November 2016

The FAS Research Development group publishes this monthly Funding Newsletter for SEAS faculty and researchers. The newsletter includes notable Federal, private, and internal Harvard funding opportunities. To provide feedback, please complete our two-question survey .  

Questions? 
Erin Cromack:  cromack@fas.harvard.edu |  617-496-5252 
Jennifer Corby:  jcorby@fas.harvard.edu |  617-495-1590  


For more information on our support services, please visit our  website .

Did you know?
 Harvard affiliates have access to Pivot, a funding opportunity database

Funding Opportunities

Click on the links below to read a program synopsis
 

Internal Opportunities

External Opportunities

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Computer & Information Science and Engineering (NSF: CISE)
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering

National Science Foundation: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary

Internal Opportunities
 
Milton
Deadline: February 1, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $50,000 payable over one year
Eligible Applicants: Ladder faculty and junior fellows of the Harvard Society of Fellows
 
Funding research projects in the fields of medicine, geography, history and science, the winning projects must either promote the physical and material welfare and prosperity of the human race, or investigate and determine the value and importance of any discovery or invention, or assist in the discovery and perfecting of any special means of alleviating or curing human disease. Reviewers will evaluate applications on intellectual merit, interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, and likely impact on all fields of medicine, geography, history and science.  Funds awarded through the Milton Fund support research to explore new ideas, to act as the catalyst between ideas and more definitive directions, and to consider new methods of approaching global solutions.  Preference will be given to junior investigators

U.S. Department of Defense


AirForce
U.S. Air Force Research Lab
Summer Faculty Fellowship Program
OSP Deadline: November 21, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: November 30, 2016
Award Amount: Stipends vary depending upon academic status and total number of weeks in residence   

The Summer Faculty Fellowship Program offers hands-on exposure to Air Force research challenges through 8- to 12-week research residencies at participating Air Force research facilities for full-time science, mathematics, and engineering faculty. Faculty Fellows have the opportunity to bring a graduate student with them.
 
Applicants for both the faculty and graduate student positions must be citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States. Applicants' research interests must be in line with the interests and needs of the various Air Force Research Facilities. These include the nine Air Force Research Laboratory Directorates, Air Force Test Center, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Air Force Institute of Technology. Click here to learn more about the areas of interest to the various Air Force Research Facilities and for contact information for each facility.


 
DARPAInsect
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Insect Allies
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for Proposal Abstracts (recommended): December 6, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 17, 2017
Award Amount: Dependent on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. Insect Allies will encompass a four year effort organized into three consecutive phases lasting 12, 18, and 18 months, respectively     
 
DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals that enable expression of crop traits within a single growing season at scale by delivering a modified virus to target plants by a mobile insect vector; thereby addressing national security challenges in agriculture domestically and abroad. Respondents to this BAA must propose novel approaches to modify an insect-transmitted virus to confer traits to a crop of agricultural value by means of a host-specific vector. It is expected that proposals will involve multidisciplinary teams that include expertise from multiple complementary disciplines (e.g., virology, vector entomology, and plant biotechnology).

During Phase 1, performer teams will demonstrate successful delivery of a transgene to individual plants via an insect-mediated virus, and the subsequent expression of that transgene within the plant. Phase 2 will focus on modification of the components of the delivery platform (virus, insect, and plant) for improved transmission and expression of genetic material, so as to provide a robust and controllable system that can be scaled within a closed monoculture inside a greenhouse. During Phase 3, alteration of plant traits  will be developed, likely using a multiple gene approach. In Phase 3, the transfer and expression of genes, resulting in the target plant's gain of function, will be demonstrated in contained complex  environments with multiple plant species present where only target plants are modified.
 
The Insect Allies program consists of three Technical Areas (TAs) to be addressed concurrently.  Proposers must address all three TAs and must meet key milestones throughout the period of  Performance:
  • TA1: Engineered plant virus ("Virus")
  • TA2: Viral delivery by insect vector ("Insect")
  • TA3: Rapid mature plant transformation ("Plant")


AFOSR
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
Military Medical Photonics Program
OSP Deadline: December 16, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 31, 2016
Award Amount: $300,000 to $3.5M for up to 3 years  

AFOSR seeks unclassified proposals for broad- based research and development aimed at using lasers and other light source technology to develop applications in medicine, photobiology, surgery, and closely related materials sciences, with applications to combat casualty care and other military medical problems. This announcement is primarily directed toward university-based medical institutions; however, all qualified and responsible prime applicants located in the United States are eligible to submit proposals. The highest priority will be extended to proposals up to three years duration to be conducted by teams of physicians, biomedical scientists, physical scientists, and engineers. The efforts proposed may be basic or applied research, and must have direct relevance to combat casualty care or other military medical priorities. Applicants must demonstrate substantial experience working to further military medical priorities, including transitioning research into clinical practice and working products. Substantial experience collaborating with military medical centers is also a requirement to establish relevance to combat casualty care or other military medical priorities, and facilitate the transition of research results to meet military needs. 

Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as practicable. Proposals may be reviewed and selected as received. Awards may take the form of grants or contracts.


 
SERDP
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Office
SERDP Non-Federal Broad Agency Announcement
OSP Deadline: December 23, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Proposals: January 5, 2017
Award Amount: Multiple awards totaling approximately $10M will be made, dependent on the quality of proposals received and availability of funds

The SERDP Office is interested in receiving pre-proposals for research focusing in the areas of Environmental Restoration, Munitions Response, Resource Conservation and Climate Change, and Weapons Systems and Platforms technologies. 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.



ONRFY17
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
FY17 Funding Opportunity Announcement for Navy and Marine Corps Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Education, Outreach and Workforce Program
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Submission Windows for White Paper Pre-Proposals: Through January 3, 2017 for FY17 funding potential; and May 1, 2017 to August 31, 2017 for FY18 funding potential
Award Amount: Up to $250,000 per year. Cost proposals for larger amounts will be considered on a case by case basis. The period of performance will typically range from 12 to 36 months 
 
The ONR seeks a broad range of proposals for augmenting existing or developing innovative solutions that directly maintain, or cultivate a diverse, world-class STEM workforce in order to maintain the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' technological superiority. The goal of any proposed effort must provide solutions that will establish and maintain pathways of diverse U.S. citizens who are interested in uniformed or civilian DoN (or Navy and Marine Corps) STEM workforce opportunities. 

