Harvard Global Institute Grants

Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): March 30, 3017

Award Amount for Small Grants: $50,000-$100,000 annually for 1-2 years

Award Amount for Large Grants: $500,000-$1M annually for 1-2 years

Target Applicants: The principal investigator must be an active tenure-stream faculty member. Students and postdoctoral scholars may participate in a grant under the supervisory auspices of the faculty member who applies for an award.

 

In the 2018-19 academic year, HGI will fund research projects in China and India that have the potential for impact both locally and globally. Project activities are not limited to the Harvard campus but also include work that happens in China and/or India. Faculty conducting research in China have access to space at the  Harvard Center Shanghai, and HGI encourages project teams to make use of the Center as a convening site. Faculty from across the Schools who are already working on China and/or India-related topics, as well as those who wish to begin doing so, are invited to apply for funding by submitting preliminary expressions of interest (EOIs).

 

Funding will be provided at two levels:

 

Lemann Brazil Research Fund

Deadline: January 22, 2018

Award Amount: Up to $150,000 payable over one or two years

Target Applicants: Applications are invited from individuals who hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard school and who have principal investigator rights at that school.

 

Applications are invited from researchers across disciplines proposing research projects relating to Brazil. Proposals are sought for projects that address education management and administration; social science and its applications; public administration and policy; technological advances in education; and evidence-based research. Consideration will also be given to projects that propose collaboration between Harvard faculty and Brazilian academics in the life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and basic and applied sciences.

 

Proposed projects must meet at least one of the following three criteria:

U.S. Department of Defense

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Sponsor Deadline: November 29, 2017

Award Amount: No individual award is anticipated to be above $750K (including all options proposed). The duration of each Swarm Sprint is generally expected to be 6 months, with an additional 3 month option period to facilitate integration activities.

 

The goal of OFFSET Swarm Sprints is to create focused breakthroughs in swarm technologies to be integrated into the OFFSET Swarm Systems Architecture. The specific topic of interest for this amendment is the design and development of Swarm Tactics relevant to OFFSET Vignette 1, in the thrust area of Swarm Autonomy (Development of systems enablers for enhanced swarm autonomy including both hardware and software along with associated tactics, primitives, and algorithms).

 

DARPA intends to award up to 15 Swarm Sprinter awards in this initial swarm sprint call.

U.S. Department of Defense

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Young Faculty Award (YFA)

OSP Deadline: November 27, 2017 

Sponsor Deadline: December 4, 2017

Award Amount: Each award will include a 24-month base period (a maximum of $500,000) and a 12-month option period (a maximum of $500,000). The 12-month option period, referred to as the "Director's Fellowship," will be reserved for a limited number of awardees who demonstrate exceptional YFA project performance over the 24-month base period.

 

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) program aims to identify and engage rising stars in junior faculty positions in academia and equivalent positions at non-profit research institutions and expose them to Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security challenges and needs. In particular, this YFA will provide high-impact funding to elite researchers early in their careers to develop innovative new research directions in the context of enabling transformative DoD capabilities. The long-term goal of the program is to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers in the research community who will focus a significant portion of their future careers on DoD and National Security issues. DARPA is particularly interested in identifying outstanding researchers who have previously not been performers on DARPA programs, but the program is open to all qualified applicants with innovative research ideas.

 

Participation is open to individuals who are U.S. Citizens, U.S. Permanent Residents, and Foreign Nationals. Proposers must be one of the following (excluding any personal leaves of absence) at a U.S.-based institution by the full proposal deadline:

This Research Announcement solicits single principal investigator (PI) proposals for research and development in the following specific Technical Areas of interest:

Multiple awards are anticipated.

U.S. Department of Defense

Air Force Research Laboratory

Summer Faculty Fellowships

OSP Deadline: Not required for fellowships awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: December 5, 2017

Award Amount: The Fellowship provides a stipend and relocation allowance. Fellowships will range from 8 to 12 weeks.

 

The U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program offers hands-on exposure to Air Force research challenges through research residencies at participating Air Force research facilities for full-time science, mathematics, and engineering faculty at U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants' research interests must be in line with the interests and needs of the various Air Force Research Facilities. These include the nine Air Force Research Laboratory Directorates, Air Force Test Center, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Air Force Institute of Technology. Click here to learn more about the areas of interest to the various Air Force Research Facilities and for contact information for each facility. Each research opportunity offered through the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program has a research advisor (in some cases two research advisors) who direct all work involved with the project. To be eligible for an award, each application must be approved by the designated research advisor for that research opportunity and must be endorsed by the appropriate Air Force research facility.

 

Applicants to the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program must be citizens of the United States. All appointments are subject to the participant's successful security investigation and approved access to unclassified government information systems. U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program faculty participants have the opportunity to bring a graduate student with them.

