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.

Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Award *

Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 27, 2020

Award Amount: $300,000/year for up to 3 years

 

The Ono Pharma Foundation's 2020 Breakthrough Science Initiative Awards Program accepts proposals from Principal Investigators involved in original research of Chemical Biology. Chemical Biology is defined as research that deals with the interface between chemistry and biology. The criteria for this field are deliberately broad so as not to disqualify potentially innovative and groundbreaking projects.

 

To be eligible, the PI must be a junior or mid-career scientist (within 15 years of starting an independent academic position). The PI may not already be engaged in other sponsored research with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and/or other grant programs with the Ono Pharma Foundation. The PI may not apply for funding to amplify current work. However, PIs may research a new idea based on a prior finding.

 

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

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Essential Open Source Software for Science *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 24, 2020; July 24, 2020

Sponsor Deadlines: February 1, 2020; August 1, 2020

Award Information: $50,000 - $250,000 (inclusive of up to 15% for indirect/overhead costs) for one year

 

In an effort to support open source software for science, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) seeks applications for software projects that are essential to biomedical research, have already demonstrated impact, and can show potential for continued improvement. Grants will be for a one-year period with the potential to apply for renewal in future cycles. The goal of the program is to support software maintenance, growth, development, and community engagement for these critical tools.

 

Applications for two broad categories of open source projects will be considered in scope:

Open Technology Fund: Information Controls Fellowship *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: February 24, 2020

Award Amount: Monthly stipend of $4,200 plus travel stipend of $1,250 to $5,000 USD depending on the fellowship length. Three, six, nine or twelve month fellowships are available.

 

The Information Controls Fellowship Program (ICFP) cultivates research, outputs, and creative collaboration on topics related to repressive Internet censorship and surveillance. The fellowship supports examination into how governments in countries, regions, or areas of OTF's core focus are restricting the free flow of information, cutting access to the open Internet, and implementing censorship mechanisms, thereby threatening the ability of global citizens to exercise basic human rights and democracy; work focused on mitigation of such threats is also supported.

 

Fellowships are usually offered to postdoctoral, doctoral students, and experienced researchers with demonstrated ability and expertise. Typically, ICFP fellows have experience in fields such as computer science, engineering, information security research, software development, social sciences, law, and data visualization, among others. ICFP fellows embed with a host organization for the duration of their fellowship. Non-academic host organizations are welcome, as are those based outside the United States.

Beckman Foundation: Beckman Center for Advanced Light-Sheet Microscopy and Data Science *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: February 28, 2020

Sponsor Pre-Proposal Deadline: March 6, 2020

Award Amount: $1.2M. Indirect costs are not allowed. Please discuss with your grants administrator before beginning an application.

 

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation's mission is to provide funding for promising technologies, particularly in cutting edge instrumentation and interfaces between disciplines. In support of this mission, the Foundation is requesting proposals for a one-time grant opportunity for the procurement and potential further development of groundbreaking advanced light-sheet instrumentation capabilities, including establishment of robust multidisciplinary science/technology teams involving data scientist collaborations within the research group. The Foundation will provide support of up to $1.2 million per site, which can be used for instrumentation acquisition, development, and maintenance; support for data science collaborations within the research teams; and costs for the proposed research programs.

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.

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

Harvard Data Science Initiative Public Service Data Science Graduate Fellowship *

Deadline: January 3, 2020

Award Amount: $10,000

 

The HDSI (Harvard Data Science Initiative) Public Service Data Science Graduate Fellowship supports master's students in Harvard's data science programs (Biomedical Informatics, Health Data Science, Data Science) who want to explore career paths at not-for-profit and public sector organizations through a summer internship. The fellowship includes a $10,000 stipend to support an unpaid summer 2020 internship at a not-for-profit or public sector organization that either (a) applies data science to solve social challenges, or (b) advocates for responsible data science. The stipend is intended to support living expenses during the summer and may not be used for tuition.

 

Fellows are also expected to promote public service data science at Harvard, which will include documenting their experience in the fellowship through a blog post or short report to the HDSI; and may include community-building activities such as:

Harvard Data Science Initiative Postdoctoral Fellows Research Fund *

Deadline: January 10, 2020

Award Amount: Up to $25,000

Eligible Applicants: Postdoctoral fellows on fixed-term contracts. Applicants must have at least 9 months remaining in their contract by the January deadline.