This announcement encourages projects that improve the capacity of education systems and communities to create impactful STEM educational experiences for students including active learning approaches and incorporating 21st century skills. Projects must aim to increase student engagement in STEM and persistence of students in STEM degrees, while improving student technical capacity. ONR encourages proposals to utilize current STEM educational research for informing project design and advancing our understanding of how and why students choose STEM careers and opportunities of naval relevance. While this announcement is relevant for any stage of the STEM educational system, funding efforts will be targeted primarily toward the future and current DoN (naval) STEM workforce in High School, all categories of Post-Secondary institutions, the STEM research enterprise, and efforts that enhance the current naval STEM workforce and its mission readiness.



AFRLRX
Air Force Research Laboratory
AFRL/RX Structural Materials Open Broad Agency Announcement
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers: November 4, 2018
Award Amount: $100,000 to $5M per contract over 12 to 60 months
  
Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate is soliciting white papers and potentially technical and cost proposals under this announcement that support the needs of its Structural Materials and Applications mission. Structural Materials technologies that range from materials and scientific discovery through technology development and transition are of interest. Descriptors of Materials and Manufacturing Directorate technology interests are in two contexts; that of structural materials science and engineering academic "competencies," and that of Air Force application area needs.



RDECOM
U.S. Army Research, Development & Engineering Command (RDECOM)
Broad Agency Announcement for Night Vision Technologies
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Open through FY19 (see below for individual program's deadlines)
Award Amount: There is no "a priori judgment" regarding the number or size of individual awards or the allocation of total research and development funds across the technology solutions. The desired period of performance for awards is two years 

This BAA solicits proposals against a broad range of night vision technologies which support the Warfighter and challenges of Asymmetric Warfare.
 
Under the Modeling and Simulation Technical Area (TA), proposals will be considered three times per year - December 2, April 7 and August 4. This TA solicits proposals on the following topics: 1) Human Perception Research; 2) Augmented Reality and Embedded Simulation of EO/IR Sensors; 3) Recognition of Combatants - Vehicles Research; 4) Target Acquisition Performance Modeling; 5) Integrated Sensor Architecture (ISA); 6) Advanced Sensor Evaluation; and 7) Simulation and Experimentation of EO/IR Sensors.
 
Under the Air Systems Technical Area, proposals will be considered one time per year on November 4. This TA solicits proposals on the following topics: 1) Distributed Aperture System and Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion for Degraded Visual Environments (DVE); and 2) WFOV LWIR Camera Development.
 
Under the Innovative Technologies Technical Area, proposals will be considered two times per year - March 30 and August 15. Proposals are sought from universities for basic and applied research in a wide variety of topic areas including, but not limited to, materials science, microelectronics, RF, chip-scale sensors, computing & processing, algorithms, optoelectronics, electrooptics and infrared, devices, photonics, imaging, big data, embedded systems, modeling & simulation and bioengineering.



ArmyMC
Department of the Army: Materiel Command
Defense Forensic Science Center Broad Agency Announcement for Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (recommended): May 14, 2021
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: August 14, 2021
Award Amount: There are no funding level restrictions associated with this BAA  

This Program aims to enhance the capability of forensic science applications in traditional law enforcement/criminal justice purviews and in expeditionary environments. The Program accomplishes this mission by funding research projects that lead to the production of useful knowledge, materials, devices, systems, or methods that have forensic function. Forensic research proposals should focus on the creation of new and improved field or laboratory functional capabilities that result in faster, more robust, more informative, less costly, or less labor-intensive recognition, preservation, collection, and/or analysis of forensic evidence. Proposals involving the development of equipment that is portable, sustainable, and useful in an expeditionary or field environment are also solicited.
 
Research and development focus areas include, but are not limited to: 1) Digital evidence and computer forensics; 2) Signal processing/visual comparison of patterned and impression forensic materials; 3) Analytical chemistry (detection of compounds/molecules/elements); 4) Molecular biology; 5) Forensic genetics; 6) Forensic equipment miniaturization/ruggedization; and 7) Site exploitation and forensic material recognition.



DODBAAs
Other DoD Opportunities:

I f you are interested in DoD funding opportunities, please note:
The  Defense Innovation Marketplace  is a centralized source for Department of Defense science and technology (S&T) planning, acquisition resources, funding, and financial information. 


 
DOEBiosystems2
Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research  
Biosystems Design to Enable Next-Generation Biofuels and Bioproducts
Sponsor Pre-Proposal Deadline (required): December 19, 2016
OSP Full Proposal Deadline: March 13, 2017
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (by invitation): March 20, 2017
Award Amount: $1M to $5M per year for up to five years
 
Biological and Environmental Research (BER) of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research of interest to the Genomic Science Program in the following research areas:
  • Integrating large-scale systems biology data to model, design, and engineer microbial systems for the production of biofuels and bioproducts: Interdisciplinary approaches to develop innovative, high-throughput modeling, genome-wide design and editing, and engineering technologies for a broad range of microbes relevant for the production of biofuels and bioproducts from biomass;
  • Plant systems design for bioenergy: To develop novel technologies for genome-scale engineering to re-design bioenergy crops that can grow in marginal environments while producing high yield of biomass that can be easily converted to biofuels and bioproducts.
Applications should include strategies to address biocontainment, minimizing risks of potential release of engineered organisms into the environment or other unintended outcomes.  For this FOA, relevant biofuels are non-food crop-derived and/or microbiologically synthesized fuels other than ethanol, and bioproducts are those that will replace petroleumderived non-pharmaceutical chemicals.



FY17Consolidated
Fiscal Year 2017 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research: Integrated Research Projects
OSP Deadline: February 10, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 17, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $5M over 3 years (except for individual workshops)
 
U.S. University-led Integrated Research Projects are significant projects within specific research areas, intended to develop a capability within each area to address specific needs, problems, or capability gaps identified and defined by the Office of Nuclear Energy.  These projects are multidisciplinary and require multi-institutional partners.  IRPs may include a combination of evaluation capability development, research program development, experimental work, and computer simulations. IRPs are intended to integrate several disciplinary skills in order to present solutions to complex systems design problems that cannot be addressed by a less comprehensive team. Although a proposing team must be led by a lead university PI and include at least one additional university collaborator, the proposed project team may include multiple universities and nonuniversity partners (e.g., industry/utility, minority-serving institution (MSI), national laboratory, underrepresented group, and international).

Please note that the letter of intent and pre-proposal deadlines for the additional two funding mechanisms mentioned in this announcement (NSUF and R&D) have already passed.



IDEAS
Advanced Research Projects (ARPA-E)
Innovative Development in Energy-Related Applied Science (IDEAS)
OSP Deadline: Not required for concept papers
Sponsor Concept Paper Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 over one year
 
This program provides rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. IDEAS awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. IDEAS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that also do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology.



