Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant Program *

Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 18, 2019 by 12:00PM

Award Amount: $80,000 for 2 years

 

The Brain Research Foundation's Annual Seed Grant Program provides start-up funding for new research projects in the field of neuroscience that will likely lead to extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or other outside funding sources. The objective of the BRF Seed Grant Program is to support new and innovative projects, especially those of junior faculty, who are working in new research directions. To be eligible, the PI must be a full-time Assistant or Associate Professor studying brain function. This includes molecular and clinical neuroscience as well as studies of neural, sensory, motor, cognitive, behavioral and emotional functioning in health and disease.

 

Harvard University is limited to submitting one proposal to this opportunity. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is facilitating the internal application and review process for applicants. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, potential applicants must first submit a pre-proposal online using the link above. 

Massachusetts Life Science Center Open Capital Program

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 29, 2019

Sponsor Deadline: December 6, 2019

Award Amount: $2,000,000 maximum

 

The Open Capital Program is designed to provide grants for capital projects that support the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts by enabling and supporting life sciences research and development, workforce development and training, and/or manufacturing in the Commonwealth. This program is designed to help fund high potential economic development projects that promise to make a significant contribution to the state's life sciences ecosystem. Applicants must be requesting funding for life sciences "infrastructure" defined as: "advanced and applied sciences that expand the understanding of human physiology and have the potential to lead to medical advances or therapeutic applications." Allowable costs include equipment, research supplies and reagents, purchase of hardware and software, generation of data via core facilities, and purchase of analytical equipment. 

 

The MLSC envisions that recipients under the Program will receive a grant that leverages additional funds that have been identified and raised for the proposed project. Applicants that have succeeded in attracting significant additional funds will benefit during the review process.

McKnight Foundation: Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Awards

Full Proposal Deadline: April 27, 2020 

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

 

This program seeks to advance and enlarge the range of technologies available to the neurosciences. It does not support research based primarily on existing techniques. The fund is especially interested in how technology may be used or adapted 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. A goal of the Technological Innovations awards is to foster collaboration between the neurosciences and other disciplines; therefore, collaborative and cross-disciplinary applications are explicitly invited.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: December 23, 2019

Sponsor Deadline: January 8, 2020 by 3 PM

Award Amount: Fellows may receive up to $1.4 million each and be supported for up to eight years.

 

Through the Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program, HHMI seeks to increase diversity in biomedical science by recruiting and retaining individuals from gender, racial, ethnic, and other groups underrepresented in the life sciences. The competition is open to early career scientists dedicated to basic research from both doctoral and/or medical training paths in the biomedical and life science disciplines, including plant biology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, chemical biology, biomedical engineering, and computational biology. The program provides opportunities for career development, including mentoring and networking with others in the HHMI scientific community. The Institute will select and support up to 15 fellows in this competition. Awards can start as early as September 15, 2020, but no later than January 19, 2021.

 

Fellows will receive funding for postdoctoral training and may continue to receive funding during their early career years as independent faculty. Fellows in both the postdoctoral training and faculty phases are required to devote at least 75% of their total effort to research.

 

National Geographic Society: Artificial Intelligence for Species Discovery *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 8, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: January 15, 2020

Award Amount: $100,000

 

The National Geographic Society and Microsoft's AI for Earth program are partnering to support the exploration of how AI can help us discover, identify, and classify new species. The Artificial Intelligence for Species Discovery RFP will provide support to projects that accelerate discovery, monitoring, and modeling, and ultimately improve the management of Earth's biodiversity for a more sustainable future. The grants will support the creation and deployment of open source trained models, algorithms, and datasets to support species discovery.

Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering *

Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 21, 2020 by 12:00pm

Award Amount: $875,000 over five years

Eligibility: Initial faculty appointments should have begun no earlier than May 31, 2017 and no later than May 31, 2020.

The Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering program provides the nation's most promising early-career scientists and engineers with flexible funding and the freedom to take risks and explore new frontiers in their fields of study. Packard Fellows are encouraged to think big and look at complex issues with a fresh perspective. The Foundation encourages them to use their funds in whatever ways would best advance their research. Initial faculty appointments should have begun no earlier than May 31, 2017 and no later than May 31, 2020. The following disciplines are eligible for support: chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering. The full guidelines from the Packard Foundation can be found here.

Please Note:  This is a limited submission opportunity and Harvard University may put forward only two nominations. Applicants for the Harvard nomination must be nominated by a department chair or area chair and must submit a pre-proposal to an internal competition administered by the Office for Vice Provost of Research (OVPR) at the link above.

Simons Foundation Targeted Grants in Mathematics and Physical Sciences

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: Rolling

Award Amount: A typical Targeted Grant in MPS provides funding for up to five years. The funding provided is flexible and based on the type of support requested in the proposal. There is no recommended funding limit.

 

The Simons Foundation division for Mathematics and Physical Sciences seeks to extend the frontiers of basic research. The division's primary focus is on mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science. This program is intended to support high-risk projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance on a case-by-case basis. Expenses for experiments, equipment, or computations, as well as for personnel and travel, are allowable. If invited to submit a full proposal, the deadline will be noted in the LOI notification and will be no sooner than three months from the date of the LOI approval.

Deadline: November 22, 2019 

Award Amount: up to $20,000

 

The Provost's Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration (PFIC) was developed to promote faculty collaboration across multiple Harvard Schools. This fund can be used to support a variety of projects, including but not limited to cross-School interdisciplinary course support, research working groups, and small-scale conferences. To be eligible for support, the designated faculty leader(s) must hold primary Harvard faculty appointments at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor or senior non-ladder faculty appointments including Senior Lecturer, Senior Preceptor, and Professor of Practice, and the project must engage faculty and/or students from at least two Harvard Schools. Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received funding from the grant. Colleagues from outside Harvard may be included as well. 

Harvard Culture Lab Innovation Fund

Deadline: December 6, 2019  

Award Amount: Up to $15,000. Exceptional proposals or those exhibiting strong potential for scale will be considered for $25,000 or more.  

The Culture Lab Innovation Fund awards grants to Harvard students, staff, faculty, and academic personnel to pursue ideas that seek to strengthen Harvard's capacity to advance a culture of belonging. Proposals should aim to focus on having a direct connection to the Harvard community and influence the University's trajectory towards sustainable inclusive excellence guided by the framework recommended by the  Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging.  Proposals should aim to address critical challenges around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging by identifying innovative and creative solutions that have the potential to catalyze a culture shift at Harvard.

