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The DMR Polymers Program supports fundamental research and education on polymeric materials and polymer science. The program portfolio is mainly experimental and highly diverse with components of materials science, chemistry, physics, and other related disciplines.

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.

NOTE: $95 million is being added to this program over the next six years. We established the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) Initiative as an integrated research program in quantum materials that includes materials synthesis, experiment and theory, and that crosses the boundaries among physics, chemistry and materials science. The initiative supports exploratory research with the aim of accelerating progress in the field and propelling it into a state in which new, deeper questions can be asked about organizing principles of complex quantum matter and the materials can be interrogated in superior new ways. While we support basic research, we also expect some of these materials will find applications in new technologies that improve human life or change the way science is done.

Future ultra-low-energy computing, storage and signal-processing systems can be built on principles derived from organic systems that are at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and engineering. New information technologies can be envisioned that are based on biological principles and that use biomaterials in the fabrication of devices and components; it is anticipated that these information technologies could enable stored data to be retained for more than 100 years and storage capacity to be 1,000 times greater than current capabilities. These could also facilitate compact computers that will operate with substantially lower power than today's computers. Research in support of these goals can have a significant impact on advanced information processing and storage technologies. This focused solicitation seeks high-risk/high-return interdisciplinary research on novel concepts and enabling technologies that will address the scientific issues and technological challenges associated with the underpinnings of synthetic biology integrated with semiconductor technology. This research will foster interactions among various disciplines including biology, engineering, physics, chemistry, materials science, computer science, and information science that will enable heretofore-unanticipated breakthroughs as well as meet educational goals.

With this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative is soliciting collaborative research teams to define and fabricate model systems that utilize a single p-n junction device structure and have the potential to approach Shockley-Queisser power conversion efficiency limits (for a chosen bandgap and absorber material). The emphasis of this FOA is assembling cohesive and highly diverse teams of experts within and outside the PV community who can achieve the goals of creating a model system concept and a subsequent device that can approach theoretical limits. DOE SunShot anticipates significant collaboration between experts in fundamental materials, characterization, device physics, ab-initio simulations, and PV device integration to adequately address these issues.

NIST is soliciting proposals for financial assistance from eligible applicants to support basic research, in a consortium-based setting, focused on the long-term research needs of industry in the area of future computing and information processing. There is a critical need for scientific and engineering advances in novel computing paradigms with long-term impact on the semiconductor, electronics, computing, and defense industries. The proposed activities should advance the physical and materials aspects of future computing technologies with a focus on alternatives that provide low latency, low energy per operation, improved data/communication bandwidth, and higher clock speed. Activities should include innovative research in devices, circuits, architectures, metrology or characterization to enable future computing paradigms. Applicants should create mechanisms for extended collaboration with NIST researchers.

NIST is soliciting proposals for financial assistance from eligible applicants to support basic research, in a consortium-based setting, focused on the long-term research needs of industry in the area of future computing and information processing. There is a critical need for scientific and engineering advances in novel computing paradigms with long-term impact on the semiconductor, electronics, computing, and defense industries. The proposed activities should advance the physical and materials aspects of future computing technologies with a focus on alternatives that provide low latency, low energy per operation, improved data/communication bandwidth, and higher clock speed. Activities should include innovative research in devices, circuits, architectures, metrology or characterization to enable future computing paradigms. Applicants should create mechanisms for extended collaboration with NIST researchers.

NIJ seeks proposals for basic or applied research and development projects that will: (1) increase the body of knowledge to guide and inform forensic science policy and practice or (2) lead to the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods that have the potential for forensic application. The intent of this program is to direct the findings of basic scientific research, research and development in broader scientific fields applicable to forensic science, and ongoing forensic science research toward the development of highly discriminating, accurate, reliable, cost-effective, and rapid methods for the identification, analysis, and interpretation of physical evidence for criminal justice purposes.

The DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), one element of the University Research Initiative (URI), is sponsored by the DoD research offices: the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) (hereafter collectively referred to as "DoD agencies").The MURI program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education (hereafter referred to as "universities") that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD. As defined by the DoD, "basic research is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. It is farsighted high payoff research that provides the basis for technological progress." (DoD 7000.14.R, vol. 2B, chap.5). DoD's basic research program invests broadly in many specific fields to ensure that it has early cognizance of new scientific knowledge.

National Spherical Torus Experiment - Upgrade: Collaborative Research on Configuration Optimization The Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) Program of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby announces its interest in receiving grant applications for collaborative research on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The NSTX-U program contributes to two goals of the FES program: 1) understanding the dynamics of magnetically confined plasmas and developing techniques for controlling them and 2) developing the scientific understanding required to design and deploy materials that withstand the extreme conditions of fusion power plants.

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 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) seeks unclassified proposals for research and development aimed at using lasers and other light source technology to develop applications in medicine, photobiology, surgery, and closely related materials sciences, with applications to combat casualty care and other military medical problems. This announcement is for a small number of individual awards. It is complementary to ongoing and future planed broad based awards, primarily directed toward university-based medical institutions, conducted by teams of physicians, biomedical scientists, physical scientists, and engineers. The efforts proposed may be basic or applied research, and must have direct relevance to combat casualty care or other military medical priorities. They must offer unique capabilities, not substantially funded by other DOD or other agency programs. Applicants must demonstrate substantial experience working to further military medical priorities, including transitioning research into clinical practice and working products. Substantial experience collaborating with military medical centers is also a requirement to establish relevance to combat casualty care or other military medical priorities, and facilitate the transition of research results to meet military needs.

The Land-Cover/Land-Use Change (LCLUC) program is developing interdisciplinary research combining aspects of physical, social, and economic sciences, with a high level of societal relevance, using remote sensing tools, methods, and data. One of its stated goals is to develop the capability for periodic satellite-based inventories of land-cover and monitoring and characterizing land-cover and land-use change.

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. First-principles electronic structure, quantum many-body and field theories, statistical mechanics, classical and quantum Monte Carlo, and molecular dynamics, are among the methods used in the broad spectrum of research supported in CMMT. Research may encompass the advance of new paradigms in materials research, including emerging data-centric approaches utilizing data-analytics or machine learning.

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane and the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E))'s Joint Hypersonic Transition Office (JHTO) are interested in receiving research proposals in the following areas. Each will have a Period of Performance (PoP) of 12 months. a. Systems-level design of high-temperature composite materials and structures research utilization of fiber architectures and matrix compositions b. Novel position, navigation, and timing and adaptive flight controls c. Design-oriented models to optimize scramjet and multi-mode engines d. Simulation Methods for the Rapid Prediction of Hypersonic Environments e. Addressing the flow path processes that occur in rectangular or curved inlets and isolators including the destabilization that may occur due to junction flows or off-nominal flight conditions f. The development of methods and models including validation experiments and instrumentation to provide high quality data on multiphase blast properties and structural responses to structures g. Improving the understanding of rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) physics and developing design solutions for their inherent technical challenges h. Hypersonic Workforce Curricula Development

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 solicitation will be coordinated with the Directorate for Biological Sciences, the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. EFRI seeks proposals with potentially 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.

Within the framework of the For Women in Science partnership between the L'Oréal Foundation and UNESCO, we are launching the 2014 call for nominations for outstanding women scientist form all over the world. Five 100.000$ prizes will be awarded in march 2014 in Paris to five women scientists, one per region, for the contributions of their research, the strength of their commitments and their impact on society. An international Jury of eminent scientists presided in 2013 by the Nobel Prize winner, Ahmed Zewali, makes the final selection.

The New Scholars Program supports projects to help early- to mid-career women scientists balance family responsibilities with demanding academic careers. New Scholars seeks to actively address the attrition rate of talented women scientists caused by work-life balance issues.

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 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.