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The Acquisition Research Program (ARP) conducts and supports research in academic disciplines that bear on public procurement policy and management. These include economics, finance, financial management, information systems, organization theory, operations management, human resources management, risk management, and marketing, as well as the traditional public procurement areas such as contracting, program/project management, logistics, test and evaluation and systems engineering management. The ARP is interested in innovative proposals that will provide unclassified and non-proprietary findings suitable for publication in open scholarly literature. Studies of government processes, systems, or policies should also expand the body of knowledge and theory of processes, systems, or policies outside the Government. Offerors bear prime responsibility for the design, management, direction and conduct of research. Researchers should exercise judgment and original thought toward attaining the goals within broad parameters of the research areas proposed and the resources provided. Offerors are encouraged to be creative in the selection of the technical and management processes and approaches and consider the greatest and broadest impact possible.

Humanities Connections grants seek to expand the role of the humanities in the undergraduate curriculum at two- and four-year institutions, offering students in all academic fields new opportunities to develop the intellectual skills and habits of mind that the humanities cultivate. Grant projects focus on connecting the resources and perspectives of the humanities to students' broader educational and professional goals, regardless of their path of study. Through this new grant program, NEH invites proposals that reflect innovative and imaginative approaches to preparing students for their roles as engaged citizens and productive professionals in a rapidly changing and interdependent world. Grants support the development and implementation of an integrated set of courses and student engagement activities focusing on significant humanities content. A common topic, theme, or compelling issue or question must link the courses and activities. The linked courses (a minimum of three) may fulfill general education or core curriculum requirements but could also be designed primarily for students in a particular major or course of study. The Humanities Connections program gives special encouragement to projects that foster collaboration between humanities faculty and their counterparts in the social and natural sciences and pre-service or professional programs in business, engineering, health sciences, law, computer science, and other non-humanities fields.

) multiplex biosensing platforms that exceed the performance of current state-of-the-art devices; 2) novel transduction principles, mechanisms and sensor designs suitable for measurement in practical matrix and sample-preparation-free approaches, including error-free detection of pathogens and toxins in food matrices, waterborne pathogens, parasites, toxins, biomarkers in body fluids, neuron chemicals, and others that improve human condition; 3) biosensors that enable measurement of biomolecular interactions in their native states, transmembrane transport, intracellular transport and reactions, and other biological phenomena; 4) biosensing performance optimization for specific health applications such as point-of-care testing and personalized health monitoring; and 5) miniaturization of biosensors for lab-on-a-chip and cell/organ-on-a-chip applications to enable measurement of biological properties and functions of cell/tissues in vitro. The Biosensors Program does not encourage proposals addressing surface functionalization and modulation of bio-recognition molecules, development of basic chemical mechanisms for biosensing applications, circuit design for signal processing and amplification, computational modeling, and microfluidics for sample separation and filtration.

The Engineering of Biomedical Systems (EBMS)program is part of the Engineering Biology and Health cluster, which also includes 1) Biophotonics; 2) Biosensing; 3) Cellular and Biochemical Engineering; and 4) Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering. The goal of theEBMS program is to provide research opportunities for creating discovery-level and transformative projects that integrate engineering and life sciences to solve biomedical problems and serve humanity in the long term.EBMS projects must be at the interface of engineering and biomedical sciences. They are expected to use an engineering framework (for example, design or modeling) that supports increased understanding of physiological or pathophysiological processes. The project must include objectives that advance both engineering and biomedical sciences. EMBS projects should focus on high-impact, transformative methods and technologies -- especially those that potentially will have a broad impact on biomedical challenges. Projects may include: methods, models, and enabling tools applied to understand or control living systems; fundamental improvements in deriving information from cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems; or new approaches to the design of systems that include both living and non-living components for eventual medical use in the long term. TheEBMS programsupports fundamental and transformative research in the following areas of biomedical engineering:

The Environmental Engineering program is part of the Environmental Engineering and Sustainability cluster together with 1) the Biological and Environmental Interactions of Nanoscale Materials program and 2) the Environmental Sustainability program. Environmental engineering is an interdisciplinary field that applies chemical, biological, and physical scientific principles to protect human and ecological health. The goal of the Environmental Engineering program is tosupport potentially transformative fundamental research that applies scientific and engineering principles to 1) prevent or minimize solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges of pollution to soil, water, and air; 2) mitigate the ecological and human-health impacts of such releases by smart/adaptive/reactive amendments or manipulation of the environment, and 3) remediate polluted environments through engineered chemical, biological, and/or geo-physical processes. Integral to achieving these goals is a fundamental understanding of the transport and biogeochemical reactivity of pollutants in the environment. Therefore, research on environmental micro/biology, environmental chemistry, and environmental geophysics may be relevant providing there is a clear connection to the application of environmental engineering to protect human and ecological health.

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.

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 Hydrologic Sciences Program supports basic research on the fluxes of water in the terrestrial environment that constitute the water cycle as well as the mass and energy transport function of the water cycle. The Program supports the study of processes including (but not limited to): rainfall, runoff, infiltration and streamflow; evaporation and transpiration; the flow of water in soils and aquifers; and the transport of suspended, dissolved, and colloidal components. The Program is interested in how water interacts with the landscape and the ecosystem as well as how the water cycle and its coupled processes are altered by land use and climate. Studies may address physical, chemical, and/or biological processes that are coupled directly to water transport. Observational, experimental, theoretical, modeling, synthesis and field approaches are supported. Projects submitted to Hydrologic Sciences commonly involve expertise from physical and ecosystem sciences, engineering and/or mathematics; and proposals may require joint review with related programs.

This grant program supports: (1) training students for Master's and doctoral degrees in food, agricultural and natural resource sciences, and; (2) Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances (IRTA) for eligible USDA NNF beneficiaries. Awards are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that engage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees in USDA mission areas. Applicants provide clarity about the philosophy of their graduate training, and relevance to USDA mission sciences, NIFA priorities and national science education policies and statistics. Applications are being solicited from institutions that confer a graduate degree in at least one of the following Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas: 1) animal and plant production; 2) forest resources; 3) agricultural educators and communicators; 4) agricultural management and economics; 5) food science and human nutrition; 6) sciences for agricultural biosecurity; and 7) training in integrative biosciences for sustainable food and agricultural systems.

We are seeking proposals for new research that will support and enhance the activities of the Consortium for the Valuation of Applications Benefits Linked to Earth Science (VALUABLES), a new consortium at RFF made possible through a partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). VALUABLES is focused on advancing innovative uses of existing methods and developing new techniques for valuing the information provided by Earth observations, especially those derived from satellites and aircraft. Any area in which Earth observations play a role may be addressed, including applications relating to human health, air quality, water resources, ecosystem services, natural disasters, food security and agriculture, wildland fires, energy, urban development, and transportation and infrastructure. However, the use of remotely sensed data must be a key component of the analysis. In addition, we especially welcome proposals that focus on evaluating the socioeconomic impacts of applications of Earth observations for solving pressing societal problems and that quantify, in monetary terms, the value of Earth observations in specific applications. In so doing, proposals should clearly describe how information from Earth observations makes improvements to decision making and the value of those improvements. Applicants may propose to quantify the private and/or social benefits of applications of Earth observations, including nonmarket benefits. The Macauley Award is open to researchers at US-based universities and nonprofit research institutions. Interdisciplinary research teams are preferred, and teams that involve both economists and Earth scientists are particularly encouraged.

With PEPFAR support, CDC Haiti works in close collaboration with Haiti’s Ministry of Health (MSPP) to increase access to quality HIV clinical services, prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and increase laboratory and strategic information capacity. In 2016, CDC Haiti adopted and implemented WHO’s Test and Start strategy, making treatment available to anyone who is HIV positive and reaching 80,000 people – over half of all people living with HIV in Haiti. The CDC program also led the development and implementation of key innovative approaches such as the biometric coding for unique patient identification and patient linkage and retention program. These interventions significantly improved the PEPFAR Haiti program performance. This NOFO aims to build upon these interventions and improve:Service delivery by providing technical assistance in the MSPP network to help strengthen HIV/AIDS-related services through clinical mentoring;Health workforce development by supporting both pre-service and in-service training efforts and working with MSPP in maintaining its national clinical guidelines; andHealth information systems by enhancing the iSanté Plus system, which includes patient care summaries, population-level data dashboards, automated program reports, epidemiological monitoring, and indicator reporting, and is linked to computerized lab results.

