Group items tagged

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) supports efforts to disseminate resources and to integrate them into neuroscience research practice. Projects should be highly relevant to specific goals of the BRAIN Initiative, goals that are described in the planning document "BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision." They should engage in one or more of the following activities: distribution of tools and reagents; user training on the usage of new technologies or techniques; providing access to existing technology platforms and specialized facilities; minor improvements to increase the scale/efficiency of resource production and delivery; minor adaptations to meet the needs of a user community. Applications strictly focused on technology or software development, rather than dissemination of an existing resource, are not responsive to this FOA. Refinements to microscopes or tools necessary to customize them to the experimental needs of the end users are allowed. Projects should address compelling needs of neuroscience researchers working toward the goals of the BRAIN 2025 report that are otherwise unavailable or impractical in their current form.

The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master's and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. IGE focuses on projects aimed at piloting, testing, and validating innovative and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education. IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for their customization, implementation, and broader adoption. The program supports testing of novel models or activities with high potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches. The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity building needs in graduate education. Strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science centers, and academic partners are encouraged.

NSF's Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) have joined to support the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science program. This program supports active long-term collaborative partnerships between K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Computer and Information Science, and Mathematics (STEM) in-service and pre-service teachers, full-time community college faculty, and university

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to solicit applications to support screening of target-based pharmaceutical libraries to identify candidate therapeutics against select eukaryotic pathogens and subsequent preclinical development activities.

With an emphasis on two-year colleges, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions and industry to promote improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways; and other activities. The program invites research proposals that advance the knowledge base related to technician education. It is expected that projects be faculty driven and that courses and programs are credit bearing although materials developed may also be used for incumbent worker education.

This is a Special Notice advising interested parties that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking comments and feedback to strengthen the attached draft Program Description (PD) for a prospective "Counter Wildlife Trafficking (CWT) activity. USAID anticipates a projected cost of $10 million over a five year period of performance subject to the availability of funds.

The LEAP HI program challenges the engineering research community to take a leadership role in addressing demanding, urgent, and consequential challenges for advancing America’s prosperity, health and infrastructure. LEAP HI proposals confront engineering problems that are too complex to yield to the efforts of a single investigator --- problems that require sustained and coordinated effort from interdisciplinary research teams, with goals that are not achievable through a series of smaller, short-term projects. LEAP HI projects perform fundamental research that may lead to disruptive technologies and methods, lay the foundation for new and strengthened industries, enable notable improvements in quality of life, or reimagine and revitalize the built environment. LEAP HI supports fundamental research projects involving collaborating investigators, of duration up to five years, with total budget between $1 million and $2 million. LEAP HI proposals must articulate a fundamental research problem with compelling intellectual challenge and significant societal impact, particularly on economic competitiveness, quality of life, public health, or essential infrastructure. One or more CMMI core topics must lie at the heart of the proposal, and integration of disciplinary expertise not typically engaged in CMMI-funded projects is encouraged. LEAP HI proposals must highlight engineering research in a leadership role. LEAP HI proposals must demonstrate the need for a sustained research effort by an integrated, interdisciplinary team, and should include aresearch integrationplan and timeline for research activities, with convincing mechanisms for frequent and effective communication.

The objective of this announcement is to (1) develop baseline FXR system concept(s); (2) estimate and substantiate SWAP-C and effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) under a flyaway cost constraint; (3) assess current technology and propose new technology development required to achieve capability; (4) assess performance; (5) conduct trade studies; and (6) optionally perform additional trade studies. The results of these activities with industry will help the Government inform potential FXR technology investments and assess risk of draft FXR requirements in particular with respect to the combination of SWAP-C, EIRP and acquisition cost.

One of the conclusions of this review was that the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permit compliance requirements increasingly include pavement deicer constituents in stormwater discharges. As controls on aircraft deicing runoff have become more widespread and effective, focus on the relative contribution and influence of pavement deicing runoff has increased. The objective of this research is to develop a method to estimate the contributions of airfield pavement deicers and anti-icers to overall oxygen demand (BOD and COD) in stormwater discharges. The method should: Account for sources, fate and transport of airfield pavement deicers and anti-icers; Identify and quantify airfield pavement deicers and anti-icers contained in discharged waters; Account for contributions from other non-airfield pavement-related deicers and anti-icing activities; Be adaptable to background water chemistry, various geographies, airport configurations, soils, topography, climate, weather, and hydrology; Be scalable to levels of resource availability (e.g., data, time, money, personnel, expertise); and Produce output expressed as a percentage of overall BOD and COD attributable to airfield pavement deicers and anti-icers with levels of confidence, and identify uncertainties.

This CRISP 2.0 solicitation responds both to national needs on the resilience of critical infrastructures and to increasing NSF emphasis on transdisciplinary research. In this context, the solicitation is one element of the NSF-wide Risk and Resilience activity, with the overarching goal of advancing knowledge in support of improvement of the nation's infrastructure resilience. The devastating effects of recent disasters such as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria have underscored that a great deal remains to be done. In addition, CRISP 2.0 is aligned with the NSF-wide frontier thinking on convergence, characterized as "deep integration of knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple fields to form new and expanded frameworks for addressing scientific and societal challenges and opportunities".