 

The goal of the Harvard Data Science Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow Research Fund is to incentivize and support cross-disciplinary collaboration between data scientists at the postdoctoral level. The Initiative is particularly interested in funding research proposals that aim to:

Funds may be used to hire students, buy access to data or software; or for travel and conference fees. Proposed projects should take a maximum of one year to complete. Successful applicants will be provided the opportunity to present results at the DSI conference, normally held in the Fall.

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.

Amazon Machine Learning Research Awards

FAS/SEAS/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.

DARPA Network Universal Persistence (Network UP) Phase II *

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

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 7, 2020 (proposals submitted after this deadline may be accepted and evaluated up to six months from the solicitation's date of posting on Beta.SAM.gov; however, proposers are warned that the likelihood of available funding is greatly reduced for proposals submitted after the initial closing date)

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. Phase 2 is divided into a Base Effort, covering the first 8 months of the program, including the Critical Design Review (CDR) and ending 2 months after the CDR, and a 10-month Option Period. During the Option Period, the final test, development, implementation and demonstration of a working Network UP system will be completed.

DARPA's Strategic Technology Office (STO) is soliciting innovative proposals in radio and network architectures that maintain network reliability through periods of data channel degradation. Specifically, a network with separate control and data channels is envisioned. By the end of the program, the proposed solution should be implemented in hardware to include relevant tactical radios for the data channel. Phase 1 of the Network Universal Persistence (Network UP) program developed new radio technology that maintains network reliability through periods of frequent signal degradation that routinely occur during military operational environments. Phase 2 of the program, as solicited by this BAA, will implement the networking technology developed in Phase 1 into existing military radio networks, culminating in field demonstrations of prototype radios suitable for military experimentation. Phase 2 teams may be composed of existing Phase 1 performers, new performers not currently executing Phase 1 of the program, or a combination of new and existing performers. 

Proposals must address all of the following focus areas with an integrated project approach, culminating in a final product that will be demonstrated on a Radio Frequency (RF) test range:

• Focus Area 1: Create a highly resilient control channel.
• Focus Area 2: Manage a data network from a separate control plane.
• Focus Area 3: Interface with legacy military radio networks.

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.

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.

DARPA Detect It with Gene Editing Technologies (DIGET) *

Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts (strongly encouraged): January 7, 2020

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

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 25, 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. DIGET will be a 48-month program divided into two phases: Phase I (Base), 24 months; and Phase II, 24 months.

DARPA's Biological Technologies Office (BTO) is soliciting innovative proposals to develop distributed point-of-need and massively multiplexed gene editing-based nucleic acid detection capabilities for diagnostics and biosurveillance. The goal of the Detect It with Gene Editing Technologies (DIGET) program is to leverage advances in gene editing technologies to develop low-cost, high-trust, sensitive, multiplexed, rapidly reconfigurable, and fieldable diagnostics and biosurveillance technologies to address the need for timely and comprehensive threat detection surveillance to support Department of Defense (DoD) stabilization missions and outpace infectious disease.

 

The program consists of two Technical Areas (TAs) to be addressed concurrently:  

Multiple awards are anticipated.

DARPA Personalized Protective Biosystem (PPB) *

Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts (strongly encouraged): January 7, 2020

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

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 20, 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 PPB program is structured as a 5-year effort consisting of 3 phases: Phase I (Base), Phase II (Option One), and Phase III (Option Two).

DARPA's Biological Technologies Office (BTO) is soliciting innovative proposals through the Personalized Protective Biosystem (PPB) program to develop an integrated ensemble that simultaneously reduces protective equipment needs while increasing protection for the individual against existing and future chemical and biological (CB) threats. The capability to provide unburdened CB protection will maximize time on target for the warfighter and the stability operator, provide operational flexibility, extend mission duration, and enable military operations in austere environments regardless of the threat. PPB will consist of lightweight materials that protect the warfighter from exposure to any CB threat while simultaneously providing a second layer of protection, at the tissue barrier, with biomolecular, commensal organisms, or other technologies that protect the skin, eyes, and airway from CB threats. PPB will improve mission execution by solving the current ("state of the art") protective equipment limitations, including threat-specific vulnerabilities, thermal/logistical burdens, exposure risks during equipment removal/decontamination, and on-demand availability during unexpected threat situations.

 

The PPB program envisions two technical areas (TAs) for development under this BAA:  

• Technical Area 1 (TA1) technologies will prevent contact between the body and CB agents using protective, smart materials with near-zero logistical burden.
• Technical Area 2 (TA2) technologies will neutralize threats at vulnerable tissue barriers using a configurable tissue barrier countermeasure.

