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To continue to strengthen the innovation ecosystem, NSF is revising NSF 12-511 to promote two choices under the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI): Accelerating Innovation Research (AIR) subprogram.  The first choice, Technology Translation, encourages the translation of technologically-promising research discoveries made by prior and/or current NSF-funded investigators toward a path of commercialization; while the second choice, Research Alliance, promotes synergistic collaborations between an existing NSF-funded research alliance (including consortia such as Engineering Research Centers, Industry University Cooperative Research Centers, Science and Technology Centers, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers, Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers, Centers for Chemical Innovation, and Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation grantees) and other public and private entities to motivate the translation and transfer of research discoveries into innovative technologies and commercial reality.  Both of these choices are designed to accelerate innovation that results in the creation of new wealth and the building of strong local, regional, and national economies.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) to address problems associated with the methods of collection, bioassay, isolation, purification, de-replication, yield, and supply that hamper the full utilization of natural products.

CEDAR is a broad-based, community-initiated, upper atmospheric research program. The goal is to understand the behavior of atmospheric regions from the middle atmosphere upward through the thermosphere and ionosphere into the exosphere in terms of coupling, energetics, chemistry, and dynamics on regional and global scales. These processes are related to the sources of perturbations that propagate upward from the lower atmosphere as well as to solar radiation and particle inputs from above. The activities within this program combine observations, theory and modeling.

The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program. This solicitation features two mechanisms for support of student research: (1) REU Sites are based on independent proposals to initiate and conduct projects that engage a number of students in research. REU Sites may be based in a single discipline or academic department or may offer interdisciplinary or multi-department research opportunities with a coherent intellectual theme. Proposals with an international dimension are welcome. (2) REU Supplements may be included as a component of proposals for new or renewal NSF grants or cooperative agreements or may be requested for ongoing NSF-funded research projects.

The INSPIRE awards program was established to address some of the most complicated and pressing scientific problems that lie at the intersection of traditional disciplines.  It is intended to encourage investigators to submit bold, exceptional proposals that some may consider to be at a disadvantage in a standard NSF review process; it is not intended for proposals that are more appropriate for existing award mechanisms.

DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals of interest to the Defense Sciences Office. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science and technology. Specifically excluded is research that results primarily in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of the art.

CAREER: The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply.

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeks opportunities to co-create, co-design, co-invest, and collaborate in the development, testing, and scaling of innovative approaches that address critical global health challenges. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invites organizations and companies to participate with USAID, in cooperation with its partners, in response to a Global Health Challenge Addenda issued under this BAA, as described below, to provide innovative interventions and technologies that further the U.S. Government's commitment to prevent and manage critical global health challenges.

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeks opportunities to co-create, co-design, co-invest, and collaborate in the development, testing, and scaling of innovative approaches that address critical global health challenges. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invites organizations and companies to participate with USAID, in cooperation with its partners, in response to a Global Health Challenge Addenda issued under this BAA, as described below, to provide innovative interventions and technologies that further the U.S. Government's commitment to prevent and manage critical global health challenges.

The Physical Oceanography Program supports research on a wide range of topics associated with the structure and movement of the ocean, with the way in which it transports various quantities, with the way the ocean's physical structure interacts with the biological and chemical processes within it, and with interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, solid earth and ice that surround it.

The MoM program supports fundamental research in interdisciplinary solid mechanics.  Emphasis is placed on fundamental understanding that i) advances theory, experimental, and/or computational methods in MoM, and/or ii) uses contemporary MoM methods to address modern challenges in material and device mechanics and physics. Proposed research can focus on existing or emerging material systems across time and length scales; especially of interest are contemporary materials including complex solids, phononic/elastic metamaterials, soft materials, and active materials.  Research is welcome in emerging areas of multiscale methods, nanomechanics, manufacturing mechanics, and areas that incorporate fundamental understanding of physics and chemistry into the continuum-level understanding of solids.

In 2013, a new NSF-funded petascale computing system, Blue Waters, was deployed at the University of Illinois.  The goal of this project and system is to open up new possibilities in science and engineering by providing computational capability that makes it possible for investigators to tackle much larger and more complex research challenges across a wide spectrum of domains.  The purpose of this solicitation is to invite research groups to submit requests for allocations of resources on the Blue Waters system. Proposers must show a compelling science or engineering challenge that will require petascale computing resources. Proposers must also be prepared to demonstrate that they have a science or engineering research problem that requires and can effectively exploit the petascale computing  capabilities offered by Blue Waters.  Proposals from or including junior researchers are encouraged, as one of the goals of this solicitation is to build a community capable of using petascale computing.

The purpose of the Kirschstein-NRSA postdoctoral fellowship is to enhance the research training of promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in scientific health-related research fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers.

The Program is pleased to announce that it is seeking proposals for funding to support forensic and biometric research and its application. The requested proposals should focus on DFBA activities and needs of the Program's other customers (AFMES, DC3, JPAC-CIL). 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, identification, collection, preservation, and/or analysis of forensic evidence. Biometric research proposals should contribute to biometric applications or operations, including military functions such as combat identification (friend, foe, or neutral), offensive operations (intelligence support to targeting), force protection (physical access control), detention operations, civil-military operations (track target members of a population), personnel recovery and identification, and recognition and recovery of human remains. Proposals that will assist the DoD in achieving these goals are solicited, particularly proposals involving the development of equipment that is portable, sustainable, and useful in an expeditionary or field environment. The expeditionary and field environments require systems that are lightweight, portable, inexpensive, fast, and capable of operating in extreme environments of temperature, dust, humidity, etc. The systems must also be capable of secure data communications.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities between U.S. and foreign investigators. To realize this goal, the Division of Chemistry at NSF has partnered with the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Austrian Science Fund) of Austria (FWF), the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo), Brazil (FAPESP), the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (National Agency for Research) of France (ANR), the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NFR), the Fonds National de la Recherche (National Research Fund) of Luxembourg (FNR), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC). The NSF Division of Chemistry will accept collaborative research proposals in basic research in chemistry, written in English, which establish bilateral collaborations between US investigators and investigators from the countries listed above.