The Center would like to enhance its efforts to support analytic and methodological research in support of its surveys, and to engage in the education and training of researchers in the use of large-scale nationally representative datasets.  NCSES welcomes efforts by the research community to use NCSES data for research on the science and technology enterprise, to develop improved survey methodologies for NCSES surveys, to create and improve indicators of S&T activities and resources, and strengthen methodologies to analyze and disseminate S&T statistical data. To that end, NCSES invites proposals for individual or multi-investigator research projects, doctoral dissertation improvement awards, workshops, experimental research, survey research and data collection and dissemination projects under its program for Research on the Science and Technology Enterprise:  Statistics and Surveys.

The International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program supports development of globally-engaged U.S. science and engineering students capable of performing in an international research environment at the forefront of science and engineering.  The IRES program supports active research participation by students enrolled as undergraduates or graduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation.  IRES projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the IRES program. 

The "Campus Cyberinfrastructure - Infrastructure, Innovation and Engineering (CC*IIE)" program invests in improvements and re-engineering at the campus level to support a range of data transfers supporting computational science and computer networks and systems research. The program also supports Network Integration activities tied to achieving higher levels of performance, reliability and predictability for science applications and distributed research projects. CC*IIE awards will be made in six areas. Data Driven Networking Infrastructure for the Campus and Researcher awards will be supported at up to $500,000 total for up to 2 years. Network Design and Implementation for Small Institutions awards will be supported at up to $350,000 total for up to two years. Network Integration and Applied Innovation awards will be supported at up to $1,000,000 total for up to 2 years. Identity and Access Management Integration awards will be supported at up to $300,000 total for up to two years. Campus CI Engineer awards will be made at up to $400,000 total for up to 2 years. Regional Coordination and Partnership in Advanced Networking awards will be made at up to $150,000 for up to 2 years.

The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Earth Science Division's Earth Venture (EV) activity is an important component of the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program. Earth Venture consists of a series of regularly solicited, competitively selected Earth Science investigations as recommended by the National Research Council's first decadal survey in Earth science, Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond (The National Academies Press, 2007, available at https://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11820).

The Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Community Research Infrastructure (CCRI) program drives discovery and learning in the core CISE disciplines of the three participating divisions [(Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF), Computer and Network Systems (CNS), and Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS)] by funding the creation and enhancement of world-class research infrastructure. This research infrastructure will specifically support diverse communities of CISE researchers pursuing focused research agendas in computer and information science and engineering. This support involves developing the accompanying user services and engagement needed to attract, nurture, and grow a robust research community that is actively involved in determining directions for the infrastructure as well as management of the infrastructure. This should lead to infrastructure that can be sustained through community involvement and community leadership, and that will enable advances not possible with existing research infrastructure.

Science-driven requirements are the primary motivation for any proposed activity. Proposals will be evaluated on the strength of the science enabled (including research and education) as drivers for investment and innovation in data networking infrastructure, innovation and engineering. A common theme across all aspects of the CC* program is the critical importance of the partnership among campus-level CI experts, including the campus Information Technology (IT)/networking/data organization, contributing domain scientists, research groups, and educators necessary to engage in, and drive, new networking capabilities and approaches in support of scientific discovery. Proposals across the program should reflect and demonstrate this partnership on campus. Proposals will be evaluated on the strength of institutional partnerships, as they are expected to play a central role in developing and implementing the eventual network and data infrastructure upgrades.

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.

Creating solutions to pressing environmental and sustainability challenges will require input and imaginative approaches from various fields, perspectives, and disciplines. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), in their report "Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges," identified five critical challenges we must address as a society: o Sustainably supply food, water, and energy o Curb climate change and adapt to its impacts o Design a future without pollution and waste o Create efficient, healthy, and resilient cities o Foster informed decisions and actions The report further states, "The challenges provide focal points for evolving environmental engineering education, research, and practice toward increased contributions and a greater impact. Implementing this new model will require modifications in educational curriculum and creative approaches to foster interdisciplinary research on complex social and environmental problems." This solicitation aims to address these grand challenges by supporting a collaborative research model that seamlessly integrates sustainability, environmental engineering, and process science and engineering. Accordingly, the Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (ECO-CBET) solicitation will support activities that confront vexing environmental engineering and sustainability problems by uncovering and incorporating fundamental knowledge to design new processes, materials, and devices from a systems-level perspective. Projects should be compelling and reflect sustained, coordinated efforts from interdisciplinary research teams.

In 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) unveiled a set of "Big Ideas," 10 bold, long-term research and process ideas that identify areas for future investment at the frontiers of science and engineering (see https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/big_ideas/index.jsp). The Big Ideas represent unique opportunities to position our Nation at the cutting edge of global science and engineering leadership by bringing together diverse disciplinary perspectives to support convergence research. As such, when responding to this solicitation, even though proposals must be submitted to the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), Office of Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities (ENG/EFMA), once received the proposals will be managed by a cross-disciplinary team of NSF Program Directors.

The goals of this agreement are to engage approximately 20 youth in a park-based educational/recreational experience to learn and apply science, engineering, and best practices for protecting natural sounds and night skies in national parks, while fostering an awareness and appreciation of recreation opportunities in national parks. The objectives are to advance recreational access for non-traditional/underserved park visitors (e.g., youth who haven¿t visited parks due to socio-economics or perceived barriers based on physical, hearing, or visual impairments); use recreation to develop understanding and appreciation of national parks and public lands; impart knowledge to enhance park resources, values, and visitor experience; and leverage funding through cost-sharing. The outcomes will include: 1) increased recreational access, 2) application of best practices developed to benefit resource conditions and visitor experience, 3) improved natural soundscapes and night skies through noise and light reduction service activities, 4) increased relevancy of national parks.