Group items tagged

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program stimulates technological innovation in the private sector by strengthening the role of small business concerns in meeting Federal research and development needs, increasing the commercial application of federally supported research results, and fostering and encouraging participation by socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned small businesses. The SBIR program solicits proposals from the small business sector consistent with NSF's mission. The program is governed by Public Law 112-81 (SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011). A main purpose of the legislation is to stimulate technological innovation and increase private sector commercialization. The NSF SBIR program is therefore in a unique position to meet both the goals of NSF and the purpose of the SBIR legislation by transforming scientific discovery into both social and economic benefit, and by emphasizing private sector commercialization. Accordingly, NSF has formulated broad solicitation topics for SBIR that conform to the high-technology investment sector's interests. The topics are: Biological and Chemical Technologies (BC) Education Applications (EA) Electronics, Information and Communication Technologies (EI) Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, and Manufacturing (NM)

The purpose of this Dear Colleague Letter is to advise you about funding opportunities at the National Science Foundation for the research community to propose research projects or workshops that will gather data on the implementation and impacts of recent science policy initiatives including, but not limited to those noted earlier.  Especially encouraged are proposals that will: Develop new, or improve existing, analytical frameworks for evaluating the impacts of federal science policy initiatives; Explore different agencies' approaches to the implementation of particular policies to examine how variations in approach affect the achievement of intended policy outcomes; Collect case-study or quantitative data that facilitate identification of best practices in science and innovation policy implementation.

The Thermal Transport Processes program supports engineering research aimed at gaining a basic understanding of the thermal transport phenomena at nano/micro and macro scales in (1) cooling and heating of equipment and devices, (2) energy conversion, power generation and thermal energy storage and conservation, (3) the synthesis and processing of materials including advanced manufacturing, (4) the propulsion of air and land-based vehicles, and (5) thermal phenomena in biological systems.

The Particulate and Multiphase Processes program supports fundamental and applied research on phenomena governing particulate and multiphase processes, including flows of suspensions of particles, drops or bubbles, granular and granular-fluid flows, flow behavior of micro or nano-structured fluids, aerosol science and technology, and self- and directed-assembly processes involving particulates. Innovative research is sought that contributes to improving the basic understanding, design, predictability, efficiency, and control of particulate and multiphase processes with particular emphasis on: novel manufacturing techniques, multiphase systems of relevance to energy harvesting, multiphase transport in biological systems or biotechnology, and environmental sustainability.

The Fluid Dynamics program supports fundamental research and education on mechanisms and phenomena governing fluid flow. Proposed research should contribute to basic understanding; thus enabling the better design; predictability; efficiency; and control of systems that involve fluids. Encouraged are proposals that address innovative uses of fluids in materials development; manufacturing; biotechnology; nanotechnology; clinical diagnostics and drug delivery; sensor development and integration; energy and the environment. While the research should focus on fundamentals, a clear connection to potential application should be outlined.

The ARI is a joint Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and National Science Foundation (NSF) program seeking novel cross-cutting research that will enhance the nation's ability to detect and interdict nuclear or radiological material outside of regulatory control, and otherwise help prevent nuclear or radiological attacks. This year's solicitation topics will encompass a range of subjects, with an emphasis on unconventional, multidisciplinary approaches to threat detection. A number of small to medium awards are intended in the areas of novel approaches to extremely low-cost threat detection, orthogonal and informatics approaches to threat detection, deterrence analytics, and advanced forensics techniques. A single large award is intended for an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to shielded special nuclear material detection. Primary objectives of the ARI include advancing fundamental knowledge in the above areas and developing intellectual capacity in scientific fields relevant to long-term advances in these areas. Proposals outside of the scope described in this solicitation will be returned without review. Research proposals specific to detection of biological, chemical, and conventional weapons are excluded from the scope of this solicitation, however approaches that consider explosives detection and nuclear or radiological materials detection are of interest.

The mission of the CounterACT U01 program is to develop new and improved therapeutics for chemical threats. Chemical threats are toxic chemicals that could be used in a terrorist attack or accidentally released from industrial production, storage or shipping. They include traditional chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, and pesticides.

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 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation makes grants on six broad subject matters, known within the Foundation as major program areas.  Basic Research STEM Higher Education Public Understanding of Science Economic Performance and the Quality of Life Select National Issues Civic Initiatives

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.

According to recent conversations between OARS staff and an NSF official, the NSF BioMaPS program is a funding opportunity that is perhaps undertargeted by researchers.  It funds interdisciplinary proposals that address "the interface between the biological, mathematical, and physical sciences and engineering."  Unsolicited proposals can be submitted to the deadlines of any relevant program in BIO, ENG, or MPS.  The label "BIOMAPS" should appear at the beginning of the proposal title.