U.S. Department of Defense

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Electronics Resurgence Initiative: Page 3 Investments Architectures Thrust

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 8, 2017 (DARPA will continue to accept proposals after the due date until January 31, 2018, but proposers are warned that the likelihood of available funding is greatly reduced for proposals submitted after the initial closing date deadline)

Award Amount: The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds.

 

The goal of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) is to more constructively enmesh the technology needs and capabilities of the defense enterprise with the commercial and manufacturing realities of the electronics industry. A trio of simultaneously-released ERI BAAs-this one among them-parallel the research areas detailed on page three of Gordon Moore's seminal 1965 paper: materials and integration, architecture, and design. These new page-three-inspired investments, along with a series of related investments from the past year, comprise the overall Electronics Resurgence Initiative. The "ERI Page 3 Investments" are the next steps in creating an electronics capability that will provide a foundational contribution to U.S. national security.

 

The Page 3 Architectures thrust of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) seeks to demonstrate heterogeneous computing systems that provide the performance advantages of specialized processors, while maintaining the programmability of general purpose processors. The goal of the Software Defined Hardware (SDH) program is to build runtime-reconfigurable hardware and software that enables near ASIC performance without sacrificing programmability for data-intensive algorithms. The overall goal of the Domain-specific System on Chip (DSSoC) program is to develop a heterogeneous SoC comprised of many cores that mix general-purpose processors, special-purpose processors, hardware accelerators, memory, and input/output (I/O).

 

Multiple awards are anticipated.

U.S. Department of Defense

Office of Naval Research (ONR)

Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (required): December 11, 2017

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): January 31, 2018

Award Amount: Up to $2M for a period of performance up to 3 years

 

The Defense University Research-to-Adoption (DURA) initiative will address the following technical challenges for defense operations: 1) Lithium-Ion Battery Safety and 2) Electrical Grid Resiliency, Reliability and Security. In addition, the DURA initiative will promote advancing university research from the laboratory to adoption by the defense and commercial sectors.

 

ONR intends to award approximately 2-3 awards for an estimated total value of $5,000,000 in FY2018, subject to the availability of funds.

U.S. Department of Defense

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC)

Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) Broad Agency Announcement for FY17

OSP Deadline: December 5, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: December 12, 2017 

Award Amount: The funded amount and period of performance of each proposal selected for award may vary depending on the research area and the technical approach to be pursued by the offeror selected.

 

On behalf of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Centers, NSWC is soliciting research of interest in support of the NEEC. The topics of interest include:

 

The Government may make multiple awards.

U.S. Department of Defense

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Sponsor Deadline: December 14, 2017 (proposals submitted after this deadline may be received and evaluated up to six months from date of posting on FedBizOpps (which was October 11, 2017) though the likelihood of available funding is greatly reduced for proposals submitted after the initial closing date deadline)

Award Amount: The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. GCA is a 24-month, three-phase program. At present, DARPA seeks innovative proposals covering the tasks in Phase 1 (6 month base effort) and Phase 2 (12 month costed option) of the program. Proposals must address both Phase 1 and Phase 2.

 

The Geospatial Cloud Analytics (GCA) program will develop and demonstrate technology for accessing and analyzing global scale, multimodal geospatial data. It will also pilot an "analytics-as-a-service" business model. The program will develop the software infrastructure to curate and virtually aggregate vast amounts of geospatial information from commercial, satellite constellations. As a result, GCA technology will let data scientists concentrate on analyzing, rather than gathering and curating data from individual sources. GCA will demonstrate analytics capabilities for global indications and warnings through a set of competitive events that consist of a strategic competition (predicting food shortages), an operational competition (locating new fracking construction), and a tactical competition (locating and tracking illegal fishing vessels). In addition, the GCA program will include an open call for new problem areas that will allow investigation of additional capabilities.

 

For Phases 1 and 2, DARPA seeks proposals in two technical areas (TAs). TA-1 (Scalable Geospatial Data Platform) will provide access to geospatial data and an extensible computing platform on which TA-2 performers can efficiently access and process massive amounts of curated geospatial data. TA-2 (Analytical Applications and Competitions) will create software for use in one or more of the analytics competitions (predicting food shortages, locating fracking construction detection, illegal fishing detection, open call) using data and platforms provided by TA-1 proposers.

 

Multiple awards are anticipated. DARPA will award a total of $28.9 million (for Phases 1 and 2) under this program.

Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)

Dynamically and Controllably Reconfigurable Antennas through Physical Deformation Processes

OSP Deadline: December 8, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: December 15, 2017

Award Amount: $4,800,000 over 5 years

 

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) seeks unclassified proposals from educational institutions in the United States for deployable, reconfigurable, multifunctional antennas research. DoD has a need for antennas that are versatile, mechanically sound, and have predictable and reproducible properties. Physical reconfigurability is an especially effective means to enable such antennas. A goal is for these antennas to achieve in each configuration properties and performance over time equivalent to those of static, single-function antennas. This topic requires multidisciplinary research in design, stimuli-response reconfiguration, mechanical and structural characterization, and electromagnetic measurement and optimization.

 

A single award is anticipated under this announcement.

U.S. Department of Defense

Naval Supply Systems Command

Research Initiatives at The Naval Postgraduate School

OSP Deadline: December 15, 2017 

Sponsor Deadline: December 29, 2017

Award Amount: The funding amount and period of performance of each selected proposal will vary depending on the research area and the technical approach pursued by the selected prospective Grantee.

 

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is interested in receiving proposals for research initiatives that offer potential for advancement and improvement in the NPS core mission of graduate education and research. Readers should note that this is an announcement to declare NPS's solicitation in competitive funding of meritorious research initiatives across a spectrum of science and engineering, business, politics and public/foreign policy, operational and information sciences, and interdisciplinary disciplines that are in-line with the NPS' graduate education and research mission.

 

Additional information on the Naval Postgraduate School's graduate education and research mission is available at:

 

General Information: http://www.nps.edu/About/index.html

NPS Strategic Plan: http://www.nps.edu/About/NPSStratPlan.html

Academic Programs: http://www.nps.edu/Academics/index.html

Research Programs: http://www.nps.edu/Research/index.html

 

Prior to preparing proposals, potential Offerors are strongly encouraged to contact an NPS point of contact (POC) whose program and research efforts best match the Offeror's field of interest. The academic and research programs links above can be used to locate an appropriate POC by exploring the information provided about the faculty members in NPS' schools, research institutes, and interdisciplinary centers and research groups.

U.S. Department of Defense

Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP)

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Proposals (required): January 4, 2018 for the Core Solicitation; March 6, 2018 for the SEED Solicitation

Award Amount: Varies by program area

 

SERDP is DoD's environmental science and technology program, planned and executed in partnership with DOE and EPA, with participation by numerous other federal and non-federal organizations. SERDP invests across a broad spectrum of basic and applied research, as well as advanced development. Under the FY19 solicitation, the Department of Defense (DoD) is interested in receiving pre-proposals for research focusing in the areas of Environmental Restoration, Munitions Response, Resource Conservation and Resiliency, and Weapons Systems and Platforms technologies. DoD SERDP intends to competitively fund research and development for environmental research that addresses the Statements of Need set forth in the Announcement. SERDP supports environmental research relevant to the management and mission of the DoD and supports efforts that lead to the development and application of innovative environmental technologies or methods that improve the environmental performance of DoD by improving outcomes, managing environmental risks, and/or reducing costs or time required to resolve environmental problems. In addition to the Core Solicitation, SERDP invites proposals for innovative research in the Munitions Response area through the SERDP Exploratory Development (SEED) program.

 

It is expected that multiple awards totaling approximately $12.0 million will be made dependent on the quality of proposals received and availability of funds.

Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE: Efficient and Robust Machine Learning (ERML)

OSP Deadline: December 20, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: January 4, 2018

Award Amount: $5,000,000 over 5 years

 

The purpose of this ERML University Center of Excellence (UCoE) is to establish the foundational principles of design, development, and employment as well as critical technologies to support machine learning (ML) methods and procedures. The Air Force's autonomy vision includes intelligent machines that utilize data, leverage learning techniques, and deliver content for a variety of operations. Machine learning methods must be employed with efficiency and robustness for effective results given data challenges such as variety, volume, velocity, veracity, and value. Leveraging ML methods and techniques should incorporate contextual considerations, operational environments, and hardware implementation. To achieve the USAF vision, ML techniques must consider transferability, usability, efficiency and robustness for mission success. Foundational science and technology is needed to understand machine learning employment challenges including efficiency (data and computational), robustness (practical and adversarial), as well as relevancy (situational and contextual).

 

A single Cooperative Agreement is anticipated under this announcement.

National Research Council

Research Associateship Programs

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadlines: February 1, 2018; May 1, 2018; August 1, 2018

Award Amount: Awards include stipends (ranging from $42,000-$80,000), health insurance, professional travel and relocation. Award durations vary by program.

 

The National Research Council (NRC) administers competitive graduate, postdoctoral and senior research awards on behalf of 26 U.S. federal research agencies and affiliated institutions with facilities at over 100 locations throughout the U.S. and abroad. Awardees have the opportunity to conduct independent research in an area compatible with the interests of the sponsoring laboratory; devote full-time effort to research and publication; access the excellent and often unique facilities of the federal research enterprise; and collaborate with leading scientists and engineers at the sponsoring laboratories. Disciplines include Chemistry; Earth, Atmospheric and Space Sciences; Engineering, Applied Science, and Mathematics; Life Sciences; and Physics.

