NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI)
MRI pays for buying or building shared research instruments that are too expensive for regular research grants.
No NSF MRI call is open in our listings right now.
What it funds
Acquisition or development of a single instrument (or an integrated system) used by multiple researchers, including its installation. Operations and maintenance are generally the institution's job.
Who can apply
U.S. institutions, under a limited-submission rule that caps how many proposals each organization can send per track. PhD-granting institutions usually must cost-share part of the project; others are exempt.
Award size
Requests generally range from $100,000 to about $4 million, split into tracks by size.
Duration
Up to 3 years for acquisitions and up to 5 years for development projects.
How applications are reviewed
Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts, with emphasis on the research the instrument enables, the user community, and the management plan.
Deadlines
One competition a year. Internal limited-submission deadlines at your institution come months earlier.
Our summary, checked against NSF guidance in October 2026. Rules, budgets and dates change: always confirm in the current announcement before you apply.
Open NSF MRI calls
None open in our listings today. We add new calls twice a day; create a free account to get an alert when one opens.
Recently funded NSF MRI awards
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NSF: MRI: Track 2: SUMMIT: Development of a Secure and Resilient Multi-site Smart Grid Testbed for Multidisciplinary Research and Training
National Science Foundation — Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering · $2,000,000
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MRI: Track 1: Development of a Computational System for Agricultural Structural Modeling and Analysis
National Science Foundation — Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering · $1,200,000
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MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of an X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Platform for Surface Measurements in Extreme and Complex Environments
National Science Foundation — Directorate for Engineering · $1,184,253
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MRI: Track 1: A new State of the Art Electron Probe Microanalyzer
National Science Foundation — Directorate for Geosciences · $1,397,550
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MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a Microfocused Dual-Source X-ray Diffraction System
National Science Foundation — Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences · $645,695
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MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a NanoRaman and Scanning Probe Microscopy Hybrid System for Materials Characterization
National Science Foundation — Directorate for Engineering · $1,034,576
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