December 2016

The FAS Research Development group publishes this monthly Funding Newsletter for SEAS faculty and researchers. The newsletter includes notable Federal, private, and internal Harvard funding opportunities. To provide feedback, please complete our two-question survey .  

Questions? 
Erin Cromack:  cromack@fas.harvard.edu |  617-496-5252 
Jennifer Corby:  jcorby@fas.harvard.edu |  617-495-1590  


For more information on our support services, please visit our  website .

Did you know?
 Harvard affiliates have access to Pivot, a funding opportunity database . 

Funding Opportunities

Click on the links below to read a program synopsis
 

Internal Opportunities

External Opportunities

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Foundation Opportunities

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Computer & Information Science and Engineering (NSF: CISE)
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering

National Science Foundation: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary

Internal Opportunities
 
Milton
Deadline: February 1, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $50,000 payable over one year
Eligible Applicants: Ladder faculty and junior fellows of the Harvard Society of Fellows
 
Funding research projects in the fields of medicine, geography, history and science, the winning projects must either promote the physical and material welfare and prosperity of the human race, or investigate and determine the value and importance of any discovery or invention, or assist in the discovery and perfecting of any special means of alleviating or curing human disease. Reviewers will evaluate applications on intellectual merit, interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, and likely impact on all fields of medicine, geography, history and science.  Funds awarded through the Milton Fund support research to explore new ideas, to act as the catalyst between ideas and more definitive directions, and to consider new methods of approaching global solutions.  Preference will be given to junior investigators . 

 
LemannBrazil
Deadline: March 15, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $150,000 payable over one or two years
Eligible Applicants: Ladder faculty
 
The Lemann Brazil Research Fund supports cross-disciplinary research projects relating to Brazil. Proposals are sought for projects that address education management and administration; social science and its applications; public administration and policy; technological advances in education; and evidence-based research. Consideration will also be given to projects that propose collaboration between Harvard faculty and Brazilian academics in the life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and basic and applied sciences.  
 
Proposed projects must meet at least one of the following three criteria:

1.     Include collaboration with Brazilian academics;

2.     Be undertaken in Brazil in whole or in part;

3.       Focus on Brazil.

U.S. Department of Defense

 
DODDARPAGS3
DARPA - Gamifying the Search for Strategic Surprise (GS3)
OSP Deadline: December 22, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 6, 2017
Award Amount: Multiple awards are anticipated. The level of funding for individual awards made under this solicitation has not been predetermined and will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds.
 
The Defense Sciences Office (DSO) at DARPA invites executive summaries and full proposals for a research and development project to deliver an online environment that will enable productive collaboration among large numbers of experts and thinkers. GS3 aims to apply a unique combination of online game and social media technologies and techniques to engage a large number of experts and deep thinkers in a shared analytic process to rapidly identify, understand, and expand upon the potential implications and applications of emerging science and technology. All executive summaries and full proposals should be submitted in response to DSO's Office-wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), DARPA-BAA-16-46 , under the Human-Machine Systems Technical Area of Interest. 



 
SERDP
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Office
SERDP Non-Federal Broad Agency Announcement
OSP Deadline: December 23, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Proposals: January 5, 2017
Award Amount: Multiple awards totaling approximately $10M will be made, dependent on the quality of proposals received and availability of funds

The SERDP Office is interested in receiving pre-proposals for research focusing in the areas of Environmental Restoration, Munitions Response, Resource Conservation and Climate Change, and Weapons Systems and Platforms technologies. SERDP supports environmental research relevant to the management and mission of the DoD and supports efforts that lead to the development and application of innovative environmental technologies or methods that improve the environmental performance of DoD by improving outcomes, managing environmental risks, and/or reducing costs or time required to resolve environmental problems.



ONRFY17
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
FY17 Funding Opportunity Announcement for Navy and Marine Corps Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Education, Outreach and Workforce Program
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Submission Windows for White Paper Pre-Proposals: Through January 3, 2017 for FY17 funding potential; and May 1, 2017 to August 31, 2017 for FY18 funding potential
Award Amount: Up to $250,000 per year. Cost proposals for larger amounts will be considered on a case by case basis. The period of performance will typically range from 12 to 36 months 
 
The ONR seeks a broad range of proposals for augmenting existing or developing innovative solutions that directly maintain, or cultivate a diverse, world-class STEM workforce in order to maintain the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' technological superiority. The goal of any proposed effort must provide solutions that will establish and maintain pathways of diverse U.S. citizens who are interested in uniformed or civilian DoN (or Navy and Marine Corps) STEM workforce opportunities. 

This announcement encourages projects that improve the capacity of education systems and communities to create impactful STEM educational experiences for students including active learning approaches and incorporating 21st century skills. Projects must aim to increase student engagement in STEM and persistence of students in STEM degrees, while improving student technical capacity. ONR encourages proposals to utilize current STEM educational research for informing project design and advancing our understanding of how and why students choose STEM careers and opportunities of naval relevance. While this announcement is relevant for any stage of the STEM educational system, funding efforts will be targeted primarily toward the future and current DoN (naval) STEM workforce in High School, all categories of Post-Secondary institutions, the STEM research enterprise, and efforts that enhance the current naval STEM workforce and its mission readiness.



DODDARPACHIPS
DARPA - Common Heterogeneous Integration and IP Reuse Strategies (CHIPS)
OSP Deadline: January 6, 2017 (updated)
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 13, 2017 (updated)
Award Amount: The CHIPS program is expected to span the course of four years and will be divided into three separate phases. DARPA anticipates a funding level of approximately $70M for the CHIPS program. Individual awards depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds.
 
The CHIPS program will develop the design tools and integration standards required to demonstrate modular integrated circuit (IC) designs that leverage the best of DoD and commercial designs and technology.
 
The CHIPS program consists of one technical area (TA1) focused on modular digital designs and a second technical area (TA2) focused on modular analog designs. Each TA will progress through phases that will establish common interfaces, demonstrate modular designs utilizing these interfaces, and rapid iteration of designs to exercise the design flow. Additionally, any CHIPS supporting technology should align to one or both of these technical areas but is captured separately as a third technical area (TA3).


DODUSAMRAA
Department of the Army -   Research Program  Utilizing Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Medical Training Needs (MACH Learning) Award
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Proposals (required): February 3, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): May 12, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $1,600,000 for up to 30 months. The JPC-1/MSIS expects to allot approximately $3.2 million to fund approximately 2 awards under this program.
 
The mission of the JPC-1/MSIS is to explore the implications of models, technology and informatics for medical education/training, and for the provision, management, and support of healthcare services in the military. The JPC-1/MSIS plans, coordinates, and oversees a responsive world-class, tri-Service science and technology program focused on two areas of research: (1) improving military medical training through medical modeling, simulation, and educational training tools; and (2) improving the use and sharing of health-related data for better strategic planning, process development, and software applications.
 