DOEAnnual
Office of Science  Annual Funding Opportunity Announcement
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2017
 
The Office of Science (SC) supports work in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics. This annual, broad, open solicitation covers all of the research areas in the Office of Science and is open throughout the Fiscal Year and will remain open until September 30, 2017, 11:59 PM Eastern Time, or until it is succeeded by another issuance, whichever occurs first.


Foundation Opportunities

Kavli
Kavli Microbiome Ideas Challenge
OSP Deadline: November 23, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 2, 2016
Award Amount: A total of three to four awards will be supported with a minimum of $250K,000 and a maximum of $350,000 per award
 
The Kavli Microbiome Ideas Challenge invites the broad scientific community to submit their ideas for groundbreaking experimental tools and methods for understanding microbial function. This Ideas Challenge recognizes the need for an interdisciplinary approach to microbiome research and invites the scientific community--including microbiologists, ecologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, material scientists, nanoscientists, computational scientists and others--to submit their ideas for novel experimental tools and methods aimed at understanding microbial interactions and function from new perspectives. Ideas for novel tools and methods will be broadly applicable across the many environments studied in microbiome research--the earth's soils, ocean and freshwater environments, and atmosphere; as well as animal hosts' gut and skin ecosystems. Ideas should facilitate collaboration among scientists with expertise in various disciplines that could advance microbiome research.



McKnight
Technology Awards
OSP Deadline: November 28, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 5, 2016
Award Amount: $100,000 per year for 2 years
 
These awards encourage and support scientists working on the development of novel and creative approaches to understanding brain function. The Endowment Fund is interested in how a new technology may be used to monitor, manipulate, analyze, or model brain function at any level, from the molecular to the entire organism. Technology may take any form, from biochemical tools to instruments to software and mathematical approaches. Because the program seeks to advance and enlarge the range of technologies available to the neurosciences, research based primarily on existing techniques will not be considered.  

Applicants must be in tenured or tenure-track faculty positions, and may not be employees of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute or scientists within the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health.



Dana
Dana Foundation Neuroimaging Program
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 9, 2017
Award Amount: $200,000 over 3 years
Target Faculty: Assistant Professors or early Associate Professors.  Senior investigators may apply only if the proposed study represents a new research direction
NOTE: This is a limited submission opportunity and only one application will be accepted from Harvard University. 
 
The Dana Foundation supports research on imaging innovations that help reveal how the human brain functions normally, how disorders and injuries alter these functions, and how various therapies affect these conditions. Since immune cells are often integrally involved in the development of, protection against, or responses to brain diseases and injuries, funded research also can focus on immune cell interactions with brain cells. Scientists, using either conventional brain imaging techniques, cellular and molecular imaging technologies, or a combination of both, are supported to undertake pilot tests of novel hypotheses. These data then can be used to compete for larger-scale funding from other sources. 

Studies tend to focus on how imaging can enhance understanding of normal brain functioning; improve diagnosis; expand understanding of disease or injury processes; and assess treatment effects. Additionally, studies designed to refine existing imaging techniques, or to further develop new techniques to address specific clinical questions, are supported.



KeckF
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 9, 2017
Sponsor Phase I Deadline (if nominated): May 1, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000 to $5M (typical grant size is $2M or less)
 
The Research Program seeks to benefit humanity by supporting projects in two specific areas (1) medical research and (2) science and engineering, that are distinctive and novel in their approach, question the prevailing paradigm, or have the potential to break open new territory in their field. Funding is awarded to universities and institutions nationwide for projects in research that:
  • Focus on important and emerging areas of research;
  • Have the potential to develop breakthrough technologies, instrumentation or methodologies;
  • Are innovative, distinctive and interdisciplinary;
  • Demonstrate a high level of risk due to unconventional approaches, or by challenging the prevailing paradigm;
  • Have the potential for transformative impact, such as the founding of a new field of research, the enabling of observations not previously possible, or the altered perception of a previously intractable problem;
  • Does not focus on clinical or translational research, treatment trials or research for the sole purpose of drug development;
  • Fall outside the mission of public funding agencies; and
  • Demonstrate that private philanthropy generally, and the W. M. Keck Foundation in particular, is essential to the project's success.


SimonsMath
Collaboration Grants for Mathematicians
OSP Deadline: January 24, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 31, 2017
Award Amount:   $8,400 per year for five years: $6,000 per year for collaboration, travel and research expenses for the awardee; $1,000 per year in discretionary funds for the awardee's department; and $1,400 per year in indirect costs to the awardee's institution
 
The Simons Foundation's Mathematics and Physical Sciences division invites applications for Collaboration Grants for Mathematicians to stimulate collaboration in the field primarily through the funding of travel and related expenditures. The goal of the program is to support the "mathematical marketplace" by substantially increasing collaborative contacts between mathematicians. The foundation will make a large number of collaboration grants to accomplished, active researchers in the United States who do not otherwise have access to funding that supports travel and visitors.  
Awards will be based on the quality of the applicant's previous research and on the likely impact that the collaboration grant will have on future research, both for the applicant and the applicant's graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows.


Teagle
Liberal Arts and the Professions
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: $200,000 to $300,000 for 2 to 3 years
 
This initiative has the goal of embedding liberal arts education throughout the curriculum of undergraduate professional programs by forging links between faculty in the liberal arts and professional  fields. The target areas of focus are engineering and business education. Such curricular integration will not only have a positive effect on how students in professional fields pursue their future work, but will also enrich the liberal arts curriculum itself with perspectives that merit sharing beyond the community of professional practitioners. To be considered for a grant, please review Teagle's application guidelines and submit a brief 3-5 page concept paper to proposals@teagle.org .  
 
Full proposals are welcomed by invitation and typically reflect a collaboration of four to six colleges/universities that exhibit an alignment of priorities and draw participants together as a community of practice.



McDonnell

James S. McDonnell Foundation
Studying Complex Systems Collaborative Activity Awards
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Budgets for collaborative activities vary greatly depending on the scope of the proposed project and on the number of people involved

The Foundation offers Collaborative Activity Awards to initiate interdisciplinary discussions on problems or issues, to help launch interdisciplinary research networks, or to fund communities of researchers and practitioners dedicated to developing new methods, tools, and applications of basic research to applied problems. Strong preference will be given to applications involving multi-institutional collaboration. 

Proposals furthering the science of complex systems and/or proposals intending to apply complex system tools and models to problems where such approaches are not yet considered usual or mainstream are appropriate.  Please note that this Foundation limits the number of inquiries an investigator may submit to one every three years. 



