2026 Venture Grant Winners

In 2026, AIP awarded ~$257,000 in Venture Grants to support Member Society projects, some of which had Affiliate partners:

2026 Venture Grants for Webpage

AAS/AAPT
Expanding Congressional Visits Day through New Partnerships and New Nimbleness
To expand opportunities for early career astronomers, physicists ,and educators to engage directly with federal policymakers through Congressional Hill visits in 2026.

AMS
Certificate in Climate Science: Climate Science Learning for Informed Decision Support
To develop a certificate in climate science tailored for decision-support professionals, including a training module and proctored examination. To equip practitioners, the program addresses workforce needs and sustainability, emergency management, water resources, insurance, and regulatory sectors.

AAPT/ APS
Integration of Large Language Models into the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum
To support the responsible integration of large language models into undergraduate physics education through the Data Science Education Community of Practice (DSECOP), expanding its existing scope to ensure students and faculty are equipped to use these tools critically and responsibly.

AAPT/AAS
Cohort-Based Professional Development Immersive Experience for Mid-Career Two-Year College Physics and Astronomy Instructors
To provide dedicated professional learning and support for mid-career faculty teaching physics and astronomy at 2-year colleges, that emphasizes instructional innovation and inclusion in STEM.

APS/AAS/AAPT
Mobilizing the public to support the federal science budget
To test pilot social media approaches to engaging and mobilizing the public to support the federal science budget, with messaging tailored to science-impacted industries, including manufacturing, agriculture, biomedicine, and education, pushing the public to reach out to their elected leaders to convey the importance of science funding.

AAPT/AAS/SOR
Leveraging Community Expertise to Support Physics Departments Navigating Changing
Landscapes (EP3 Toolkit)
To provide physics departments with concrete, evidence-based guidance for maintaining values and structures which support inclusion of students from all backgrounds amid the changing policy landscape.

AAPT
A Revolution in Undergraduate Physics Curricula in the Age of AI (REV UP)
To prepare the field for conference about undergraduate physics curricula, as undergraduate physics curricula has not changed kept pace with 50 years of expansion of knowledge and innovation in physics. This project with understand the current state and collect community perspectives, concerns and visions.