The priority theme for the 2019-2020 funding cycle of the Culture Lab Innovation Fund is "Advancing Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging through Technology Driven Solutions." These are innovative ideas that leverage technology and data to address challenges around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at Harvard. The Harvard Culture Lab encourages applicants to review  previously awarded projects  to see a range of examples and those within this theme.

Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator

• Academic excellence and benefit to or involvement of Harvard faculty
• Feasibility, innovation and interdisciplinary nature
• Organizational support (from Harvard and from Chinese universities and relevant institutions)
• Potential for impact in China

Lemann Brazil Research Fund *

Deadline: January 27, 2020

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

 

The Lemann Brazil Research Fund is intended to foster collaboration between scholars and to support research projects focused on current issues facing Brazil. Proposals are sought for research 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. Applications are invited from individuals who hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard school and who have principal investigator rights at that school. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of academic merit, feasibility, and their anticipated advancement of the objectives of the Fund.

Award Amount: Up to $500,000. Awards will carry SEAS/FAS standard industry overhead rate (currently 69%).

 

The Toyota Material Handling North America (TMHNA) University Research Program is a sponsored research program created to drive the next generation of technology for the material handling industry. The mission is to encourage professors and researchers to apply their knowledge of engineering and technical fields, drawing synergies and collaboration between collegiate research and Toyota Material Handling North America.

 

Proposal themes related to the following areas are encouraged but given the broad nature of material handling, other themes are welcome as well.

Please Note: This award requires a sponsored research agreement that will grant to TMHNA and its affiliates a fully paid up, royalty-free, non-exclusive, nonsublicensable, non-transferable, irrevocable, worldwide license to make, have made on its behalf, use, offer to sell, sell, and import the technology and intellectual property developed under the sponsored research agreement. Applicants are encouraged to discuss this with their representative in the Office of Technology Development ( [email protected] ). 

Amazon Machine Learning Research Awards

SEAS/FAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: Rolling

Award Amount: The amount awarded is at the discretion of the awards panel and may be based on the number of applicants and number of awards granted during an award cycle. Awards are structured as one-year unrestricted gifts to academic institutions and can include funding and AWS Promotional Credits. 69% overhead is required per FAS/SEAS policy.

 

The AWS Machine Learning Research Awards (MLRA) program funds eligible universities, faculty, PhD students and post-docs under the supervision of faculty, that are conducting novel research in machine learning (ML). The goal is to enable research that accelerates the development of innovative algorithms, publications, and source code across a wide variety of ML applications and focus areas. Selected applicants will receive awards that include unrestricted cash funding as well as AWS Promotional Credits. Award recipients will receive an invitation to attend an annual research seminar and may receive live one-on-one training sessions with Amazon scientists and engineers.

 

Full-time faculty members and university departments leading a team of students and postdocs at education institutions in North America and Europe which are conducting innovative research related to Machine Learning are eligible to apply. Awards provided to faculty or university institutions will support the researchers identified in the application conducting research under the guidance of this PI.

 

The purpose of this Polyplexus Pilot Topic Opportunity Notice is to provide public notification of a research and development funding opportunity on the Polyplexus online platform. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) invites participation in Polyplexus, which is an online, professional, technical conversation between the research community and DARPA Program Managers that will lead to the opportunity to submit abstracts and full proposals for a research and development project. The shared task of this group is to rigorously explore th e trends and possible applications of emerging science and technology in a specific technical area defined by a participating Program Manager. The initial technical area under consideration in this announcement is computational or information system hardware trojan identification. The goal is to explore the human immune system as a model for trojan detection. The topic will be refined as the incubator conversation evolves. The updated topic can be found in the "Hardware Trojan Identification (Topic 14)" incubator located on the polyplexus.com website.

 

The process, evaluation criteria, abstract submission instructions, and proposal submission instructions are described in the most recent amendment of BAA for Polyplexus Pilot 3 (HR001119S0075) .

 

Approximately five awards are anticipated. Activities of particular interest in the funded projects are (1) a literature review and (2) a future technical opportunity analysis congruent with the final topic generated on polyplexus.com in the Hardware Trojan Identification (14) incubator. In addition, the information gathered in the incubator may serve as the basis for a future program.

U.S. Army Contracting Command FY 2020 Deployed War Fighter Protection (DWFP) Pest Management and Vector Control Research *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Proposals: November 25, 2019

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 25, 2020

Award Amount: up to $300,000 per year (maximum 3 years)

The Armed Forces Pest Management Board (AFPMB) is soliciting pre-proposals for original, innovative research designed to develop new interventions for protection of deployed military personnel from diseases caused by arthropod-borne pathogens. Diseases of significant concern include Lyme disease, malaria, dengue virus and other arboviruses. The program supports development of: (1) new toxicants or  the adaptation of existing toxicants to relevant vectors; (2) new insecticide application techniques; and (3) new personal protection tools that prevent human-vector contact. Ideally the research would support the  Advanced Technology Development  (i.e. DoD RDT&E "Budget Activity 3" in the DoD Financial Management Regulation Volume 2B, Chapter 5) of new insecticides, or improved formulations of existing insecticides for vector control, new technology or enhanced modalities of personal protection from biting arthropods, or improved efficacy and sustainability of equipment for application of pesticides for vector control in a military operational environment. Research should be product-oriented, consisting of advanced research related to a particular technology or new capability, field evaluation of products for military uses, or research directed towards the development of an existing prototype product for commercial manufacture. Research should include the semi-field or field evaluation of prototype products.  Research should not include testing and evaluation of commercial products or modifying commercial products for a new use. Any pesticides described in proposed research should be registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or EPA registration must be intended for pesticides without current EPA registration. The research must be primarily applicable to the military, and products should be transferable to civilian uses.

 

1-10 awards are anticipated.

DARPA Bridging the Gap Plus (BGPlus) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts (strongly encouraged): November 25, 2019

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 22, 2020

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. BG+ is a 5-year program consisting of three phases for each TA: 18-month Phase 1 for Device Development (base), 24-month Phase 2 for Integration and Assessment (option), and 18-month Phase 3 for Clinical Studies (option).

DARPA's Biological Technologies Office (BTO) is soliciting innovative proposals for the Bridging the Gap Plus (BG+) program that will mitigate the early effects of injury, lead to improved awareness and interactive therapies at the penumbral zone to preserve neural function, and restore multiple functions (e.g., movement/sensation, posture/proprioception, bladder, bowel, respiratory). The final deliverables will adapt to the change in injury profile over time, inform new standards of care for the acute effects of injury, minimize secondary complications, and address the long-term dysfunctions that remain for years after injury. 