From the outset, proposed approaches and developed technologies should identify outputs that align to both TA1 and TA2.

 

Multiple awards are anticipated.

DARPA Bridging the Gap Plus (BGPlus)

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 14, 2020

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.

Research Interests of the USAFA Call 0010: Diode Pumped Alkali Laser Physics Research *

Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (required): January 16, 2020

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

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: TBD

Award Amount: $450,000 - $475,000 for 48 months

The United States Air Force Academy is soliciting white papers for research under Section l - Funding Opportunity Description (a)(8), Laser and Optics Research Center of the  Broad Agency Announcement USAFA-BAA-2015 Amendment 4 , covering requests for Laser Research.

 

The Laser and Optics Research Center (LORC) performs a range of research tasks in support of the Air Force, DoD, DOE, NSF and other government and commercial sponsors. Making use of the extensive experimental facilities housed in the USAFA Department of Physics, the LORC pursues a range of research efforts. The research programs in this center are geared toward providing all USAFA undergraduates with a rich, relevant research experience while answering critical research needs of USAFA's highly varied customer base. Researchers may expect extensive access to premier facilities, tremendous latitude of pursuits and single-minded focus on research tasks, but must seek to incorporate student participation in their research projects, typically two to four students per semester. 

 

Current topics of interest include fundamental studies surrounding high power lasers and their application within physics experiments. High power laser research involves improving diode pumped alkali lasers and is the primary focus of this announcement. New diagnostics that measure densities, temperatures and ionization fraction are desired. Reports and published papers that describe these diagnostics are expected. Secondary research interests involve laser applications including atom interferometers, nonlinear optics, high harmonic generation, laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms, and quantum  computing. Researchers are encouraged to pursue basic and applied research topics in these other  areas and related subjects.

 

The Government anticipates awarding one Cooperative Agreement as a result of this Call.

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

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 21, 2020 

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 Lasers for Universal Microscale Optical Systems (LUMOS) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 31, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 7, 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. LUMOS will be a 48-month program divided into three phases: Phase 1 (base) - 18 months, Phase 2 (option) - 18 months, and Phase 3 (option) - 12 months.

DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) is soliciting innovative research proposals to develop heterogeneous photonic integrated circuit platforms that incorporate on-chip optical gain for disruptive optical microsystems. The objective of the Lasers for Universal Microscale Optical Systems (LUMOS) program is to bring efficient on-chip optical gain to highly-capable integrated photonics platforms and enable complete photonics functionality on a single substrate for disruptive optical microsystems. LUMOS platforms will integrate lasers and amplifiers with high-performance modulators, waveguides, and detectors for diverse use cases, including digital and analog communications, navigation and timing, long-range sensing, microwave signal generation and processing, and quantum sensing and computing. Such uses demand a diversity of material combinations on photonics platforms tailored to address specific application areas. LUMOS will develop transformative PIC capabilities through heterogeneous integration to achieve integrated photonics scalability along three key directions: complexity, power, and spectrum.

 

In order to meet these goals, LUMOS is soliciting innovative research proposals in three main Technical Areas (TAs):

Each proposal must address only a single TA and include all phases.

 

Approximately $70M of total funding is anticipated for awards made against this BAA, with a distribution of $40M in Technical Area 1 (TA1); $15M in Technical Area 2 (TA2); and $15M in Technical Area 3 (TA3). Multiple awards are anticipated in each Technical Area.

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.

Energy Frontier Research Centers *

Harvard Internal Letter of Intent Deadline: December 17, 2019

FAS/SEAS/OSP Pre-Proposal Deadline (if nominated): January 9, 2020

Sponsor Pre-Proposal Deadline (if nominated): January 16, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): March 31, 2020

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): April 7, 2020

Award Amount: $2-4M per year for up to 4 years

Limit on Number of Applications: 2 per institution as a lead organization; no limit per institution as a subawardee; an individual may be named an EFRC Director on only one pre-application; d irectors of existing EFRC awards that do not have project end dates in 2020 cannot be named as the EFRC Director on any application in response to this FOA.

 

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) has announced a call for Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) proposals. The EFRC program brings together the skills, talents, and expertise of teams of scientists to perform energy-relevant, basic research with a scope and complexity beyond what is possible in standard single-investigator or small-group awards. These multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary centers enable, encourage, and accelerate transformative scientific advances for the most challenging topics in materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, and biosciences. EFRCs conduct fundamental research focused on one or more grand challenges, transformative opportunities, and basic research needs identified in major strategic planning efforts by BES and the scientific community. 

