Overview
The Agriculture and Food Frontier of the Climate Project, in collaboration with the MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (MIT HEALS) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), is developing the Agricultural Transformation for Land, Atmosphere, and Society (ATLAS) program. The ATLAS program aims to catalyze transformative advances in agriculture that address the intertwined challenges of climate change, ecosystem enrichment, and human health. The ATLAS program will support interdisciplinary efforts that can develop fundamental scientific discoveries, social innovations, or deployable, equitable solutions.
This funding call solicits proposals from single MIT PIs or small teams (2–3 PIs) that combine expertise across disciplines, including natural sciences, engineering, computation, the humanities, urban studies, social sciences, and policy.
About the Call
With ATLAS, we aim to address critical gaps by integrating basic scientific discoveries with engineering and systems-level thinking to create solutions that are scientifically novel, deployable, scalable, and capable of generating measurable climate and health impacts.
Proposals should explicitly articulate how their work contributes to one or more of the following ATLAS program outcomes:
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions;
enhancement of soil carbon and biodiversity;
improved resilience to climate stressors;
reduced social cost of food production;
improved efficiency and sustainability of AgriFood systems; and/or
improved human nutrition and health.
Scientific and Technical Areas
The ATLAS program prioritizes high-risk, high-reward research that challenges existing paradigms and enables new capabilities in AgriFood production. The program supports:
- early-stage scientific advances with a clear translation hypothesis,
- mid-stage innovation that requires further development before reaching validation and deployment, and/or
- social science innovations or tools requiring research, evidence generation, and/or pilot testing to enable adoption.
The ATLAS program encourages proposals in the following high priority areas:
- Area A: Microbial Communities for Soil Health and Climate Mitigation
- Area B: High-Throughput Sampling, Sensing and Analytics
- Area C: Nutrient-Dense and Resilient Food Systems
- Area D: Soil Restoration and More Efficient Agricultural Inputs
- Area E: Climate-Informed AgriFood Models
View a PDF of the RFP for full descriptions of these high-priority areas and examples of in scope and out of scope proposals.
Program Overview
ATLAS is structured as a 24-month program with at least three milestones, emphasizing iteration, validation, and moving the needle towards impact.
Projects must propose at least three milestones that include quantitative metrics. In the postproposal selection/pre-award process, these milestones will be collaboratively redefined with the Climate Project support and management team and undergo external expert review.
Proposed milestones should be ambitious yet scientifically grounded, pushing forward the pathway towards impact for a given project. The first milestone will be a go/no go milestone that signals strength in the hypothesis, demonstrates proof of concept, or establishes scientific, technological, economic, or social pathways to impact. The last milestone should address the overarching project goal and signify readiness for the next steps needed to grow impact.
Proposals must include a strategy to establish external partnerships by the end of the performance period.
- Milestone 1: due by month 9
- Milestone 2: due by month 15
- Milestone 3: due by month 21
Each project will have a quarterly touchpoint meeting. These conversations will draw on the milestones to discuss progress, support needs, and next steps. They are intended to help the team move the work forward.
Building the ATLAS Community
ATLAS Community Meetings: Awardee teams will be invited to participate in cross-team discussions to share progress, identify connections, and explore collaboration, partnership or follow-on opportunities.
Symposia, events, or workshops: PIs and project teams will be asked to participate or showcase their work at future Climate Project, J-WAFS, and/or HEALS-led symposia or workshops, engaging with the broader MIT research community and external stakeholders.
Eligibility
We encourage proposals from across all Schools, the College, Departments, and units at MIT.
Applicants must have permanent MIT PI status. This funding call solicits proposals from single PIs or small teams (2–3 PIs) that combine expertise from multiple disciplines. Although the work can involve collaborations with other organizations, no funds can be distributed to non-MIT collaborators.
We particularly encourage collaboration with other organizations when it may be important for the success of the project, e.g., for conducting fieldwork, bringing in missing expertise, providing context, data, or pathway to implementation, etc.
Project Funding and Duration
We anticipate funding approximately 5-8 projects for a total of up to $2 M in direct costs.
There are two tiers for project funding:
- Tier 1: $50 K - $250 K
- Single PI-driven research
- Anticipate awarding 4-6 projects
- Tier 2: $250 K – $500 K
- Multi-PI, we strongly encourage teams to be formed by PIs in different departments and/or MIT schools to foster interdisciplinary research
- Anticipate awarding 2-4 projects
Initial funding will be for 1 year. Funding for year 2 is based on satisfactory progress and the go/no go milestone review at 9 months. Successful proposals will receive a maximum of $500 K in direct costs over the 24-month period. Year 1 budgets must be equal or less than the budget request for year 2. A budget template will be provided to invited applicants.
Graduate research assistants (GRAs) supported on these projects are not eligible for tuition subsidy support. Accordingly, proposals requesting GRA support must include the full applicable tuition cost as a direct cost in the project outline.
Learn More or Apply
You can view the PDF for more details about the ATLAS RFP, including high priority areas, building the ATLAS community, timelines, and application components.
Information and networking sessions will be held throughout the summer on Tuesday, July 21 (zoom), Tuesday, July 28 (zoom), Tuesday, August 4 (hybrid), and Wednesday, August 26 (hybrid).
To apply, submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) using the template provided within the InfoReady system by Monday, August 31, 2026.
Contact Information
Please direct questions to agfoodfrontier@mit.edu.
Benedetto Marelli - Faculty Director - MIT Climate Project
Sarah McGrath - Managing Director - MIT Climate Project