The outcomes of research will be used to better understand optimal algorithms and models to predict advancement of individuals as they are acquiring skills but also to assist in analyzing skill decay and assist in refresher training through machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches. These proposed machine learning models with artificial intelligence approaches would have substantial public purpose applications as an adjunct, objective way to provide additional information to instructors and faculty to advance students (medical, nursing, emergency medical technicians, etc.), as well as residents and licensed professionals, to more appropriate courses as those students acquire skills or the professionals refresh their own skills.


DODDARPAATEAMS
DARPA - Agile Teams (A-Teams)
OSP Deadline: January 31, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 7, 2017
Award Amount: There will be four 12-month phases (a base phase with three options) in the A-Teams program. DARPA anticipates multiple awards. The level of funding for individual awards made under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. The total anticipated amount of program funding is approximately $22M over 4 years.
 
The Defense Sciences Office DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of predictive frameworks and experimental testbeds for the design of agile, hybrid teams of multiple humans teamed with intelligent machines. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science or systems.
 
The A-Teams program will have three technical areas:
  • Technical Area 1 (TA1): Dynamic Team Structure Design
  • Technical Area 2 (TA2): Team Problem Solving
  • Technical Area 3 (TA3): Experimental Testbeds
It is expected that proposers will focus on a single TA, however, exceptional concepts integrating TA1 and TA2 (only) will be considered. Proposals for any other combination of TAs will not be accepted.


DODBAAs
Other DoD Opportunities:

I f you are interested in DoD funding opportunities, please note:
The  Defense Innovation Marketplace  is a centralized source for Department of Defense science and technology (S&T) planning, acquisition resources, funding, and financial information. 


U.S. Department of Energy

 
DOESciDisB
Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing: Integrated Simulation Partnerships in Fusion Energy Sciences
Sponsor Required Pre-Application Deadline: January 9, 2017
OSP Full Proposal Deadline: February 13, 2017
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: February 21, 2017
Award Amount: $3,000,000/year for a maximum of five years
 
The Office of Fusion Energy Sciences and the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research of the Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, announce their interest in receiving applications from multi-institutional interdisciplinary teams to establish scientific application partnerships under the SC-wide Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing program in the area of integrated simulations for fusion energy sciences. The goal of this announcement is to select applications that can take advantage of today's multi-petascale DOE high-performance computing systems to accelerate scientific discovery in strategically important areas of magnetic fusion energy science and address high- priority issues identified in recent community studies.
 
The specific areas of interest under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) are:

1.     Plasma Disruptions in Tokamaks;

2.     Boundary Physics;

3.     Plasma-Materials Interactions;

4.     Whole Device Modeling.

DOESciDisA
Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing: Scientific Computation Application Partnerships in Earth System Science II - Pilot Projects
Sponsor Required Pre-Application Deadline: January 17, 2017
OSP Deadline: March 8, 2017
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: March 15, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000-$1,500,000/year for a maximum of 30 months
 
This opportunity will enable scientists to conduct complex scientific and engineering computations at a level of fidelity needed to simulate real-world climate conditions, by supporting deep, necessary, and productive collaborations between climate scientists on the one hand and applied mathematicians and computer scientists on the other, that overcome the barriers between these disciplines and consequently fully exploit the capabilities of Department of Energy High Performance Computing systems in order to accelerate advances in climate science. This opportunity invites creative and innovative pilot approaches to climate model component design that are mindful of leading edge computer architectures.


DOEFiscalConsol
Department of Energy
Fiscal Year 2017 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research: Integrated Research Projects
OSP Deadline: February 10, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 17, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $5M over 3 years (except for individual workshops)
 
U.S. University-led Integrated Research Projects are significant projects within specific research areas, intended to develop a capability within each area to address specific needs, problems, or capability gaps identified and defined by the Office of Nuclear Energy.  These projects are multidisciplinary and require multi-institutional partners.  IRPs may include a combination of evaluation capability development, research program development, experimental work, and computer simulations. IRPs are intended to integrate several disciplinary skills in order to present solutions to complex systems design problems that cannot be addressed by a less comprehensive team. Although a proposing team must be led by a lead university PI and include at least one additional university collaborator, the proposed project team may include multiple universities and nonuniversity partners (e.g., industry/utility, minority-serving institution (MSI), national laboratory, underrepresented group, and international).

Please note that the letter of intent and pre-proposal deadlines for the additional two funding mechanisms mentioned in this announcement (NSUF and R&D) have already passed.



IDEAS
Department of Energy
Advanced Research Projects (ARPA-E)
Innovative Development in Energy-Related Applied Science (IDEAS)
OSP Deadline: Not required for concept papers
Sponsor Concept Paper Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 over one year
 
This program provides rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. IDEAS awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. IDEAS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that also do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology.



DOEAnnual
Office of Science  Annual Funding Opportunity Announcement
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2017
 
The Office of Science (SC) supports work in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics. This annual, broad, open solicitation covers all of the research areas in the Office of Science and is open throughout the Fiscal Year and will remain open until September 30, 2017, 11:59 PM Eastern Time, or until it is succeeded by another issuance, whichever occurs first.


Environmental Protection Agency


EPAanticipate
Anticipating the Environmental Impacts and Behavioral Drivers of Deep Decarbonization
OSP Deadline: February 3, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 10, 2017
Award Amount: $900,000 for regular awards and $300,000 for early career awards. Maximum duration of three years.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research that will contribute to an improved ability to understand and anticipate the public health and environmental impacts and behavioral drivers of significant changes in energy production and consumption in the United States, particularly those changes associated with advancing toward the deep decarbonization necessary to achieve national and international climate change mitigation objectives and avoid the most significant health, environmental, and economic impacts of climate change.  The proposed research is intended to contribute to the development of new insights and predictive tools related to the multimedia, life-cycle impacts of the decarbonization of electricity generation; the electrification of end uses; the adoption of low-carbon emitting, renewable fuels; and the adoption of energy efficiency measures.  The proposed research is also intended to contribute to an improved understanding of the drivers of individual, firm (i.e. business), and community decisions that affect energy consumption patterns, including decisions about the adoption of new technologies and energy efficiency measures.