Simons
Targeted Grants in Mathematics and Physical Sciences
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.



IARPAVirtue
Virtuous User Environment (VirtUE)
OSP Deadline: December 5, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 12, 2016
Award Amount: Unspecified

VirtUE seeks to leverage the federal government's impending migration to commercial cloudbased information Technology (IT) infrastructures and the current explosion of new virtualization and operating system (OS) concepts to create and demonstrate a more secure interactive user computing environment (UCE) than the government has had in the past or likely to have in the near future. Currently the government UCE is represented by a general purpose Windows desktop OS running multiple installed applications hosted on either a dedicated physical computer or on a shared virtualized platform. When a desktop OS is hosted on a shared virtualized platform, it is called a virtualized desktop interface or VDI.

In Phase 1, VirtUE seeks to deliver an interactive UCE designed from the outset to be a more secure, capable sensor and defender in the cloud environment than the current government UCE solution. To be acceptable to potential government consumers, the new UCE must still offer functionality and performance characteristics comparable to the current government UCE. Phase 1 performers shall create a UCE that mitigates the exploitation of legacy and cloud-based vulnerabilities and/or provides numerous logging and protection options for future external security logic to do so.
In Phase 2, performers shall take the technologies and/or concepts developed in Phase 1 and create novel external analytics and security controls that leverage them. The purpose of this analytics/control effort is to create dynamic detection and protection capabilities that make the VirtUE user environment more resistant to attacks expected in the commercial cloud while minimizing the costs associated with these capabilities.
Collaborative efforts and teaming among potential performers are strongly encouraged. It is anticipated that teams will be multidisciplinary, including but not limited to expertise in areas such as virtualization, operating systems, user interfaces, machine learning, analytic development, cloud infrastructures, and computer security.


RFIDNAFace
IARPA
RFI: DNAtoFace
OSP review not required
Responses Due: December 16, 2016

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is seeking information on using genetic information to predict facial structure phenotype. This request for information (RFI) is issued solely for information gathering and planning purposes; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals.  Responses to this RFI should answer any or all of the following questions:

  1. What is the maturity and level of accuracy of genetic phenotyping outside of gender and genetic ancestry? Is additional information required to phenotype specific characteristics (e.g., height, eye color, skin tone, face structure, etc.)?
  2. Who are the major government, industry, and academic leaders in the field of genetic phenotyping?
  3. Compare and contrast the leading approaches and techniques for genetic phenotyping. Are any commercial capabilities available?
  4. What level of confidence are geneticists, scientists, or researchers able to predict major phenotype information (e.g., height, eye color, skin tone, face structure, etc.) from a whole DNA sequence? Is additional information outside the whole DNA sequence required?
  5. What is the impact of utilizing SNP as opposed to whole genome sequencing for predicting genotype to phenotype? Specifically, can facial structure prediction (phenotyping) be achieved with using just SNP? Will (and how will) this limit the accuracy of the predictions? Does the number of SNP collected (e.g., 500,000, 1,000,000, or 5,000,000) impact ability to predict a phenotype from genotype? Which specific SNP should be captured for a face structure phenotype prediction?
  6. How many subjects are needed to train a model to predict facial structure and appearance from both SNP and whole genome sequences? Is the required sample size different for SNP versus whole genome sequencing? Does ethnicity, age, or gender impact the required number of subjects?
  7. What large-scale SNP or whole genome sequence databases are available in government, academia, and industry? Do they contain corresponding face images? What are the terms of use for such databases?
  8. How will epigenetic factors play into any resulting analysis of attributes? What types of epigenetic tests and methodology should be considered?
  9. What types of statistical analysis have been done utilizing methods such as power analysis to determine how many subjects are needed to analyze non-disease based phenotypes? Please identify any research (peer reviewed or otherwise) that addresses the sampling needs from a theoretical or quantitative perspective.
  10. What other issues do you feel are important to being able to predict non-disease phenotypes from genetic information?


BAA

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days before submission to sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling between May 3, 2016 and May 2, 2017
Award Amount: Awards generally support a period of performance of 12 months or less; resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds
 
IARPA invests in high-risk, high-payoff research that has the potential to provide our nation with an overwhelming intelligence advantage. This BAA solicits abstracts or proposals for IARPA.  IARPA is soliciting proposals for research on topics that are not addressed by emerging or ongoing IARPA programs or other published IARPA solicitations. The BAA primarily, but not solely, seeks proposals for early stage research (which IARPA refers to as "seedlings").


National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

NASAJohnsonSpace
Johnson Space Center:  Research Opportunities for ISS Utilization
Exploration Technology Demonstration and National Lab Utilization Enhancements
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (recommended): October 31, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 31, 2017
Award Amount: 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
 
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 (ex. 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 . In addition, NASA seeks technology demonstrations related to the following thrust area: Space Suit CO2 Sensor.
 
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. 
One specific thrust area is still accepting proposals: Virtual Reality/360° Video System.



OtherNASA

Other NASA Opportunities
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

NIHNCI
National Cancer Institute Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award (F99/K00)
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 22, 2016
 
The NCI Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition (F99/K00) Award supports outstanding Ph.D. and other Research Doctoral candidates to complete their dissertation research training (F99 phase) and transition in a timely manner to mentored, cancer-focused postdoctoral career development research positions (K00 phase). Applicants for the F99 should be in their 3rd or 4th year of a Ph.D. degree program in a health-related research field relevant to the mission of the NCI during the tenure of the award.
 
This is a limited submission opportunity; only one application may be submitted from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. While the 2017 RFP has not been released yet, Harvard is conducting the internal competition now to select a nominee in advance of the NIH deadline, anticipated in January, 2017. Interested applicants should submit the following information to Erin Cromack at cromack@fas.harvard.edu by 12:00pm on Tuesday, November 22:

1.  One Page Summary of Dissertation Research Project
2.  One Paragraph Description of Training Goals
3.  Applicant Biosketch
4.  Brief Statement of Endorsement from Faculty Mentor.



OtherNIHOpps
Other NIH Opportunities:



National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters

NSFCDEnabling
Enabling New Collaborations Between Computer and Information Science & Engineering (CISE) and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Research Communities
OSP Deadline: November 22, 2016 (Round I); March 27, 2017 (Round II)
Sponsor Deadline: December 1, 2016 (Round I); April 1, 2017 (Round II)
Award Amount: Up to $300,000 over up to 2 years
 
This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) encourages the submission of additional EAGER proposals that foster novel interdisciplinary research carried out in new collaborations between one or more Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) researchers  and  one or more Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) researchers. Note that this DCL is focused on  new  collaborations; research teams with a history of collaborating together should instead submit directly to the SaTC solicitation, pursuant to the proposal preparation guidelines specified therein.
 
