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The DMR Polymers Program supports fundamental research and education on polymeric materials and polymer science. The program portfolio is mainly experimental and highly diverse with components of materials science, chemistry, physics, and other related disciplines. While interdisciplinarity is stressed, central goals include advancing the foundations of polymer science through innovative research and education and pushing back the wide horizon of the field. Polymers are studied from the molecular level through the nano-to-macro continuum using fundamental materials-focused scientific approaches. Such approaches are experimental but may also closely integrate theoretical, computational, or cyber aspects. Broad areas addressed include synthesis, molecular and self-assembly, characterization, phase behavior, structure, morphology, and properties. Particular focus is on transformative approaches to innovative materials with superior properties, on advancing polymer fundamentals and optimizing structure-property relationships, as well as on basic research addressing major societal challenges. High-quality proposals that integrate research, education, and other broader impacts are invited.

The goal of the NSF Section for Arctic Sciences, Division of Polar Programs (PLR), is to gain a better understanding of the Arctic's physical, biological, geological, chemical, social and cultural processes; the interactions of oceanic, terrestrial, atmospheric, biological, social, cultural, and economic systems; and the connections that define the Arctic. The Arctic Sciences and other NSF programs support projects that contribute to the development of the next generation of researchers and scientific literacy for all ages through education, outreach, and broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Program representatives from polar and other non-polar NSF programs that support arctic research coordinate across NSF, including joint review and funding of arctic proposals and mutual support of special projects with high logistical costs.

The new National Ocean Policy calls for actions to improve understanding of and capacity to respond to ocean acidification, recognizing the potential adverse impacts of an acidifying sea upon marine ecosystems. The effects of ocean acidification could significantly affect strategies for developing practices towards the sustainability of ocean resources. Basic research concerning the nature, extent and impact of ocean acidification on oceanic environments in the past, present and future is required. Research challenges include: Understanding the geochemistry and biogeochemistry of ocean acidification; Understanding how ocean acidification interacts with biological, chemical and physical processes at the organismal level, and how such interactions impact the structure and function of ecosystems, e.g. through life histories, adaptive evolution, food webs, biogeochemical cycling, and interactions with other changes in the ocean (e.g., temperature, stratification, circulation patterns); and Understanding how the earth system history informs our understanding of the effects of ocean acidification on the present day and future ocean. The Ocean Acidification program is in its fifth and anticipated last year of competition. We expect this to be the last solicitation specifically targeting Ocean Acidification.

The DMR Polymers Program supports fundamental research and education on polymeric materials and polymer science. The program portfolio is mainly experimental and highly diverse with components of materials science, chemistry, physics, and other related disciplines. While interdisciplinarity is stressed, central goals include advancing the foundations of polymer science through innovative research and education and pushing back the wide horizon of the field. Polymers are studied from the molecular level through the nano-to-macro continuum using fundamental materials-focused scientific approaches. Such approaches are experimental but may also closely integrate theoretical, computational, or cyber aspects. Broad areas addressed include synthesis, molecular and self-assembly, characterization, phase behavior, structure, morphology, and properties. Particular focus is on transformative approaches to innovative materials with superior properties, on advancing polymer fundamentals and optimizing structure-property relationships, as well as on basic research addressing major societal challenges. High-quality proposals that integrate research, education, and other broader impacts are invited.

Integrated Earth Systems (IES) is a program in the Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) that focuses on the continental, terrestrial and deep Earth subsystems of the whole Earth system.  The overall goal of the program is to provide opportunity for collaborative, multidisciplinary research into the operation, dynamics and complexity of Earth systems at a budgetary scale between that of a typical project in the EAR Division's disciplinary programs and larger scale initiatives at the Directorate or Foundation level. Specifically, IES will provide research opportunities for the study of Earth systems from the core of the Earth to the top of the critical zone with a specific focus on subsystems that include continental, terrestrial and deep Earth subsystems at all temporal and spatial scales (NROES, 2012).  IES will provide opportunities to focus on Earth systems connected to topics which include (but are not limited to) the continents; the terrestrial, surficial Earth systems including physical, chemical and biotic dimensions; linkages among tectonics, climate, landscape change, topography and geochemical cycles including core and mantle processes.

The purpose of this letter is to invite the submission of exceptionally creative conference proposals. The SciSIP program invites organizers and participants from all of the social, behavioral and economic sciences as well as those working in domain-specific applications such as chemistry, biology, physics, or nanotechnology.