Given the time and resources spent on the Phase I and II studies and the upgraded and newly installed stations, as well as the importance of the UB Network for consumptive use estimates in the Upper Colorado River Basin, the parties want to ensure the stations will continue to be operated and maintained to an agreed level of standards, and that all collected data will be made available to any and all users in a consistent format. This scope of work addresses the operation and maintenance, data quality control and assurance, and serving of the resulting data for the 2 new climate stations within the state of New Mexico in the Colorado River basin. Tasks 1. The contractor will operate and maintain the 2 new stations according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) standards appropriate for operation and maintenance of this network (ASCE-EWRI 2005). Teleconnections with the home laboratory will allow daily examination of the sensor outputs. When a significant problem is identified, a site visit will be arranged, to correct the issue within seven (7) days. a. The contractor will provide documentation describing their maintenance procedures and logs of past maintenance upon request. 2. The contractor will ensure each station's sensors are calibrated or checked against standards annually according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) standards appropriate for calibration (ASCE-EWRI 2005) a. The contractor will provide documentation describing their calibration procedures and logs of past calibration upon request.

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.

The NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in collaboration with AAAS will offer an Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR) webinar focusing on opportunities for funding in the IUSE: EHR program, specifically associated with the Institutional and Community Transformation (ICT) track of the IUSE program. An audio archive and slides will be posted after the webinar at https://aaas-iuse.org. The IUSE: EHR program "seeks to promote novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for all undergraduates." The program supports proposals interested in improving undergraduate education, developing faculty expertise, preparing K-12 teachers, and providing all undergraduate students with STEM competencies and a basic understanding of STEM concepts and principles. All projects must contribute to the body of knowledge about what works in undergraduate STEM education and the conditions that lead to improved STEM teaching and learning. The ICT track seeks to fund innovative work on systemic change that may be measured at the departmental, institutional, or multi-institutional level, or across communities of STEM educators and/or educational researchers. ICT projects are expected to include one or more theories of change to guide the proposed work and this webinar will provide information about expectations for Identifying and incorporating these theories of change.

The focus of this BAA is primarily on projects that continue to advance the systems engineering approach needed for the design, fabrication, and manufacture of structural components to address challenges in system weight, performance, affordability, and/or survivability. The foundation of this approach should include the integration of materials information, captured in computational tools, with engineering product performance analysis and manufacturing-process simulation termed commonly as Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME). From this foundation it is expected the integration of manufacturing process information and product performance information utilizing the full range of engineering and analytical tools, processes, and principles to improve efficiency and effectiveness of their integrated approach. The intent is to bring together materials designers, materials suppliers, product designers, and manufacturers to collaborate on the design, production, and commercialization of novel affordable, manufacturable systems. Projects may include basic and applied research, technology and component development, and prototyping; but may also focus on manufacturing supply-chain technical support and integration, workforce development, and manufacturing education.

The Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering (BBE) program supports fundamental engineering research that advances the understanding of cellular andbiomolecular processes in engineering biology and eventually leads to the development of enabling technology for advanced manufacturing and/or applications in support of the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and bioenergy industries, or with applications in health or the environment. A quantitative treatment of biological and engineering problems of biological processes is considered vital to successful research projects in the BBE program. Fundamental to many research projects in this area is the understanding of how biomolecules, cells and cell populations interact in their environment, and how those molecular level interactions lead to changes in structure, function, phenotype, and/or behavior. The program encourages highly innovative and potentially transformative engineering research leading to novel bioprocessing and manufacturing approaches, and proposals that address emerging research areas and technologies that effectively integrate knowledge and practices from different disciplines while incorporating ongoing research into educational activities. 

