Opportunity Overview
Open West Virginia higher-education STEM funding opportunity. The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission STaR Division is accepting proposals for the Innovation Grant FY ’27 (11/2026–10/2027). The program supports innovative improvement of undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics education through modern instruments, equipment, material supplies, minor laboratory renovations, curriculum enhancement, and classroom or laboratory instructional innovation.
Funding and Deadline
Maximum award: $40,000. STaR anticipates one award and $40,000 in total program funding. Awards are cost reimbursable for a 12-month period, with an anticipated award date of November 30, 2026.
Proposal deadline: October 1, 2026. The controlling RFP does not publish a submission clock time or time zone, so Atlas does not infer one. Applicants should submit early enough to avoid ambiguity at the close of the application period.
Eligibility
Eligible organizations are primarily undergraduate colleges and universities in West Virginia. Faculty from the main campuses of West Virginia University and Marshall University are ineligible, although proposals from branch campuses of those universities are accepted. The principal investigator must be a full-time faculty member from a four-year primarily undergraduate institution in West Virginia. Investigators who received Innovation awards in the two prior years are generally ineligible except as a supplement to a National Science Foundation funded project. Each institution may submit only one Innovation proposal per year.
Cost Share
A 50% institutional cost share is mandatory. At least 50% institutional support is required, and up to half of that cost share may be provided as in-kind support. Dr. Miltie is not an eligible direct applicant under the published organizational eligibility rules.
Eligible and Ineligible Costs
Grant funds may be used for scientific instruments, equipment, minor renovations, material supplies, and curriculum development. Equipment and materials should be used primarily for instructional purposes, although they may also support faculty research programs in which undergraduates are primary participants.
Overhead is not allowed. The RFP excludes operating expenses, personnel, and service contracts. It also excludes teaching aids such as slide projectors and computer software, and excludes personal computers unless they are linked to or critical to laboratory equipment.
Application Requirements
Proposals must be submitted through the STaR Grant Opportunity (GO!) system. Applicants must request an Invitation to Apply / GO! account before submission. The proposal requires a 250-word project summary and an up-to-800-word project description addressing the current institutional situation, students served, curricular and instructional improvements, alternative support, and expected benefits to students and faculty.
When instruments are proposed, applicants must explain the instrument type and expected cost, faculty responsibility and experience, intended users and frequency of use, capabilities made possible by the instrument, number of students benefiting, facility and companion-equipment needs, integration into courses, and any undergraduate research use. The budget must show equipment costs and institutional cost share. Vendor quotes should be submitted when available.
N9+ and Dr. Miltie Fit
N9+ Fit Score: 72/100, conditional. A legitimate pathway exists when an eligible West Virginia primarily undergraduate institution designs an undergraduate nursing, health-science, physiology, clinical-skills, or related STEM instructional project in which the Nonagon N9+ remote physical examination platform functions as a scientific or laboratory instrument and is integrated into curriculum and student learning. The grant expressly supports scientific instruments and equipment and asks applicants to provide vendor quotes.
Atlas does not assume that STaR will classify N9+ as eligible scientific instrumentation for any particular proposal. The institution must define the academic use, demonstrate STEM relevance, satisfy the one-proposal institutional limit, commit the mandatory 50% cost share, and obtain any required institutional approvals. A Dr. Miltie vendor role is potentially strong if an eligible institution independently selects N9+ for an allowable instructional project. QC Healthcare fit is low and secondary because the program funds education infrastructure rather than clinical service delivery.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 87/100. The program is open, has a clear equipment pathway, allows vendor quotes, and can support healthcare education where an eligible undergraduate institution develops a defensible STEM instructional use case. The principal constraints are the single $40,000 anticipated award, one-proposal-per-institution limit, and mandatory 50% institutional cost share.
High-Fit West Virginia Applicant Example
West Virginia Wesleyan College: 94/100 organizational opportunity fit. WVWC publicly describes itself as a private four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college. Its School of Nursing offers baccalaureate nursing education, identifies Dr. Kimberly White as Director of the School of Nursing and BSN Program Chairperson, and identifies Penny Cutlip as Nursing Simulation & Skills Lab Director. This creates a credible applicant-controlled pathway for an undergraduate clinical-skills or simulation education proposal, subject to STaR’s interpretation of the proposed STEM project and the College’s willingness to provide the required match.
Submission and Contacts
Submission is through the STaR GO! system. Program questions: Dr. Janet Rorrer, Senior Director, STaR Division, janet.rorrer@wvresearch.org, 304-352-6322. GO! technical assistance: Dr. Quinn A. Clark, Associate Director, quinn.clark@wvresearch.org, 304-352-6349.
Official Sources
West Virginia HEPC STaR — Innovation Grant FY ’27 RFP