The purpose of the Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25) is to attract to NIH-relevant research those investigators whose quantitative science and engineering research has thus far not been focused primarily on questions of health and disease. The K25 award will provide support and protected time for a period of supervised study and research for productive professionals with quantitative (e.g., mathematics, statistics, economics, computer science, imaging science, informatics, physics, chemistry) and engineering backgrounds to integrate their expertise with NIH-relevant research. 

The Science of Science & Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program supports research designed to advance the scientific basis of science and innovation policy. Research funded by the program thus develops, improves and expands models, analytical tools, data and metrics that can be applied in the science policy decision making process. For example, research proposals may develop behavioral and analytical conceptualizations, frameworks or models that have applications across a broad array of SciSIP challenges, including the relationship between broader participation and innovation or creativity. Proposals may also develop methodologies to analyze science and technology data, and to convey the information to a variety of audiences. Researchers are also encouraged to create or improve science and engineering data, metrics and indicators reflecting current discovery, particularly proposals that demonstrate the viability of collecting and analyzing data on knowledge generation and innovation in organizations. Among the many research topics supported are:examinations of the ways in which the contexts, structures and processes of science and engineering research are affected by policy decision, the evaluation of the tangible and intangible returns from investments in science and from investments in research and development, the study of structures and processes that facilitate the development of usable knowledge, theories of creative processes and their transformation into social and economic outcomes, the collection, analysis and visualization of new data describing the scientific and engineering enterprise. The SciSIP program invites the participation of researchers from all of the social, behavioral and economic sciences as well as those working in domain-specific applications such as chemistry, biology, physics, or nanotechnology. The program welcomes proposals for individual or multi-investigator research projects, doctoral dissertation improvement awards, conferences, wo

The Hydrologic Sciences Program focuses on the fluxes of water in the environment that constitute the water cycle as well as the mass and energy transport function of the water cycle in the environment.  The Program supports studying processes from rainfall to runoff to infiltration and streamflow; evaporation and transpiration; as well as the flow of water in soils and aquifers and the transport of suspended, dissolved and colloidal components.  Water is seen as the mode of coupling among various components of the environment and emphasis is placed on how the coupling is enabled by the water cycle and how it functions as a process.  The Hydrologic Sciences Program retains a strong focus on linking the fluxes of water and the components carried by water across the boundaries between various interacting components of the terrestrial system and the mechanisms by which these fluxes co-organize over a variety of timescales and/or alter the fundamentals of the interacting components.  The Program is also interested in how water interacts with the solid phase, the landscape and the ecosystem as well as how such interactions and couplings are altered by land use and climate change.  Studies may address aqueous geochemistry and solid phase interactions as well as physical, chemical, and biological processes as coupled to water transport. These studies commonly involve expertise from basic sciences and mathematics, and proposals may require joint review with related programs.  The Hydrologic Sciences Program will also consider some synthesis activities.

The Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) supports quantitative, predictive, and theory-driven fundamental research and related activities designed to promote understanding of complex living systems at the molecular, subcellular, and cellular levels. MCB is soliciting proposals for hypothesis-driven and discovery research and related activities in four core clusters: Molecular Biophysics Cellular Dynamics and Function Genetic Mechanisms Systems and Synthetic Biology MCB gives high priority to research projects that use theory, methods, and technologies from physical sciences, mathematics, computational sciences, and engineering to address major biological questions.  Research supported by MCB uses a range of experimental approaches--including in vivo, in vitro and in silico strategies--and a broad spectrum of model and non-model organisms, especially microbes and plants. Typical research supported by MCB integrates theory and experimentation.  Projects that address the emerging areas of multi-scale integration, molecular and cellular evolution, quantitative prediction of phenome from genomic information, and development of methods and resources are particularly welcome.

The purpose of the Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25) is to attract to NIH-relevant research those investigators whose quantitative science and engineering research has thus far not been focused primarily on questions of health and disease. The K25 award will provide support and "protected time" for a period of supervised study and research for productive professionals with quantitative (e.g., mathematics, statistics, economics, computer science, imaging science, informatics, physics, chemistry) and engineering backgrounds to integrate their expertise with NIH-relevant research. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to lead basic science experimental studies involving humans, referred to in NOT-OD-18-212 as prospective basic science studies involving human participants. These studies fall within the NIH definition of a clinical trial and also meet the definition of basic research. Types of studies that should submit under this FOA include studies that prospectively assign human participants to conditions (i.e., experimentally manipulate independent variables) and that assess biomedical or behavioral outcomes in humans for the purpose of understanding the fundamental aspects of phenomena without specific application towards processes or products in mind. Studies conducted with specific applications toward processes or products in mind should submit under the companion PA-18-395.

