Equipment Grants Program

The Equipment Grants Program (EGP) serves to increase access to shared-use special purpose equipment/instruments for fundamental and applied research for use in the food and agricultural sciences programs at institutions of higher education, including State Cooperative Extension Systems. The program seeks to strengthen the quality and expand the scope of fundamental and applied research at eligible institutions by providing them with opportunities to acquire one shared-use piece of equipment/instrument that supports their research, research training, and extension goals that may be too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NIFA grant programs. Some key points about this opportunity include: • The program emphasizes shared-use instrumentation that will enhance the capabilities of researchers, educators, and extension specialists both within and outside the proposing organization. • EGP grants are not intended to replace requests for equipment in individual project applications of other NIFA programs. • An instrument acquired with support from EGP is expected to be fully operational by the conclusion of the first year of the project. • EGP projects are 48 months in duration in order to document the impact of the acquired equipment on the institution's research capacity.