research to confirm alignment with the faculty position responsibilities and goals and the unit's strategic plan.

Designated (Institute-Funded) Award Series

When intramural funds are provided by a specific initiative, institute, or restricted funding source, the same program prefix is used with a designator identifying the funding source or thematic area, for example LAUNCH-Energy, LAUNCH-Global Food Systems, THRUST-Water, or ORBIT-Biomanufacturing.

• There will not be Designated awards offered from each area every year.
• Designated awards are additive to, not carved out of, the base allocations for LAUNCH, THRUST, and ORBIT.
• Designated series follow this policy for nomenclature, review process, rubrics, and reporting. Award size, award count, eligibility restrictions, deadlines, and project periods are set by the sponsoring initiative and stated in its call for proposals.
• Where a sponsoring initiative operates its own review process, for example the Secure Energy Initiative seed funding competition with pre-proposals due October 1, 2026 and full proposals due November 8, 2026, that process governs. ORD coordinates tracking and reporting so that all intramural awards appear in a single portfolio.
• Designated funds carrying fiscal-year spending obligations must be obligated and expended within the fiscal year of appropriation or they are returned to the source. Where state appropriations are received in July, the OVPR anticipates moving the corresponding call to the previous March cycle so that awardees have a full 12 months to spend the award.

Program Timeline

Two RFP cycles are issued each year, with proposal deadlines of October 1 and March 1. The October cycle supports a January 1 project start; the March cycle supports a July 1 project start.

Application and Review Procedures

• Proposals must be submitted through this portal by 11:59 p.m. on the announced deadline (October 1 or March 1).
• Routing does not require college-level ranking, endorsement, or matching commitments. No college matching funds are required or permitted within the program.
• Incomplete proposals, or proposals that do not meet stated eligibility or documentation requirements, will be administratively withdrawn by ORD.
• ORD coordinates the review, convenes reviewers (internal and, where appropriate, external to K-State), verifies eligibility, compiles scores and reviewer comments, and prepares a ranked list for each competition.
• ORD transmits the ranked list, scores, and summary of reviewer commentary to the Vice President for Research, who consults the One K-State committee and makes final award decisions.
• ORD issues award notices, establishes accounts, and provides feedback to unsuccessful applicants. Uncommitted funds roll over to the next cycle on the same program line.
• All proposals, funded and unfunded, are retained by ORD for research analytics and reporting.

Reporting and Accountability

PIs must submit a mid-project progress update and a final report on the schedule above, summarizing project outcomes, dissemination activities, and progress toward external funding or commercialization goals. Each award carries defined milestones; ORD conducts a documented mid-project check and may place an award on hold, reduce it, or recover unexpended funds where progress materially departs from the funded plan.