Two rounds of submission are anticipated, with approximately five EAGERs awarded during each round, subject to the availability of funds.  



NSFDCUpdatesSmart
Updates to the 2017 Smart and Connected Health Solicitation
OSP Deadline: December 1, 2016 (Integrative Projects); December 7, 2016 (EAGER proposals)
Sponsor Deadline: December 8, 2016 (Integrative Projects); December 14, 2016 (EAGER proposals)
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 for Integrative projects
 
The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently released a new solicitation for Smart and Connected Health (see NSF 16-601 ). With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF wishes to notify the community of relevant changes and additions to the program for 2017.



NSFBrazil
Enabling US-Brazil Collaboration on Cybersecurity Research
OSP Deadline: December 9, 2016
White Paper Deadline: December 16, 2016
Full Proposal Deadline: March 16, 2017 for NSF and March 17, 2017 for RNP/CTIC
Award Amount: Up to $300,000 from NSF and up to $300,000 from RNP/CTIC for up to 2 years
 
The NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the Research and Development Center on Digital Technologies for Information and Communication (CTIC) of the Brazilian National Research and Educational Network (RNP) are pleased to announce their intention to support, foster, and accelerate fundamental research in cybersecurity. 
 
Research topics of special interest to NSF and RNP/CTIC are: (1) security and privacy in networks; (2) the Internet of Things and cyber-physical human systems; and (3) malware detection. NSF strongly encourages new collaborations pursuant to this DCL.



NSFDCCCMI
Revised Unsolicited Proposal Submission Window for CMMI Programs
OSP Deadline: January 6, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 13, 2017
Award Amount: N/A
 
Because NSF will relocate its offices during the last months of Fiscal Year 2017, it has become necessary for CMMI to change the dates of its February unsolicited proposal submission window to December 30, 2016, through January 13, 2017.



NSFGEOEAR
Special Guidelines for Submitting Proposals for NSF/GEO/EAR - Taiwan Collaborative Research
OSP Deadline (Tectonics): January 6, 2017
OSP Deadline (Geomorphology): 5 business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Tectonics Deadline: January 13, 2017
Geomorphology and Land-use Dynamics Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Subject to the availability of funds
 
This Dear Colleague Letter announces a new US-Taiwan collaborative research opportunity. Through a lead agency model, the Division of Earth Sciences' Directorate for Geosciences will allow U.S. and Taiwan researchers to submit a joint collaborative proposal that will undergo the NSF review process. The initial research area is interdisciplinary research on the feedbacks between climate, erosion, and tectonics (FACET), but these research areas are expected to evolve over time.



JOIDES
Provision of Shallow Advanced Piston Coring Capabilities on JOIDES Resolution to the U.S. Research Community: "JR100"
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Prospective PIs are strongly encouraged to consult with a Program Officer to determine the applicable program proposal submission guidelines and deadlines.
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
The Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is providing up to four weeks each year of access to the drill ship  JOIDES Resolution  for U.S. researchers to use the Advanced Piston Coring (APC) system to collect cores up to sub-bottom depths of 100 meters to address research on multiple aspects of geology and geophysics of the ocean basins.
 
NSF-OCE will release another Dear Colleague Letter when the specific dates and port for the next tie-up period for JOIDES Resolution have been determined. Proposals will be accepted after this guidance has been issued.



NSFDCEncouragingRep
Encouraging Reproducibility in Computing and Communications Research
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Full proposals relevant to this DCL should be submitted pursuant to existing program solicitations for the CCF core, CNS core, and SaTC programs
Award Amount: Varies based on the program through which you submit your proposal
 
This Dear Colleague announces the CISE Directorate's intention to support research that improves the level of reproducibility in research on computer systems and networking; modeling, analysis and simulation of computing and communication systems; and cybersecurity.
 
Specifically, CISE encourages principal investigators (PIs) submitting new proposals to or with active awards in its Computer and Network Systems (CNS) core, Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) core, and Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) programs to embrace completeness and transparency in developing rigorous protocols as well as in making experimental parameters and collected data available to other researchers. In particular, PIs are strongly encouraged to describe, as part of their data management plans, how they will provide access to well-documented datasets, modeling and/or simulation tools, and codebases to support reproducibility of their methods.



NSFDCREU
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplemental Funding
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Priority will be given to requests submitted before March 30, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $8,000 per student per year
 
The 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) Supplemental  funding, following the guidelines in the  NSF REU solicitation



NSFDCUSNSFCISE
Special Guidelines for Submitting Collaborative Proposals under the US NSF/CISE - US-Israel Binational Science Foundation International Opportunity
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Varies based on the program through which you submit your proposal
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 over 3 years (for the NSF-funded portion)
 
The NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation are pleased to announce a US-Israel collaborative research opportunity between BSF and the CISE Divisions of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) and Computer and Network Systems (CNS). The goal is to help reduce some of the current barriers to working internationally. Proposals must be responsive to the scope of research described in the current CCF core, CNS Core, or SaTC program.


FY 2017 Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) Funding Opportunity on Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Water
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Proposals should be submitted to the existing program of interest in CHE, DMR and CBET within the existing submission windows
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
In 2010, NSF established the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability investment area to lay the research foundation for decision capabilities and technologies aimed at mitigating and adapting to environmental changes that threaten sustainability.  Through this Dear Colleague Letter, the NSF aims to specifically focus on advancing knowledge of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles; the production and use of fertilizers for food production; and the detection, separation, and reclamation/recycling of nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing species in and from complex aqueous environments.



NSFDCLifeSTEM
Life STEM
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Varies based on the program through which you choose to submit
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
NSF currently invests in a number of programs targeting underrepresented populations and institutions. This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) describes another opportunity to build on the Agency's longstanding efforts of inclusiveness by providing a mechanism for researchers to create, implement, and evaluate innovative models of intervention in STEM (with particular attention to life science and bioscience), beginning in elementary school through undergraduate studies.
 
Through this DCL, NSF invites eligible organizations to submit research proposals that create, implement, and evaluate models of intervention that will advance the knowledge base for establishing and retaining underrepresented minorities in STEM fields with particular attention to life science and the biosciences.