 

Applications will be required to address priority research directions and opportunities identified in recent BES workshop and roundtable reports, the scientific grand challenges identified in the report,  Directing Matter and Energy: Five Challenges for Science and the Imagination , and the opportunities described in the report  Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science . BES is soliciting proposals in four (4) topical areas: 1) Environmental Management (new and renewal proposals); 2) Quantum Information Science (new proposals only); 3) Microelectronics (new proposals only); and 4) Polymer Upcycling (new proposals only).

 

This is a limited submission opportunity and Harvard may not submit more than two applications as the lead organization. There is no limitation on the number of applications in which a specific entity may participate as a subawardee (team member). An individual may not be named as the EFRC Director on more than one pre-application. Directors of existing EFRC awards that do not have project end dates in 2020 cannot be named as the EFRC Director on any application in response to this FOA.

 

Those interested in submitting a proposal with Harvard as the lead organization must first submit a brief letter of intent of intent to Erin Hale at  [email protected]  no later than December 17, 2019 by 5:00PM.

 

The letter of intent should include the following information: 

FY2020 Research Opportunities in High Energy Physics *

Sponsor Letter of Intent Deadline (encouraged): December 18, 2019

FAS/SEAS/OSP Full Proposal Deadline: January 14, 2020

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: January 22, 2020

Award Amount: $20,000-$5,000,000/year. Awards are expected to be made for an average period of three years as befitting the project with some awards exceeding the average and other awards less than the average.

 

The DOE SC program in High Energy Physics (HEP) invites new and renewal grant applications for support of research programs in high energy physics. The mission of the HEP program is to understand how the universe works at its most fundamental level, which is done by discovering the elementary constituents of matter and energy, probing the interactions between them, and exploring the basic nature of space and time. The scientific objectives and priorities for the field recommended by the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) are detailed in its recent long-range strategic Particle Physics Project Prioritization Plan (P5), available here. 

 

The HEP program focuses on three (3) experimental scientific frontiers: 

Together, these three interrelated and complementary discovery frontiers offer the opportunity to answer some of the most basic questions about the world around us. Also integral to the mission of HEP are three crosscutting research areas that enable new scientific opportunities by developing the necessary tools and methods for discoveries: 

ARPA-E: FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS) *

Sponsor Concept Paper Deadline: December 23, 2019

FAS/SEAS/OSP Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): 5 business days prior to sponsor deadline

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): TBD

Award Amount: $250,000-$10 million. The period of performance for funding agreements may not exceed 51 months for Phase 1 and Phase 2 combined. Cost sharing requirements vary depending on type of applicant/project team. See solicitation for more details.

 

The objective of the FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS) program is to fund the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that enable power generators to be responsive to grid conditions in a high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration environment. This includes retrofits to existing power generators as well as greenfield systems with a carbon-containing fuel input and electricity as an output (i.e., a "black box" in which the nature of the fuel-to-electricity conversion process is not prescribed). The value of such CCS technologies will be evaluated by their impact on the system LCOE of a net-zero carbon electricity grid, as determined by capacity expansion modeling. ARPA-E does not expect every CCS technology itself to be a net-zero carbon process; instead the cost and performance of each project selected under this FOA will be evaluated in the context of a net-zero carbon system which may include negative emission assets. 

ARPA-E: Breakthroughs Enabling Thermonuclear-Fusion Energy *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 7, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: January 14, 2020

Award Amount: $150,000-$10 million. The period of performance for funding agreements may not exceed 42 months. Cost sharing requirements vary depending on type of applicant/project team. See solicitation for more details.

 

ARPA-E aims to support the development of timely, commercially viable fusion energy. Based on numerous studies examining the cost challenges facing advanced nuclear energy, which shares some attributes with fusion such as unit size, capital cost, and power-generation characteristics, ARPA-E believes that a commercial fusion power plant should target an overnight capital cost (OCC) of <US$2B and <$5/W. If a grid-ready fusion demonstration can be realized within approximately twenty years while satisfying these cost metrics, then, as a firm low-carbon energy source, fusion can contribute to meeting global, growing low-carbon energy demand and cost-effective deep decarbonization in the latter half of the century. This program addresses the need to lower the costs of development and eventual deployment of commercial fusion energy by supporting R&D to increase the performance and number of credible, lower-cost fusion concepts. The technology-to-market (T2M) component of this program, via a number of planned activities at the project and program levels, aims to build and smooth the path to fusion commercialization to include public, private, and philanthropic partnerships.

