OARS funding Materials Science

The Dreyfus program for Machine Learning in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering, initiated in 2020, provides funding for innovative projects in any area of Machine Learning (ML) consistent with the Foundation's broad objective to advance the chemical sciences and engineering. The Foundation anticipates that these projects will contribute new fundamental chemical insight and innovation in the field.

NineSigma, representing Equinor, is looking for companies or researchers that are developing the next generation of non-stick coating solutions. The coatings should be omniphobic (both oil and water resistant) and suitable for application within the Oil & Gas industry: e.g. application on the interior of pipelines and on other components to make the surfaces smooth and protect them from corrosion and fouling.

For FY2021, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) have been added to the national priority areas in which the NRT Program encourages proposals. We seek proposals on any interdisciplinary research theme of national priority, with special emphasis on AI and QISE and the six research areas within NSF's 10 Big Ideas. The NSF research Big Ideas are Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR), The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF), Navigating the New Arctic (NNA), Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (WoU), The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution (QL), and Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype (URoL). Proposals that align with one of these designated priority areas should contain a title to reflect that alignment, as described in the program solicitation (e.g., NRT-AI: title, NRT-HDR: title, NRT-QL: title). Proposals may be submitted under two tracks (i.e., Track 1 and Track 2). Track 1 proposals may request a total budget (up to five years in duration) up to $3 million for projects with a focus on STEM graduate students in research-based PhD and/or master's degree programs. Track 2 proposals may request a total budget (up to five years in duration) up to $2 million; NSF requires that Track 2 proposals focus on programs from institutions not classified as Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity (R1). Requirements for Track 1 and Track 2 are identical.

"JobsOhio is hosting a town hall meeting to discuss initiatives and strategic assets within the Dayton/Western and Cincinnati/Southwest Ohio region. Join us Thursday, December 17 at 1:30 - 3 p.m. to learn more about our strategy and objectives as well as introduce the advisors and leadership for this sector. JobsOhio's President and CEO, J.P. Nauseef and Managing Director of Military and Federal, Elaine Bryant and will be joined by notable guest speakers who will offer their expertise and alignment on the statewide initiative."

The L'Oréal USA For Women in Science fellowship program awards five women postdoctoral scientists annually with grants of $60,000 each for their contributions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields and commitment to serving as role models for younger generations.

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) embodies an important forward-looking response by the Foundation to these profound challenges. NNA seeks innovations in fundamental convergence research across the social, natural, environmental, computing and information sciences, and engineering that address the interactions or connections among natural and built environments and social systems, and how these connections inform our understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects. This solicitation requests proposals that fall within one of three tracks: NNA Planning Grants, dedicated to developing convergence research questions and teams to tackle projects of larger scope in the future; NNA Research Grants, aimed to support creative projects on fundamental research that address convergent scientific and engineering challenges related to the rapidly changing Arctic; and NNA Collaboratory Grants, designed to support collaborative teams undertaking research and training initiatives on critical themes of a broad scope related to the New Arctic.

This is one of two virtual OFRN Round 5 funding information sessions before the formal release of the OFRN SOARING Round 5 RFP. Each session will have the same structure. During the session, OFRN will give a brief overview of the pre-release document, and then OFRN federal partner participants will be available to address specific questions relating to the Areas of Interest.

DMREF will support activities that significantly accelerate materials discovery and development by building the fundamental knowledge base needed to advance the design and development of materials with desirable properties or functionality. This will be accomplished through forming interdisciplinary teams of researchers working synergistically in a "closed loop" fashion, building a vibrant research community, leveraging data science, providing ready access to materials data, and educating the future MGI workforce. Achieving this goal could involve some combination of: strategies to advance materials design through testing methodology; theory, modeling, and simulation to predict behavior or assist in analysis of multidimensional input data; and validation through synthesis, growth, processing, characterization, and/or device demonstration.

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 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 expectations of the new IUSE solicitation, NSF 19-601. 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. 