According an NSF official with whom OARS staff recently had a conversation, in keeping with the emphasis on interdisciplinary research, the Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) grants are an area of focus for the NSF.  These awards are meant to address "some of the most complicated and pressing scientific problems that lie at the intersections of traditional disciplines."  Further, "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."  Full proposals are invited following review of letters of intent.  The NSF official we spoke with indicated that successful LOIs and proposals will target at least two directorates and will make a strong argument for why the project is not a good fit for a single directorate.  

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to assemble a group of Comprehensive Centers that will adopt scalable technology platforms and streamlined workflows to generate a comprehensive 3D brain cell reference atlas encompassing molecular, anatomical, and physiological annotations of brain cell types in mouse, and incorporate additional genetic and other advanced cell-specific targeting approaches and tools to facilitate this goal. A central goal of this and the three companion FOAs is to build a brain cell census resource that can be widely used throughout the research community.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to support a Brain Cell Data Center (BCDC) that will work with other BICCN Centers and interested researchers to establish a web-accessible information system to capture, store, analyze, curate, and display all data and metadata on brain cell types, and their connectivity. The BCDC is expected to: (1) lead the effort to establish spatial and semantic standards for managing heterogeneous brain cell census data types and information; (2) lead the effort to collect and register multimodal brain cell census data to common brain coordinate systems; (3) generate searchable 2D and 3D digital brain atlases for cell census data; and (4) generate a unified and comprehensive brain cell knowledge base that integrates all existing brain cell census data and information across diverse repositories.  A central goal of this and the three companion FOAs is to build a brain cell census resource that can be widely used throughout the research community.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) supports Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) that will develop and/or validate devices or electronic systems that can: 1) monitor biologically- or behaviorally-based processes applicable to mind and body interventions or 2) be used to assist in optimizing the practice or increasing the efficacy of mind and body interventions.  The applications should: 1) lead to the development of new technologies, 2) adapt existing innovative technologies, devices and/or electronic systems, 3) repurpose existing devices and electronic systems, or 4) conduct testing of single or combined components of an integrated, long term, automated, wearable monitoring, stimulation device or electronic system in order to monitor or enhance the mechanistic processes or functional outcomes of mind and body interventions. For the purposes of this FOA, mind and body interventions are defined as non-pharmacological approaches that include mind/brain focused interventions (e.g., meditation, hypnosis), body-based approaches (e.g., acupuncture, massage, spinal manipulation/mobilization), or combined mind and body meditative movement approaches (e.g., yoga, tai-chi, qigong).  

This initiative will support exploratory research leading to the development of innovative technologies for biomedical research. The program will recognize and reward high risk approaches with potential for significant impact.  Projects will entail a high degree of risk or novelty, which will be offset by a correspondingly high potential impact. However, the possible impact is likely to be far off. Application of the proposed technology to specific biomedical questions is considered beyond the scope of the program, and should not be included. Preliminary data demonstrating feasibility of the proposed approach indicates that the project is beyond the scope of this program and therefore unsuitable for this funding opportunity.   

This initiative will support projects that focus solely on development of technologies with the potential to enable biomedical research. Projects should be justified in terms of potential biomedical impact, but should not include any application to specific biomedical research questions. Proof of principle for the technology will have already been shown, but there will still be significant fundamental technical challenges. Applications should include preliminary data. The products of this research will be functioning prototype instruments, methods, synthetic approaches, etc., characterized adequately to be ready for first application to the type of biomedical research questions that provided the rationale for their development.

On September 13, WBI will be hosting its 3rd OEA Collider Event, this time on the topic of Human Performance Enhancement. Please block your calendars from 1:30 till 3:30 and plan to join us to learn more about the opportunities within this massive market space. For the purposes of this project, we're defining Human Performance Enhancement like this: As the world becomes more complex, the demands on human performance continue to increase. Athletic endeavors, military requirements, continuing independence into one's later years are all examples of market-driven needs for human performance enhancement. Strength, speed, endurance, vigilance, multi-tasking, mental-acuity, and recovery are all enhancement opportunities of interest. Formal evaluation of blue papers will begin on approximately 17 October 2016. Wright Brothers Institute continues to work diligently on our pilot project to refine a commercialization process for regional innovators. In March we had an OEA Collider event focused on the Precision Agriculture market which has resulted in 8 Blue Paper submissions and 2 on-going projects to commercialize several of the concepts explained in those blue papers. We're making significant progress toward providing real market solutions with a combination of several innovative technologies!