The goal of research funded under the interdisciplinary P2C2 solicitation is to utilize key geological, chemical, atmospheric (gas in ice cores), and biological records of climate system variability to provide insights into the mechanisms and rate of change that characterized Earth's past climate variability, the sensitivity of Earth's climate system to changes in forcing, and the response of key components of the Earth system to these changes. Important scientific objectives of P2C2 are to: 1) provide comprehensive paleoclimate data sets that can serve as model test data sets analogous to instrumental observations; and 2) enable transformative syntheses of paleoclimate data and modeling outcomes to understand the response of the longer-term and higher magnitude variability of the climate system that is observed in the geological and cryospheric records.

The Chemical and Biological Separations (CBS) program supports fundamental research on novel methods and materials for separation processes.  These processes are central to the chemical, biochemical, materials, energy, and pharmaceutical industries.  A fundamental understanding of the interfacial, transport, and thermodynamic behavior of multiphase chemical systems as well as quantitative descriptions of processing characteristics in the process-oriented industries is critical for efficient resource management and effective environmental protection.  The program encourages proposals that address emerging research areas and technologies, have a high degree of interdisciplinary thought coupled with knowledge creation, and integrate education and research.

The Biotechnology, Biochemical, and Biomass Engineering (BBBE) program supports fundamental engineering research that advances the understanding of cellular and biomolecular processes (in vivo, in vitro, and/or ex vivo) and eventually leads to the development of enabling technology and/or applications in support of the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and bioenergy industries, or with applications in health or the environment.  Quantitative assessments of bioprocesses are considered vital to successful research projects in the BBBE program.  Fundamental to many research projects in this area is the understanding of how biomolecules and cells interact in their environment, and how those molecular level interactions lead to changes in structure, function, phenotype, and/or behavior.  The program encourages proposals that address emerging research areas and technologies that effectively integrate knowledge and practices from different disciplines, and effectively incorporate ongoing research into educational activities. Research projects of particular interest in BBBE include, but are not limited to: Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology Quantitative systems biotechnology Tissue engineering and stem cell culture technologies Protein engineering/protein design Development of novel "omics" tools for biotechnology applications

The National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities between U.S. and foreign investigators. To realize this goal, the Division of Chemistry at NSF has partnered with the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung  (Austrian Science Fund) of Austria (FWF), the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo), Brazil (FAPESP), the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (National Agency for Research) of France (ANR), the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NFR), the Fonds National de la Recherche (National Research Fund) of Luxembourg (FNR), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC).  The NSF Division of Chemistry will accept collaborative research proposals in basic research in chemistry, written in English, which establish bilateral collaborations between US investigators and investigators from the countries listed above. 

Due to the ubiquitous presence of catalysis in the many aspects of goods and services impacting our lives, the Catalysis and Biocatalysis program has many potential directions for funding support.  Programs in this area encompass a blend of fundamental and innovative applied research drivers.  All programs are hypothesis-driven, and the experimental programs aimed at resolving the issues frequently combine a variety of approaches.  Chemical engineering and chemistry are intertwined.  Proposals which receive funding in this Program may include any number of the following broad scopes: Catalyst Synthesis, Characterization, Behavior and Performance Kinetics and Mechanisms of Key Catalytic Reactions Catalysis at Surfaces or in Reactor Process Streams Synthesis and Fabrication of Component Materials and Catalyst Composites Modeling and Fundamental Studies of a Catalyst or Catalytic Process Catalysts and Studies for Renewable Energy Systems. These approaches apply equally to classical inorganic or carbon catalysts as well as to enzymatic or biocatalysts.  Specialized materials synthesis procedures may be necessary to provide active catalysts in any of the studies.  Applications-driven studies, such as Biomass conversion catalysis, Electrocatalysis and Photocatalysis, involving energy interconversion devices or systems employing catalysts are highly desired.

The Process and Reaction Engineering program supports fundamental and applied research on: Rates and mechanisms of important classes of catalyzed and uncatalyzed chemical reactions as they relate to the design, production, and application of catalysts, chemical processes, biochemical processes, and specialized materials Chemical and biochemical phenomena occurring at or near solid surfaces and interfaces Electrochemical and photochemical processes of engineering significance or with commercial potential Design and optimization of complex chemical and biochemical processes Dynamic modeling and control of process systems and individual process units Reactive processing of polymers, ceramics, and thin films Interactions between chemical reactions and transport processes in reactive systems, and the use of this information in the design of complex chemical and biochemical reactors  Recent emphasis on the development of sustainable energy technologies means that the support of projects on the processing aspects of chemical systems that further such technologies have high priority when funding decisions are made. Areas that focus on reactors of all types - fuel cells, batteries, microreactors, biochemical reactors, etc.; reactor design in general; and design and control of all systems associated with energy from renewable sources, have high priority for funding.