NOTE: Webpage provides information about general webinar and BIO Directorate breakout. If you are interested in breakouts for other directorates, contact Heather Johnston (johnsthb@MiamiOH.edu) in Research & Innovation for information. On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 and Thursday, November 5, 2020, NSF will host outreach webinars with information about the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (Mid-scale RI)-1 funding opportunity (NSF 21-505). The Mid-scale RI Big Idea is intended to provides an agile, Foundation-wide process to fund experimental research capabilities in the mid-scale range ($6 million to $100 million), between the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) and Major Facilities thresholds.  Recently, the solicitation (NSF 21-505) for the Mid-scale RI-1 program (for infrastructure with total project cost of $6 million up until, but not including, $20 million) was published with a deadline of January 7, 2021 for preliminary proposals. Each session will begin at 1:00 p.m. EST and have two parts: a general Mid-scale RI-1 information session (1:00 p.m. -1:40 p.m. EST) with Q&A followed by Directorate-specific breakouts (1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST) where more technical questions will be addressed. The information presented on Day 1 will be the same as the information presented on Day 2.

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.

The previous AccelNet solicitation (NSF 19-501) issued in 2019 called for international networks of networks addressing scientific grand challenges that require significant international research coordination, either aligned with one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas or community-identified grand challenges. This new solicitation clarifies definitions, budgetary information, and announces broader target areas, as well as changes to submission requirements.

The DMR Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials Research (PREM) program aims to enable, build, and grow partnerships between minority-serving institutions and DMR-supported centers and/or facilities to increase recruitment, retention and degree attainment (which defines the PREM pathway) by members of those groups most underrepresented in materials research, and at the same time support excellent research and education endeavors that strengthen such partnerships.

Growing Convergence Research (GCR) at the National Science Foundation was identified as one of 10 Big Ideas. Convergence research is a means for solving vexing research problems, in particular, complex problems focusing on societal needs. It entails integrating knowledge, methods, and expertise from different disciplines and forming novel frameworks to catalyze scientific discovery and innovation. GCR identifies Convergence Research as having two primary characteristics: Research driven by a specific and compelling problem. Convergence Research is generally inspired by the need to address a specific challenge or opportunity, whether it arises from deep scientific questions or pressing societal needs. Deep integration across disciplines. As experts from different disciplines pursue common research challenges, their knowledge, theories, methods, data, research communities and languages become increasingly intermingled or integrated. New frameworks, paradigms or even disciplines can form sustained interactions across multiple communities. A distinct characteristic of convergence research, in contrast to other forms of multidisciplinary research, is that from the inception, the convergence paradigm intentionally brings together intellectually diverse researchers and stakeholders to frame the research questions, develop effective ways of communicating across disciplines and sectors, adopt common frameworks for their solution, and, when appropriate, develop a new scientific vocabulary. Research teams practicing convergence aim at developing sustainable relationships that may not only create solutions to the problem that engendered the collaboration, but also develop novel ways of framing related research questions and open new research vistas.

The MCA offers an opportunity for scientists and engineers at the Associate Professor rank (or equivalent) to substantively enhance and advance their research program through synergistic and mutually beneficial partnerships, typically at an institution other than their home institution. Projects that envision new insights on existing problems or identify new but related problems previously inaccessible without new methodology or expertise from other fields are encouraged. Partners from outside the PI's own sub-discipline or discipline are encouraged, but not required, to enhance interdisciplinary networking and convergence across science and engineering fields. By (re)-investing in mid-career investigators, NSF aims to enable and grow a more diverse scientific workforce (more women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities) at high academic ranks, who remain engaged and active in cutting-edge research.

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

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.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), ONR Global, and Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL) are interested in receiving proposals for Long-Range S&T Projects which offer potential for advancement and improvement of Navy and Marine Corps operations. Readers should note that this is an announcement to declare ONR, ONRG and MCWLs broad role in competitive funding of meritorious research across a spectrum of science and engineering disciplines.

NOTE: This is a limited submission opportunity. Please contact Research & Sponsored Programs for details about Miami's internal competition process. OARS@MiamiOH.edu or 9-3600. The Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education and not-for-profit scientific/engineering research organizations. An MRI award supports the acquisition or development of a multi-user research instrument that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. MRI provides support to acquire critical research instrumentation without which advances in fundamental science and engineering research may not otherwise occur. MRI also provides support to develop next-generation research instruments that open new opportunities to advance the frontiers in science and engineering research. Additionally, an MRI award is expected to enhance research training of students who will become the next generation of instrument users, designers and builders. An MRI proposal may request up to $4 million for either acquisition or development of a research instrument. Beginning with the FY 2018 competition, each performing organization may submit in revised "Tracks" as defined below, with no more than two submissions in Track 1 and no more than one submission in Track 2. Track 1: Track 1 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,0001 and less than $1,000,000. Track 2: Track 2 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,000,000 up to and including $4,000,000.