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The Mechanics of Materials and Structures program supports fundamental research in mechanics as related to the behavior of deformable solid materials and respective structures under internal and external actions. A diverse and interdisciplinary spectrum of research is supported with emphasis on research that leads to advances in i) theory, experimental, and/or computational methods in mechanics, and/or ii) uses contemporary mechanics methods to address modern challenges in materials and structures. Proposed research can focus on existing or emerging materials and structural systems, across time and length scales. Proposals related to material response are welcome, and would propose, but not limited to, advances in fundamental understanding of deformation, fracture, fatigue, as well as on contact and friction through constitutive modeling, multi-scale (spatial or temporal) and multi-physics analysis, computational methods, or experimental techniques. Proposals that relate to structural response are welcome and would propose, but not limited to, advances in the understanding of nonlinear deformation, instability and collapse in the context of large deformation, wave propagation, multi-scale (spatial or temporal) and multi-physics analysis, computational methods, or experimental techniques. Proposals at the intersection or considerate of the integration of material and structure (such as, but not limited to, metamaterials, hierarchical, microarchitectured and low-dimensional materials) are especially welcome. Of particular interest are research questions that address the integration and combination of geometry, topology of material distributions, lengthscales and deformation/failure mechanics. Within this context, the challenge of the notion of what constitutes a ??material?? or a ??structure?? is expected to lead to unique opportunities in terms of analysis and experimentation of novel response characteristics. While the research results should contribute to ultimatel

The Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) Program is intended to spur visionary systems-oriented activities in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and integrative engineering research. CCSS supports systems research in hardware, signal processing techniques, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) that leverage computation, communication, and algorithms integrated with physical domains. CCSS supports innovative research and integrated educational activities in micro- and nano- electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), communications and sensing systems, and cyber-physical systems. The goal is to design, develop, and implement new complex and hybrid systems at all scales, including nano and macro, that lead to innovative engineering principles and solutions for a variety of application domains including, but not limited to, healthcare, medicine, environmental and biological monitoring, communications, disaster mitigation, homeland security, intelligent transportation, manufacturing, energy, and smart buildings. CCSS also supports integration technologies at both intra- and inter- chip levels, new and advanced radio frequency (RF), millimeter wave and optical wireless and hybrid communications systems architectures, and sensing and imaging at terahertz (THz) frequencies.

The Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) Program is intended to spur visionary systems-oriented activities in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and integrative engineering research. CCSS supports systems research in hardware, signal processing techniques, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) that leverage computation, communication, and algorithms integrated with physical domains. CCSS supports innovative research and integrated educational activities in micro- and nano- electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), communications and sensing systems, and cyber-physical systems. The goal is to design, develop, and implement new complex and hybrid systems at all scales, including nano and macro, that lead to innovative engineering principles and solutions for a variety of application domains including, but not limited to, healthcare, medicine, environmental and biological monitoring, communications, disaster mitigation, homeland security, intelligent transportation, manufacturing, energy, and smart buildings. CCSS also supports integration technologies at both intra- and inter- chip levels, new and advanced radio frequency (RF), millimeter wave and optical wireless and hybrid communications systems architectures, and sensing and imaging at terahertz (THz) frequencies.

In 2010, NSF established the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES)1 investment area to lay the research foundation for decision capabilities and technologies aimed at mitigating and adapting to environmental changes that threaten sustainability. Some SEES investments advanced a systems-based approach to understanding, predicting, and reacting to stress upon, and changes in, the linked natural, social, and built environments. In this context, the importance of understanding the interconnected and interdependent systems involving food, energy, and water (FEW) has emerged. The NSF aims to specifically focus on advancing knowledge of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles; the production and use of fertilizers for food production; and the detection, separation, and reclamation/recycling of nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing species in and from complex aqueous environments.

In 2010, NSF established the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES)1 investment area to lay the research foundation for decision capabilities and technologies aimed at mitigating and adapting to environmental changes that threaten sustainability. Some SEES investments advanced a systems-based approach to understanding, predicting, and reacting to stress upon, and changes in, the linked natural, social, and built environments. In this context, the importance of understanding the interconnected and interdependent systems involving food, energy, and water (FEW) has emerged. The NSF aims to specifically focus on advancing knowledge of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles; the production and use of fertilizers for food production; and the detection, separation, and reclamation/recycling of nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing species in and from complex aqueous environments.

The Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) Program seeks to improve the fundamental understanding of devices and components based on the principles of micro- and nano-electronics, optics and photonics, optoelectronics, magnetics, electromechanics, electromagnetics, and related physical phenomena. The Electronics & Magnetic Devices component of EPMD enables discovery and innovation advancing the frontiers of nanoelectronics, spin electronics, molecular and organic electronics, bioelectronics, biomagnetics, non-silicon electronics, and flexible electronics. It also addresses advances in energy-efficient electronics, sensors, low-noise, power electronics, and mixed signal devices. The Optic & Photonic Devices component of EPMD supports research and engineering efforts leading to significant advances in novel optical sources and photodetectors, optical communication devices, photonic integrated circuits, single-photon quantum devices, and nanophotonics. It also addresses novel optical imaging and sensing applications and solar cell photovoltaics.

The Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) Program seeks to improve the fundamental understanding of devices and components based on the principles of micro- and nano-electronics, optics and photonics, optoelectronics, magnetics, electromechanics, electromagnetics, and related physical phenomena. The Electronics & Magnetic Devices component of EPMD enables discovery and innovation advancing the frontiers of nanoelectronics, spin electronics, molecular and organic electronics, bioelectronics, biomagnetics, non-silicon electronics, and flexible electronics. It also addresses advances in energy-efficient electronics, sensors, low-noise, power electronics, and mixed signal devices. The Optic & Photonic Devices component of EPMD supports research and engineering efforts leading to significant advances in novel optical sources and photodetectors, optical communication devices, photonic integrated circuits, single-photon quantum devices, and nanophotonics. It also addresses novel optical imaging and sensing applications and solar cell photovoltaics.

This multidisciplinary program supports basic research in solid state and materials chemistry comprising the elucidation of the atomic and molecular basis for material development and properties in the solid state from the nanoscale to the bulk.  General areas of interest include but are not limited to innovative approaches to design, synthesis, bulk crystal and/or film growth, and characterization of novel organic, inorganic, and hybrid materials, as well as liquid crystal materials and multi-component material systems exhibiting new phenomena and/or providing new scientific insights into structure/composition/property relationships in the solid state.  Relevant topics include original material design principles, new approaches to assembly or crystalline material growth, characterization of new material phenomena or superior behavior, investigations of surface and interfacial effects on material system structures and properties, and unraveling the relationships between structure/composition (e.g. self- or program-assembled materials, crystalline material growth, and nanostructured material systems) and properties (e.g. charge, ionic, thermal or spin transport, exciton diffusion, chemical reactivity and selectivity, etc.).  Development of new organic solid state materials, environmentally-safe and sustainable materials, and fundamental studies of novel material and material systems for efficient energy harvesting, conversion and storage are encouraged.  The SSMC program works closely with other programs within the Division of Materials Research (DMR) and in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Engineering (ENG) directorates to accommodate the multidisciplinary nature of proposal submissions.

The goal of this program is to advance the field of electronics and photonics through basic, potentially transformative materials science research. The scope of the program encompasses the discovery and understanding of materials and material combinations with potential for major technological advantages. Program focus is on identification and understanding of fundamental atomic and molecular level mechanisms and phenomena associated with synthesis and processing of electronic and photonic materials. High risk, high payoff research is encouraged. For example, novel materials are sought that may offer new paradigms in critical computing and communications components, or enable low cost, highly efficient, and stable photovoltaics, solid state lighting, and displays. Research topics include, but are not limited to, nucleation and growth of thin films and nanostructures; self-assembly; nanostructure definition and etching processes; interface bonding and structure; crystal and interface defects; doping; bulk crystal growth; and interrelationships between synthesis/processing, structure, and properties.

This multidisciplinary program supports basic research in solid state and materials chemistry comprising the elucidation of the atomic and molecular basis for material development and properties in the solid state from the nanoscale to the bulk.  General areas of interest include but are not limited to innovative approaches to design, synthesis, bulk crystal and/or film growth, and characterization of novel organic, inorganic, and hybrid materials, as well as liquid crystal materials and multi-component material systems exhibiting new phenomena and/or providing new scientific insights into structure/composition/property relationships in the solid state.  Relevant topics include original material design principles, new approaches to assembly or crystalline material growth, characterization of new material phenomena or superior behavior, investigations of surface and interfacial effects on material system structures and properties, and unraveling the relationships between structure/composition (e.g. self- or program-assembled materials, crystalline material growth, and nanostructured material systems) and properties (e.g. charge, ionic, thermal or spin transport, exciton diffusion, chemical reactivity and selectivity, etc.).  Development of new organic solid state materials, environmentally-safe and sustainable materials, and fundamental studies of novel material and material systems for efficient energy harvesting, conversion and storage are encouraged. 