 

Find research opportunities that match your interests by exploring this website: www.nationalacademies.org/rap . Contact prospective Research Adviser(s) and host lab(s) to discuss your interests and then you may apply online using the WebRAP electronic application system. Prospective applicants should carefully read the details and eligibility of the program to which they are applying. Some laboratories have citizenship restrictions (open only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents), and some laboratories have Research Opportunities that are not open to senior applicants (more than 5 years beyond the Ph.D.). In addition, applicants should note application deadlines, as not all laboratories participate in all reviews.

U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Energy Efficiency Research and Development for Fluid-Power Systems in Off-Road Vehicles

Sponsor Concept Paper Deadline (required): November 20, 2017

OSP Deadline for Full Proposals: January 11, 2018

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 18, 2018

Award Amount: $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 for awards that will run up to 36 months. 20% non-federal cost share of the total allowable costs for research and development projects is required.

 

The objective of this FOA is to research technologies that can improve the energy efficiency of fluid power systems for commercial off-road vehicles. Construction, mining, and agriculture equipment represent the majority of fuel consumption in off-road vehicles, and this equipment relies heavily on fluid-power systems (i.e. hydraulics) to actuate most of their functions. They are preferred over electric motors because of their high specific power density and ability to tolerate shock and harsh environments. However, current fluid-power systems have poor efficiency. Research in this area can provide decreased operating costs for these key domestic industries. Technologies for efficiency improvement are anticipated to include, but are not limited to, new system architectures, energy storage, engineered fluid properties, advanced materials, engine technologies, and hybridization.

U.S. Department of Energy

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

FY2017 Vehicle Technologies Office Batteries and Electrification to Enable Extreme Fast Charging

Sponsor Concept Paper Deadline (required): November 21, 2017

OSP Deadline for Full Proposals: January 10, 2018

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 18, 2018

Award Amount: $500,000-$5,000,000. Cost sharing is requires and varies depending on type of applicant and area of interest.

 

This FOA seeks projects to encourage the development of plug-in electric vehicle systems and batteries that can demonstrate the ability to recharge rapidly at high power levels. Developing these systems and batteries should allow plug-in electric vehicles to be charged much faster than current vehicle charging, enabling the greater use of electricity for transportation (which is 98%, domestic energy generation from diverse sources) and encouraging the widespread use of plug-in vehicles.

 

This FOA includes two (2) areas of interest:

• Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program - Extended to December 8, 2017
• Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement entitled Solar Desalination 
• Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement entitled Energy Efficiency R&D for Fluid-Power Systems in Off-Road Vehicles
• Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement entitled FY 2017 Vehicle Technologies Office Batteries and Electrification to Enable Extreme Fast Charging Funding Opportunity Announcement 

Nomination Deadline: November 30, 2017

Award Amount: $500,000

 

The Lemelson-MIT Prize is awarded to outstanding mid-career inventors, who have developed a patented product or process of significant value to society, which has been adopted for practical use, or has a high probability of being adopted. The Lemelson-MIT Prize seeks to highlight the pivotal role inventive activity plays in the achievement of positive social, cultural and economic goals. The objectives of the Lemelson-MIT Prize are to:

Candidates for the Lemelson-MIT Prize must:

Candidates may be individuals or two collaborating inventors, and they must be nominated by one of their peers.

McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience

Technology Awards
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent: December 4, 2017

Award Amount: $100,000 per year for 2 years

These awards encourage and support scientists working on the development of novel and creative approaches to understanding brain function. The Endowment Fund is interested in how a new technology may be used to monitor, manipulate, analyze, or model brain function at any level, from the molecular to the entire organism. Technology may take any form, from biochemical tools to instruments to software and mathematical approaches. Because the program seeks to advance and enlarge the range of technologies available to the neurosciences, research based primarily on existing techniques will not be considered. Applicants must be in tenured or tenure-track faculty positions.

Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF)

Grants Program

OSP Deadline: Not required for Letters of Intent

Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent: January 8, 2018

Award Amount: Previously awarded grants have ranged from $15,000 to $500,000+

 

EREF's research priorities align with it long-term strategic plan to address all areas of integrated solid waste management, with a strong focus towards research that increased sustainable solid waste management practices. Funded research projects must relate to sustainable solid waste management practices pertaining to the following topic areas:

Desirable aspects of the above topics, in addition to or as part of hypothesis driven applied research, also include: economic or cost/benefit analyses, feasibility studies for untested technologies or management strategies, life cycle analysis or inventory, and analyses of policies that relate to the above. There are a number of topics that may require approval before consideration. Investigators should visit EREF's website to determine if their research project may require pre-approval.