NSFDCAdvanced
Advanced Measurement Systems for Experimental Determination of Complex Biomaterial Properties
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Varies based on the CMMI program through which you choose to submit
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
Through this Dear Colleague Letter, the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), Directorate for Engineering (ENG), announces its intention to support research on advanced measurement systems for experimental determination of complex biomaterial properties through its Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (BMMB) and Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MoMS) core programs. The BMMB and MoMS Programs of CMMI welcome proposals as part of their existing programs that advance developments at all levels for the experimental determination of complex biomaterial properties tested in situ.



NSFDCCompCog
Stimulating Integrative Research in Computational Cognition (CompCog)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Varies based on the program through which you choose to submit
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
This Dear Colleague Letter is intended to enhance the scientific and societal impact of the field by encouraging active dialogue across the cognitive and computational communities, facilitating bidirectional cross-fertilization of ideas, and nurturing emerging areas of transdisciplinary research. The NSF is interested in receiving proposals to existing programs, listed here , that explore computational models of human cognition, perception and communication and that integrate considerations and findings across disciplines.
 
This is not a special competition or new program. A proposal in response to this Dear Colleague Letter must meet the requirements and deadlines of the program to which it is submitted, but should start the proposal title with "CompCog:".



NSFDCSmart
Opportunities for Research in Smart & Connected Communities
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Varies by funding opportunity and Directorate
Award Amount: Varies by funding opportunity and Directorate
 
The NSF Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), Geosciences (GEO), and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) wish to notify the community of various opportunities to support, foster, and accelerate fundamental research and education that addresses challenges in enabling Smart & Connected Communities. The NSF offers a variety of funding opportunities related to this area.
 
In 2016, NSF's investments enabled pursuit of fundamental understanding and basic research in frameworks that: (a) integrate and operate on data from multiple sources at multiple temporal and spatial scales; (b) involve new sociotechnical systems that are interconnected and interdependent; and (c) develop and test new technologies for innovative applications and services to enable more livable, workable, and sustainable communities. In 2017, the NSF expects to build upon these investments.



DARPASC2
NSF Support for DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) Participants
Release Date: July 21, 2016

Wireless systems constitute a major source of productivity for nearly every sector of society and in turn drive the nation's overall economic competitiveness. Given the rapid proliferation of wireless networks and edge devices as well as the growth in wireless applications and services, precious spectrum resources are in ever-greater demand. Because wireless spectrum is finite, this demand cannot be met by simply allocating additional spectrum bands. Instead, spectrum sharing is seen as a viable option to meet the demand for scarce wireless spectrum by identifying unused frequency bands in the spatial and temporal domains.

In March 2016, in response to the challenge described above - the increasing demand for wireless spectrum - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced a Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) that aims to reward teams for developing smart systems that collaboratively, rather than competitively, adapt in real time to today's fast-changing, congested spectrum environment.

Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) encourages academic researchers to participate in SC2, and announces its intention to support those researchers to pursue novel strategies in spectrum collaboration as part of SC2. NSF intends to accept proposals from academic researchers actively engaged in SC2 in one of two ways: (i) supplemental funding requests to existing NeTS/EARS awards on wireless spectrum research; or (ii) EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER). Support is restricted to those researchers who are SC2 participants but are not being funded by DARPA for SC2 specifically.



MPSAGEP
MPS Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate: Graduate Research Supplements (AGEP-GRS)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to intended submission to the sponsor
Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: About $60,000
 
This opportunity is available to PIs with current MPS research awards whose institutions and/or academic units are either currently participating in the EHR-sponsored "Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate" (AGEP) program; or whose institutions and/or academic units have participated in the AGEP program in the past (AGEP Legacy institutions). Such PIs may apply to MPS for a supplement to defray the costs for: stipend, tuition, benefits and indirect costs for a graduate research student working on the MPS-funded research.
 
Awards offer one-year (twelve-month) supplements to currently active MPS awards for a single Ph.D. student and are renewable for a total support period of up to three years, contingent upon the duration of the active MPS research award and satisfactory progress of the student towards completion of the Ph.D.


National Science Foundation: Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (NSF: CISE)

CompData
Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering
OSP Deadline: Varies by research area (5 business days before the sponsor deadline)
Sponsor Deadline: Varies by research area; deadlines fall between October 31, 2016 and December 1, 2016
Award Amount: Award amounts vary; awards average between $100,000 and $500,000
 
Advanced computational infrastructure and the ability to perform large-scale simulations and accumulate massive amounts of data have revolutionized scientific and engineering disciplines. The goal of the CDS&E program is to identify and capitalize on opportunities for major scientific and engineering breakthroughs through new computational and data analysis approaches.



NSFIntel
NSF/Intel Partnership on Computer Assisted Programming for Heterogeneous Architectures
OSP Deadline: December 8, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 15, 2016
Award Amount: $2M to $3M over 3 years
 
The NSF/Intel Partnership on Computer Assisted Programming for Heterogeneous Architectures (CAPA) aims to address the problem of effective software development for diverse hardware architectures through groundbreaking university research that will lead to a significant, measurable leap in software development productivity by partially or fully automating software development tasks that are currently performed by humans.
 
The main research objectives for CAPA include programmer effectiveness, performance portability, and performance predictability. In order to address these objectives, CAPA seeks research proposals that explore (1) programming abstractions and/or methodologies that separate performance-related aspects of program design from how they are implemented; (2) program synthesis and machine learning approaches for automatic software construction that are demonstrably correct; (3) advanced hardware-based cost models and abstractions to support multi-target code generation and performance predictability for specified heterogeneous hardware architectures; and (4) integration of research results into principled software development practices.



SAS
Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS)
OSP Deadline: December 12, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 19, 2016
Award Amount: $350,000 to $700,000 (Foundational projects); $500,000 to $1.4M over 4 years (Integrative projects)
 
The Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS) program focuses on Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS) that are cognizant, taskable, reflective, ethical, and knowledge-rich. Example IPS include, but are not limited to, robotic platforms and networked systems that combine computing, sensing, communication, and actuation. 



NSFCISESPX
Scalable Parallelism in the Extreme (SPX)
OSP Deadline: January 3, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 10, 2017
Award Amount: $1M maximum over 2 to 4 years
 
The Scalable Parallelism in the Extreme (SPX) program aims to support research addressing the challenges of increasing performance in this modern era of parallel computing. This will require a collaborative effort among researchers in multiple areas, from services and applications down to micro-architecture. SPX encompasses all five NSCI  Strategic Objectives , including supporting foundational research toward architecture and software approaches that drive performance improvements in the post-Moore's Law era; development and deployment of programmable, scalable, and reusable platforms in the national HPC and scientific cyberinfrastructure ecosystem; increased coherence of data analytic computing and modeling and simulation; and capable extreme-scale computing. Coordination with industrial efforts that pursue related goals are encouraged.