Early Career Research Program *

Sponsor Pre-Application Deadline (required): January 7, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline (if invited): March 9, 2020

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): March 16, 2020

Award Amount: Average of $750,000 for five years. Larger awards (historic maximum of $960,000) are possible with sufficient justification. The ceiling for an application is $1,000,000 over five years.

 

The Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Research Program supports the development of the individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulates research careers in the disciplines supported by the DOE Office of Science. Opportunities exist in the following program areas: 

• Advanced Scientific Computing Research
• Biological and Environmental Research
• Basic Energy Sciences
• Fusion Energy Sciences
• High Energy Physics
• Nuclear Physics 

Applicants must be untenured assistant or associate professors who received doctorates no earlier than 2009. If a principal investigator has multiple doctorates, the discipline of the one earned within the eligibility window should be relevant to the proposed research.

 

Recent Harvard recipients include Cora Dvorkin (Physics, 2019), Stratos Idreos (SEAS, 2019), Kang Kuen Ni (CCB, 2018), Theodore Betley (CCB, 2012) and Matthew Schwartz (Physics, 2010).

ARPA-E: Electricity System Models for Carbon Capture Resources *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 14, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: January 22, 2020

Award Amount: Up to $750,000 for 24 months maximum. Cost sharing requirements vary depending on type of applicant/project team. See solicitation for more details.

 

The purpose of this announcement is to (1) solicit Full Applications for the development of modeling tools which can evaluate the value of fossil-fueled power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in future electricity grids under a range of scenarios and (2) provide a timetable for the submission of Full Applications. These tools will be used to analyze the value of various CCS technologies in an electricity grid with a large share of variable renewable energy (VRE) generators such as wind and solar power; they are not meant to be policy proscriptions or market predictions of any kind. 

 

The main objective of this Special Program Announcement is to develop electricity system models and associated analysis that can inform technology development for new grid resources, including the ability to model CCS-enabled power plants with more fidelity as well as model negative-emission resources such as direct air capture (DAC) systems. Another objective of this Special Program Announcement is to generate a set of electricity price signals that will allow CCS technology developers to appropriately value the operating characteristics of their systems, and to evaluate how technology tradeoffs will impact total system costs of electricity under a range of carbon emissions constraints.

Atmospheric System Research *

Sponsor Pre-Proposal Deadline (required): January 21, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): March 3, 2020

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): March 10, 2020

Award Amount: $900,000 maximum for 3-year projects, $600,000 maximum for 2-year projects in response to FOA topics 1, 2, or 3; $600,000 maximum for 3-year or 2-year projects in response to FOA topic 4 (New Data Products)

 

The program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) announces its interest in receiving applications for Atmospheric System Research (ASR) within BER's Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD). ASR supports research on key cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and radiative transfer processes that affect the Earth's radiative balance and hydrological cycle, especially processes that limit the predictive ability of regional and global models. This FOA solicits research grant applications for observational, data analysis, and/or modeling studies that use observations supported by BER, including the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, to improve understanding and model representation of 1) aerosol-cloud interactions and 2) high-latitude atmospheric processes; 3) to support aerosol and cloud research associated with ARM's Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER); and/or 4) to develop new proof-of-concept data products from ARM site instruments. All research supported from awards under this FOA is intended to benefit the public through increasing our understanding of the Earth system.

Computational Tool Development for Integrative Systems Biology Data Analysis *

Sponsor Pre-Application Deadline (required): January 31, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): April 2, 2020

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): April 9, 2020

Award Amount: $350,000 maximum per year for multi-institutional collaborations; $200,000 maximum per year for single institution awards for up to three years

 

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER), announces its interest in receiving applications for research in developing computational approaches that can integrate large, disparate data types from multiple and heterogeneous sources, such as those used in the Genomic Science program (GSP) ( http://genomicscience.energy.gov ). Research supported by awards resulting from this FOA will promote human understanding of the natural world through analysis of high-throughput biological systems data. BER has an ongoing mission of improving translation from the molecular to cellular realm within scientific disciplines supported by DOE.

