OARS funding Physics

According an NSF official with whom OARS staff recently had a conversation, in keeping with the emphasis on interdisciplinary research, the Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) grants are an area of focus for the NSF.  These awards are meant to address "some of the most complicated and pressing scientific problems that lie at the intersections of traditional disciplines."  Further, "it is intended to encourage investigators to submit bold, exceptional proposals that some may consider to be at a disadvantage in a standard NSF review process."  Full proposals are invited following review of letters of intent.  The NSF official we spoke with indicated that successful LOIs and proposals will target at least two directorates and will make a strong argument for why the project is not a good fit for a single directorate.  

The Geophysics Program supports basic research in the physics of the solid earth to explore its composition, structure, and processes from the Earth's surface to it's deepest interior. Laboratory, field, theoretical, and computational studies are supported. Topics include seismicity, seismic wave propagation, and the nature and occurrence of geophysical hazards; the Earth's magnetic, gravity, and electrical fields; the Earth's thermal structure; and geodynamics. Supported research also includes geophysical studies of active deformation, including geodesy, and theoretical and experimental studies of the properties and behavior of Earth materials.

The CISE-MPS Interdisciplinary Faculty Program in Quantum Information Science is designed to promote research in the area of Quantum Information Science (QIS) by providing resources to allow QIS researchers and researchers from the CISE or MPS disciplines to actively engage in joint research efforts, addressing problems at the interface between the mathematical and physical sciences and computer and information sciences through long-term visits by faculty to a host institution. 

DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals of interest to the Defense Sciences Office. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science and technology. Specifically excluded is research that results primarily in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of the art.

These awards, meant to provide seed money to jump-start productive research programs, have proven to be a great tool to engage students in independent research, thus inspiring in them a passion for discovery and self-inquiry. One of our important goals is to motivate students to pursue careers in research and to become the advanced scientific workforce America will need to remain prosperous and safe in the challenging decades to come.

The INSPIRE awards program was established to address some of the most complicated and pressing scientific problems that lie at the intersection of traditional disciplines.  It is intended to encourage investigators to submit bold, exceptional proposals that some may consider to be at a disadvantage in a standard NSF review process; it is not intended for proposals that are more appropriate for existing award mechanisms.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation makes grants on six broad subject matters, known within the Foundation as major program areas.  Basic Research STEM Higher Education Public Understanding of Science Economic Performance and the Quality of Life Select National Issues Civic Initiatives

The Concentrating Solar Power: Efficiently Leveraging Equilibrium Mechanisms for Engineering New Thermochemical Storage (CSP: ELEMENTS) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) that is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking applications that integrate Thermochemical Energy Storage (TCES) systems with a minimum of 6 hours of thermal storage to be used in ≥1 Megawatt-electric (≥1 MWe) scale CSP electricity generation that have promise to achieve a cost target of ≤$15 per kilowatt-hour-thermal (≤$15/kWhth) are the focus of this FOA. Successful projects will culminate in an on-sun demonstration of the thermochemical reactor along with reliable projections of the full scale performance of the integrated storage system through the utilization of validated performance models developed as part of the research and development effort.

The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students.