The goal of this program is to advance the field of electronics and photonics through basic, potentially transformative materials science research. The scope of the program encompasses the discovery and understanding of materials and material combinations with potential for major technological advantages. Program focus is on identification and understanding of fundamental atomic and molecular level mechanisms and phenomena associated with synthesis and processing of electronic and photonic materials. High risk, high payoff research is encouraged. For example, novel materials are sought that may offer new paradigms in critical computing and communications components, or enable low cost, highly efficient, and stable photovoltaics, solid state lighting, and displays. Research topics include, but are not limited to, nucleation and growth of thin films and nanostructures; self-assembly; nanostructure definition and etching processes; interface bonding and structure; crystal and interface defects; doping; bulk crystal growth; and interrelationships between synthesis/processing, structure, and properties.

he Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN) Program supports fundamental research and education on the relationships between processing, structure and properties of metals and their alloys. The program focuses on experimental research while strongly encouraging the synergistic use of theory and computational materials science. Structure spanning atomic, nanometer, micrometer and larger length scales controls properties and connects these with processing.   The program emphasizes the role of structure across all these length scales, including structural imperfections such as vacancies, solutes, dislocations, boundaries and interfaces. Research should advance fundamental materials science that will enable the design and synthesis of metallic materials to optimize superior behaviors and enable the prediction of properties and performance. The program aims to advance the materials science of metals and alloys through transformative research on a diverse array of topics, including, but not limited to, phase transformations; equilibrium, non-equilibrium and far-from equilibrium structures; thermodynamics; kinetics; diffusion; interfaces; oxidation; performance in extreme environments; recyclability; magnetic behavior; thermal transport; plastic flow; and similar phenomena. Yield strength, flow stress, creep, fatigue and fracture are structural-materials examples. Magnetic energy density, shape-memory strain and thermoelectric efficiency are examples for functional materials.  Broader impacts are expected in education and other areas, such as workforce development, sustainability, environmental impact or critical infrastructure needs.  High-quality proposals that integrate research, education, and other broader impacts are invited.

CMMT supports theoretical and computational materials research in the topical areas represented in DMR's Topical Materials Research Programs (these are also variously known as Individual Investigator Award (IIA) Programs, or Core Programs, or Disciplinary Programs), which include: Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), Biomaterials (BMAT), Ceramics (CER), Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM), Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN), Polymers (POL), and Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC). The CMMT program supports fundamental research that advances conceptual understanding of hard and soft materials, and materials-related phenomena; the development of associated analytical, computational, and data-centric techniques; and predictive materials-specific theory, simulation, and modeling for materials research.Research may encompass the advance of new paradigms in materials research, including emerging data-centric approaches utilizing data-analytics or machine learning. Computational efforts span from the level of workstations to advanced and high-performance scientific computing. Emphasis is on approaches that begin at the smallest appropriate length scale, such as electronic, atomic, molecular, nano-, micro-, and mesoscale, required to yield fundamental insight into material properties, processes, and behavior, to predict new materials and states of matter, and to reveal new materials phenomena. Approaches that span multiple scales of length and time may be required to advance fundamental understanding of materials properties and phenomena, particularly for polymeric materials and soft matter.

DMREF is the primary program by which NSF participates in the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) for Global Competitiveness. MGI recognizes the importance of materials science and engineering to the well-being and advancement of society and aims to "deploy advanced materials at least twice as fast as possible today, at a fraction of the cost." MGI integrates materials discovery, development, property optimization, and systems design with a shared computational framework. This framework facilitates collaboration and coordination of research activities, analytical tools, experimental results, and critical evaluation in pursuit of the MGI goals. Consistent with theMGI Strategic Plan, DMREFhighlights four sets of goals: · Leading a culture shift in materials science and engineering research to encourage and facilitate an integrated team approach; · Integrating experimentation, computation, and theory and equipping the materials scienceand engineering communities with advanced tools and techniques; · Making digital data accessible, findable,and useful to the community; and · Creating a world-class materials science and engineering workforce that is trained for careers in academia or industry. Accordingly, DMREF will support activities that significantly accelerate materials discovery and/or development by building the fundamental knowledge base needed to design and make materials and/or devices with specific and desired functions or properties.

