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The Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS) competition promotes the conduct of interdisciplinary research by teams of investigators in the social and behavioral sciences. Emphasis is placed on support for research that involves researchers from multiple SBE disciplinary fields and that integrates scientific theoretical approaches and methodologies from multiple SBE disciplinary fields. Emphasis also is placed on the significance of expected intellectual contributions that are likely to yield generalizable insights and information that will enhance theoretical perspectives and advance basic knowledge and capabilities across multiple SBE disciplinary fields. Although the IBSS competition will consider any proposal that addresses a topic for which the proposal makes a compelling case that the research will enhance broader theoretical understanding across multiple social and behavioral science fields, social and behavioral science researchers are especially encouraged to submit proposals for research on one of the following three broadly defined topics: Population Change; Sources and Consequences of Disparities; and Technology, New Media, and Social Networks.

This research funding opportunity is being jointly issued by the NOAA OAR Office and Weather and Air Quality (OWAQ) and the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). It seeks to obtain new knowledge of the meteorological and infrasound aspects of tornadoes in the southeastern United States (U. S.) and the social and behavioral aspects of the public response to tornado forecasts and tornado events. This new knowledge will improve our ability to understand, forecast and warn the public of tornadoes and elicit appropriate responses to mitigate damage, injuries, and loss of life. For the first time in the life of the Program, this year VORTEX-SE places an emphasis on obtaining improved understanding of the processes at play that produce tornadoes in tropical cyclone outer rainbands, as well as during the tropical-extratropical transition over land. There will be three separate competitions with three funding pools from this announcement, two for VORTEX-SE (addressing 1) the meteorological or social/behavioral priorities and 2) multi-discipline topics addressing both meteorology and social/behavioral priorities), and one for the infrasound category. Proposals in each category will be separated into independent pools based on these focus areas as specified by the Principal Investigators for the purposes of peer review, ranking, and funding.

NOAA's Weather Program Office (WPO; formerly OWAQ, the Office of Weather and Air Quality) is soliciting proposals for weather, air quality, and earth-system modeling and observations research reflecting multiple science objectives spanning time scales from hours to seasons, and from weather and water observations and earth system modeling to social, and behavioral, and economic science. There will be three grant competitions from this notification valued at approximately $7,750,000 as follows: 1) Joint Technology Transfer Initiative (JTTI), 2) Observations, and 3) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBES).

The NIH Directors Pioneer Award supports individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose highly innovative and potentially transformative research towards the ultimate goal of enhancing human health. Individuals from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Applications in all topics, including, but not limited to, the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences, relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome and may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. To be considered pioneering, the proposed research must reflect substantially different scientific directions from those already being pursued in the investigators research program or elsewhere. The NIH Directors Pioneer Award is a component of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program of the NIH Common Fund.

The multi-agency Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, and social drivers that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The central theme of submitted projects must be the quantitative or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics. The intent is discovery of principles of infectious disease transmission and testing mathematical or computational models that elucidate infectious disease systems. Projects should be broad, interdisciplinary efforts that go beyond the scope of typical studies. They should focus on the determinants and interactions of transmission among humans, non-human animals, and/or plants. This includes, for example, the spread of pathogens; the influence of environmental factors such as climate; the population dynamics and genetics of reservoir species or hosts; the feedback between ecological transmission and evolutionary dynamics; and the cultural, social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of pathogen transmission. Research may be on zoonotic, environmentally-borne, vector-borne, or enteric pathogens of either terrestrial or aquatic systems and organisms, including diseases of animals and plants, at any scale from specific pathogens to inclusive environmental systems.

he Engineering for Natural Hazards (ENH) program supports fundamental research that advances knowledge for understanding and mitigating the impact of natural hazards on constructed civil infrastructure. Natural hazards considered by the ENH program include earthquakes, windstorms (such as tornadoes and hurricanes), tsunamis, storm surge, and landslides. The constructed civil infrastructure supported by the ENH program includes building systems, such as the soil-foundation-structure-envelope-nonstructural system, as well as the façade and roofing, and other structures, geostructures, and underground facilities, such as tunnels. While research may focus on a single natural hazard, research that considers civil infrastructure performance over its lifetime in the context of multiple hazards, that is, a multi-hazard approach, is encouraged. Research may integrate geotechnical, structural, and architectural engineering advances with discoveries in other science and engineering fields, such as earth and atmospheric sciences, materials science, mechanics of materials, dynamic systems and control, systems engineering, decision theory, risk analysis, high performance computational modeling and simulation, and social, behavioral, and economic sciences. Multi-disciplinary and international collaborations are encouraged.

The Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms (URoL:MTM) program is an integrative collaborationacross Directorates and Offices within the National Science Foundation. The objective of URoL:MTM is to understand and establish the theory and mechanisms that govern the structure and function of microbiomes, a collection of microbes in a specific habitat/environment. This may include but is not limited to host-associated microbiomes, such as those with humans and other organisms, where i) the microbiome impacts host physiology, behavior, development, and fitness; ii) the host influences the metabolic activity, dynamics and evolution of the microbiome, and iii) the environment (biological, chemical, physical, and social) influences and is influenced by both the host and the microbiome. Recent progress has transformed our ability to identify and catalogue the microbes present in a given environment and measure multiple aspects ofbiological, chemical, physical, and social environments that affect the interactions among the members of the microbiome, the host, and/or habitat. Much descriptive and correlative work has been performed on many microbiome systems, particularly those in the human, soil, aquatic, and built environments. This research has resulted in new hypotheses about the microbiome's contributions to potential system function or dysfunction. The current challenge is to integrate the wide range of accumulated data and information and build on them to develop new causal/mechanistic models or theories of interactions and interdependencies across scales and systems.

The Geophysics Program supports basic research in the physics of the solid earth to explore its composition, structure, and processes from the Earth's surface to it's deepest interior. Laboratory, field, theoretical, and computational studies are supported. Topics include seismicity, seismic wave propagation, and the nature and occurrence of geophysical hazards; the Earth's magnetic, gravity, and electrical fields; the Earth's thermal structure; and geodynamics. Supported research also includes geophysical studies of active deformation, including geodesy, and theoretical and experimental studies of the properties and behavior of Earth materials.

This research funding opportunity is being jointly issued by the NOAA OAR Office and Weather and Air Quality (OWAQ) and the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). It seeks to obtain new knowledge of the meteorological and infrasound aspects of tornadoes in the southeastern U.S. and the social and behavioral aspects of the public response to tornado forecasts and tornado events. This new knowledge will improve our ability to understand, forecast and warn the public of tornadoes and elicit appropriate responses to mitigate damage, injuries, and loss of life.

The Geophysics Program supports basic research in the physics of the solid earth to explore its composition, structure, and processes from the Earth's surface to its' deepest interior. Laboratory, field, theoretical, and computational studies are supported. Topics include (but are not limited to) seismicity, seismic wave propagation, and the nature and occurrence of geophysical hazards; the Earth's magnetic, gravity, and electrical fields; the Earth's thermal structure; and geodynamics. Supported research also includes geophysical studies of active deformation, including geodesy, and theoretical and experimental studies of the properties and behavior of Earth materials.

The Geophysics Program supports basic research in the physics of the solid earth to explore its composition, structure, and processes from the Earth's surface to its' deepest interior. Laboratory, field, theoretical, and computational studies are supported. Topics include (but are not limited to) seismicity, seismic wave propagation, and the nature and occurrence of geophysical hazards; the Earth's magnetic, gravity, and electrical fields; the Earth's thermal structure; and geodynamics. Supported research also includes geophysical studies of active deformation, including geodesy, and theoretical and experimental studies of the properties and behavior of Earth materials.

The BIGDATA program seeks novel approaches in computer science, statistics, computational science, and mathematics, along with innovative applications in domain science, including social and behavioral sciences, geosciences, education, biology, the physical sciences, and engineering that lead towards the further development of the interdisciplinary field of data science

The overarching goal of INFEWS is to catalyze well-integrated interdisciplinary and convergent research to transform scientific understanding of the FEW nexus (integrating all three components rather than addressing them separately), in order to improve system function and management, address system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. The NSF INFEWS initiative is designed specifically to attain the following goals: 1. Significantly advance our understanding of the food-energy-water system through quantitative, predictive and computational modeling, including support for relevant cyberinfrastructure; 2. Develop real-time, cyber-enabled interfaces that improve understanding of the behavior of FEW systems and increase decision support capability; 3. Enable research that will lead to innovative solutions to critical FEW systems problems; and 4. Grow the scientific workforce capable of studying and managing the FEW system, through education and other professional development opportunities.