Other DOE Opportunities

• Request for Information - Biotechnologies to Ensure a Robust Mineral Supply Chain for Clean Energy - December 17, 2019
• Request for Information: Reactive Capture of Carbon Dioxide - January 7, 2020*
• 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
• Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement entitled: BOTTLE: Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment*
• Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement entitled: Extreme Environment Materials for Power Generation*
• Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement entitled: University Training and Research for Fossil Energy Applications*

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, 2024

Award Amount: As a result of this solicitation, the ISS Program intends to offer a series of targeted awards in three Phases: 1) Early concept development (awards nominally up to $200k), 2) Design maturation and prototype development (awards nominally up to $1.5M), and 3) Flight hardware production and in-flight operations to gain actual experience in the LEO environment (awards nominally up to $5M).

 

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. 

Human Exploration Research Opportunities (HERO) Appendix C: Topics in Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation *

Sponsor Deadline for Step 1 Proposals (required): January 3, 2020

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

Sponsor Deadline for Step 2 Proposals (if invited): April 6, 2020

Award Amount: Varies by topic area (please see solicitation for full details)

 

Proposals are solicited by NASA in the areas of Countermeasures for Mitigation of Sensorimotor Effects Following Unloading by Simulated Weightlessness (Head-Down Bed Rest); Mitigation of Motion Sickness During and Immediately Following G-Transitions when Returning from Space to Earth; Long-Term Ocular and Brain Structural/Functional Consequences of Spaceflight; Exploration Mission "On-board" Psychological Interventions: Identification, Verification & Validation; Maintaining Team Performance and Functioning: Team Dynamics and Interpersonal Relationships; Space Radiation Exposure and Tissue Homeostasis; Interaction of Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential and Space Radiation Exposure on the Risks of Leukemia and Cardiovascular Disease; and Hematopoietic and Immune System Functional Endpoints.

 

8-10 awards are anticipated.

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) - April 3, 2020
• NASA Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion-2020 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2020)  - December 18, 2020

1. Data Science: For the purposes of this K99/R00 award, data science is defined as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry in which quantitative and analytical approaches, processes, and systems are both developed and used to extract knowledge and insights from increasingly large and/or complex sets of data. This includes cancer-focused data integration and visualization, systems biology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, informatics, genomics, precision oncology, and developing analytics for epidemiological or biostatistical studies. 
2. Cancer Control Science: For the purposes of this K99/R00 award, cancer control science is defined as basic and applied research in the behavioral, social, and population sciences to create or enhance interventions that, independently or in combination with biomedical approaches, reduce cancer risk, incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and improve quality of life. This includes research in epidemiology, behavioral sciences, health services, surveillance, cancer survivorship, and healthcare policy.
3. Other Sciences: For the purposes of this K99/R00 award, "Other Sciences" includes all scientific fields supported by the NCI that are not included in (A) or (B). Applicants proposing research in (C) "Other Sciences" may apply only if it is reasonable to expect them to transition to independence with an abbreviated period of mentored research training beyond their original doctoral degrees.   

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.

Supporting Transition of Research into Cities Through the U.S. ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation Cities) Smart Cities Partnership *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: February 21, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: March 1, 2020

Award Amount:  Supplemental funding requests and EAGER proposals will provide support for periods of up to two years and up to $300,000.

Through this Dear Colleague Letter, the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) together with the Department of State's Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs wishes to notify the U.S. community of its intention to support the following high-impact research-transition funding requests aligned with the U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership:

• Supplemental funding requests for active awards funded by the NSF Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) programs; and
• Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals exploring early-stage, untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches building on prior success in activities related to smart and connected communities and/or transitioning to practice research that is relevant to communities.

S&CC research integrates social and technological dimensions and is targeted at one or more communities. While S&CC research may eventually yield successful outcomes in the targeted communities, when initially applied to new environments and cultural contexts, new challenges will emerge. Such challenges introduce an element of high risk where the solutions have a corresponding potential for high impact in improving quality of life. Through this DCL, NSF is specifically announcing its intention to support such activities, where the "new environment" is within the ASEAN region.

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: Rolling through 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: Rolling through April 1, 2020 for proposals to MCB. Proposals submitted to DMS through the Mathematical Biology program must be submitted during the program's normal submission window: August 20-September 8, 2020.

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: Rolling through 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: January 10, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: January 17, 2020

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:

EarthCube: Developing a Community-Driven Data and Knowledge Environment for the Geosciences *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: March 5, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: March 12, 2020

Award Amount: up to 36 months with budgets that are commensurate with the size and scope of the project and scientific impact (Science-Enabling Capabilities); up to 24 months with budgets that are commensurate with the size and scope of the project and scientific impact (Science-Enabling Pilots); up to 36 months and a maximum of $300,000 (Research Coordination Networks). In addition to these solicited opportunities, the EarthCube program will accept requests for supplements to support adoption of emerging EarthCube open web standards and existing cyberinfrastructure by science projects and data resources. Please see details below. 