 

BG+ includes two Technical Areas (TAs) that will run concurrently throughout the program. Proposers must apply to both TAs:

Multiple awards are anticipated.

DARPA Polyplexus Pilot Topic Opportunity Notice - Advanced Corrosion Control (17) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 

Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts (strongly encouraged): December 10, 2019

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 28, 2020

Award Amount: Up to $100,000 for 1 year

 

The purpose of this Polyplexus Pilot Topic Opportunity Notice is to provide public notification of a research and development funding opportunity on the Polyplexus online platform. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) invites participation in Polyplexus, which is an online, professional, technical conversation between the research community and DARPA Program Managers that will lead to the opportunity to submit abstracts and full proposals for a research and development project. The shared task of this group is to rigorously explore the trends and possible applications of emerging science and technology in a specific technical area defined by a participating Program Manager. The initial technical area under consideration in this announcement is the fundamental  understanding of corrosion processes. The topic will be refined as the incubator conversation evolves. The updated topic can be found in the "Advanced Corrosion Control (Topic 17)" incubator located on the  polyplexus.com  website.

 

DARPA Nucleic Acids On-Demand World-Wide (NOW) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 2, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 9, 2020

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 NOW program will be accomplished over three sequential Phases: Phase 1 (base, development and engineering) will be 36 months and Phases 2 (option, integration) and 3 (option, clinical study) will each be 12 months.

DARPA's Biological Technologies Office (BTO) is soliciting innovative proposals to address the following areas: (1) novel nucleic acid synthesis methodologies; (2) automated in-line nucleic acid purification and sample analysis (QA/QC); (3) product formulation; (4) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) finish and fill production of the formulated product; and (5) end-to-end integration of the above component systems into a mobile platform that can produce GMP quality medical countermeasures (MCMs) in less than 24 hours. The goal of the Nucleic Acids On-Demand World-Wide (NOW) program is to develop a mobile medical countermeasure (MCM) manufacturing platform for use in stabilization and humanitarian operations to produce, formulate, and package hundreds of doses of nucleic acid therapeutics (DNA and/or RNA) in less than 24 hours. The developed platform should be a resilient, mobile, readily accessible nucleic acid MCM manufacturing capability that enables immediate threat response anywhere the military operates with minimal user intervention.

 

The NOW program is focused around two technical areas:

Both technical areas must be developed concurrently over the duration of the effort. Proposals that fail to address both technical areas will be considered non-responsive. Multiple awards are anticipated.

SERDP FY2021 Non-Federal Broad Agency Announcement *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadlines: January 7, 2020 for Core Solicitation Pre-Proposals; March 5, 2020 for SEED Solicitation Proposals and invited Core Solicitation Full Proposals

Award Amount: It is anticipated that multiple awards totaling approximately $12M will be made available for projects dependent upon the quality of proposals received and availability of funds. SEED Awards will not exceed $250,000 for one year.

The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is the Department of Defense's (DoD) environmental research and development program, planned and executed in partnership with the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. 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. SERDP is interested in receiving pre-proposals in response to its Core Solicitation for research focusing in the areas of Environmental Restoration, Munitions Response, Resource Conservation and Resiliency, and Weapons Systems and Platforms technologies. Proposed research must address SERDP's  Statements of Need  in these areas. SERDP funds research and development programs in basic and applied research and advanced technology development.

 

In addition to the Core Solicitation, SERDP has issued a call for full proposals to the  SERDP Exploratory Development (SEED) program , which competitively funds projects to establish proof of concept for innovative environmental technologies and methods in the area of  Detection, Classification, and Remediation of Military Munitions Underwater . Successful SEED projects may be requested to submit a proposal for follow-on work.

NRC Research Associateship Program (RAP)

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: Review not required for awards made directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadlines for Full Proposals: February 1, 2020; May 1, 2020; August 1, 2020; November 1, 2020

Award Amount: Awards include stipends ranging from $45,000 to $80,000, health insurance, professional travel, and relocation. Awards are for up to 12 months (Summer Faculty awards are for 8-14 weeks), with the possibility of extension through a second or third year.

 

The NRC Research Associateship Programs (RAP) promote excellence in scientific and technological research conducted by the U.S. government through the administration of programs offering graduate, postdoctoral, and senior level research opportunities at sponsoring federal laboratories and affiliated institutions. In the NRC Research Associateship Programs, prospective applicants select a research project or projects from among a large group of  Research Opportunities . Prior to completing an application, prospective applicants should contact the Research Adviser listed with the selected Research Opportunity(ies) to assure that funding will be available if the application is recommended by NRC Research Associateship Programs panels.

 

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.). When searching for Research Opportunities, applicants may limit their search to only those laboratories which match their eligibility criteria. In addition, applicants should note application deadlines, as not all laboratories participate in all reviews.

Office of Science: Environmental System Science *

Sponsor Pre-Application Deadline (OSP review not required): December 5, 2019

FAS/SEAS/OSP Full Proposal Deadline: February 12, 2020

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: February 20, 2020

Award Amount: $1,000,000 maximum for "standard" 3-year projects for the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science topic area; $600,000 maximum for "standard" 3-year projects for the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research topic area; and $300,000 maximum for 1- to 2-year exploratory ("high risk") projects for both topic areas.

 

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental Systems Science (ESS), including Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) and Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR). The goal of the Environmental System Science (ESS) activity in BER is to advance a robust, predictive understanding of the set of interdependent physical, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and geomorphological processes for use in Earth system, ecosystem and reactive transport models. Using an iterative approach to model-driven experimentation and observation, and interdisciplinary teams, ESS-supported scientists work to unravel the coupled physical, chemical and biological processes that control the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems and integrated watersheds across critical spatial and temporal scales. This FOA will consider applications that focus on improving the understanding and representation of terrestrial and subsurface environments in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of local, regional, and larger scale models. Using new measurements, field experiments, more sophisticated modeling and/or synthesis studies, this FOA will encompass two topic areas: 1) Terrestrial Ecology, specifically linking above and below-ground processes, as well as methane biogeochemistry; and 2) Subsurface and Watershed Hydro-biogeochemistry, specifically studying the function and dynamics of hydro-biogeochemical processes within watersheds. All applications are required to clearly delineate an integrative, hypothesis-driven approach and describe the existing needs/gaps in state-of-the-art models. Applicants should provide details on how the results of the proposed research will be used to improve the predictability and sophistication of integrated watershed systems and/or terrestrial ecosystem models.