Association for Computing Machinery

Grace Murray Hopper Award

OSP Deadline: Not required for prizes awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: January 15, 2018

Award Amount: $35,000

Target Nominees: Candidate must have been 35 years of age or less at the time the qualifying contribution was made.

 

The Grace Murray Hopper Award recognizes the outstanding young computer professional of the year, selected on the basis of a single recent major technical or service contribution. The award is presented each June at the ACM Awards Banquet and is accompanied by a prize of $35,000 plus travel expenses to the banquet.

 

Nominations will be evaluated for the significance, depth, and originality of the technical contribution or - in the case of a service contribution - the scope of the effort involved and its impact on the computing community and/or society as a whole. When the contribution results from a joint effort, the candidate's role should be clearly identified.

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)

Letter of Intent Deadline: January 21, 2018

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: TBD Fall 2018

Award Amount: Not specified. CIFAR determines the necessary funding for the given team, based on the size of the team and the planned interactions. 

Target Applicants: The proponents of an LOI should include at least one researcher currently living and working in Canada (with or without Canadian citizenship).

 

CIFAR invites research leaders from around the world to identify important global research challenges that would benefit from CIFAR's approach to sustained research interactions that include diverse perspectives. Submissions must address global, complex questions and identify an interdisciplinary research approach. Proposals will be accepted from all areas of research.

 

CIFAR supports research in two ways: (1) Two to three times per year, CIFAR brings researchers from across the world together for face-to-face interactions and to maintain active collaboration. (2) CIFAR Fellows receive support on an individual basis, which is intended to enable researchers to have more time and space to work on the goals of the research program. This can be used quite flexibly - for teaching load adjustments, student stipends and postdoctoral fellow support, amongst other uses.

 

Stage I of the application process requires a Letter of Intent (LOI) from researchers who would be key members of the program. This submission should identify the core elements of the research idea and the range of possible research questions for consideration. CIFAR will shortlist LOIs based on the recommendations from the International Review Body and CIFAR's Research Council. Stage II of the process will support the development of full proposals. Each LOI team that passes Stage I will work with CIFAR to convene up to two small workshops over a four-month period to prepare a full proposal.

Simons Foundation

Collaboration Grants for Mathematicians

OSP Deadline: January 24, 2018

Sponsor Deadline: January 31, 2018

Award Amount: $8,400 per year for five years ($6,000 per year for collaboration, travel and research expenses; $1,000 per year in discretionary funds for the awardee's department; and $1,400 per year in indirect costs to the awardee's institution)

 

The goal of the program is to support the "mathematical marketplace" by substantially increasing collaborative contacts between mathematicians. The foundation will make a large number of collaboration grants to accomplished, active researchers in the United States who do not otherwise have access to funding that allows support for travel and visitors.

 

To be eligible to apply, an individual must hold a tenure-track or tenured position, or be a professor emeritus, within a mathematics department with a Ph.D. degree granting program. Collaboration grant awardees may not hold any other external PI or PI equivalent grants of over $3,000 per year that allow for support for travel or visitors during the award period.

Wireless Innovation Project
OSP Deadline: February 26, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: March 5, 2018

Award Amount: Up to $300,000 over three years

 

The Wireless Innovation Project seeks to identify and fund the best innovations using wireless related technology to address critical social issues. Project proposals must demonstrate significant advancement in the field of wireless-related technology applied to social benefit use. The project must be at a stage of research where an advanced prototype or field/market test can occur during the award period.

 

Projects should involve an established multi-disciplinary team that demonstrates the expertise needed for a comprehensive solution to the targeted problem. For example, a team may consist of members from two or more of the following disciplines: engineering, design, business, international development, or other relevant disciplines. A team may also consist of university-based researchers and non-profit organizations working such areas as international development, health or environment.

Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity

SuperCables BAA Draft Funding Opportunity Description

Response Date: November 17, 2017

 

This Draft Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is NOT a formal request for proposals. A Final BAA will be released at a later date for which interested parties may submit proposals. IARPA is seeking interested parties to thoroughly review the Draft BAA Funding Opportunity Description and provide comments, questions, suggested changes, and feedback by November 17, 2017 in the format provided below. IARPA does not anticipate posting responses to any comments, questions, suggested changes, and/or feedback received; however, all input will be considered in developing the Final BAA. Additionally, the Draft BAA Funding Opportunity Description is subject to change in the development of the Final BAA as a result of IARPA's consideration of the input received from interested parties in response to the Draft BAA as well as other considerations.