 
NSFCISEIntegrative
Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent (required): January 9, 2017 (INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS proposals)
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 6, 2017 (INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS proposals); see below for information on applying for a CORE + SUPPLEMENT award
Award Information: Total budgets for INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS awards are anticipated to range from $500,000-$1,000,000 (including direct and indirect costs), with durations of 2-4 years. CORE + SUPPLEMENTAL awards will be made up to $200,000 (if supplemental funding, up to 20% of the existing award, not to exceed $200,000)
 
This program is open to proposals that advance the foundations of one or more of the following integrative research themes:

1.      Neuroengineering and Brain-Inspired Concepts and Designs
2.      Individuality and Variation
3.      Cognitive and Neural Processes in Realistic, Complex Environments
4.      Data-Intensive Neuroscience and Cognitive Science.

Within each theme, advances in theory and methods, technological innovations, educational approaches, research infrastructure, and workforce development are all of significant interest. Proposals must be consistent with the missions of the participating directorates. High-risk, high-payoff approaches are expected. Proposals must directly address risks and how they will be managed, potentially transformative payoffs, and the relationship between the risks and rewards at stake.
 
During FY17, the program will consider two classes of proposals. INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS awards (CISE, EHR, ENG, SBE) will support projects that develop foundational advances that are deeply connected to a broad scope of important research questions in neural and cognitive systems, and have significant potential for transformative advances in one or more of the integrative thematic areas. CORE + SUPPLEMENTS (CISE, EHR, ENG) will provide additional support to new or existing projects in the participating directorates, to enable additional activities that will connect those projects to significant new integrative opportunities in neural and cognitive systems.


OtherNSFCISE
Other NSF: CISE Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (NSF: MPS)

NSF_MPS_Condensed
Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: $84,000 to $160,000 per year (on average) for 2 to 4 years
 
CMMT supports theoretical and computational materials research in the topical areas represented in DMR's core or individual investigator programs, which include: Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), Biomaterials (BMAT), Ceramics (CER), Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM), Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN), Polymers (POL), and Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC). The program supports fundamental research that advances the conceptual understanding of hard and soft materials, and materials-related phenomena; the development of associated analytical, computational, and data-centric techniques; as well as predictive materials-specific theory, simulation, and modeling for materials research.




NSF_MPS_Ceramics
Ceramics
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: $110,000 to $160,000 (on average) for up to 4 years
 
This program supports fundamental scientific research in ceramics (e.g., oxides, carbides, nitrides and borides), glass-ceramics, inorganic glasses, ceramic-based composites and inorganic carbon-based materials. Projects should be centered on experiments; inclusion of computational and theory components are encouraged.

 
OtherNSFMPS 
NSF: MPS Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering

NSFENGABTC
Advanced Biomanufacturing of Therapeutic Cells (ABTC)
OSP Deadline: December 20, 2016
Preproposal Deadline: January 4, 2017
Full Proposal Deadline (If Invited): April 17, 2017
Award Amount: A total anticipated funding amount of $5M is anticipated for 7 to 10 awards

In recent years, somatic cells as therapeutic agents have provided new treatment approaches for a number of pathological conditions that were deemed untreatable, or difficult to treat. Several successful cell therapies using T cells have been demonstrated for cancer and autoimmune diseases, while stem cell therapies have given relief for heart disease and stroke. Hundreds of clinical trials are ongoing to examine efficacy of cell therapies for a variety of other diseases including diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Crohn's disease. Production of therapeutic cells is currently expensive and, therefore, cost prohibitive for the large number of people who might benefit from these treatments. 

The overarching goal of this Advanced Biomanufacturing of Therapeutic Cells (ABTC) solicitation is to catalyze well-integrated interdisciplinary research to understand, design, and control cell manufacturing systems and processes that will enable reproducible, cost-effective, and high-quality production of cells with predictable performance for the identified therapeutic function.



NSFENGBPE
Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) Program
OSP Deadline: January 30, 2017
Full Proposal Deadline: February 6, 2017
Award Amount: Unspecified  

The Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) Program is a Directorate-wide initiative dedicated to supporting the development of a diverse and well-prepared engineering workforce. Across every educational juncture (e.g., elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels), efforts to improve engineering interests, preparation, connections, experiences, and opportunities among underrepresented groups is of major importance to BPE. 

BPE is interested in funding projects that bring together multiple groups (e.g., school districts, community colleges, engineering schools, industry, philanthropy, government, etc.) and offer the greatest return on investment by producing outcomes that are scalable, sustainable, and applicable to various contexts, settings, and demographics within the engineering enterprise. For example, it is interested research projects that help us to analyze and understand the problem of insufficient interest and poorly sustained participation in engineering across underrepresented demographic groups; insignificant preparation and scarce opportunities for members of underrepresented demographic groups to learn meaningful, relevant engineering and other STEM-related content; insufficient access to support systems and social networks that raises career awareness about different engineering pathways among underrepresented groups; and structural inequalities and biases within educational and workforce systems that may influence engineering persistence.


 

OtherNSFDFE 

Other NSF: Directorate for Engineering Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary

NSFCISmart
Smart and Connected Health
OSP Deadline: December 1, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 8, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 per year for up to 4 years
 
The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. The purpose of this program is to develop next generation health care solutions and encourage existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, decision support systems, modeling of behavioral and cognitive processes, as well as system and process modeling.


NSFCIIUSE
IUSE/Professional Formation of Engineers: REvolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments (IUSE/PFE: RED)
OSP Deadline: December 2, 2016
Letter of Intent Deadline (required): December 9, 2016
Award Amount: $1M to $2M for up to 5 years
 
This funding opportunity enables engineering and computer science departments to lead the nation by successfully achieving significant sustainable changes necessary to overcome longstanding issues in their undergraduate programs and educate inclusive communities of engineering and computer science students prepared to solve 21st century challenges. It is expected that, over time, the awardees of this program will create knowledge concerning sustainable change in engineering and computer science education that can be scaled and adopted nationally across a wide variety of academic institutions.



NSFCICRCNS
Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS)
OSP Deadline: December 12, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: December 19, 2016
Award Amount: $100,000 to $250,000 over 3 to 5 years (Research Projects); awards for Data Sharing Proposals will be scaled according to the needs of the project and will typically be smaller in size
 
Through the CRCNS program, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF), the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR), and the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) support collaborative activities that will advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system.
 