DOE Opportunities

• Request for Information - Biotechnologies to Ensure a Robust Mineral Supply Chain for Clean Energy - December 17, 2019*
• FY 2020 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program, Department of Energy, Office of Science - September 30, 2020 or until replaced by a successor FOA*
• Notice of Intent to Issue 2 Coal FIRST Funding Opportunity Announcements*
• Notice of Intent to Issue Front-End Engineering Design Studies for Carbon Capture Systems on Coal and Natural Gas Power Plants FOA
• Notice of Intent to Issue FOA: Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute: Cybersecurity in Energy Efficient Manufacturing
• Notice of Intent to Issue FOA titled Regional Initiative to Accelerate Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage Deployment

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

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Step 1 Proposals (required): December 2, 2019

Sponsor Deadline for Step 2 Proposals (if invited): March 2, 2020

Award Amount: Awards from this solicitation will range from $140,000 to $750,000 depending on study type. Please consult Appendix D for more details.

 

This Appendix to the  Research Opportunities in Space Biology (ROSBio)-2018 NASA Omnibus Research Announcement  solicits proposals that will increase NASA's understanding of how living systems acclimate to spaceflight to support human space exploration. Multiple platforms are available to conduct scientific research investigations.

 

The solicited research will fall into the following three research topics:

1. Microbiology studies that will produce new understanding of how microbiological organisms and/or communities acclimate to, evolve, and/or behave in the spaceflight environment.
2. Plant Biology studies in support of Human Space Exploration making use of the ISS capabilities to study environmental effects on plant growth and interactions with microbes and fungi.
3. Animal Biology (vertebrate and invertebrate) experiments that lead to the characterization of organ systems, behavioral adaptations, and the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of phenotypic changes within tissues and between physiological systems. 

Proposals submitted in response to this Appendix may be for one of five different types of studies, which will address one of the research topics described above: ISS Flight and/or ground-based investigations, microgravity analog validation, parabolic or suborbital flight studies, Antarctic balloon flight studies, new Space Biology investigations, or Space Biology post-doctoral research.

 

NASA anticipates that the total cost for awards made through this solicitation will not exceed $7.76M. 

Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System Appendix F: Soliciting Proposals for Use of the NASA PSI System for Combustion Science, Complex Fluids, Fluid Physics, Fundamental Physics, and Materials Science

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: December 9, 2019

Sponsor Deadlines for Full Proposals: December 16, 2019

Award Amount: Up to $100,000/year in total costs for a maximum of 2 years

 

This Appendix to the Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) System NASA Research Announcement (NNH17ZTT001N)  solicits ground-based research proposals to utilize  NASA's Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) system  to develop new analyses and scientific insights. The PSI system is designed to be a resource for researchers to data mine information generated from completed reduced-gravity physical sciences experiments performed on the International Space Station (ISS), Space Shuttle flights, Free Flyers, commercial cargo flights to and from the ISS, or from related ground-based studies. Specifically, this call is for the utilization of data from investigations that are currently available in the PSI system (see the solicitation for a complete list). This Appendix solicits proposals in the following five research areas: 1) Combustion Science, 2) Complex Fluids, 3) Fluid Physics, 4) Fundamental Physics, and 5) Materials Science. Proposals in the Biophysics discipline will not be considered for this Appendix. 

 

This Appendix is soliciting proposals from established researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students. Approximately 5 awards are anticipated.

Johnson Space Center Research Opportunities for ISS Utilization: Exploration Technology Demonstration and National Lab Utilization Enhancements 

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to sponsor deadline

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: Rolling through December 31, 2019 (see solicitation for schedule of review cycles)

Award Amount: Details below

 

This announcement is for the development of experiment hardware with enhanced capabilities; modification of existing hardware to enable increased efficiencies (crew time, power, etc.); development of tools that allow analyses of samples and specimens on orbit; enhanced ISS infrastructure capabilities (eg, communications or data processing); and specific technology demonstration projects. Submission of a white paper is recommended in advance of a full proposal.

 

Within the NASA International Space Station (ISS) Research Integration Office, the Technology and Science Research Office (TSRO) and Commercial Space Utilization Office (CSUO) act as "gateways" to the ISS. The Technology and Science Research Office serves as the gateway for NASA-funded technology demonstrations. The Commercial Space Utilization Office serves as the gateway for non-NASA government-funded investigations, as well as non-profit or commercially-funded investigations.

 

Proposed technology demonstrations submitted to TSRO should address at least one of the technology areas mentioned in the ISS Technology Demonstration Plans .

NASA also seeks technological concepts via CSUO related to the National Lab Thrust Areas and to expand the onboard research and analytical capabilities. The general thrust areas are:

• Innovative uses of the ISS or ISS hardware that leverage existing capabilities to stimulate both utilization of the ISS and economic development in the U.S.
• Other improvements to existing ISS capabilities, including but not limited to infrastructure, in situ analytical tools, and communication/data transmittal, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the technology demonstrations and science investigations performed on the ISS.
• Unique partnering arrangements that leverage NASA's existing capabilities but increase the commercial participation in research and on board services. 

Funds are not currently available for awards under this NASA Research Announcement (NRA). The Government's ability to make award(s) is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment can be made and the receipt of proposals that NASA determines acceptable for award under this NRA. Successful proposals will have launch and integration costs covered by NASA. 

NASA Dual Use Technology Development at Marshall Space Flight Center 2020 Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN)

Sponsor Deadlines for Step -1 White Papers (required): May 6, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadlines for Full Proposals (if invited): TBD (approximately 40 calendar days after Invitation to Propose is sent to invited Offerors)

Award Amount: MSFC awards will range from $10,000 to $250,000 (though the majority will range between $10,000 - $100,000) for up to 12 months, to be matched or exceeded by Offeror contributions. MSFC contributions to the Offeror can be cash, in-kind (non-cash) resources, or a combination of each. The participating partner is expected to contribute at least 50 percent of the total combined partner and NASA resources necessary to accomplish the project.

NASA seeks to award cooperative agreements for technology development partnerships with United States commercial businesses, colleges and universities with the goal of developing a technology that meets a specific NASA need at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), as well as a need of the partner. This goal will be accomplished by selecting Offerors that will cooperatively share in the development cost of the technology that meets the specified NASA need. NASA's MSFC, located in Huntsville, Alabama is one of NASA's largest and most diversified installations. The Marshall Center provides leadership in the complex engineering of space transportation and propulsion systems, large space structures and systems, and scientific research to make human space exploration a reality. For more information on the technology programs and capabilities at MSFC, please see the following:  http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/capabilities/index.html . 