 

The current draft BAA seeks development of technology and techniques for energy-efficient, high data rate transmission of digital signals between computing systems operating at room and cryogenic temperatures. The focus in the SuperCables program is demonstration of components to convert from low level electrical signals in circuits operating at a temperature of approximately 4 kelvins to conventional optical signals at room temperature. Pending results of this program, IARPA may support a follow-on program to develop the complete system for data transmission between room temperature and 4 kelvins.

Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)

Finding Engineering-Linked Indicators (FELIX)

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: The deadline for the initial round of selections has passed. IARPA may evaluate proposals received after this date, but prior to the BAA Closing Date of January 15, 2018.

 

The Finding Engineering-Linked Indicators (FELIX) program seeks to develop new experimental and computational tools to detect engineered biological systems. The development of new biotechnologies is enabling the ability to engineer a diversity of biological systems, with potential benefits ranging from new vaccines and therapeutics to novel materials and improved agriculture. Of particular note are genome editing tools that are commonly used worldwide for a range of significant research and development efforts. These technologies have made biological engineering more accessible, more convenient, and less expensive. At the same time, these beneficial biotechnologies could result in the accidental or deliberate misuse of biological systems with unforeseen or uncontrolled consequences that may have adverse health, economic, or national security implications. The FELIX program aims to develop new tools and approaches to improve and augment detection capabilities to expedite appropriate responses to the presence of engineered organisms.

Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity

Proteos Program

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: The deadline for the initial round of selections has passed. IARPA may evaluate proposals received after this date, but prior to the BAA Closing Date of December 27, 2018.

 

The Proteos Program seeks to develop novel approaches to human identification and correlation with objects, events, and locations based on the observation of polymorphisms in amino acid sequences in proteins. The Proteos Program will also seek development of novel methodologies for the extraction of both protein and DNA in parallel from touch samples of forensic interest. The Proteos Program will focus on shed skin cells associated with trace forensic samples and will seek to exploit the relationship between polymorphisms in the skin proteome, or GVPs, and their underlying nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) to evaluate peptide mass fingerprinting as a reliable forensic analytic technique. The goal of this program is to provide additional objective forensic tools for human identification and individualization, which can provide novel options for forensic use cases and sample types beyond what is currently possible with DNA alone.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Research Opportunities in Space Biology (ROSBio) Appendix G: Solicitation of Proposals for Flight and Ground Space Biology Research

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Notices of Intent (strongly encouraged): December 4, 2017

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 2, 2018

Award Amount: Varies by program

 

This Appendix solicits proposals that will increase NASA's understanding of how living systems acclimate to spaceflight to support human space exploration. Proposals submitted in response to this Appendix may be for ground-based or for spaceflight research investigations. An applicant's specific aims must address one or more of the following research emphases:

Topics and areas of special interest to Space Biology include Omics Research, and Centrifugation and Artificial Gravity.

 

This Appendix is soliciting proposals for four different types of research investigations: 1) Individual Principal Investigator Experiments or PI team Experiments Proposed for Spaceflight or Ground Laboratories; 2) New Space Biology Investigations; 3) Postdoctoral fellows who wish to develop a career in Space Biology research; 4) GeneLab Investigators who wish to develop new experimental hypotheses based on data in the GeneLab database.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Cooperative Agreement Notice: Dual Use Technology Development at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) - 2018

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadlines for Step-1 White Papers (required): May 2, 2018

Award Amount: MSFC resource contribution awards will range from $10,000 to $100,000, and must be matched or exceeded by Offeror contributions. Contributions can be cash, in-kind (non-cash) resources, or a combination of each. Project duration is up to 12 months.

 

NASA will award cooperative agreements for technology development partnerships with United States commercial businesses and/or colleges and universities with the goal of developing a technology to meet a specific NASA need at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), as well as those of the partner. This goal will be accomplished by selecting Offerors who will cooperatively share in the development cost of the technology that meets the specified NASA need.

 

MSFC has several technology development focus areas for this solicitation, including:

For more information on the technology programs and capabilities at MSFC, please see the following link: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/capabilities/index.html.

 

NASA anticipates funding up to 10 pending acceptable proposals.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Unsolicited Proposals

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2018

Award Amount: Proposed budget should be commensurate with the scope of the project.

 

NASA encourages the submission of unique and innovative proposals that will further the Agency's mission. While the vast majority of proposals are solicited, a small number of unsolicited proposals that cannot be submitted to those solicitations and yet are still relevant to NASA are reviewed and some are funded each year. Proposals should be submitted at least six months in advance of the desired starting date.

Before any effort is expended in preparing a proposal, potential proposers should:

After those three things have been done, the proposer may contact an appropriate NASA person to determine whether NASA has any interest in the type of work being proposed and if any funding is currently available.

• Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES 2017)  - Rolling through June 1, 2018 

NSF: Dear Colleague Letter

Request for Information on Mid-scale Research Infrastructure

The purpose of this Request for Information is to assess the needs for mid-scale research infrastructure from the US-based NSF science and engineering community in order to develop a strategy in accordance with the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA). The AICA requires NSF to "evaluate the existing and future needs, across all disciplines supported by the Foundation, for mid-scale projects" and "develop a strategy to address the needs." Responders should be researchers, users, and leaders at US based colleges and universities as well as non-profits who are well positioned to advance and support a mid-scale project throughout its lifecycle.

NSF: Dear Colleague Letter

NSF CISE is announcing its intention to (1) enhance the CISE research and education community's access to cloud computing resources in order to advance discovery and innovation in the field, and (2) encourage participation by all cloud providers in this effort. The benefits of a partnership with cloud providers include (1) access by the CISE research and education community to a range of useful resources and services - from scalable storage to real-time analytics to streaming data services to state-of-the-art compute nodes; and (2) the ability to experiment with real datasets where scale and performance are key considerations and the significant storage, compute, and networking resources offered by the cloud providers are key enabling factors. Organizations interested in learning more about this evolving public-private partnership are encouraged to contact Chaitan Baru at   [email protected] and Meghan Houghton at   [email protected]  by January 15, 2018.

Principles for the Design of Digital STEM Learning Environments 

OSP Deadline: January 12, 2018 

Sponsor Deadline: January 22, 2018 

Award Amount: up to $100,000 for one year of support

The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering, announces creation of the Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) program. The ECI program represents a new and integrated vision for fundamental research to underpin transformative innovations for the built environment that are resilient, economical, and adaptable to enhance national prosperity and societal benefits. In support of this vision, the ECI program replaces the Engineering for Natural Hazard (ENH), Geotechnical Engineering and Materials (GEM), and Structural and Architectural Engineering and Materials (SAEM) programs. ECI will also support research in construction engineering that is compatible with this vision. The ENH and SAEM programs will no longer accept proposals. The GEM program will not accept proposals after 5:00 p.m. submitter's local time on December 29, 2017. Active awards in ENH, GEM and SAEM programs will be managed by the ECI Program Directors and will remain eligible for supplements and extensions.

NSF: Dear Colleague Letter

This letter serves as a call for proposals to address fundamental scientific questions related to Materials microstructure, properties and performance through the development of tools for the Quantitative Representation of Microstructures. NSF's and AFOSR's interest lies in innovative research projects which bring together members of the Materials Science and Engineering community with experts in computation and visualization, to address the challenges associated with accurate quantification and representation of the microstructures of Engineering Materials.

Proposals should address:

 

The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering, announces a realigned focus for the Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) program. The re-aligned Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) program focuses on fundamental and innovative research in the design, operation and management of civil infrastructure that contributes to creating smart, sustainable and resilient communities at local, national and international scales. This program emphasizes civil infrastructure as a system in which interactions between spatially and functionally distributed components and inter-system connections exist. This DCL highlights three important program changes:

NSF: Dear Colleague Letter 

Announcing Realignment of the Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events (IMEE) Program and Change in Program Name to Humans, Disasters and the Built Environment (HDBE) 

OSP Deadline: January 17, 2018 

Sponsor Deadline: January 24, 2018 

Award Amount: Unspecified

 

The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering, announces a realignment of the Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events (IMEE) program. Consistent with realignment, the program name has changed to Humans, Disasters and the Built Environment (HDBE). IMEE will no longer accept proposals; active awards in IMEE will be managed by the HDBE Program Director and will remain eligible for supplements and extensions.

The HDBE program supports fundamental, multidisciplinary research on the interactions between humans and the built environment within and among communities exposed to natural, technological and other types of hazards and disasters. The program seeks proposals that enrich understanding and explore implications of these interactions, whether through theoretical, methodological or empirical advances, thereby contributing to society's capabilities to learn from, prepare for and respond to hazards and disasters.

NSF: Dear Colleague Letter

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplemental Funding

OSP Deadline: March 23, 2018

Sponsor Deadline: March 30, 2018

Award Amount: $8,000 per student

NSF CISEinvites grantees with active CISE awards to submit requests for Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplemental funding, following the guidelines in the NSF REU program solicitation. A student must be a US citizen or permanent resident of the US. The duration for new requests is typically one year.

NSF: Dear Colleague Letter

NSF Accepting Proposals Related to Hurricane Irma

OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

 

Proposals may be submitted at any time.