EPAtotal
Using a Total Environment Framework (Built, Natural, Social Environments) to Assess Life-long Health Effects of Chemical Exposures
OSP Deadline: February 23, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: March 2, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $800,000 for regular awards and $600,000 for early career awards.  Maximum duration of four years.
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, seeks applications for research on how pollution affects human health in the context of the total environment - built, natural, and social environments interacting together with inherent characteristics and interactions. Proposed research should develop and test innovative models or impact assessment approaches to examine causal relationships of chemical pollutants and health effects with modifying interactions among the variables representing all of the major stressors and factors involved in a person's life. Proposals that integrate a diverse field of disciplines (social science, economics, epidemiology, engineering, environmental science, biology, statistics, toxicology, chemistry, etc.) to address the complexity of the total environment research problem are highly recommended.

Foundation Opportunities

GBMFoundation
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 6, 2017
Award Amount: $200,000/year for 3 years plus $25,000/year to cover costs associated with administering the grant award
Target Applicants: Individuals with PI rights who are within ten years of receiving the terminal degree in their field
This is a limited submission opportunity and only two applications will be accepted from Harvard University. 
 
This award supports outstanding inventors who harness science and technology to enhance the conduct of scientific research, strengthen environmental conservation, or improve the experience and outcomes of patient care.  The Moore Inventor Fellowships will focus on investment at a critical stage of research to capture opportunities that otherwise might be missed.  The foundation seeks to provide freedom and support to the most promising inventors with the most compelling ideas to pursue creative work. 
 
Requirements:
  • Candidate must have received terminal degree in 2007 or later.
  • Host institutions will be required to make a contribution of $50,000 in annual direct support of the inventor's work.  This may include support for undergraduate or graduate students, equipment, supplies and other needs that will enable fellows to focus on their inventions.  A brief statement written by the applicant acknowledging the cost share associated with this opportunity and confirming the source of this funding is required for the internal application. This statement must be signed by the applicant's Department Chair or Area Dean.
  • Fellows must be engaged in the pursuit of their invention at least 25 percent time for the three-year duration of the award.

Dana
Dana Foundation Neuroimaging Program
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 9, 2017
Award Amount: $200,000 over 3 years
Target Faculty: Assistant Professors or early Associate Professors.  Senior investigators may apply only if the proposed study represents a new research direction
This is a limited submission  opportunity and only one application will be accepted from Harvard University.
 
The Dana Foundation supports research on imaging innovations that help reveal how the human brain functions normally, how disorders and injuries alter these functions, and how various therapies affect these conditions. Since immune cells are often integrally involved in the development of, protection against, or responses to brain diseases and injuries, funded research also can focus on immune cell interactions with brain cells. Scientists, using either conventional brain imaging techniques, cellular and molecular imaging technologies, or a combination of both, are supported to undertake pilot tests of novel hypotheses. These data then can be used to compete for larger-scale funding from other sources. 

Studies tend to focus on how imaging can enhance understanding of normal brain functioning; improve diagnosis; expand understanding of disease or injury processes; and assess treatment effects. Additionally, studies designed to refine existing imaging techniques, or to further develop new techniques to address specific clinical questions, are supported.



KeckF
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: January 9, 2017
Sponsor Phase I Deadline (if nominated): May 1, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000 to $5M (typical grant size is $2M or less)
 
The Research Program seeks to benefit humanity by supporting projects in two specific areas (1) medical research and (2) science and engineering, that are distinctive and novel in their approach, question the prevailing paradigm, or have the potential to break open new territory in their field. Funding is awarded to universities and institutions nationwide for projects in research that:
  • Focus on important and emerging areas of research;
  • Have the potential to develop breakthrough technologies, instrumentation or methodologies;
  • Are innovative, distinctive and interdisciplinary;
  • Demonstrate a high level of risk due to unconventional approaches, or by challenging the prevailing paradigm;
  • Have the potential for transformative impact, such as the founding of a new field of research, the enabling of observations not previously possible, or the altered perception of a previously intractable problem;
  • Does not focus on clinical or translational research, treatment trials or research for the sole purpose of drug development;
  • Fall outside the mission of public funding agencies; and
  • Demonstrate that private philanthropy generally, and the W. M. Keck Foundation in particular, is essential to the project's success.

SimonsMath
Collaboration Grants for Mathematicians
OSP Deadline: January 24, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 31, 2017
Award Amount:   $8,400 per year for five years: $6,000 per year for collaboration, travel and research expenses for the awardee; $1,000 per year in discretionary funds for the awardee's department; and $1,400 per year in indirect costs to the awardee's institution
 
The Simons Foundation's Mathematics and Physical Sciences division invites applications for Collaboration Grants for Mathematicians to stimulate collaboration in the field primarily through the funding of travel and related expenditures. The goal of the program is to support the "mathematical marketplace" by substantially increasing collaborative contacts between mathematicians. The foundation will make a large number of collaboration grants to accomplished, active researchers in the United States who do not otherwise have access to funding that supports travel and visitors.  
Awards will be based on the quality of the applicant's previous research and on the likely impact that the collaboration grant will have on future research, both for the applicant and the applicant's graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows.


NASEMGulf
OSP Deadline: January 25, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Inquiry: February 1, 2017
Award Amount: Project duration is 36 months. A total of $10M will be available to support this funding opportunity. The number of awards and resources made available under this funding opportunity will depend on the quality of proposals received and the budgets proposed by successful applicants.  
 
The Gulf Research Program seeks to support research that will advance fundamental science or provide the scientific basis for the development of new technologies, processes, or procedures to reduce or better understand the systemic risk leading to uncontrolled hydrocarbon release in the offshore oil and gas environment. Proposed research should address scientific and/or technological research gaps identified in literature, by industry, or by regulatory agencies - gaps that, if filled, could result in a reduction of systemic risk in the offshore oil and gas environment.
 
 Areas of particular interest to this topic include, but are not limited to:
  • Formation rock mechanics;
  • Well and production system integrity;
  • Wellsite data;
  • Kick detection system;
  • Riser gas unloading;
  • Cementing/wellhead sealants;
  • Seafloor hydrocarbon detection technology; and
  • Enhancing decision making capabilities in offshore exploration and production work environment.

Teagle
Liberal Arts and the Professions
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: $200,000 to $300,000 for 2 to 3 years
 
This initiative has the goal of embedding liberal arts education throughout the curriculum of undergraduate professional programs by forging links between faculty in the liberal arts and professional  fields. The target areas of focus are engineering and business education. Such curricular integration will not only have a positive effect on how students in professional fields pursue their future work, but will also enrich the liberal arts curriculum itself with perspectives that merit sharing beyond the community of professional practitioners. To be considered for a grant, please review Teagle's application guidelines and submit a brief 3-5 page concept paper to proposals@teagle.org .  
 
Full proposals are welcomed by invitation and typically reflect a collaboration of four to six colleges/universities that exhibit an alignment of priorities and draw participants together as a community of practice.