MSFC has several technology development focus areas for this notice, including

Multiple awards are anticipated.

Unsolicited Proposals

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2020

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. Proposals should be submitted at least six months in advance of the desired starting date.

Other NASA Opportunities

• Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2019 (ROSES-2019) - March 27, 2020
• NASA Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion-2020 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2020)  - December 18, 2020

Request for Information on Data-Focused Cyberinfrastructure Needed to Support Future Data-Intensive Science and Engineering Research *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: N/A

Sponsor Deadline: December 16, 2019

Award Amount: N/A

This Request for Information (RFI) invites the community to provide input to NSF on specific data-intensive science and engineering (S&E) research questions and challenges and the essential data-related cyberinfrastructure (CI) services and capabilities needed to publish, discover, transport, manage and process data in secure, performant and scalable ways to enable that data-intensive research. Recognizing that data-oriented CI and services exist in many S&E disciplinary domains, NSF is particularly interested in understanding how broader cross-disciplinary and domain-agnostic solutions can be devised and implemented, along with the structural, functional and performance characteristics such cross-disciplinary solutions must possess. Such new CI services and capabilities should allow for seamless data integration and interoperability; support existing S&E drivers, users and usage modes; and foster the initiation of future modes of discovery. While no one technical solution will likely be able to address the expansive S&E research enterprise that NSF supports, NSF is interested in understanding how different data-related CI solutions might support heterogenous ensembles of data-intensive disciplines - owing, for instance, to common requirements due to similarities in data set sizes, types and utilization workflows, or to novel shared goals for cross-disciplinary data integration and discovery. Note that NSF is especially interested in responses that build on existing and future data sources (including repositories) and address services for publishing, discovery, access, management and processing of the data.

The community input received from this RFI will inform refinement of NSF's CI investment strategy and planning of future NSF funding opportunities. Responses from individuals, organizations, as well as groups or collaborative networks are welcome.

NSF/NSFC Joint Research on Environmental Sustainability Challenges *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: February 19, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: February 26, 2020

Award Amount: NSF will fund the U.S. researchers up to a total of $500,000 for 4 years for each recommended award, while NSFC will fund the China researchers up to a total of 3 million yuan for 4 years for each recommended award.

The NSF Engineering Directorate (ENG) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Department of Engineering and Material Sciences (DEMS) and Department of Geosciences are partnering to encourage joint research by U.S. - China teams collaborating on fundamental research that addresses critical environmental sustainability challenges. This Dear Colleague Letter is for research proposals from joint U.S. - China teams in the environmental sustainability themes of: "Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS: U.S.-China)": 

Every proposal must include the participation of researchers from at least one U.S. organization and at least one institution in China. U.S.-based researchers, through their U.S. organizations, may submit unsolicited proposals to collaborate with China-based researchers on the INFEWS topic described above to the ENG/CBET Environmental Sustainability (7643) program. Please note that, even though the Environmental Sustainability program has no submission deadline, proposals submitted for consideration under this DCL must be received by 5:00 pm local submitter's time on February 26, 2020.

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Supplemental Funding in Computer and Information Science and Engineering *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: March 30, 2020

Award Amount: up to $8,000 per student per year through an REU supplement; up to $10,000 per K-12 STEM teacher per year through an RET supplement

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) invites grantees with active CISE awards to submit requests for Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplements, following the guidelines in the REU Sites and Supplements solicitation ( NSF 19-582) . CISE also invites grantees with active CISE awards to submit requests for Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Supplements, following the guidelines in the RET in Engineering and Computer Science: Supplements and Sites solicitation ( NSF 19-575 ). Requests will be considered as they are received. CISE strongly encourages the submission of requests before March 30, 2020; the potential for funding requests after this date may be limited.  Since a supplemental funding request is handled by the cognizant NSF program officer who oversees the active award for which the request is submitted, grantees should contact the cognizant NSF program officers of their awards if they have questions or need additional information.

Models for Uncovering Rules and Unexpected Phenomena in Biological Systems (MODULUS)

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission of full proposal

Sponsor Deadline: April 1, 2020 (for FY20 funding)

Award Amount: no specified limit; budgets to be appropriate for the scope of the project proposed

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS), in collaboration with the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB), seeks to promote interdisciplinary research that enables novel mathematical and computational approaches that capture and explore the full range of mechanisms and biological variability needed to better understand biological systems behavior across multiple scales. Funding opportunities are available in fiscal years FY2019 and FY2020 to provide support for proposals from interdisciplinary teams comprised of mathematical, computational, and biological scientists to develop  MOD els for  U ncovering Ru l es and  U nexpected Phenomena in Biological  S ystems ( MODULUS ). This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is to encourage researchers involved in the biosciences and the mathematical sciences to collaborate formatively in biological investigations using novel mechanistic mathematical models to guide biological exploration and discovery of new rules in living systems.

 

Proposals funded through this DCL are anticipated to cultivate innovative modes of collaboration among researchers working at the interface of mathematics and molecular and cellular biology, with an emphasis on systems-scale integration. Each proposal submitted in response to this DCL should address a current state-of-the-research challenge and describe a strategy for formative integration of mathematical and biological understanding to address the challenge. In addition, the proposal should describe the unique interdisciplinary training opportunity for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working on the project. Proposals in response to this DCL should be submitted to either DMS via the  Mathematical Biology Program Description   or the MCB solicitation,  NSF 18-585 , directed to the Systems and Synthetic Biology program (8011). The proposal title should be prefaced with "MODULUS:". The MCB solicitation accepts proposals to core programs or to a Rules of Life (RoL) track. Submission to either track is permissible given that the guidance as detailed in the solicitation ( NSF 18-585 ) for each is followed. For proposals submitted to MCB and targeted for the RoL track, a second program in another BIO Division must  also be identified.

2020 CHE International Supplement *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: May 1, 2020

Award Amount: Budget and budget justification required. 