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, 2019

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.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline for Preliminary Proposal: February 5, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Preliminary Proposal: February 12, 2020

Award Amount:  $1.5M to $1.7M for a duration of four years

The Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (ECO-CBET) solicitation will support activities that substantially advance our capabilities to address environmental and sustainability grand challenges by integrating the expertise and fundamental advancements of chemical processes, transport phenomena, and bioengineering. The proposed research is expected to be compelling and broad reaching, going well beyond that typically supported by any single CBET core program. This solicitation is an opportunity to build and sustain collaborative bridges with research communities across the programmatic clusters of CBET, which include  Chemical Process Systems ,  Engineering Biology and Health ,  Environmental Engineering and Sustainability , and  Transport Phenomena .

Teams are expected to work cooperatively over the life of the project to understand and address the proposed challenge. Sustained open dialogue will be necessary to fully benefit from the unique skills and perspective each member brings to the table. Teams are also encouraged to apply, and further develop, advanced research tools required to address problems of the magnitude represented by global environmental and sustainability challenges. 

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 

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.

National Robotics Initiative 2.0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2.0) *

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

Sponsor Deadline: February 12, 2020 - February 26, 2020

Award Amount: $250,000 to $750,000 in total costs for up to three years (Foundational Projects); $250,000 to $1,500,000 in total costs for up to four years (Integrative Projects)

The NRI-2.0 program builds upon the original National Robotics Initiative (NRI) program to support fundamental research in the United States that will accelerate the development and use of collaborative robots (co-robots). A co-robot is a robot whose main purpose is to work with people or other robots to accomplish a goal. An ideal co-robot is an adaptable partner, not limited to a narrow set of specified interactions or functions, but able to significantly enhance team performance despite changes in its role, its teammates, or the team's collective goals. The focus of the NRI-2.0 program is on ubiquity, which in this context means seamless integration of co-robots to assist humans in every aspect of life.

The program supports four main research themes that are envisioned to advance the goal of ubiquitous co-robots: scalability, customizability, lowering barriers to entry, and societal impact, including human safety. Topics addressing scalability include how robots can collaborate effectively with orders of magnitude more humans or other robots than is handled by the current state of the art; how robots can perceive, plan, act, and learn in uncertain, real-world environments, especially in a distributed fashion; and how to facilitate large-scale, safe, robust and reliable operation of robots in complex environments. Customizability includes how to enable co-robots to adapt to specific different tasks, environments, or people, with minimal modification to hardware and software; how robots can personalize their interactions with people; and how robots can communicate naturally with humans, both verbally and non-verbally. Topics in lowering barriers to entry should focus on lowering the barriers for conducting fundamental robotics research and research on integrated robotics application. This may include development of open-source co-robot hardware and software, as well as widely-accessible testbeds. Outreach or using robots in educational programs do not, by themselves, lower the barriers to entry for robotics research. Topics in societal impact include fundamental research to establish and infuse robotics into educational curricula, advance the robotics workforce through education pathways, and explore the social, economic, ethical, security, and legal implications of our future with ubiquitous collaborative robots. Collaboration between academic, industry, non-profit, and other organizations is encouraged to establish better linkages between fundamental science and engineering and technology development, deployment, and use.

Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Core Research (FW-HTF) *

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: March 2, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: March 9, 2020

Award Amount: up to $150,000 

The specific objectives of the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program are to (1) facilitate convergent research that employs the joint perspectives, methods, and knowledge of computer science, design, engineering, learning sciences, research on education and workforce training, and social, behavioral, and economic sciences; (2) encourage the development of a research community dedicated to designing intelligent technologies and work organization and modes inspired by their positive impact on individual workers, the work at hand, the way people learn and adapt to technological change, creative and supportive workplaces (including remote locations, homes, classrooms, or virtual spaces), and benefits for social, economic, educational, and environmental systems at different scales; (3) promote deeper basic understanding of the interdependent human-technology partnership to advance societal needs by advancing design of intelligent work technologies that operate in harmony with human workers, including consideration of how adults learn the new skills needed to interact with these technologies in the workplace, and by enabling broad workforce participation, including improving accessibility for those challenged by physical or cognitive impairment; and (4) understand, anticipate, and explore ways of mitigating potential risks arising from future work at the human-technology frontier. Ultimately, this research will advance understanding of how technology and people interact, distribute tasks, cooperate, and complement each other in different specific work contexts of significant societal importance. It will advance the knowledge base related to worker education and training and formal and informal learning to enable all potential workers to adapt to changing work environments. It will advance our understanding of the links between the future of work at the human-technology frontier and the surrounding society, including the intended potential of new technologies and the unintended consequences for workers and the well-being of society.