McDonnell
James S. McDonnell Foundation
Studying Complex Systems Collaborative Activity Awards
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Budgets for collaborative activities vary greatly depending on the scope of the proposed project and on the number of people involved

The Foundation offers Collaborative Activity Awards to initiate interdisciplinary discussions on problems or issues, to help launch interdisciplinary research networks, or to fund communities of researchers and practitioners dedicated to developing new methods, tools, and applications of basic research to applied problems. Strong preference will be given to applications involving multi-institutional collaboration. 

Proposals furthering the science of complex systems and/or proposals intending to apply complex system tools and models to problems where such approaches are not yet considered usual or mainstream are appropriate.  Please note that this Foundation limits the number of inquiries an investigator may submit to one every three years. 



Simons
Targeted Grants in Mathematics and Physical Sciences
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: A typical Targeted Grant in MPS provides funding for up to five years. The funding provided is flexible and based on the type of support requested in the proposal. There is no recommended funding limit
 
The Simons Foundation division for Mathematics and Physical Sciences seeks to extend the frontiers of basic research. The division's primary focus is on mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science. This program is intended to support high-risk projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance on a case-by-case basis. Expenses for experiments, equipment, or computations, as well as for personnel and travel, are allowable.



BAA
Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days before submission to sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling between May 3, 2016 and May 2, 2017
Award Amount: Awards generally support a period of performance of 12 months or less; resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds
 
IARPA invests in high-risk, high-payoff research that has the potential to provide our nation with an overwhelming intelligence advantage. This BAA solicits abstracts or proposals for IARPA.  IARPA is soliciting proposals for research on topics that are not addressed by emerging or ongoing IARPA programs or other published IARPA solicitations. The BAA primarily, but not solely, seeks proposals for early stage research (which IARPA refers to as "seedlings").


National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

NASAJohnsonSpace
Johnson Space Center:  Research Opportunities for ISS Utilization
Exploration Technology Demonstration and National Lab Utilization Enhancements
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (recommended): October 31, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 31, 2017
Award Amount: Funds are not currently available for awards under this NASA Research Announcement (NRA). The Government's ability to make award(s) is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment can be made and the receipt of proposals that NASA determines acceptable for award under this NRA. Successful proposals will have launch and integration costs covered by NASA
 
This announcement is for the development of experiment hardware with enhanced capabilities; modification of existing hardware to enable increased efficiencies (crew time, power, etc.);  development of tools that allow analyses of samples and specimens on orbit; enhanced ISS infrastructure capabilities (ex. communications or data processing); and specific technology demonstration projects. Submission of a white paper is recommended in advance of a full proposal.
 
Within the NASA International Space Station (ISS) Research Integration Office, the Technology and Science Research Office (TSRO) and Commercial Space Utilization Office (CSUO) act as "gateways" to the ISS. The Technology and Science Research Office serves as the gateway for NASA-funded technology demonstrations. The Commercial Space Utilization Office serves as the gateway for non-NASA government-funded investigations, as well as non-profit or commercially-funded investigations.
 
Proposed technology demonstrations submitted to TSRO should address at least one of the technology areas mentioned in the ISS Technology Demonstration Plans . In addition, NASA seeks technology demonstrations related to the following thrust area: Space Suit CO2 Sensor.
 
NASA also seeks technological concepts via CSUO related to the National Lab Thrust Areas and to expand the onboard research and analytical capabilities. The general thrust areas are:
  • Innovative uses of the ISS or ISS hardware that leverage existing capabilities to stimulate both utilization of the ISS and economic development in the U.S.
  • Other improvements to existing ISS capabilities, including but not limited to infrastructure, in situ analytical tools, and communication/data transmittal, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the technology demonstrations and science investigations performed on the ISS.
  • Unique partnering arrangements that leverage NASA's existing capabilities but increase the commercial participation in research and on board services. 
One specific thrust area is still accepting proposals: Virtual Reality/360° Video System.



OtherNASA
Other NASA Opportunities
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

NIHShared
NIH
Shared Instrumentation Grant Program
FAS/SEAS Statement of Intent Deadline: February 17, 2017 by 5:00PM
Sponsor Deadline: May 31, 2017
Award Amount: $50,000-$600,000
Target Applicants: Groups of three or more PIs on active, distinct NIH research awards

The objective of the two NIH Instrumentation Grant Programs is to make available to institutions expensive research instruments that can only be justified on a shared-use basis and that are needed for NIH-supported projects in basic, translational or clinical areas of biomedical/behavioral research.  The program provides funds to purchase or upgrade a single item of expensive, specialized, commercially available instrument or an integrated instrumentation system.
 
While there is no restriction on the number of applications an institution can submit for these opportunities, there are restrictions on applications submitted for similar equipment from the same institution.  In order to determine if there are any overlapping requests, potential applicants from FAS and SEAS are asked to submit a brief statement of intent to Erin Cromack at cromack@fas.harvard.edu no later than February 17, 2017.  We will then consult with counterparts at HMS and HSPH to determine if there are any duplicate requests. 
 
The statement of intent should include the following:
  • PI Name;
  • Brief description of the proposed instrument (one brief paragraph);
  • Major User group (three or more investigators who are Program Director(s)/Principal; Investigator(s) on three distinct active NIH research grants);
  • Proposed location of the instrument, if funded.

NIHHighInstrument
NIH
High End Instrumentation Grant Program
FAS/SEAS Statement of Intent Deadline: February 17, 2017 by 5:00PM
Sponsor Deadline: May 31, 2017
Award Amount: $600,001-$2,000,000
Target Applicants: Groups of three or more PIs on active, distinct NIH research awards
 
The objective of the two NIH Instrumentation Grant Programs is to make available to institutions expensive research instruments that can only be justified on a shared-use basis and that are needed for NIH-supported projects in basic, translational or clinical areas of biomedical/behavioral research.  The program provides funds to purchase or upgrade a single item of expensive, specialized, commercially available instrument or an integrated instrumentation system.
 
While there is no restriction on the number of applications an institution can submit for these opportunities, there are restrictions on applications submitted for similar equipment from the same institution.  In order to determine if there are any overlapping requests, potential applicants from FAS and SEAS are asked to submit a brief statement of intent to Erin Cromack at cromack@fas.harvard.edu no later than February 17, 2017.  We will then consult with counterparts at HMS and HSPH to determine if there are any duplicate requests. 
 
The statement of intent should include the following:
  • PI Name;
  • Brief description of the proposed instrument (one brief paragraph);
  • Major User group (three or more investigators who are Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) on three distinct active NIH research grants);
  • Proposed location of the instrument, if funded.

