NSF 26-513: State and Regional Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Hubs
- WVU Internal Due: August 30, 2026
- Agency Proposal Due Dates: November 04, 2026
Expanding Access to Compute for Scientific Discovery (AI Infrastructure Hubs)
Only ONE award will be made per state or multi-state region. Additionally, an institution may appear as a participant in at most one proposal, if more than one proposal names the same institution as a participant, only the first submission received will be reviewed; all others are returned without review. This means WVU should proactively coordinate with other WV institutions of higher education, state government, and potential regional partners now, rather than risk a competing in-state submission that could disqualify WVU's own effort. Given the sole-award-per-state structure, WVU is well positioned to lead this as the state's R1 institution, but early statewide coordination is strongly advised.
Synopsis
This program funds state or multi-state regional "Hubs" consortia of higher education institutions, industry, philanthropy, and state/local government to expand access to AI compute infrastructure for scientific discovery.
Importantly, NSF does NOT fund the acquisition of computing, data, software, networking, storage, or cloud services—that funding must be raised by the consortium itself (university, state, philanthropic, or industry sources). NSF instead funds:
- Consortium coordination and governance
- AI infrastructure workforce development (systems administrators, architects, cybersecurity specialists, network/software engineers, AI-for-science facilitators)
- Faculty training and instructional material development for using AI infrastructure in scientific research
The Hub should also engage with the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) initiative and, where relevant, the Tech Access: AI-Ready America Coordination Hubs.
Award Information
- Award Type: Cooperative Agreement
- Anticipated Awards: ~10 per cycle nationally, plus planning grants; ~$100,000,000 total program funding available
- Typical Award Size: $4,000,000–$12,000,000 total budget over 5 years (award scales with proposed population of students/scientists served and scale of resources)
- Cost Sharing: Voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited (consistent with standard NSF policy)
- Planning Grants: Available under PAPPG Chapter II.F.1 for states/regions needing more time to develop consortium strategy—worth considering if statewide coordination isn't yet mature
Eligibility
- Eligible Applicants: 2- and 4-year U.S.-accredited Institutions of Higher Education (including community colleges); non-profit, non-academic organizations (museums, observatories, research labs, professional societies, etc.) directly associated with research/education
- Proposals per Organization: 1—an institution may appear as a participant in at most one proposal; only the first submission received will be reviewed
- Proposals per PI/co-PI/Key Personnel: 1 per deadline (as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel —does not apply to advisory roles)
- PI Restrictions: None specified
- Collaborative Proposals: Must be submitted as a SINGLE proposal with subawards administered by the lead organization—simultaneous separate submissions from different organizations each requesting their own award are NOT allowed
Required Project Description Elements
- Hub Stakeholders, Vision, and Key Deliverables: governance structure; initial consortium members and expansion plan; resource allocation mechanism; outreach strategy; evidence of senior leadership support (letter of support up to 1 page encouraged); key deliverables and timelines across compute, research, and workforce axes
- Computing, Data, and AI Infrastructure: 1–2 page high-level description of resources (on-premise architecture/scale or cloud services); justification of sizing; documentation (letters of commitment/vendor quotes) proving 5-year funding commitment from partners—NSF does not fund this piece directly
- Partnerships with Regional Stakeholders: at least one regional industry/non-profit partner with described goals/activities (letter of collaboration encouraged); coordination plans with other state/regional/national partners (e.g., AI-Ready America)
- Development of an AI Infrastructure Workforce: structure/composition of AI infrastructure team(s); workforce development plan for AI infrastructure professionals and AI-for-science facilitators; pipeline scaling plan spanning postsecondary and continuing/professional education
- Faculty Training and Instructional Material Development: description of 5–10 new/enhanced courses, workshops, or activities from regional faculty; plan for training additional faculty beyond those named; plan for sharing instructional materials/lessons learned across the consortium
Required Supplementary Documentation
- Letters of collaboration (for personnel not listed as PI/co-PI/Key Personnel)
- Roles and Responsibilities document -table for each organization listing all PIs, co-PIs, and Key Personnel with roles by funding year
- List of all participating institutions (separate document)
- Letters of commitment / vendor quotes documenting the 5-year infrastructure funding commitment
Budget Notes
- Typical request: 5 years, $4M–$12M total
- Must include travel funds for a representative to attend the NAIRR annual meeting and related events
- NSF investments specifically support elements 1, 3, 4, and 5 (governance, partnerships, workforce, training) NOT element 2 (the infrastructure itself), which the consortium must fund
Review Criteria (in addition to standard Intellectual Merit / Broader Impacts)
- Strength of governance structure and plan to reach a wide array of institution types
- Strength of AI infrastructure workforce development plans
- Quality of regional engagement/partnership plans (industry, philanthropy, state/local government) with committed partners
- Whether faculty/educator training plans will significantly increase student access to advanced compute/data/AI resources
- Adequacy of proposed computing/data/AI infrastructure scale and design
Internal LOI Guidance
Please email WVU_Internal@mail.wvu.edu with the following subject line: NSF-AIHub by August 30, 2026 and provide the following information: leadership team, including institutional affiliations and discipline focus.