Two classes of proposals will be considered in response to this solicitation:
Research Proposals   describing collaborative research projects; and
Data Sharing Proposals   to enable sharing of data and other resources.



ADVANCE5
ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE) - Partnerships
Sponsor Letter of Intent Deadline: December 14, 2016
OSP Deadline: January 4, 2017
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: January 11, 2017
 
The goals of the ADVANCE program are (1) to develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers; (2) to develop innovative and sustainable ways to promote gender equity that involve both men and women in the STEM academic workforce; and (3) to contribute to the research knowledge base on gender equity and the intersection of gender and other identities in STEM academic careers.

There are three program tracks:
  • The Institutional Transformation (IT) track supports the development of innovative organizational change strategies to produce comprehensive change within one non-profit two-year or four-year academic institution across all STEM disciplines.
  • The Adaptation track supports the adaptation and implementation of evidence-based organizational change strategies, ideally from among those developed and implemented by ADVANCE projects.
  • The Partnership track will support partnerships of two or more non-profit academic institutions and/or STEM organizations to increase gender equity in STEM academics.


NSFCIDIBBS
Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBs)
OSP Deadline: December 19, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: January 3, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000 maximum over 3 years (Pilot Demonstration Awards); $4M maximum over 5 years (Early Implementation Awards)
 
DIBBs investments enable new data-focused services, capabilities, and resources to advance scientific discoveries, collaborations, and innovations. The investments are expected to build upon, integrate with, and contribute to existing community cyberinfrastructure, serving as evaluative resources while developments in national-scale access, policy, interoperability and sustainability continue to evolve.


NSFCIIUCRC
Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers Program (IUCRC)
OSP Deadline: December 19, 2017
Preliminary Proposal Deadline: January 3, 2017
Full Proposal Deadline: February 28, 2017
Award Amount: $15,000 for a planning grants to establish new centers and sites; $50,000 to $150,000 per year for full center awards
 
This program develops long-term partnerships among industry, academe, and government. The Centers are catalyzed by an investment from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and are primarily supported by industry Center members, with NSF taking a supporting role in the development and evolution of the Center. Each Center is established to conduct research that is of interest to both the industry members and the Center faculty. An IUCRC contributes to the nation's research infrastructure base and enhances the intellectual capacity of the engineering and science workforce through the integration of research and education. As appropriate, an IUCRC uses international collaborations to advance these goals within the global context.


NSFCIDMREF
Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)
OSP Deadline: January 10, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 17, 2017
Award Amount: $250,000 to $400,000 per year over 3 or 4 years
 
DMREF will support activities that accelerate materials discovery and/or development by building the fundamental knowledge base needed to design and make materials with specific and desired functional properties from first principles. This will be accomplished through forming interdisciplinary teams of researchers working synergistically in a "closed loop" fashion, building a vibrant research community, leveraging Big Data science, providing ready access to materials data, and educating the future MGI workforce.
 
Specifically, achieving this goal will involve modeling, analysis, and computational simulations, validated and verified through sample preparation, characterization, and/or device demonstration.


SpecEES
Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES): Enabling Spectrum for All
OSP Deadline: January 12, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 19, 2017
Award Amount: $750,000 maximum over 3 years
 
As a result of past investments in wireless research, two important issues are now at the forefront of spectrum efficiency research, and at the core of the SpecEES program: security and energy efficiency.
 
The goal of the SpecEES program is to enable next-generation wireless communications and networking that are spectrum-efficient, energy-efficient, and secure in a dynamic spectrum environment. In particular, the program solicits proposals that not only advance the frontiers of spectral efficiency, but also specifically address research challenges related to energy efficiency and/or security in spectrum utilization.


NSFCITRIPODS
Transdisciplinary Research in Principles of Data Science Phase I (TRIPODS)
OSP Deadline: January 12, 2017
Letter of Intent Deadline (required): January 19, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000 per year for up to 3 years
 
The TRIPODS program seeks to support research and training activities focused on the theoretical foundations of data science, i.e., the core algorithmic, mathematical, and statistical principles. Phase I of the program will support the development of small collaborative Institutes that will bring together the three disciplines. Proposals must address fundamental research and training in the theoretical foundations of data science, and describe the significant involvement of all three communities.


NSFCICRISP
Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes FY17 (CRISP)
OSP Deadline: February 1, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 8, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000 maximum over 2 years (Type 1 Awards); $2.5M maximum over 3 to 4 years (Type 2 Awards)
 
The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to:
  • Foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services;
  • Enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious;
  • Create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and
  • Improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

 

OtherNSFCross2 

Other NSF: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary Opportunities



National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
NIST Consortium for Semiconductor and Future Computing Research 
Sponsor Deadline: January 13, 2017 
OSP Deadline: January 6, 2017
Award Information: NIST anticipates making 1 multi-year award of up to $3,200,000 in the first year and up to $3,700,000 in subsequent years, for a total award period of up to 5 years
NOTE: This Program requires a non-Federal cost share of 25 percent of the yearly total allowable project costs
 
NIST is soliciting proposals for financial assistance from eligible applicants to support basic research, in a consortium-based setting, focused on the long-term research needs of industry in the area of future computing and information processing. There is a critical need for scientific and engineering advances in novel computing paradigms with long-term impact on the semiconductor, electronics, computing, and defense industries. The proposed activities should advance the physical and materials aspects of future computing technologies with a focus on alternatives that provide low latency, low energy per operation, improved data/communication bandwidth, and higher clock speed. Activities should include innovative research in devices, circuits, architectures, metrology or characterization to enable future computing paradigms. Applicants should create mechanisms for extended collaboration with NIST researchers.



DOJ
Crime Forecasting Challenge
OSP Deadline: February 21, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 28, 2017
Prize Information: 40 $15,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the large business category; 40 $10,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the small teams/small business category; and 40 $5,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the student category
 
The Crime Forecasting Challenge seeks to harness the advances in data science to address the challenges of crime and justice, encouraging data scientists from across all scientific disciplines to foster innovation in forecasting methods. The goal is to develop algorithms that advance place-based crime forecasting through the use of data from one police jurisdiction.
 
Contestants may enter forecasts in one of the following categories:
  • Full-time student (undergraduate);
  • Small team or small business; or
  • Large businesses.

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For assistance, please contact:

Erin Cromack
Senior Research Development Officer
cromack@fas.harvard.edu | 617-496-5252

Jennifer Corby
Research Development Officer
jcorby@fas.harvard.edu | 617-495-1590


Research Development | Research Administration Services | research.fas.harvard.edu