NIHSIFAR
NIH 
Shared Instrumentation for Animal Research (SIFAR) Grant Program
FAS/SEAS Statement of Intent Deadline: February 17, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: May 31, 2017
Award Amount: $50,000-$750,000
Target applicants: Groups of three or more PIs on active, distinct NIH research awards in an area of biomedical research using animals or animal tissue.
 
The Shared Instrumentation for Animal Research (SIFAR) Grant Program encourages applications from groups of NIH-funded investigators to purchase or upgrade scientific instruments necessary to carry out animal experiments in all areas of biomedical research supported by the NIH. Applicants may request clusters of commercially available instruments configured as specialized integrated systems or as series of instruments to support a thematic workflow in a well-defined area of research using animals or related materials. Priority will be given to specialized clusters of instruments and to uniquely configured systems to support innovative and potentially transformative investigations. Requests for a single instrument will be considered only if the instrument is to be placed in a barrier facility.  
 
This is a limited submission opportunity and only one application will be accepted from the University area.  Potential applicants from FAS and SEAS are asked to submit a brief statement of intent to Erin Cromack at cromack@fas.harvard.edu no later than February 17, 2017. 
 
The statement of intent should include the following:
  • PI Name;
  • Brief description of the proposed instrument(s) (one brief paragraph);
  • Major User group (three or more investigators who are Program Directors/Principal Investigators on three distinct active NIH research grants in an area of biomedical research using animals or animal tissue.);
  • Proposed location of the instrument(s), if funded.

OtherNIHOpps
Other NIH Opportunities:

National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters

NSFDCDataDiscovery
Data-Driven Discovery Science in Chemistry (D3SC)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: D3SC proposals and supplemental funding requests can be submitted at any time but are encouraged by March 1, 2017, 5:00 pm, submitter's local time , in order to ensure timely consideration.
Award Amount: Varies by program; t he upper limit of a supplement request in response to this DCL is $60,000 for a maximum of twelve months.

Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the Division of Chemistry (CHE) invites submission of requests for supplements and EAGER (EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research) and RAISE (Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering) proposals that seek to capitalize on the data revolution. Successful proposals will emphasize what new information can be obtained from better utilization of data (including data from multiple laboratories, techniques, and/or chemical systems), and how this can lead to new research directions. Proposals that foster and strengthen interactions among chemists - particularly experimentalists and data scientists - to advance research goals, are strongly encouraged. Examples of possible projects include (but are not limited to) using tools of data visualization, data mining, machine learning, or other data analytics to:
  • Accelerate the discovery of more efficient or selective catalysts;
  • Advance the predictive design of new chemical species and/or synthetic reactions;
  • Forecast synthetic conditions and predict structure/property relations based on existing chemical datasets;
  • Enable real-time chemical data collection and processing for rapid identification and correlation of key events during chemical measurements;
  • Identify novel ways of sharing and utilizing chemical data derived from multiple instruments, datatypes, and locations; and
  • Develop innovative approaches for integrating, correlating, and analyzing chemical simulation or measurement data to provide new chemical insights.

NSFDCIUCRCClusters
IUCRC Clusters for Grand Challenges, a Collaborative Opportunity for Research to Address Grand Challenges
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through the first Wednesday in April; however, applications are best submitted in December to allow time to process the request and hold the conference prior to said deadline
Award Amount: Up to $35,000
 
This Dear Colleague Letter invites supplemental requests to establish collaborative research clusters between NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRCs). To this end, NSF is interested in supporting two types of activities: Planning Conferences and Collaborative Research Cluster Partnerships.
 
Although Advanced Manufacturing has been highlighted, IUCRC clusters addressing any precompetitive research areas identified among the science and technology priorities for the nation are welcome and will be fully considered. 


NSFDCAdvManuf
Advanced Manufacturing Research to Address Basic Research Enabling Innovation at Manufacturing USA Institutes
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Varies by program
Award Amount: Varies by program
 
This Dear Colleague Letter announces NSF's interest in research proposals to address critical fundamental research needs in advanced manufacturing, especially proposals that will enable innovations in one or more of the Manufacturing USA institutes' focus areas and leverage the facilities, infrastructure and member companies of an institute.
 
This is not a new program. Interested proposers are encouraged to submit proposals to the following regular NSF programs:
  • America Makes, LIFT, IACMI, AFFOA;
  • DMDII, CESMII;
  • Power America, AIM Photonics, NextFlex;
  • RIME, ATB.

NSFGEOEAR
Special Guidelines for Submitting Proposals for NSF/GEO/EAR - Taiwan Collaborative Research
OSP Deadline (Tectonics): January 6, 2017
OSP Deadline (Geomorphology): 5 business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Tectonics Deadline: January 13, 2017
Geomorphology and Land-use Dynamics Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Subject to the availability of funds
 
This Dear Colleague Letter announces a new US-Taiwan collaborative research opportunity. Through a lead agency model, the Division of Earth Sciences' Directorate for Geosciences will allow U.S. and Taiwan researchers to submit a joint collaborative proposal that will undergo the NSF review process. The initial research area is interdisciplinary research on the feedbacks between climate, erosion, and tectonics (FACET), but these research areas are expected to evolve over time.



NSFCDEnabling
Enabling New Collaborations Between Computer and Information Science & Engineering (CISE) and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Research Communities
OSP Deadline:  March 27, 2017 (Round II)
Sponsor Deadline: April 1, 2017 (Round II)
Award Amount: Up to $300,000 over up to 2 years
 
This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) encourages the submission of additional EAGER proposals that foster novel interdisciplinary research carried out in new collaborations between one or more Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) researchers  and  one or more Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) researchers. Note that this DCL is focused on  new  collaborations; research teams with a history of collaborating together should instead submit directly to the SaTC solicitation, pursuant to the proposal preparation guidelines specified therein.
 
Two rounds of submission are anticipated, with approximately five EAGERs awarded during each round, subject to the availability of funds.  



JOIDES
Provision of Shallow Advanced Piston Coring Capabilities on JOIDES Resolution to the U.S. Research Community: "JR100"
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Prospective PIs are strongly encouraged to consult with a Program Officer to determine the applicable program proposal submission guidelines and deadlines.
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
The Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is providing up to four weeks each year of access to the drill ship  JOIDES Resolution  for U.S. researchers to use the Advanced Piston Coring (APC) system to collect cores up to sub-bottom depths of 100 meters to address research on multiple aspects of geology and geophysics of the ocean basins.
 
NSF-OCE will release another Dear Colleague Letter when the specific dates and port for the next tie-up period for JOIDES Resolution have been determined. Proposals will be accepted after this guidance has been issued.



