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Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM)funds research projects that identify (1) factors that are effective in the formation of ethical STEM researchers and (2) approaches to developing those factors in all the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports. CCE STEM solicits proposals for research that explores the following: ‘What constitutesresponsible conduct for research (RCR), and which cultural and institutional contexts promote ethical STEM research and practice and why?' Factors one might consider include: honor codes, professional ethics codes and licensing requirements, an ethic of service and/or service learning, life-long learning requirements, curricular memberships in organizations (e.g.Engineers without Borders)that stress responsible conduct for research, institutions that serve under-represented groups, institutions where academic and research integrity are cultivated at multiple levels, institutions that cultivate ethics across the curriculum, or programs that promote group work, or do not grade

The Energy, Power, Control, and Networks (EPCN) Program supports innovative research in modeling, optimization, learning, adaptation, and control of networked multi-agent systems, higher-level decision making, and dynamic resource allocation, as well as risk management in the presence of uncertainty, sub-system failures, and stochastic disturbances. EPCN also invests in novel machine learning algorithms and analysis, adaptive dynamic programming, brain-like networked architectures performing real-time learning, and neuromorphic engineering. EPCN's goal is to encourage research on emerging technologies and applications including energy, transportation, robotics, and biomedical devices & systems. EPCN also emphasizes electric power systems, including generation, transmission, storage, and integration of renewable energy sources into the grid; power electronics and drives; battery management systems; hybrid and electric vehicles; and understanding of the interplay of power systems with associated regulatory & economic structures and with consumer behavior.

The Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program of the NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) serves a critical role in helping ENG focus on important emerging areas in a timely manner. This solicitation is a funding opportunity for interdisciplinary teams of researchers to embark on rapidly advancing frontiers of fundamental engineering research. For this solicitation, we will consider proposals that aim to investigate emerging frontiers in the following two research areas: Chromatin and Epigenetic Engineering (CEE) Continuum, Compliant, and Configurable Soft Robotics Engineering(C3 SoRo) This solicitationwill becoordinated with the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) andthe Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). EFRI seeks proposals with traNSFormative ideas that represent an opportunity for a significant shift in fundamental engineering knowledge with a strong potential for long term impact on national needs or a grand challenge. The proposals must also meet the detailed requirements delineated in this solicitation.

The Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation (CSSI) umbrella program encompasses the long-running Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBs) and Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) programs, as NSF seeks to enable funding opportunities that are flexible and responsive to the evolving and emerging needs in data and software cyberinfrastructure. The CSSI umbrella program anticipates four classes of awards: Elements(eitherData ElementsorSoftware Elements): These awards target small groups that will create and deploy robust capabilities for which there is a demonstrated need that will advance one or more significant areas of science and engineering.

The ERC program is placing greater emphasis on research that leads to societal impact, including convergent approaches, engaging stakeholder communities, and strengthening team formation, in response to the NASEM study recommendations. The ERC program intends to support planning activities leading to convergent research team formation and capacity-building within the engineering community. This planning grant pilot initiative is designed to foster and facilitate the engineering community's thinking about how to form convergent research collaborations. To participate in the upcoming ERC competition, one is not required to submit a planning grant proposal nor to receive a planning grant.

The BMMB Program supports fundamental research in biomechanics and mechanobiology. An emphasis is placed on multiscale mechanics approaches in the study of organisms that integrate across molecular, cell, tissue, and organ domains. The influence of in vivo mechanical forces on cell and matrix biology in the histomorphogenesis, maintenance, regeneration, and aging of tissues is an important concern. In addition, the relationships between mechanical behavior and extracellular matrix composition and organization are of interest. Funded projects may include theoretical, computational, and experimental approaches. The program encourages the consideration of diverse living tissues as smart materials that are self-designing.

The Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program of the NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) serves a critical role in helping ENG focus on important emerging areas in a timely manner. This solicitation is a funding opportunity for interdisciplinary teams of researchers to embark on rapidly advancing frontiers of fundamental engineering research. For this solicitation, we will consider proposals that aim to investigate emerging frontiers in one of the following two research areas: · Distributed Chemical Manufacturing (DCheM) · Engineering the Elimination of End-of-Life Plastics(E3P) This solicitationwill becoordinated with the Directorate forBiological Sciences, the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. EFRI seeks proposals with traNSFormative ideas that represent an opportunity for a significant shift in fundamental engineering knowledge with a strong potential for long term impact on national needs or a grand challenge. The proposals must also meet the detailed requirements delineated in this solicitation. FURTHER INFORMATION:The Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities (EFMA) Office will host an informational webinar on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 1:00pm

The Division of Chemical, Bioengineering and Environmental Transport (CBET) in the Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is partnering with The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to solicit research projects in the general field of fluid dynamics, particulate and multiphase processes, combustion and fire systems,thermal transport processes, and nanoscale interactionsthat can utilize the International Space Station (ISS) National Lab to conduct research that will benefit life on Earth. Only U.S. entities including academic investigators, non-profit independent research laboratories and academic-commercial teams are eligible to apply.

The NSF Engineering (ENG) Directorate has launched a multi-year initiative, the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st century. Professional Formation of Engineers (PFE) refers to the formal and informal processes and value systems by which people become engineers. It also includes the ethical responsibility of practicing engineers to sustain and grow the profession in order to improve quality of life for all peoples. The engineering profession must be responsive to national priorities, grand challenges, and dynamic workforce needs; it must be equally open and accessible to all. Professional Formation of Engineers includes, but is not limited, to: Introductions to the profession at any age; Development of deep technical and professional skills, knowledge, and abilities in both formal and informal settings/domains; Development of outlooks, perspectives, ways of thinking, knowing, and doing; Development of identity as an engineer and its intersection with other identities; and Acculturation to the profession, its standards, and norms.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Geosciences (GEO), the Divisions of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) and Environmental Biology (DEB), in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), the Division of Computer and Network Systems in the Directorate Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE/CNS), and the Division of Chemistry (CHE) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) encourage convergent research that traNSForms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic soil processes, including soil formation, through advances in sensor systems and modeling. The Signals in the Soil (SitS) program fosters collaboration among the two partner agencies and the researchers they support by combining resources and funding for the most innovative and high-impact projects that address their respective missions. To make traNSFormative advances in our understanding of soils, multiple disciplines must converge to produce environmentally-benign novel sensing systems with multiple modalities that can adapt to different environments and collect and transmit data for a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical parameters. Effective integration of sensor data will be key for achieving a better understanding of signaling interactions among plants, animals, microbes, the soil matrix, and aqueous and gaseous components. New sensor networks have the potential to inform models in novel ways, to radically change how data is obtained from various natural and managed (both urban and rural) ecosystems, and to better inform the communities that directly rely on soils for sustenance and livelihood.

The far-reaching impact and rate of innovation in the computer and information science and engineering fields has been remarkable, generating economic prosperity and enhancing the quality of life for people throughout the world. More than a decade ago, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) established the Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) program to build on past successes and provide the CISE research and education community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, fundamental research agendas that promise to define the future of computing and information. In planning Expeditions projects, investigators are strongly encouraged to come together within or across departments or institutions to combine their creative talents in the identification of compelling, traNSFormative research agendas that look ahead by at least a decade and promise disruptive innovations in computer and information science and engineering for many years to come.

The PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation (PFE: RIEF) program has two goals: 1) Support research in the Professional Formation of Engineers (PFE), and 2) Increase the community of researchers conducting PFE research. PIs are expected to have little or no experience conducting social science or education research. PFE: RIEF is not intended for established researchers in engineering education or other social science fields to initiate new projects. Those researchers should consider the Research in the Formation of Engineers program (https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505681).

The worldwide growth of wireless communication, navigation, and telemetry has provided immense societal benefits including mobile broadband data, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile healthcare, and intelligent transportation systems. These and other applications including 5G and beyond wireless systems call for innovations that can circumvent the challenges of radio spectrum scarcity and interference and foster the growth of ubiquitous, high speed, low latency connectivity. Commercial applications like the above must operate in harmony with scientific uses such as research on radio astronomy, Earth and atmospheric sciences, and must not inhibit weather prediction, polar research, and other nationally vital activities, all of which are dependent upon access to the radio spectrum. The National Science Foundation (NSF) continues to support wireless spectrum research and the scientific uses of the electromagnetic spectrum through multiple programs that enable fast, accurate, dynamic coordination and usage of our limited spectrum resource. These programs have created an opportune ground to build and create a large center-based ecosystem for spectrum research, which is the target of this SII-Center program.