The  National Science Foundation (NSF) Strategic Plan "Building the Future: Investing in Discovery and Innovation" (2018 - 2022)  states, "NSF must continue to invest in a world-class research enterprise, support the development of a globally competitive scientific and engineering workforce, and foster greater understanding of science and technology among the American public" and "NSF will promote a research culture that is broadly inclusive in its demography and range of intellectual ideas, has access to cutting-edge infrastructure, and is globally engaged, with increased opportunities for exchanging ideas and collaborating on an international scale. NSF will increase opportunities for broadening the training of U.S. graduate students and early-career researchers through international exchanges and partnerships with industry." NSF's Division of Chemistry seeks to fulfill this vision by advancing research and education in chemistry and ensuring that the U.S. research community remains at the forefront of the field by providing access to the knowledge and resources that exist globally.

In this context, the Division of Chemistry is inviting requests for supplemental funding from its existing awardees who may wish to add a new, or strengthen an existing, international dimension of their award when such collaboration advances the field of chemistry and enhances the U.S. investigator's own research and/or education objectives.  Principal Investigators supported by NSF Division of Chemistry awards are advised to consult with their cognizant NSF program director prior to submitting a supplemental funding request. 

Supplemental funding requests must be received by 5 p.m., submitter's local time on May 1, 2020. Supplemental funding requests should address how the proposed international collaboration enhances intellectual merit and broader impacts in the following ways:

Announcing Two Program Name and Scope Changes

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: N/A

Sponsor Deadline: N/A

Award Amount: N/A

The Division of Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET), within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering (ENG), announces the name change of the Molecular Separations program and the Biological and Environmental Interactions of Nanoscale Materials program. The program names have changed to the Interfacial Engineering program and the Nanoscale Interactions program, respectively.

Interfacial Engineering Program: The scope of the Molecular Separations program, PD 19-1417, will be expanded to include fundamental research on atomic- and molecular-scale interfacial phenomena and engineering of interfacial properties, processes, and materials unrelated to a separation process. The program name will be changed to Interfacial Engineering, PD 20-1417. Proposals related to chemical and biological separation processes, phenomena, and materials will continue to be accepted within the Interfacial Engineering program, as described on the program webpage.

Nanoscale Interactions Program: The scope of the Biological and Environmental Interactions of Nanoscale Materials Program, PD 19-1179, will be expanded to include nanoscale interface and surface interactions with biological and environmental media. Nanoparticles and nanostructured materials have large surface areas, and thus for the materials, products and devices into which they are integrated there are large interfacial areas. Elucidation of the constructs of these interfaces and the resulting alteration of the material and its behavior is necessary to accurately understand and predict the fate and effects of nanomaterials in biological and environmental systems. This includes understanding interfacial chemistries, spatial-temporal properties, dynamic interplays and impacts of external forces. The program name will be changed to Nanoscale Interactions, PD 20-1179.

These changes are effective September 19, 2019. Principal Investigators are strongly encouraged to discuss proposal ideas with the cognizant Program Directors prior to submission.

Frontera Leadership-Class Computing Allocations *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: unspecified/TBA

Award Amount: unspecified/TBA

With this Dear Colleague Letter, NSF seeks to inform the community about an opportunity to request access to Frontera, the recently-launched supercomputer hosted at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin. Frontera, the most powerful academic supercomputer ever deployed by NSF, is a Dell EMC system with over 16,000 Intel processors as well as significant graphics processing unit, storage, and memory capabilities. More information about the system can be found here . Researchers supported by active NSF or other research awards may submit a request for an allocation on the Frontera system in one or more of the following categories:

• Leadership Resource Allocation - Large allocations to S&E teams with strong scientific/engineering justifications for needing to access a leadership-class computing resource to enable research that would otherwise not be possible. Successful applicants must demonstrate strong readiness to use the allocated cycles, as well as existing peer-reviewed research funding to support the activities conducted on Frontera.
• Pathways - Small allocations to S&E teams with strong scientific/engineering justifications for needing to access a leadership-class computing resource but without demonstrated code readiness to effectively do so. Successful applicants will use the allocation award to work with the Frontera project team to scale their codes to effectively use the system. Successful applicants must demonstrate existing peer-reviewed research funding to support the required code and algorithm development activities on Frontera. Additionally, early-career scientists and engineers with outstanding publication records investigating novel techniques for solving potentially transformative S&E research topics are encouraged to apply.
• Large-Scale Community Partnerships - Extended time allocations of up to three years to support long-lived S&E experiments. Successful applicants must demonstrate existing peer-reviewed research funding to support the activities conducted on Frontera for the time period requested.

Please Note:  Allocation requests for awards starting in April 2020 must be submitted directly to the Frontera project via the website, which will provide more information on the submission process for each of the above allocation categories, and on the open peer review evaluation process.

 

MPS/DMS-EPSRC Lead Agency Opportunity in Mathematical Sciences

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: varies by opportunity

Award Amount: Each agency has its own funding parameters and principles that will be followed when reviewing proposals. Proposals are expected to adhere to typical proposal sizes and durations for the DMS and EPSRC Themes from which funding is sought.

 

The NSF and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Research Cooperation. The MOU provides an overarching framework to encourage collaboration between US and UK research communities and sets out the principles by which jointly supported activities might be developed. The MOU allows for a lead agency opportunity whereby a single international collaborative proposal may be submitted to either NSF or UKRI. Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of the MPS/DMS and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) missions. Proposers will be expected to review the relevant  NSF-MPS/DMS Program Descriptions  and the  EPSRC website  for information on which areas of research are eligible for support through this collaboration. This collaboration principally covers unsolicited (NSF) or standard (EPSRC) proposals, with managed/solicited calls included on a case-by-case basis by prior agreement of MPS/DMS and EPSRC. This collaboration covers a pilot phase from January 2020, with a review point after three years (January 2023).

Please Note:   At least two months in advance of the date the proposers expect to submit a formal proposal, an expression of interest/white paper must be submitted to their prospective lead agency. For the period September 1 - December 31, 2019, this stage may be waived. However, applicants are strongly advised to contact the prospective lead agency prior to application. 

Supplemental Funding Opportunity to Support Student Design Projects Directly Related to NSF Research

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 
Sponsor Deadline:  Supplemental funding requests may be submitted at any time. However, sufficient time must be allowed (e.g. a minimum of 8 weeks) to permit review and recommendation in advance of the project's initiation.
Award Amount: up to $4,000 per supplement

 

A supplemental funding opportunity is being made available starting in FY 2019 to provide support for mentored, student-led design projects that are directly related to currently funded NSF awards from the Engineering Directorate. This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) describes a new opportunity for principal investigators to expand the Broader Impact of their awards through a Design Supplement.

