OARS funding Systems

The Dynamics, Control and Systems Diagnostics (DCSD) program supports fundamental research on the analysis, measurement, monitoring and control of dynamic systems. The program promotes innovation in the following areas:

Humanity depends upon the Earth's physical resources and natural systems for food, energy, and water (FEW). However, both the physical resources and the FEW systems are under increasing stress. It is becoming imperative that we determine how society can best integrate social, ecological, physical and built environments to provide for growing demand for food, energy and water in the short term while also maintaining appropriate ecosystem services for the future. Known stressors in FEW systems include governance challenges, population growth and migration, land use change, climate variability, and uneven resource distribution. The interconnections and interdependencies associated with the FEW Nexus pose research grand challenges. To meet these grand challenges, there is a critical need for research that enables new means of adapting societal use of FEW systems. The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for decision-making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies, and innovative predictive capabilities.

The mission of DOE's Fossil Energy R&D Program is to ensure the nation can continue to rely on traditional resources for clean, secure and affordable energy while enhancing environmental protection. The Carbon Capture program focuses on developing technologies to control emissions from either post-combustion units (e.g., pulverized coal) or pre-combustion (e.g., Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, or IGCC). First Generation technologies (i.e. those that are currently being demonstrated or that are commercially available) exist, and Second Generation Technologies (i.e., those that include technology components currently in R&D and are expected to be ready for demonstration in the 2020-2025 timeframe) have shown potential for improvement towards an economic goal for cost of capture at less than $40/tonne, but are still cost prohibitive for broad deployment to the existing coal fleet. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, the Carbon Capture Program will solicit applications under this FOA to develop technologies in the area of pre-combustion carbon capture. Approaches that look at either hydrogen (H2) separation or carbon dioxide (CO2) separation will be accepted. The carbon capture technologies developed through this FOA will have direct application to coal gasification processes where coal derived synthesis gas or hydrogen are produced. Additionally, because gasification technology is often used to produce industrial chemicals, the technologies developed through this FOA will also be directly applicable to industrial gasifiers. Finally, as these technologies are successfully developed, they can represent an export opportunity to other countries that have a larger installed base of gasifiers than the U.S.

The Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) program solicitation has been revised for FY 2018, and prospective Principal Investigators are encouraged to read the solicitation carefully. Among the changes are the following:

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computation and physical components. Advances in CPS will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability that will expand the horizons of these critical systems. CPS technologies are transforming the way people interact with engineered systems, just as the Internet has transformed the way people interact with information. New, smart CPS drive innovation and competition in a range of application domains including agriculture, aeronautics, building design, civil infrastructure, energy, environmental quality, healthcare and personalized medicine, manufacturing, and transportation. Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence with CPS creates new research opportunities with major societal implications. While tremendous progress has been made in advancing CPS technologies, the demand for innovation across application domains is driving the need to accelerate fundamental research to keep pace.

Miami University researchers can provide input about the professional development opportunities they'd like to see OARS offer in the next year by completing this 5-minute survey.

The English Speaking Union of the United States each year sponsors a travel grant for study or research providing a stipend of up to $2,000. This competition is open to qualified under-graduate and post-graduate students, faculty, and others involved in academic pursuits that are in accord with the goal of the English Speaking Union of promoting education and understanding among the English speaking peoples of the world. The grant is designed to assist worthy individuals who are active in the fields of Business, the Humanities, Science and Engineering, Liberal, Fine or Applied Arts and who wish to study or conduct research either in the United States or in one of the countries of the British Commonwealth.

On January 16, 2018, The Department of Transportation will post a request for letters of interest to perform and document the statewide Systems Engineering Analysis for Autonomous/Connected Vehicle (SEA AV/CV) projects in conformance with 23 CFR 940 and Section 1300 of the Traffic Engineering Manual. Included with this effort will be a review, and recommendations of necessary updates, to the existing statewide and MPO Regional ITS Architectures to ensure consistency with the developed SEA AV/CV document. The goal of this effort is to create the statewide framework to guide current and future AV/CV deployments. The requirements of 23 CFR 940 will be handled at the program level to the extent possible via this effort rather than on a project-by-project basis.

The Protected Forward Communications (PFC) Program will enable small unit tactical operations to persist in diverse electronic warfare (EW) conditions by developing an integrated communication system protecting local, airborne, and reach back communications from exploitation and denial. Total amount of money to be awarded - A total of $26,000,000 for multiple efforts, divided between an estimated $14,000,000 for anticipated multiple 15-month base efforts, and an additional $12,000,000 for multiple (at least two desired) anticipated 15-month continuing options.

This CRISP 2.0 solicitation responds both to national needs on the resilience of critical infrastructures and to increasing NSF emphasis on transdisciplinary research. In this context, the solicitation is one element of the NSF-wide Risk and Resilience activity, with the overarching goal of advancing knowledge in support of improvement of the nation's infrastructure resilience. The devastating effects of recent disasters such as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria have underscored that a great deal remains to be done. In addition, CRISP 2.0 is aligned with the NSF-wide frontier thinking on convergence, characterized as "deep integration of knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple fields to form new and expanded frameworks for addressing scientific and societal challenges and opportunities".