A proposal for a research grant in this program must focus on advancing fundamental understanding of future work, and potential improvements to work, workplaces, workforce preparation, or work outcomes for workers and society. It must be convergent research that addresses the human and societal dimensions as well as the technological innovation and their potential impact on future work. In doing so, the research should make significant contributions to both intellectual merit and broader impact. Achieving this goal requires integration and convergence of disciplines across behavioral science, computer science, economic science, engineering, learning sciences, research on education and workforce training, and the social sciences. A convergent perspective is essential to understand and shape long-term social and economic drivers, so that advanced intelligent technology will strengthen the social fabric. A convergent perspective also provides insights into education and re-skilling, so that the benefits of emerging technology can be conferred upon both current and future workers.

Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Storage and Retrieval (SemiSynBio-II) *

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

Sponsor Deadline: February 14, 2020 - March 16, 2020

Award Amount: up to $1,500,000 for 3 years

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Divisions of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS), Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF), Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB), and Materials Research (DMR) announces a follow-up solicitation on the Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Storage and Retrieval Program (SemiSynBio-II). Future ultra-low energy storage-based computing systems can be built on principles derived from organic systems that are at the intersection of physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and engineering. Next-generation information storage technologies can be envisioned that are driven by biological principles and use biomaterials in the fabrication of devices and systems that can store data for more than 100 years with storage capacity 1,000 times more than current storage technologies. Such a research effort can have a significant impact on the future of information storage and retrieval technologies. This focused solicitation seeks high-risk/high-return interdisciplinary research on novel concepts and enabling technologies that will address the fundamental scientific issues and technological challenges associated with the underpinnings of synthetic biology integrated with semiconductor technology. This research will foster interactions among various disciplines including biology, physics, chemistry, materials science, computer science and engineering that will enable in heretofore unanticipated breakthroughs.

This solicitation addresses the overlapping objectives of the  National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan  (NSW-SAP) and the  National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) Update  through a pilot program. The goal of this pilot program is to transform development of predictive modeling of the coupled evolution of the magnetized solar atmosphere and the solar wind, and their interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. This requires advancing our understanding of the necessary and sufficient requirements of model complexity, computational performance, and observational inputs. The pilot program is also expected to directly contribute to the long-term goal of creating space weather models with quantifiable predictive capability.  It is expected that the proposing teams will seek to develop methodology, computationally scalable algorithms, and open-source software elements for one or more of the following:

1. On-the-fly reduction and assimilation of observational data from diverse and distributed sources - including sparse in situ and remote sensing ground and space-based data - into physics-based numerical models (e.g., numerical solutions of highly non-linear systems of spatially and temporally discretized partial differential equations (PDEs)).
2. Evaluation and propagation of uncertainties associated with the data assimilation and numerical solutions of the PDEs in the presence of large numbers of model parameters, as well as the model uncertainty of a reduced physical description.
3. Integrated modeling of the multi-physics and spatially and temporally multi-scale space plasma phenomena with uncertainty quantification and efficient implementation on heterogeneous computer architectures.

A competitive proposal must present a compelling case that, if awarded, one or more of the above software elements or their algorithmic prototypes will be developed within a three-year time frame. It is expected that any software elements will be developed using sustainable software infrastructure best practices with a specific vision for integration of multiple software elements.

Successful proposals will be funded for the duration of three years with awards providing resources beyond those available to an individual investigator, so as to promote a collaborative transdisciplinary approach to a focused topic while encouraging participation of scientists at the beginning of their scientific careers. The pilot program is intended to motivate early-career scientists to integrate knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple fields towards the goal of a predictive space weather model via support for training, workshops, and collaboration meetings to be included in the proposed research effort. It is therefore strongly encouraged that the proposed research effort include early-career scientists and software engineers in substantive roles central to the completion of the proposed project. For this solicitation, early career scientists and engineers are defined as graduate students, post-doctoral scientists, and those otherwise within 5 years of receiving their terminal-level degree.

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For assistance, please contact:

Jennifer Corby

Research Development Officer

[email protected] | 617-495-1590