NSFDCEncouragingRep
Encouraging Reproducibility in Computing and Communications Research
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Full proposals relevant to this DCL should be submitted pursuant to existing program solicitations for the CCF core, CNS core, and SaTC programs
Award Amount: Varies based on the program through which you submit your proposal
 
This Dear Colleague announces the CISE Directorate's intention to support research that improves the level of reproducibility in research on computer systems and networking; modeling, analysis and simulation of computing and communication systems; and cybersecurity.
 
Specifically, CISE encourages principal investigators (PIs) submitting new proposals to or with active awards in its Computer and Network Systems (CNS) core, Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) core, and Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) programs to embrace completeness and transparency in developing rigorous protocols as well as in making experimental parameters and collected data available to other researchers. In particular, PIs are strongly encouraged to describe, as part of their data management plans, how they will provide access to well-documented datasets, modeling and/or simulation tools, and codebases to support reproducibility of their methods.



NSFDCREU
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplemental Funding
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Priority will be given to requests submitted before March 30, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $8,000 per student per year
 
The NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) invites grantees with active CISE awards to submit requests for  Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplemental  funding, following the guidelines in the  NSF REU solicitation . 



NSFDCUSNSFCISE
Special Guidelines for Submitting Collaborative Proposals under the US NSF/CISE - US-Israel Binational Science Foundation International Opportunity
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Varies based on the program through which you submit your proposal
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 over 3 years (for the NSF-funded portion)
 
The NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation are pleased to announce a US-Israel collaborative research opportunity between BSF and the CISE Divisions of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) and Computer and Network Systems (CNS). The goal is to help reduce some of the current barriers to working internationally. Proposals must be responsive to the scope of research described in the current CCF core, CNS Core, or SaTC program.


National Science Foundation: Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (NSF: CISE)

NSFCISESPX
Scalable Parallelism in the Extreme (SPX)
OSP Deadline: January 3, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 10, 2017
Award Amount: $1M maximum over 2 to 4 years
 
The Scalable Parallelism in the Extreme (SPX) program aims to support research addressing the challenges of increasing performance in this modern era of parallel computing. This will require a collaborative effort among researchers in multiple areas, from services and applications down to micro-architecture. SPX encompasses all five NSCI  Strategic Objectives , including supporting foundational research toward architecture and software approaches that drive performance improvements in the post-Moore's Law era; development and deployment of programmable, scalable, and reusable platforms in the national HPC and scientific cyberinfrastructure ecosystem; increased coherence of data analytic computing and modeling and simulation; and capable extreme-scale computing. Coordination with industrial efforts that pursue related goals are encouraged.

 
NSFCISEintegrative
Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent (required): January 9, 2017 (INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS proposals)
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 6, 2017 (INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS proposals); see below for information on applying for a CORE + SUPPLEMENT award
Award Information: Total budgets for INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS awards are anticipated to range from $500,000-$1,000,000 (including direct and indirect costs), with durations of 2-4 years. CORE + SUPPLEMENTAL awards will be made up to $200,000 (if supplemental funding, up to 20% of the existing award, not to exceed $200,000)
 
This program is open to proposals that advance the foundations of one or more of the following integrative research themes:

1.      Neuroengineering and Brain-Inspired Concepts and Designs
2.      Individuality and Variation
3.      Cognitive and Neural Processes in Realistic, Complex Environments
4.      Data-Intensive Neuroscience and Cognitive Science.

Within each theme, advances in theory and methods, technological innovations, educational approaches, research infrastructure, and workforce development are all of significant interest. Proposals must be consistent with the missions of the participating directorates. High-risk, high-payoff approaches are expected. Proposals must directly address risks and how they will be managed, potentially transformative payoffs, and the relationship between the risks and rewards at stake.
 
During FY17, the program will consider two classes of proposals. INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS awards (CISE, EHR, ENG, SBE) will support projects that develop foundational advances that are deeply connected to a broad scope of important research questions in neural and cognitive systems, and have significant potential for transformative advances in one or more of the integrative thematic areas. CORE + SUPPLEMENTS (CISE, EHR, ENG) will provide additional support to new or existing projects in the participating directorates, to enable additional activities that will connect those projects to significant new integrative opportunities in neural and cognitive systems.

 
NSFCISEUSICCS
United States-Israel Collaboration in Computer Science (USICCS)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Full Proposal Window: February 1, 2017 - February 15, 2017
Award Amount: Unspecified; in FY17, $400,000 is allotted to fund an estimated 6 to 9 awards
 
The USICCS program is a joint program of NSF and the United States - Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF). The program supports research projects that develop new knowledge in the theory of computing; algorithm design and analysis; design, verification, and evaluation of software systems; and revolutionary computing models based on emerging scientific ideas. Through this program, NSF and BSF will jointly support collaborations among US-based researchers and Israel-based researchers.


OtherNSFCISE
Other NSF: CISE Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (NSF: MPS)
 
NSFMPSAMPS
Algorithms for Modern Power Systems (AMPS)
OSP Deadline: February 6, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 13, 2017
Award Amount: Unspecified; $1.2M is allotted for an estimated 4 to 10 awards
 
The AMPS program will support research projects to develop the next generation of mathematical and statistical algorithms for improvement of the security, reliability, and efficiency of the modern power grid. The program is a partnership between the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability (OE) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).


NSF_MPS_Condensed
Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: $84,000 to $160,000 per year (on average) for 2 to 4 years
 
CMMT supports theoretical and computational materials research in the topical areas represented in DMR's core or individual investigator 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 program supports fundamental research that advances the conceptual understanding of hard and soft materials, and materials-related phenomena; the development of associated analytical, computational, and data-centric techniques; as well as predictive materials-specific theory, simulation, and modeling for materials research.




NSF_MPS_Ceramics
Ceramics
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of the sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: $110,000 to $160,000 (on average) for up to 4 years
 
This program supports fundamental scientific research in ceramics (e.g., oxides, carbides, nitrides and borides), glass-ceramics, inorganic glasses, ceramic-based composites and inorganic carbon-based materials. Projects should be centered on experiments; inclusion of computational and theory components are encouraged.

 
OtherNSFMPS 
NSF: MPS Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering

NSFENGBPE
Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) Program
OSP Deadline: January 30, 2017
Full Proposal Deadline: February 6, 2017
Award Amount: Unspecified  

The Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) Program is a Directorate-wide initiative dedicated to supporting the development of a diverse and well-prepared engineering workforce. Across every educational juncture (e.g., elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels), efforts to improve engineering interests, preparation, connections, experiences, and opportunities among underrepresented groups is of major importance to BPE. 