NSF: CISE

Scalable Parallelism in the Extreme (SPX)

OSP Deadline: January 2, 2018

Sponsor Deadline: January 9, 2018

Award Amount: Up to $1,000,000 over two to four years

The Scalable Parallelism in the Extreme (SPX) program aims to support research addressing the challenges of increasing performance in this modern era of parallel computing. This will require a collaborative effort among researchers in multiple areas, from services and applications down to micro-architecture. SPX encompasses all five NSCI   Strategic Objectives , including supporting foundational research toward architecture and software approaches that drive performance improvements in the post-Moore's Law era; development and deployment of programmable, scalable, and reusable platforms in the national HPC and scientific cyberinfrastructure ecosystem; increased coherence of data analytic computing and modeling and simulation; and capable extreme-scale computing. Coordination with industrial efforts that pursue related goals are encouraged.

The NSF/Intel Partnership on Foundational Microarchitecture Research will support transformative microarchitecture research targeting improvements in instructions per cycle (IPC). This solicitation seeks microarchitecture technique innovations beyond simplistic, incremental scaling of existing microarchitectural structures. Specifically, FoMR seeks to advance research that has the following characteristics: (1) high IPC techniques ranging from microarchitecture to code generation; (2) "microarchitecture turbo" techniques that marshal chip resources and system memory bandwidth to accelerate sequential or single-threaded programs; and (3) techniques to support efficient compiler code generation. Advances in these areas promise to provide significant performance improvements to continue the cadence promised by Moore's Law.

NSF: CISE The Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program invests in coordinated campus-level networking improvements, innovation, integration, and engineering for science applications and distributed research projects. Learning and workforce development (LWD) in cyberinfrastructure is explicitly addressed in the program. Science-driven requirements are the primary motivation for any proposed activity.

CC awards will be supported in four program areas:

NSF: ENG
Partnerships for Innovation (PFI)
OSP Deadline: January 25, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: February 1, 2018

Award Amount: Up to $200,000 for 18 months (PFI-TT); up to $750,000 for 36 months (PFI-RP)

The NSF Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) offers researchers the opportunity to transform new knowledge into societal benefits through translational research and technology development efforts which catalyze partnerships to accelerate innovations that address significant societal needs. PFI has six broad goals:

This solicitation offers two broad tracks for proposals in pursuit of the six aforementioned goals. The Technology Translation (PFI-TT) track offers an NSF-funded researcher the opportunity to advance his or her prior NSF-funded research results towards developing technological innovations with promising commercial potential and societal impact.  The  Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track  provides an opportunity to support technology development activities through a multi-organization collaboration. See https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18511/nsf18511.htm#elig for detailed information on eligibility.

 

The Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, and Environmental Transport is partnering with The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to solicit research projects in the general field of tissue engineering that can utilize the International Space Station National Lab to conduct research that will benefit life on Earth. Research at the interface of engineering and biomedical sciences in microgravity that advances both engineering and biomedical sciences for terrestrial benefit is solicited. The projects should focus on high impact transformative methods and technologies. Projects should include methods, models and enabling tools of understanding and controlling living systems; fundamental improvements in deriving information from cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems; or new approaches to the design of systems that include both living and non-living components eventual medical use in the long-term. The long-term impact of the projects can be related to fundamental understanding of cell and tissue function in normal and pathological conditions, effective disease diagnosis and/or treatment, or improved health care delivery.

Other NSF: ENG Opportunities

Two classes of proposals will be considered in response to this solicitation: research proposals describing collaborative research projects; and data sharing proposals to enable sharing of data and other resources. Domestic and international projects will be considered.

NSF: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary

Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM)

Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 8, 2018

Award Amount: Up to $600,000 for 5-year awards and up to $400,000 for 3-year awards

 

Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM) funds research projects that identify factors that are efficacious in the formation of ethical STEM researchers in all the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports. CCE STEM solicits proposals for research that explore the following: What constitutes ethical STEM research and practice, and which cultural and institutional contexts promote ethical STEM research and practice and why? Do certain labs have a "culture of academic integrity"? What practices contribute to the establishment and maintenance of ethical cultures and how can these practices be transferred, extended to, and integrated into other research and learning settings?

 

Successful proposals typically have a comparative dimension, either between or within institutional settings that differ along these or other factors. Projects will use basic research to produce knowledge about what constitutes responsible or irresponsible, just or unjust scientific practices and sociotechnical systems, and how to best instill students with this knowledge.

 

Harvard University, as one institution, is limited to nominating one proposal to this opportunity. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is facilitating an internal application process for interested applicants. Internal applications may be submitted here.

NSF: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary

Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES): Enabling Spectrum for All

OSP Deadline: January 10, 2018

Sponsor Deadline: January 18, 2018

Award Amount: Up to $750,000 over up to 3 years

The National Science Foundation's Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) are coordinating efforts to identify bold new concepts to significantly improve the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization while addressing new challenges in energy efficiency and security, thus enabling spectrum access for all users and devices, and allowing traditionally underserved Americans to benefit from wireless-enabled goods and services. The SpecEES program solicitation seeks to fund innovative collaborative research that transcends the traditional boundaries of existing programs.