The goal of the Environmental Engineering program is to support transformative research which applies scientific and engineering principles to avoid or minimize solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges, resulting from human activities on land, inland and coastal waters, and air, while promoting resource and energy conservation and recovery.  The program also fosters cutting-edge scientific research for identifying, evaluating, and monitoring the waste assimilative capacity of the natural environment and for removing or reducing contaminants from polluted air, water, and soils. Any proposal investigating sensors, materials or devices that does not integrate these products with an environmental engineering activity or area of research may be returned without review.

The goal of the Environmental Engineering program is to support transformative research which applies scientific and engineering principles to avoid or minimize solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges, resulting from human activities on land, inland and coastal waters, and air, while promoting resource and energy conservation and recovery.  The program also fosters cutting-edge scientific research for identifying, evaluating, and monitoring the waste assimilative capacity of the natural environment and for removing or reducing contaminants from polluted air, water, and soils. Any proposal investigating sensors, materials or devices that does not integrate these products with an environmental engineering activity or area of research may be returned without review.

The goal of the Biophotonics program is to explore the research frontiers in photonics principles, engineering and technology that are relevant for critical problems in fields of medicine, biology and biotechnology.  Fundamental engineering research and innovation in photonics is required to lay the foundations for new technologies beyond those that are mature and ready for application in medical diagnostics and therapies.  Advances are needed in nanophotonics, optogenetics, contrast and targeting agents, ultra-thin probes, wide field imaging, and rapid biomarker screening. Low cost and minimally invasive medical diagnostics and therapies are key motivating application goals.

The goal of the Biophotonics program is to explore the research frontiers in photonics principles, engineering and technology that are relevant for critical problems in fields of medicine, biology and biotechnology.  Fundamental engineering research and innovation in photonics is required to lay the foundations for new technologies beyond those that are mature and ready for application in medical diagnostics and therapies.  Advances are needed in nanophotonics, optogenetics, contrast and targeting agents, ultra-thin probes, wide field imaging, and rapid biomarker screening. Low cost and minimally invasive medical diagnostics and therapies are key motivating application goals.

The Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS) program focuses on Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS) that are cognizant, taskable, reflective, ethical, and knowledge-rich. The S&AS program welcomes research on IPS that are aware of their capabilities and limitations, leading to long-term autonomy requiring minimal or no human operator intervention. Example IPS include, but are not limited to, robotic platforms and networked systems that combine computing, sensing, communication, and actuation. Cognizant IPS exhibit high-level awareness beyond primitive actions, in support of persistent and long-term autonomy. Taskable IPS can interpret high-level, possibly vague, instructions, translating them into concrete actions that are dependent on the particular context in which the IPS is operating. Reflective IPS can learn from their own experiences and those of other entities, such as other IPS or humans, and from instruction or observation; they may exhibit self-aware and self-optimizing capabilities. Ethical IPS should adhere to a system of societal and legal rules, taking those rules into account when making decisions. Knowledge-rich IPS employ a variety of representation and reasoning mechanisms, such as semantic, probabilistic and commonsense reasoning; are cognitively plausible; reason about uncertainty in decision making; and reason about the intentions of other entities in decision making.

The goal of the Biophotonics program is to explore the research frontiers in photonics principles, engineering and technology that are relevant for critical problems in fields of medicine, biology and biotechnology.  Fundamental engineering research and innovation in photonics is required to lay the foundations for new technologies beyond those that are mature and ready for application in medical diagnostics and therapies.  Advances are needed in nanophotonics, optogenetics, contrast and targeting agents, ultra-thin probes, wide field imaging, and rapid biomarker screening. Low cost and minimally invasive medical diagnostics and therapies are key motivating application goals.

The goal of the Biophotonics program is to explore the research frontiers in photonics principles, engineering and technology that are relevant for critical problems in fields of medicine, biology and biotechnology.  Fundamental engineering research and innovation in photonics is required to lay the foundations for new technologies beyond those that are mature and ready for application in medical diagnostics and therapies.  Advances are needed in nanophotonics, optogenetics, contrast and targeting agents, ultra-thin probes, wide field imaging, and rapid biomarker screening. Low cost and minimally invasive medical diagnostics and therapies are key motivating application goals.