The objectives of the Distributed RF Sensing (DRS) are to conduct cutting edge R&D of RF system and sub-system technology concepts to provide next-gen radio frequency (RF) sensing technologies to external customers and the warfighter with the technology required for enduring success. These objectives include: · Development and demonstration of advanced sensor models, concepts, and technologies in existing and emerging RF intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensor systems · Improvement of active and passive RF sensor operation in stressing interference environments and against advanced and non-conventional targets and threats · Development of target and environment RF scattering theory, computational electromagnetics, and radar measurements for efficient and accurate simulations of advanced radar operations in complex interference environments · Perform extensive modeling and simulation, algorithm development, data analysis, experimentation, and validation to assess promising technologies, evaluate advanced concepts and ensure appropriate system-level trades are balanced as technology is matured · Conduct radar measurements and experiments for validation and verification purposes

The EBRC (Energetics Basic Research Center) is a basic research program initiated by the Combat Capabilities Development Command/Army Research Laboratory/ARO. It focuses on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security. It seeks to increase the Army's intellectual capital in energetic materials (EM) and improve its ability to address future challenges. EBRC brings together universities, research institutions, companies, and individual scholars and supports multidisciplinary and cross-institutional projects addressing specific topic areas determined by the Department of the Army (DA). The EBRC aims to promote research in specific areas of EMs and to promote a candid and constructive relationship between DA and the energetics research community. The future Army is projected to be unable to achieve dominance in range and lethality due to inadequate energetic formulations and form factor limitations associated with current weapon systems. Basic research generates new knowledge that may be exploited to develop and deliver new materials and technologies that contribute to enhanced lethal effects at the system level as well as increased range and a smaller payload. These, in turn, enable space for larger, mission-critical systems, and shorter time-to-target ensuring Army battlefield dominance in Multi-Domain Operations. Army research must encompass new ways to expedite the discovery, design, and scale-up of new materials and concepts which when integrated into newly designed weapons components (e.g. additively manufactured high strength steels with pre-formed fragmentation patterns, and structural reactive materials) developed at ARL and across the Army and DoD communities, will deliver decisive weapons overmatch.

Effective September 1, 2013, the Materials Engineering and Processing Program (MEP) (PD 13-8092) will be accepting proposals that address engineering principles as they relate to material processing and performance. This program replaces the Materials Processing and Manufacturing (MPM), Materials and Surface Engineering (MSE), and Structural Mechanics and Materials (SMM) programs. This new MEP program is effectively a merger and evolutionary advance of these three programs. The MPM, MSE and SMM programs will no longer be accepting new proposals1. The Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMM) in Directorate for Engineering (ENG) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the Materials Engineering and Processing (MEP) program to support fundamental research addressing the interrelationship of materials processing, structure, properties and/or life-cycle performance for targeted applications. Processing and performance of all material systems are of interest. These include polymers, metals, ceramics, semiconductors, composites, and hybrids thereof. Research driven by scientific hypotheses are encouraged when suitable, and materials in bulk form or focus on special zones such as surfaces or interfaces that are to be used in structural and/or functional applications are appropriate for this program. Analytical, experimental, and numerical studies are supported and collaborative proposals with industry (i.e. Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI)) are encouraged.

This program supports theoretical and computational materials research and education in the topical areas represented in DMR programs, including condensed matter physics, polymers, solid-state and materials chemistry, metals and nanostructures, electronic and photonic materials, ceramics, and biomaterials. The program supports fundamental research that advances conceptual, analytical, and computational techniques for materials research. A broad spectrum of research is supported using electronic structure methods, many-body theory, statistical mechanics, and Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, along with other techniques, many involving advanced scientific computing. Emphasis is on approaches that begin at the smallest appropriate length scale, such as electronic, atomic, molecular, nano-, micro-, and mesoscale, required to yield fundamental insight into material properties, processes, and behavior and to reveal new materials phenomena. Areas of recent interest include, but are not limited to: strongly correlated electron systems; low-dimensional systems; nonequilibrium phenomena, including pattern formation, microstructural evolution, and fracture; high-temperature superconductivity; nanostructured materials and mesoscale phenomena; quantum coherence and its control; and soft condensed matter, including systems of biological interest.

