NASA’s University Innovation (UI) project funds university-led innovation to address the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s system-level challenges via independent, NASA-alternate-path, multi-disciplinary awards.
Strategic Goals
The UI portfolio’s strategic goals in descending order of importance are:
1. Assist in achieving aviation outcomes defined in the ARMD Strategic Implementation Plan through NASA-complementary research. 2. Transition research results to an appropriate range of stakeholders that leads to a continuation of the research. 3. Provide broad opportunities for students at different levels, including graduate and undergraduate, to participate in aeronautics research.
Portfolio Elements
The UI project’s strategic goals are achieved through two opportunities that are available through NASA Research Announcement awards.
University Leadership Initiative (ULI)ULI provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges, defining interdisciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact. By addressing the most complex challenges associated with ARMD’s strategic thrusts, universities will accelerate progress toward achievement of high impact outcomes while leveraging their capability to bring together the best and brightest minds across many disciplines. To transition their research, principal investigators are expected to actively explore transition opportunities and pursue follow-on funding from stakeholders and industrial partners during the course of the award.
University Students Research Challenge (USRC)USRC seeks to develop novel concepts with the potential to create new capabilities in aeronautics by stimulating aeronautics research in the U.S. student community. USRC provides students, from accredited U.S. colleges or universities, with grants for aeronautics projects that also raise cost sharing funds using crowdfunding platforms. By including the process of creating and preparing a crowdfunding campaign, USRC can act as a teaching accelerator to help students develop entrepreneurial skills.
Gateways To Blue Skies Gateways to Blue Skies expands engagement between universities and NASA’s University Innovation Project, industry, and government partners by providing an opportunity for multi-disciplinary teams of students from all academic levels (i.e., freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and graduate) to tackle significant challenges and opportunities for the aviation industry through a new project theme each year. The competition is guided by a push toward new technologies as well as environmentally and socially conscious aviation.
UI Project Page, University Innovation (UI) Tech Talks
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Last Updated Mar 11, 2026 EditorLillian GipsonContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.govRelated Terms
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