BPE is interested in funding projects that bring together multiple groups (e.g., school districts, community colleges, engineering schools, industry, philanthropy, government, etc.) and offer the greatest return on investment by producing outcomes that are scalable, sustainable, and applicable to various contexts, settings, and demographics within the engineering enterprise. For example, it is interested research projects that help us to analyze and understand the problem of insufficient interest and poorly sustained participation in engineering across underrepresented demographic groups; insignificant preparation and scarce opportunities for members of underrepresented demographic groups to learn meaningful, relevant engineering and other STEM-related content; insufficient access to support systems and social networks that raises career awareness about different engineering pathways among underrepresented groups; and structural inequalities and biases within educational and workforce systems that may influence engineering persistence.



NSFPFER
PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation (PFE: RIEF)
OSP Deadline: February 15, 2017
Full Proposal Deadline: February 23, 2017
Award Amount: $200,000 maximum

The PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation (PFE: RIEF) program has two goals: 1) support research in the Professional Formation of Engineers (PFE), and 2) Increase the community of researchers conducting PFE research. PIs are expected to have little or no experience conducting social science research. PFE: RIEF is not intended for established researchers in engineering education or other social science fields to initiate new projects. Those researchers should consider the Research in the Formation of Engineers program.

The NSF Engineering (ENG) Directorate has launched a multi-year initiative, the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century. Professional Formation of Engineers (PFE) refers to the formal and informal education and value systems by which people become engineers. It also includes the ethical responsibility of practicing engineers to sustain and grow the profession. The engineering profession must be responsive to national priorities, grand challenges, and dynamic workforce needs; it must be equally open and accessible to all.


NSFCASIS
NSF/CASIS Collaboration on Combustion and Thermal Transport Processes Research on the International Space Station to Benefit Life on Earth
OSP Deadline: March 3, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: March 10, 2017
Award Amount: Requests may be for up to $300,000 total and up to three years in duration. 

The purpose of this solicitation is to attract proposals that make use of the ISS (International Space Station) National Lab for flight research projects in the fields of combustion and in thermal transport processes. Responsive applications will describe using the ISS National Lab for development and testing of combustion and thermal transport physics processes and phenomena that will lead to Earth-based applications and increase the return on the U.S. investment in the ISS National Lab. CASIS goals are to advance science research and technology development, expand human knowledge, inspire and educate the next generation, foster the commercial development of space, and demonstrate scientific capabilities in space for Earth benefit. Fundamental research to study combustion and thermal transport phenomena and processes, where the results will have direct terrestrial benefit but will involve flight research utilizing the ISS, is solicited.

The collaboration seeks to exploit the complementary missions of (i) research and development for NSF, and (ii) stimulation, development and management of U.S. national uses of the ISS National Lab by U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and private firms for CASIS. Proposals must seek to exploit the ISS National Lab for combustion and thermal transport studies to support applications on Earth. The proposal must include a description of project benefits for life on Earth. Proposals focused on research and technology development supporting only space exploration-related goals do not fall within the scope of the NSF and CASIS mission, and will be considered non-responsive to this solicitation. For example, this program does not support research strictly focused on space propulsion.

 

OtherNSFDFE 

Other NSF: Directorate for Engineering Opportunities
National Science Foundation: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary

NSFCIDMREF
Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)
OSP Deadline: January 10, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 17, 2017
Award Amount: $250,000 to $400,000 per year over 3 or 4 years
 
DMREF will support activities that accelerate materials discovery and/or development by building the fundamental knowledge base needed to design and make materials with specific and desired functional properties from first principles. This will be accomplished through forming interdisciplinary teams of researchers working synergistically in a "closed loop" fashion, building a vibrant research community, leveraging Big Data science, providing ready access to materials data, and educating the future MGI workforce.
 
Specifically, achieving this goal will involve modeling, analysis, and computational simulations, validated and verified through sample preparation, characterization, and/or device demonstration.


SpecEES
Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES): Enabling Spectrum for All
OSP Deadline: January 12, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 19, 2017
Award Amount: $750,000 maximum over 3 years
 
As a result of past investments in wireless research, two important issues are now at the forefront of spectrum efficiency research, and at the core of the SpecEES program: security and energy efficiency.
 
The goal of the SpecEES program is to enable next-generation wireless communications and networking that are spectrum-efficient, energy-efficient, and secure in a dynamic spectrum environment. In particular, the program solicits proposals that not only advance the frontiers of spectral efficiency, but also specifically address research challenges related to energy efficiency and/or security in spectrum utilization.


NSFCITRIPODS
Transdisciplinary Research in Principles of Data Science Phase I (TRIPODS)
OSP Deadline: January 12, 2017
Letter of Intent Deadline (required): January 19, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000 per year for up to 3 years
 
The TRIPODS program seeks to support research and training activities focused on the theoretical foundations of data science, i.e., the core algorithmic, mathematical, and statistical principles. Phase I of the program will support the development of small collaborative Institutes that will bring together the three disciplines. Proposals must address fundamental research and training in the theoretical foundations of data science, and describe the significant involvement of all three communities.


NSFCICRISP
Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes FY17 (CRISP)
OSP Deadline: February 1, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 8, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000 maximum over 2 years (Type 1 Awards); $2.5M maximum over 3 to 4 years (Type 2 Awards)
 
The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to:
  • Foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services;
  • Enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious;
  • Create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and
  • Improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

NSFCIINCLUDES
Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES)
OSP Deadline: February 7, 2017
Preliminary Proposal Deadline (required): February 14, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $300,000 over 2 years
 
NSF INCLUDES is a comprehensive national initiative designed to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discoveries and innovations focused on NSF's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in these fields. This initiative seeks to improve collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing the preparation, increasing the participation, and ensuring the contributions of individuals from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented and underserved in the STEM enterprise: women, persons with disabilities, African Americans/Blacks, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Native Pacific Islanders, and persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.


NSFCICCESTEM
Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM)
OSP Deadline: February 8, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 15, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $600,000 for 5-year awards; up to $400,000 for 3-year awards
 
CCE STEM funds research projects that identify factors that are efficacious in the formation of ethical STEM researchers in all the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports. Factors one might consider include: honor codes, professional ethics codes and licensing requirements, an ethic of service and/or service learning, life-long learning requirements, curricula or memberships in organizations (e.g. Engineers without Borders) that stress social responsibility and humanitarian goals, institutions that serve under-represented groups, institutions where academic and research integrity are cultivated at multiple levels, institutions that cultivate ethics across the curriculum, or programs that promote group work, or do not grade.


NSFCICPS
Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)
OSP Deadline: February 27, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: March 6, 2017
Award Amount:  Small projects may be requested for up to $500,000 for a period of up to 3 years. Medium projects may be requested for $500,001 to $1,000,000 for up to four years. Frontier projects must address clearly identified critical CPS challenges that cannot be achieved by a set of smaller projects. Funding may be requested for $1,000,001 to $7,000,000 for 4 to 5 years.