The goal of the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) is to support fundamental research that will accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people. The original NRI program focused on innovative robotics research that emphasized the realization of collaborative robots (co-robots) working in symbiotic relationships with human partners. The NRI-2.0 program significantly extends this theme to focus on issues of scalability: how teams of multiple robots and multiple humans can interact and collaborate effectively; how robots can be designed to facilitate achievement of a variety of tasks in a variety of environments, with minimal modification to the hardware and software; how robots can learn to perform more effectively and efficiently, using large pools of information from the cloud, other robots, and other people; and how the design of the robots' hardware and software can facilitate large-scale, reliable operation. In addition, the program supports innovative approaches to establish and infuse robotics into educational curricula, advance the robotics workforce through education pathways, and explore the social, behavioral, and economic implications of our future with ubiquitous collaborative robots. Collaboration between academic, industry, non-profit, and other organizations is encouraged to establish better linkages between fundamental science and engineering and technology development, deployment and use. Well-justified international collaborations that add significant value to the proposed research and education activities will also be considered.

The second major report of the President's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing, provides high-level recommendations for U.S. advanced manufacturing strategies, with emphasis on three manufacturing technology areas (MTAs): Advanced sensing, controls and platforms for manufacturing; Visualization, information, and digital manufacturing; and Advanced materials manufacturing. Detailed information on the recommendations for each MTA can be found in Annexes 1 through 10 of the AMP's report. Also of note are reports from the European Commission1 and industry2,3, which provide descriptions of advances in manufacturing, including leveraging of emerging information technologies. Consistent with the AMP's report, the evolution of manufacturing technology has arguably been most importantly dependent on the application of increasingly powerful and low-cost computation in manufacturing enterprises. NSF researchers are, and have been, actively engaged in pursuing fundamental advances in design theory and translation; real-time sensing and perception; data capture, representation, and analytics; machine architectures and human interfaces; materials and process modeling; scheduling and control algorithms; fault detection, analysis, and correction; and coordination of decisions across distributed production facilities that have led to the globally-connected, low-cost, flexible and resilient supply chains, computer-integrated factories, and digital design systems of the modern world. There is a general consensus about the increasingly important role of powerful, low-cost computation in manufacturing.

The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces. Systemic (or organizational) inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in organizational culture and climate. For example, practices in academic departments that result in the inequitable allocation of service or teaching assignments may impede research productivity, delay advancement, and create a culture of differential treatment and rewards. Similarly, policies and procedures that do not mitigate implicit bias in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions could lead to women and racial and ethnic minorities being evaluated less favorably, perpetuating historical under-participation in STEM academic careers and contributing to an academic climate that is not inclusive. All NSF ADVANCE proposals are expected to use intersectional approaches in the design of systemic change strategies in recognition that gender, race and ethnicity do not exist in isolation from each other and from other categories of social identity. The solicitation includes four funding tracks: Institutional Transformation (IT), Adaptation, Partnership, and Catalyst, in support of the NSF ADVANCE program goal to broaden the implementation of systemic strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession.

NSF is interested in activities that accelerate materials discovery and development by building the fundamental knowledge base needed to progress towards designing and making a material with a specific and desired function or property from first principles. Also of interest to NSF is research that seeks to advance fundamental understanding of materials across length and time scales to elucidate the effects of microstructure, surfaces, and coatings on the properties and performance of materials and devices. The DMREF goal is to control material properties through design: this is to be accomplished by understanding the interrelationships of composition, processing, structure, properties, performance, and process control. The approach envisioned to achieve this goal involves modeling, analysis and computational simulations, validated and verified through measurement, experimentation or device demonstration. This requires new data analytic tools and statistical algorithms; advances in predictive modeling that leverage machine learning, data mining, and sparse approximation; data infrastructure that is accessible, extensible, scalable, and sustainable; and new collaborative capabilities for managing large, complex, heterogeneous, distributed data supporting materials design, synthesis, and longitudinal study.

DOE-NE's mission is to encourage development and exploration of advanced nuclear science and technology. DOE-NE promotes nuclear energy as a resource capable of meeting the nation's energy, environmental, and national security needs by resolving scientific, technical, and regulatory challenges through research, development, and demonstration. IUP supports DOE-NE's Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), which enables outstanding, cutting-edge, and innovative research at U.S. IHEs through the following: * Integrating research and development (R&D) at U.S. IHEs, national laboratories, and industry to revitalize nuclear education and support NE'sPrograms * Attracting the brightest students to the nuclear professions and supporting the nation's intellectual capital in science and engineering disciplines * Improving U.S. IHE's infrastructure for conducting R&D and educating students * Facilitating knowledge transfer to the next generation ofworkers Educating undergraduate and graduate students in NS&E will: * Support the ongoing need for personnel who can develop and maintain the nation's nuclear power technology * Enhance the R&D capabilities of U.S. IHEs * Fulfill national demand for highly trained scientists and engineers to work in NS&E areas