As defined by the DoD, basic research is "systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. It is farsighted high payoff research that provides the basis for technological progress." (DoD 7000.14-R, vol. 2B, chap. 5, para. 050105.B) The DoD's basic research program invests broadly in many scientific fields to ensure that it has early cognizance of new scientific knowledge.

The Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program in the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announces its interest in receiving new or renewal grant applications for theoretical and computational research relevant to the U.S. magnetic fusion energy sciences program. Applications selected in response to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will be funded in Fiscal Year 2018, subject to the appropriation of funds by the Congress. The specific areas of interest are: 1. Macroscopic Stability 2. Confinement and Transport 3. Boundary Physics 4. Plasma Heating & Non-inductive Current Drive, and 5. Energetic Particles

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research "we, us, our, or AFOSR" manages the basic research investment for the U.S. Air Force. As a part of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), our technical experts discover, shape, and champion research within the Air Force Research Laboratory, universities, and industry laboratories to ensure the transition of research results to support U.S. Air Force needs. Using a carefully balanced research portfolio, our research managers seek to foster revolutionary scientific breakthroughs enabling the Air Force and U.S. industry to produce world-class, militarily significant, and commercially valuable products. Our focus is on research areas that offer significant and comprehensive benefits to our national warfighting and peacekeeping capabilities. These areas are organized and managed in two scientific Branches:  Engineering and Information Sciences (RTA) Physical and Biological Sciences (RTB)

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.

The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD. As defined in the DoD Financial Management Regulation: Basic research is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs.

Although invention and proof-of-concept testing of new technologies are a key component of the BRAIN Initiative, to achieve their potential these technologies must also be optimized through feedback from end-users in the context of the intended experimental use. This seeks applications for the optimization of existing and emerging technologies and approaches that have potential to address major challenges associated with recording and manipulating neural activity, at or near cellular resolution, at multiple spatial and temporal scales, in any region and throughout the entire depth of the brain. This FOA is intended for the iterative refinement of emergent technologies and approaches that have already demonstrated their transformative potential through initial proof-of-concept testing, and are appropriate for accelerated development of hardware and software while scaling manufacturing techniques towards sustainable, broad dissemination and user-friendly incorporation into regular neuroscience practice. Proposed technologies should be compatible with experiments in behaving animals, and should include advancements that enable or reduce major barriers to hypothesis-driven experiments. Technologies may engage diverse types of signaling beyond neuronal electrical activity for large-scale analysis, and may utilize any modality such as optical, electrical, magnetic, acoustic or genetic recording/manipulation. Applications that seek to integrate multiple approaches are encouraged. Applications are expected to integrate appropriate domains of expertise, including where appropriate biological, chemical and physical sciences, engineering, computational modeling and statistical analysis.

Understanding the dynamic activity of neural circuits is central to the NIH BRAIN Initiative. This FOA seeks applications for proof-of-concept testing and development of new technologies and novel approaches for largescale recording and manipulation of neural activity to enable transformative understanding of dynamic signaling in the nervous system. In particular, we seek exceptionally creative approaches to address major challenges associated with recording and manipulating neural activity, at or near cellular resolution, at multiple spatial and/or temporal scales, in any region and throughout the entire depth of the brain. It is expected that the proposed research may be high-risk, but if successful could profoundly change the course of neuroscience research. Proposed technologies should be compatible with experiments in behaving animals, and should include advancements that enable or reduce major barriers to hypothesis-driven experiments. Technologies may engage diverse types of signaling beyond neuronal electrical activity for large-scale analysis, and may utilize any modality such as optical, electrical, magnetic, acoustic or genetic recording/manipulation. Applications that seek to integrate multiple approaches are encouraged. Where appropriate, applications are expected to integrate appropriate domains of expertise, including biological, chemical and physical sciences, engineering, computational modeling and statistical analysis.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Undersea Influence, Counter-USW Branch (N974B) of the Chief of Naval Operations' (CNO) Undersea Warfare Division (N97) are interested in receiving proposals focused on the identification of science and physics based signal detection technologies that, individually or as a system, can impact the security of the SSBN and submarines in general. Passive and active detection technologies with near term (0-5 years), mid-term (5-10 years) and far term (10-20 years) implications will be considered.

The HFSP supports novel, innovative and interdisciplinary basic research focused on the complex mechanisms of living organisms; topics range from molecular and cellular approaches to systems and cognitive neuroscience and the interactions between organisms. A clear emphasis is placed on novel collaborations that bring biologists together with scientists from fields such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science and engineering to focus on problems at the frontier of the life sciences.