The purpose of this FOA is to promote the development of in vitro microphysiological systems in modeling human diseases and conditions that mimic the pathology in major organs and tissues in the human body, when exposed to the extreme environments of space, and the use of these models at the International Space Station-U.S. National Laboratory (ISS-NL) to facilitate the assessment of biomarkers, bioavailability, efficacy, and toxicity of therapeutic agents prior to entry into clinical trials. Funds from the NIH will be made available through the UG3/UH3 cooperative agreement mechanism. During the initial two-year UG3 phase, support will be provided to develop robust models that recapitulate the progression and pathology of human diseases and conditions exposed to prolonged microgravity environment. Following administrative review, the two-year UH3 phase will build upon successful UG3 models to demonstrate the functional utility of the models for more defined experiments at the ISS-NL. It is anticipated that these studies will lead to identification of novel treatment mechanisms through better understanding of disease biology, drug screening, assessment of candidate therapies for efficacy and safety assessments, and establishing the pre-clinical foundation that will inform clinical trial design on Earth.

The Course Hero-Woodrow Wilson Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching will support rising stars in the academy who love teaching, demonstrate excellence as educators, and are making their mark as exceptional researchers, poised to shape their fields. Designed for young scholars working towards tenure, the Course Hero-WW Fellowship is a "genius grant" that will emphasize the balance between scholarly excellence and commitment to teaching practice that draws on new approaches to pedagogy, creating a new level of engagement for students in and beyond the classroom. In short, Fellows will be emerging heroes in their fields, on a clear trajectory to become great college educators. In its inaugural year, the Course Hero-WW Fellowship will identify five outstanding junior faculty members. Fellows will receive a one-year grant of $40,000-approximately $30,000 to support the engagement of a student assistant and the balance to be used for research and travel support. Exceptional candidates teach in ways that build student confidence and mastery of a subject; encourage critical thinking; explore foundational concepts through the lens of broader themes and global events; promote the power of learning communities beyond the classroom; leverage technology to complement the classroom experience; consider and serve different learning styles; prepare students for lifelong learning; and can serve as replicable teaching models for other educators. Selection takes place in June 2018. The five Fellows will be invited to attend the Course Hero Education Summit in July 2018, where their Fellowships will be announced.

Humanity depends upon the Earth's physical resources and natural systems for food, energy, and water (FEW). However, both the physical resources and the FEW systems are under increasing stress. It is becoming imperative that we determine how society can best integrate social, ecological, physical and built environments to provide for growing demand for food, energy and water in the short term while also maintaining appropriate ecosystem services for the future. Known stressors in FEW systems include governance challenges, population growth and migration, land use change, climate variability, and uneven resource distribution.The interconnections and interdependencies associated with the FEW Nexus pose research grand challenges. To meet these grand challenges, there is a critical need for research that enables new means of adapting societal use of FEW systems. The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for decision-making and assessment).

The Advanced Manufacturing (AM) program supports the fundamental research needed to revitalize American manufacturing to grow the national prosperity and workforce, and to reshape our strategic industries. The AM program accelerates advances in manufacturing technologies with emphasis on multidisciplinary research that fundamentally alters and transforms manufacturing capabilities, methods and practices. Advanced manufacturing research proposals should address issues related to national prosperity and security, and advancing knowledge to sustain global leadership. Areas of research, for example, include manufacturing systems; materials processing; manufacturing machines; methodologies; and manufacturing across the length scales. Researchers working in the areas of cybermanufacturing systems, manufacturing machines and equipment, materials engineering and processing, and nanomanufacturing are encouraged to transcend and cross domain boundaries. Interdisciplinary, convergent proposals are welcome that bring manufacturing to new application areas, and that incorporate challenges and approaches outside the customary manufacturing portfolio to broaden the impact of America's advanced manufacturing research. Proposals of all sizes will therefore be considered as justified by the project description. Investigators are encouraged to discuss their ideas with AM program directors well in advance of submission at AdvancedManufacturing@nsf.gov.

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.

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.

With the support of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Indiana University is hosting a forum for the U.S. Air Force and its research community to learn about innovative science ideas that have the potential to fulfill the goals of the USAF 2030 Initiative. We are reaching across six regional states to draw together faculty, research staff, and technology transfer personnel from institutions of higher education, along with industry research and development professionals. We seek to engage Air Force leadership around cutting-edge research ideas to apply toward the goals of the Air Superiority 2030 Flight Plan.

The High Priority(HP) Grant Program is a discretionary (i.e., competitive) program which provides financial assistance to: 1)The HP-ITD projects which include the deployment of intelligent transportation system applications for CMV operations; support/maintenance of CMV information systems/networks, the linking of FMCSA and state information systems, the improvement of safety and productivity of CMVs and commercial drivers and the reduction of costs associated with CMV operations and regulatory requirements. The High Priority(HP) Grant Program is a discretionary (i.e., competitive) program which provides financial assistance to: 2)The HP-CMV projects which include the augmentation of motor carrier safety projects planned in accordance with the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP),as well as projects related to Performance and Registration Information Systems Management (PRISM) and State Safety Data Quality (SSDQ).

The purpose of this project is to develop, test, and improve survey and data collection instruments and methodologies for OJJDP’s corrections data collections, the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) and the Juvenile Residential Facility Census (JRFC).

CISE's Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) supports research and education projects that develop new knowledge in three core programs: The Cyber-Human Systems (CHS) program; The Information Integration and Informatics (III) program; and The Robust Intelligence (RI) program. Proposals in the area of computer graphics and visualization may be submitted to any of the three core programs described above.