The goal of the CPS program is to develop the core system science needed to engineer complex cyber-physical systems that people can use or interact with and depend upon. Some of these may require high-confidence or provable behaviors. The program aims to foster a research community committed to advancing research and education in CPS and to transitioning CPS science and technology into engineering practice. By abstracting from the particulars of specific systems and application domains, the CPS program seeks to reveal cross-cutting fundamental scientific and engineering principles that underpin the integration of cyber and physical elements across all application sectors. To expedite and accelerate the realization of cyber-physical systems in a wide range of applications, the CPS program also supports the development of methods, tools, and hardware and software components based upon these cross-cutting principles, along with validation of the principles via prototypes and testbeds. We have also seen a convergence of CPS technologies and research thrusts that underpin Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) and the Internet of Things (IoT). These domains offer new and exciting challenges for foundational research and provide opportunities for maturation at multiple time horizons. 


NSFCIINFEWS
Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS)
OSP Deadline: February 27, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: March 6, 2017
Award Amount: Projects submitted to all tracks must have total budgets less than or equal to $2,500,000.

The overarching goal of INFEWS is to catalyze well-integrated interdisciplinary and convergent research to transform scientific understanding of the FEW nexus (integrating all three components rather than addressing them separately), in order to improve system function and management, address system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. The NSF INFEWS initiative is designed specifically to attain the following goals:
  1. Significantly advance our understanding of the food-energy-water system through quantitative, predictive and computational modeling, including support for relevant cyberinfrastructure;
  2. Develop real-time, cyber-enabled interfaces that improve understanding of the behavior of FEW systems and increase decision support capability;
  3. Enable research that will lead to innovative solutions to critical FEW systems problems; and
  4. Grow the scientific workforce capable of studying and managing the FEW system, through education and other professional development opportunities.
This initiative enables interagency cooperation on one of the most pressing problems of the millennium - understanding interactions across the FEW nexus - how it is likely to affect our world, and how we can proactively plan for its consequences. It allows the partner agencies - National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) and others - to combine resources to identify and fund the most meritorious and highest-impact projects that support their respective missions, while eliminating duplication of effort and fostering collaboration between agencies and the investigators they support.


NSFCIEEComp
Energy-Efficient Computing: From Devices to Architectures (E2CDA)
OSP Deadline: February 28, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: March 7, 2017
Award Amount:  It is anticipated that approximately 2-4 multidisciplinary collaborative (Type I) projects, each ranging from $800,000 to $1,600,000 per year for 3 years, and 2-4 individual or small (Type II) projects, each ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 per year for 1 to 3 years, will be supported. 

The urgency of solving multi-disciplinary technical challenges will require new methods of collaboration and organization among researchers.Therefore, a comprehensive and collaborative approach must be undertaken to maximize the potential for successfully identifying and implementing revolutionary solutions to break through the bottleneck of energy-constrained computational performance. Programmers, system architects, circuit designers, chip processing engineers, material scientists, and computational chemists must all explore these new paths together to co-design an optimal solution path.
 
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) recognize this need, and agree to embark on a new collaborative research program to support compelling research that is of paramount importance to industry, academia and society at large. This partnership will specifically support new research to minimize the energy impacts of processing, storing, and moving data within future computing systems, and will be synergistic with other research activities that address other aspects of this overarching energy-constrained computing performance challenge.

 
OtherNSFCross2 
Other NSF: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary Opportunities


National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
NIST Consortium for Semiconductor and Future Computing Research 
Sponsor Deadline: January 13, 2017 
OSP Deadline: January 6, 2017
Award Information: NIST anticipates making 1 multi-year award of up to $3,200,000 in the first year and up to $3,700,000 in subsequent years, for a total award period of up to 5 years
NOTE: This Program requires a non-Federal cost share of 25 percent of the yearly total allowable project costs
 
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.



NatRobs
OSP Deadline: January 26, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 2, 2017
Award Information: Foundational projects will range from $350,000 to $750,000 in total costs for up to three years. Integrative projects will range from $500,000 to $1,500,000 in total costs for up to four years. There will also be agency-specific project criteria. 

The goal of the National Robotics Initiative is to accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people. Innovative robotics research and applications emphasizing the realization of such co-robots working in symbiotic relationships with human partners is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The purpose of this program is to support the development of this next generation of robotics, to advance the capability and usability of such systems and artifacts, and to encourage existing and new communities to focus on innovative application areas.


DOCNISTNew
United States Department of Commerce (DOC)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program (PSIAP)
OSP Deadline: February 21, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 28, 2017
Award Information:  In FY 2017 through FY2019, NIST anticipates up to $30,000,000 may be available to fund awards in the range of $10,000 to $1,000,000 per year with project performance periods of up to two (2) years. Proposals submitted by institutions of higher education with the specific purpose of supporting research by students as part of their doctoral program may have performance periods of up to three (3) years. 

The NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program (PSIAP) is seeking applications to accelerate research, development, production, and testing activities in six specific technology areas: mission critical voice; location based services (LBS); public safety analytics; communication demand modeling; research and prototyping platforms; and resilient systems.
Recipients will rapidly accelerate the objectives of the PSIAP through innovative research and development (R&D) projects. Applicants may propose projects specific to one or multiple PSIAP technology areas and may propose cross-cutting projects that address one or more objectives within each or multiple technology areas. Applicants may also propose new ideas and objectives within any of the technology areas, but may not propose new technology areas. 
Where appropriate, applicants should propose projects that include active and sustained engagement with first responders. This to ensure that the R&D outputs of each PSIAP project are highly relevant and will have a meaningful impact on the public safety community.  


DOJ
Crime Forecasting Challenge
OSP Deadline: February 21, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: February 28, 2017
Prize Information: 40 $15,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the large business category; 40 $10,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the small teams/small business category; and 40 $5,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the student category
 
The Crime Forecasting Challenge seeks to harness the advances in data science to address the challenges of crime and justice, encouraging data scientists from across all scientific disciplines to foster innovation in forecasting methods. The goal is to develop algorithms that advance place-based crime forecasting through the use of data from one police jurisdiction.
 
Contestants may enter forecasts in one of the following categories:
  • Full-time student (undergraduate);
  • Small team or small business; or
  • Large businesses.
_________________________________________

For assistance, please contact:

Erin Cromack
Senior Research Development Officer
cromack@fas.harvard.edu | 617-496-5252

Jennifer Corby
Research Development Officer
jcorby@fas.harvard.edu | 617-495-1590


Research Development | Research Administration Services | research.fas.harvard.edu