This research funding opportunity is being jointly issued by the NOAA OAR Office and Weather and Air Quality (OWAQ) and the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). It seeks to obtain new knowledge of the meteorological and infrasound aspects of tornadoes in the southeastern United States (U.S.) and the social and behavioral aspects of the public response to tornado forecasts and tornado events. This new knowledge will improve our ability to understand, forecast and warn the public of tornadoes and elicit appropriate responses to mitigate damage, injuries, and loss of life.

USAID/Middle East is making a special call for the submission of Concept Papers focused on the Middle East Water Security Initiative (MWSI). The goal of the MWSI is to improve sustainable, long-term access to water for up to 20 million people living in the Middle East. The MWSI will target Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen and promote sharing of best practices and lessons learned among the five participating countries. To achieve its bold but doable goal, MWSI will engage both international and local actors from the private sector, civil society, public sector, and other organizations to (a) support dynamic young entrepreneurs, researchers, and consumers with opportunities to develop, test, scale-up and market "water-smart" technologies; and (b) increase awareness of and local ability to address water security challenges in the Middle East through behavior change and advocacy campaigns.

Hazards SEES seeks research projects that will productively cross the boundaries of the atmospheric and geospace, earth, and ocean sciences; computer and information science (including cyberinfrastructure); engineering; mathematics and statistics; and social, economic, and behavioral sciences. Successful proposals will integrate across multiple disciplines to promote research that advances new paradigms that contribute to creating a society resilient to hazards.

The GEOMM program supports fundamental research on the mechanical and engineering properties of geologic materials including natural, mechanically stabilized, and biologically or chemically modified soil and rock. The program also addresses hydraulic, biological, chemical and thermal processes that affect the behavior of geologic materials. Research at the micro-scale on soil-structure interaction and liquefaction are included in the scope of this program. Support is provided for theoretical studies, constitutive and numerical modeling, laboratory, centrifuge, and field testing. Cross-disciplinary and international collaborations are encouraged.

The BIGDATA program seeks novel approaches in computer science, statistics, computational science, and mathematics, along with innovative applications in domain science, including social and behavioral sciences, geosciences, education, biology, the physical sciences, and engineering that lead towards the further development of the interdisciplinary field of data science. The solicitation invites two types of proposals: "Foundations" (F): those developing or studying fundamental theories, techniques, methodologies, technologies of broad applicability to Big Data problems; and "Innovative Applications" (IA): those developing techniques, methodologies and technologies of key importance to a Big Data problem directly impacting at least one specific application. Therefore, projects in this category must be collaborative, involving researchers from domain disciplines and one or more methodological disciplines, e.g., computer science, statistics, mathematics, simulation and modeling, etc. While Innovative Applications (IA) proposals may address critical big data challenges within a specific domain, a high level of innovation is expected in all proposals and proposals should, in general, strive to provide solutions with potential for a broader impact on data science and its applications. IA proposals may focus on novel theoretical analysis and/or on experimental evaluation of techniques and methodologies within a specific domain. Proposals in all areas of sciences and engineering covered by participating directorates at NSF are welcome.

CMMT supports theoretical and computational materials research in the topical areas represented in DMR's Topical Materials Research Programs (these are also variously known as Individual Investigator Award (IIA) Programs, or Core Programs, or Disciplinary 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 CMMT program supports fundamental research that advances conceptual understanding of hard and soft materials, and materials-related phenomena; the development of associated analytical, computational, and data-centric techniques; and predictive materials-specific theory, simulation, and modeling for materials research.Research may encompass the advance of new paradigms in materials research, including emerging data-centric approaches utilizing data-analytics or machine learning. Computational efforts span from the level of workstations to advanced and high-performance scientific computing. Emphasis is on approaches that begin at the smallest appropriate length scale, such as electronic, atomic, molecular, nano-, micro-, and mesoscale, required to yield fundamental insight into material properties, processes, and behavior, to predict new materials and states of matter, and to reveal new materials phenomena. Approaches that span multiple scales of length and time may be required to advance fundamental understanding of materials properties and phenomena, particularly for polymeric materials and soft matter.

Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the Directorates for Engineering (ENG), Geosciences (GEO), and the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) encourage the submission of proposals that address challenges related to Hurricane Florence, similar events that could occur in the coming weeks, and their aftermaths. These directorates support fundamental science and engineering research projects whose results enable families, communities, businesses, institutions, and governments to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from future catastrophic events. With this DCL, NSF seeks to support research on new science and engineering questions posed by such natural disasters, primarily those that require immediate, time-sensitive data collection and other research activities to advance basic science.