The Foundational Research in Robotics (Robotics) program supports research on robotic systems that exhibit significant levels of both computational capability and physical complexity. For the purposes of this program, a robot is defined as intelligence embodied in an engineered construct, with the ability to process information, sense, and move within or substantially alter its working environment. Here intelligence includes a broad class of methods that enable a robot to solve problems or make contextually appropriate decisions. Research is welcomed that considers inextricably interwoven questions of intelligence, computation, and embodiment. Projects may also focus on a distinct aspect of intelligence, computation, or embodiment, as long as the proposed research is clearly justified in the context of a class of robots.  The focus of the Robotics program is on foundational advances in robotics. Robotics is a deeply interdisciplinary field, and proposals are encouraged that explore the full range of fundamental engineering and computer science research challenges arising in robotics. However, all proposals must convincingly explain how a successful outcome will enable transformative new robot functionality or substantially enhance existing robot functionality. The proposal should clearly articulate how the intellectual contribution of the proposed work addresses fundamental gaps in robotics. Meaningful experimental validation on a physical platform is strongly encouraged. Projects that do not represent a direct fundamental contribution to robotics should not be submitted to the Robotics program.

The Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program provides support to enhance the research capabilities of minority-serving institutions (MSI) through the establishment of centers that effectively integrate education and research. MSIs of higher education denote institutions that have undergraduate enrollments of 50% or more (based on total student enrollment) of members of minority groups underrepresented among those holding advanced degrees in science and engineering fields: African Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. CREST promotes the development of new knowledge, enhancements of the research productivity of individual faculty, and an expanded presence of students historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. CREST Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (PRF) awards provide research experience and training for early career scientists at active CREST Centers. HBCU-RISE awards specifically target HBCUs to support the expansion of institutional research capacity as well as the production of doctoral students, especially those from groups underrepresented in STEM, at those institutions.

NSF invites proposals to establish a Navigating the New Arctic Community Office (NNA-CO). Launched in 2016, NNA has been building a growing portfolio of research and planning grants at the intersection of the built, social, and natural environments to improve understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects. Each NNA-funded project is responsible for its own performance, including its core research and broader impacts. However, an NNA community office is required to coordinate the activities of funded NNA projects; engage new PIs; and promote research, education, and outreach activities. The NNA-CO will also provide centralized representation of ongoing NNA activities to the broader scientific community and the public. The lead PI of the successful NNA-CO proposal will serve as the Office Director and will work with the research community to develop and implement appropriate communication networks and support for investigators, stakeholders, and research teams pursuing NNA research. NNA research is inherently convergent, seeking new knowledge at the intersection of the natural, built, and social environments. NNA research also inherently involves diverse stakeholders, from local to international. The NNA-CO will need to demonstrate the ability to work with these types of research teams and audiences.

The Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) is a research and action competition in the Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) domain designed to build a more cohesive research-to-innovation pipeline and foster a collaborative spirit. Building on the NSF S&CC program and the extensive S&CC ecosystem, CIVIC aims to accelerate the impact of S&CC research, and deepen cooperation and information sharing across sectors and regions. CIVIC will lay a foundation for a broader and more fluid exchange of research interests and civic priorities that will create new instances of collaboration and introduce new areas of technical and social scientific discovery. CIVIC will fund projects that can produce significant community impact within 12 months (following a four-month planning phase) - in contrast to many community-university partnerships that take years to provide tangible benefits to communities - and have the potential for lasting impact beyond the period of the CIVIC award.

The goal of the Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE) program is to advance our understanding of professional formation. It seeks to both deepen our fundamental understanding of the underlying processes and mechanisms that support professional formation and to demonstrate how professional formation is or can be accomplished. Ultimately, RFE aims to transform the engineering formation system. Therefore, the impact of proposed projects on this system must be described in the proposal. Proposers should provide a roadmap detailing how they envision the proposed research will eventually broadly impact practice within the engineering formation system, even if these activities are not within the scope of the submitted proposal.

The Division of Chemical, Bioengineering and Environmental Transport (CBET) in the Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is partnering with The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to solicit research projects in the general field of tissue engineering that can utilize the International Space Station (ISS) National Lab to conduct research that will benefit life on Earth. U.S. entities including academic institutions, non-profit independent research labs and academic-commercial teams are eligible to submit proposals.

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.