The goals of these supplements are the following:

Campus Cyberinfrastructure *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 13, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: January 21, 2020

Award Amount: varies by award type; please see below

The Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program invests in coordinated campus-level networking and cyberinfrastructure 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. Each program area will support awards pursuant to the following budget and duration:

1. Data-Driven Networking Infrastructure for the Campus and Researcher awards will be supported at up to $500,000 total for up to 2 years;
2. Regional Connectivity for Small Institutions of Higher Education awards will be supported at up to $800,000 total for up to 2 years;
3. Network Integration and Applied Innovation awards will be supported at up to $1,000,000 [in some cases these awards are limited to $500,000 total-see program area (3) in Section II. Program Description];
4. Campus Computing and the Computing Continuum awards will be supported at up to $400,000 total for up to 2 years;
5. Cyber Team-Research and Education CI-based Regional Facilitation awards will be supported at up to $1,400,000 total for up to 3 years; and,
6. Planning Grants and CI-Research Alignment awards will be supported for up to $250,000 total for up to two years [in some cases, these awards are limited to $100,000 total-see program area (6) in Section II. Program Description].

Formal Methods in the Field (FMitF)

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 14, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: January 22, 2020 

Award Amount: up to $750,000 for up to 4 years (Track I); up to $100,000 for up to 18 months (Track II)

The Formal Methods in the Field (FMitF) program aims to bring together researchers in formal methods with researchers in other areas of computer and information science and engineering to jointly develop rigorous and reproducible methodologies for designing and implementing correct-by-construction systems and applications with provable guarantees. FMitF encourages close collaboration between two groups of researchers. The first group consists of researchers in the area of formal methods, which, for the purposes of this solicitation, is broadly defined as principled approaches based on mathematics and logic, including modeling, specification, design, program analysis, verification, synthesis, and programming language-based approaches. The second group consists of researchers in the "field," which, for the purposes of this solicitation, is defined as a subset of areas within computer and information science and engineering that currently do not benefit from having established communities already developing and applying formal methods in their research. This solicitation limits the field to the following areas that stand to directly benefit from a grounding in formal methods: computer networks, cyber-human systems, distributed /operating systems, embedded systems, and machine learning. Other field(s) may emerge as priority areas for the program in future years, subject to the availability of funds. The FMitF program solicits two classes of proposals:

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering (NSF: ENG)

Addressing Systems Challenges through Engineering Teams (ASCENT) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline for Letter of Intent: December 20, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Letter of Intent (Required): January 7, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline for Full Proposal: February 11, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposal: February 19, 2020

Award Amount: $1M-$1.5M over up to 4 years

NSF's Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Division (ECCS), through its ASCENT program, offers its engineering community the opportunity to address research issues and answer engineering challenges associated with complex systems and networks that are not achievable by a single principal investigator or by short-term projects and can only be achieved by interdisciplinary research teams. ECCS envisions a connected portfolio of transformative and integrative projects that create synergistic links by investigators across its three ECCS clusters: Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS), Electronics, Photonics and Magnetic Devices (EPMD), and Energy, Power, Control, and Networks (EPCN), yielding novel ways of addressing challenges of engineering systems and networks. ECCS seeks proposals that are bold and ground-breaking, transcend the perspectives and approaches typical of disciplinary research efforts, and lead to disruptive technologies and methods or enable significant improvement in quality of life.

• ASCENT supports fundamental research projects involving at least three collaborating PIs and co-PIs, up to four years in duration, with a total budget between $1 million and $1.5 million.
• ASCENT proposals must highlight the engineering leadership focus of the proposal within the scope of ECCS programs.
• ASCENT proposals must articulate a fundamental research problem with compelling intellectual challenge and significant societal impact. The topic at the heart of the proposal must lie within the scope of at least one of the three ECCS clusters (CCSS, EPMD, EPCN). Research proposals spanning multiple clusters are highly encouraged.
• ASCENT proposals must demonstrate the need for a concerted research effort by an integrated and interdisciplinary team, and strongly justify the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed work. They should include a timeline for research activities, with a strong justification of the explicit mechanisms for frequent communication between team members and effective assessment to achieve proposed goals.

Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program: Technology Translation Track

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: December 23, 2019

Sponsor Deadline: January 8, 2020

Award Amount: up to $250,000 for 18-24 months for the Technology Translation Track

 

The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) offers researchers from all disciplines of science and engineering funded by NSF the opportunity to perform translational research and technology development, catalyze partnerships and accelerate the transition of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace for societal benefit. The  Technology Translation (PFI-TT) track  offers the opportunity to translate prior NSF-funded research results in any field of science or engineering into technological innovations with promising commercial potential and societal impact. PFI-TT supports commercial potential demonstration projects for academic research outputs in any NSF-funded science and engineering discipline. This demonstration is achieved through proof-of-concept, prototyping, technology development and/or scale-up work.

 

The intended outcome of the PFI-TT is a) the commercialization of new intellectual property derived from NSF-funded research outputs; b) the creation of new or broader collaborations with industry (including increased corporate sponsored research); c) the licensing of NSF-funded research outputs to third party corporations or to start-up companies funded by a PFI team; and d) the training of future innovation and entrepreneurship leaders.

 

Eligibility:  All proposals submitted to the PFI program must meet a lineage requirement under one of the following two paths:

 

Please Note: The internal deadline for the Research Partnership Track has passed.

NSF/CASIS Collaboration on Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology on the International Space Station (ISS) to Benefit Life on Earth

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission of a full proposal

Sponsor Deadline: December 7, 2019 - March 2, 2020

• Development of validated models (living or computational) of normal and pathological tissues and organ systems that can support development and testing of medical interventions;
• Design of systems that integrate living and non-living components for improved diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of disease or injury; and
• Advanced biomanufacturing of three-dimensional tissues and organs.

• Multiscale mechanics approaches that integrate across molecular, cell, tissue, and organ domains; and
• The influence of in vivo mechanical forces on cell and matrix biology in histomorphogenesis, maintenance, regeneration, and aging of tissues.

NSF/CASIS Collaboration on Transport Phenomena Research on the International Space Station (ISS) to Benefit Life on Earth

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission of a full proposal

Sponsor Deadline: December 9, 2019 - March 2, 2020

Award Amount: up to $400,000 for up to 4 years

The purpose of this solicitation is to attract proposals that make use of the ISS National Lab for research projects in the fields related to the Transport Phenomena Cluster and Nanoscale Interactions programs. Responsive proposals will describe using the ISS National Lab for development and testing of fluid dynamics, particulate and multiphase processes, combustion and fire systems, thermal transport processes, and nanoscale interactions that will lead to Earth-based applications and increase the return on the U.S. investment in the ISS National Lab. CASIS goals are to advance science research and technology development, expand human knowledge, inspire and educate the next generation, foster the commercial development of space, and demonstrate scientific capabilities in space for Earth benefit. Fundamental research to study fluid dynamics, particulate and multiphase processes, combustion and fire systems, thermal transport processes, and nanoscale interactions where the results will have direct terrestrial benefit but will involve flight research utilizing the ISS, is solicited.

The collaboration seeks to exploit the complementary missions of (i) research and development for NSF, and (ii) stimulation, development and management of U.S. national uses of the ISS National Lab by U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and private firms for CASIS. Proposals must seek to exploit the ISS National Lab for fluid dynamics, particulate and multiphase process, combustion and fire systems, thermal transport processes, and nanoscale interactions studies to support applications on Earth. The proposal must include a description of project benefits for life on Earth. Proposals focused on research and technology development supporting only space exploration-related goals do not fall within the scope of the NSF and CASIS mission and will be considered non-responsive to this solicitation. For example, this program does not support research strictly focused on space propulsion.

NSF Engineering - UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Lead Agency Opportunity (ENG-EPSRC) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission of a full proposal

Sponsor Deadline: Rolling; a Research Concept Outline (RCO) must be submitted to  [email protected]  at least 60 days prior to the submission of a full proposal.

Award Amount: The overall funding for the program is established independently by each participating division. Budgets are not set aside separately but are, instead, parts of existing program budgets.

The Directorate for Engineering (ENG), Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET), the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), and the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) of the National Science Foundation and the Engineering, ICT and Manufacturing the Future Themes of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are pleased to announce the ENG-EPSRC Lead Agency Opportunity. The goal of this opportunity is to reduce some of the barriers that researchers currently encounter when working internationally. The ENG-EPSRC Lead Agency Opportunity will allow US and UK researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process.

Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of CBET, CMMI, and/or ECCS with the EPSRC Engineering, ICT and/or Manufacturing the Future Themes. Proposers choose either NSF or EPSRC to serve as the "lead" agency to review their proposal. The non-lead agency will honor the rigor of the review process and the decision of the lead agency. For research teams that would like EPSRC to act as lead agency, please see the instructions here . Proposers should review the CBET, CMMI, and ECCS Program Descriptions for research supported through these divisions and the EPSRC website for further information on what areas of research are eligible for support through this activity. Proposals are expected to adhere to typical proposal budgets and durations for the relevant NSF programs and EPSRC Themes from which funding is sought.

Please Note:  A Research Concept Outline (RCO) must be submitted to  [email protected]  at least 60 days prior to the submission of a full proposal. A proposal that is submitted without a previously approved RCO will be returned without review (RWR).

• Advanced Manufacturing (AM) - Rolling
• Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (BMMB) - Rolling
• Biophotonics - Rolling
• Biosensing - Rolling
• Catalysis - Rolling
• Cellular and Biochemical Engineering (CBE) - Rolling
• Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) - Rolling
• Combustion and Fire Systems - Rolling
• Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) - Rolling
• Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering (DARE) - Rolling
• Dynamics, Control and Systems Diagnostics (DCSD) - Rolling
• Electrochemical Systems - Rolling
• Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) - Rolling
• Energy, Power, Control, and Networks (EPCN) - Rolling
• Engineering Design and System Engineering (EDSE) - Rolling
• Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) - Rolling
• Engineering of Biomedical Systems (EBMS) - Rolling
• Environmental Engineering - Rolling
• Environmental Sustainability - Rolling
• Fluid Dynamics - Rolling
• Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment (HDBE) - Rolling
• Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MOMS) - Rolling
• Mind, Machine and Motor Nexus (M3X) - Rolling
• Operations Engineering (OE) - Rolling
• Particulate and Multiphase Processes - Rolling
• Process Systems, Reaction Engineering and Molecular Thermodynamics - Rolling
• Thermal Transport Processes - Rolling
• Re-entry to Active Research Program (RARE) - Rolling 

Inclusion Across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES): Planning Grants
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 22, 2019
Sponsor Deadline: December 3, 2019
Award Amount: up to $100,000 for 12-16 months

 

Through this solicitation, NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) will support Planning Grants to build capacity for the development of collaborative infrastructure to: (a) facilitate innovative partnerships, networks, and theories of action for broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at scale and (b) lead to the establishment of future centers, alliances, or other large-scale networks to address a broadening participation challenge. While this solicitation is open to all, NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots are especially encouraged to apply, as a Planning Grant could serve as an intermediate conduit for bringing their exploratory pilot work to scale.

Understanding the Rules of Life: Epigenetics *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline for Letter of Intent: December 13, 2019

Sponsor Deadline for Letter of Intent (Required): December 20, 2019

National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 21, 2020 (Institute Proposals); January 23, 2020 (Planning Proposals) 

Sponsor Deadline: January 28, 2020 (Institute Proposals); January 30, 2020 (Planning Proposals) 

Award Amount:  $16,000,000 and $20,000,000 for 4-5 years (up to $4,000,000 per year) (Institute Proposals); up to $500,000 for up to 2 years (Planning Proposals)

• Trustworthy AI;
• Foundations of Machine Learning;
• AI-Driven Innovation in Agriculture and the Food System;
• AI-Augmented Learning;
• AI for Accelerating Molecular Synthesis and Manufacturing; and
• AI for Discovery in Physics.

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: February 4, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: February 11, 2020

Award Amount: up to $3M over up to 5 years (Track 1: Research Grants); up to $250,000 over up to 24 months (Track 2: Planning Grants) 

• Improved understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects that capitalize on innovative and optimized observation infrastructure, advances in understanding of fundamental processes, and new approaches to modeling interactions among the natural environment, built environment, and social systems.
• New and enhanced research communities that are diverse, integrative, and well-positioned to carry out productive research on the interactions or connections between natural and built environments and social systems and how these connections inform our understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects.
• Research outcomes that inform national security, economic development, and societal well-being, and enable resilient and sustainable Arctic communities.
• Enhanced efforts in formal and informal education that focus on the social, built, and natural impacts of Arctic change on multiple scales and broadly disseminate research outcomes.

_________________________________________

For assistance, please contact:

Jennifer Corby

Research Development Officer

[email protected] | 617-495-1590