October 2017 
 
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.  
 
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Erin Hale: [email protected] | 617-496-5252 
Jennifer Corby:  [email protected] | 617-495-1590  
 
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News, Announcements, & Special Features
 
Feature: New Investigator Opportunity Spotlight

Internal Funding Opportunity: Radcliffe Institute Exploratory Seminars
Exploratory seminars provide funding to bring together scholars, practitioners, and artists from Harvard University and around the world to develop ideas and research across the disciplines. Seminars are usually one or two days in length and are held at the Radcliffe Institute with all logistical arrangements handled by Radcliffe staff. Learn more about this opportunity here . 
 
Internal Funding Opportunity: Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program
Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP) aims to focus on advancing solar geoengineering science and technology; assessing efficiency and risks; and laying out governance options and social implications. Current available funding mechanisms are a residency program and Harvard faculty research grants. Learn more about these opportunities here . 

Funding Opportunities

Click on the links below to read a program synopsis


U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
 
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 
Foundation Opportunities
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA)

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

Internal Opportunities
Deadline: October 23, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $18,000 
Eligible Applicants: Ladder faculty members or current or former Radcliffe Institute fellows
 
Exploratory seminars provide funding to bring together scholars, practitioners, and artists from Harvard University and around the world to develop ideas and research across the disciplines. Seminars are usually one or two days in length and are held at the Radcliffe Institute with all logistical arrangements handled by Radcliffe staff. Applications are welcome from all academic fields.  

InternalSolar
Residency Program and Harvard Faculty Research Grants 
Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Varies by award type

Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP) aims to focus on advancing solar geoengineering science and technology; assessing efficiency and risks; and laying out governance options and social implications. The following funding mechanisms are currently available:  

Residency Program:  This program will accept a small number of researchers focused on solar geoengineering to spend between 1 and 3 weeks at Harvard University, working directly with researchers at SGRP and other members of the Harvard community. The main purpose of this program is to enable visitors to work in collaboration with Harvard researchers and each other on discrete research projects. SGRP will cover the cost of travel and accommodations as well as per diem for meals.
 
Harvard Faculty Research Grants:  SGRP will provide direct support for research activities that cannot be fulfilled by students or fellows. That could involve multi-investigator collaborations, field or laboratory work in the sciences, or field or survey work in the social sciences.
 
U.S. Department of Defense
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE: Efficient and Robust Machine Learning (ERML)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (encouraged): October 30, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 20, 2017
Award Amount: $5,000,000 over 5 years
 
The purpose of this ERML University Center of Excellence (UCoE) is to establish the foundational principles of design, development, and employment as well as critical technologies to support machine learning (ML) methods and procedures. The Air Force's autonomy vision includes intelligent machines that utilize data, leverage learning techniques, and deliver content for a variety of operations. Machine learning methods must be employed with efficiency and robustness for effective results given data challenges such as variety, volume, velocity, veracity, and value. Leveraging ML methods and techniques should incorporate contextual considerations, operational environments, and hardware implementation. To achieve the USAF vision, ML techniques must consider transferability, usability, efficiency and robustness for mission success. Foundational science and technology is needed to understand machine learning employment challenges including efficiency (data and computational), robustness (practical and adversarial), as well as relevancy (situational and contextual).
 
A single Cooperative Agreement is anticipated under this announcement.

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC)
Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) Broad Agency Announcement for FY17
OSP Deadline: November 2, 2017 
Sponsor Deadline: November 12, 2017 
Award Amount: The funded amount and period of performance of each proposal selected for award may vary depending on the research area and the technical approach to be pursued by the offeror selected.
 
On behalf of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Centers, NSWC is soliciting research of interest in support of the NEEC. The topics of interest include:
  • Sensor fusion
  • Machine learning systems for wireless cyber environments
  • Emerging software development
  • Lasers as weapons in a marine environment
  • Analysis of mission engineering
  • Modeling and simulation research and development
  • Radar unitization in a marine environment
  • Railgun developmental research
  • Big Data analysis tool development
  • Artificial intelligence/autonomy research and development
  • Communications and processing for mobile distributed sensor and weapon networks
  • Multi-vehicle autonomy, sensing, and collaboration
  • Cyber and cyber-warfare research and development
  • Robotics for Navy Shipyard applications
The Government may make multiple awards.
Naval Supply Systems Command
Research Initiatives at The Naval Postgraduate School
OSP Deadline: December 15, 2017 
Sponsor Deadline: December 29, 2017
Award Amount: The funding amount and period of performance of each selected proposal will vary depending on the research area and the technical approach pursued by the selected prospective Grantee.
 
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is interested in receiving proposals for research initiatives that offer potential for advancement and improvement in the NPS core mission of graduate education and research. Readers should note that this is an announcement to declare NPS's solicitation in competitive funding of meritorious research initiatives across a spectrum of science and engineering, business, politics and public/foreign policy, operational and information sciences, and interdisciplinary disciplines that are in-line with the NPS' graduate education and research mission.
 
Additional information on the Naval Postgraduate School's graduate education and research mission is available at:
 
 
Prior to preparing proposals, potential Offerors are strongly encouraged to contact an NPS point of contact (POC) whose program and research efforts best match the Offeror's field of interest. The academic and research programs links above can be used to locate an appropriate POC by exploring the information provided about the faculty members in NPS' schools, research institutes, and interdisciplinary centers and research groups.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Cross Domain Maritime Surveillance and Targeting (CDMaST) Phase 2
OSP Deadline: October 25, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 1, 2017
Award Amount: DARPA intends to make approximately $45,000,000 available for this award. CDMaST Phase 2 is divided into two parts: Phase 2A, which consists of 30 months and Phase 2B, which is anticipated to be an 18-month period of performance.
 
This BAA solicits proposals for Phase 2 of the DARPA Cross Domain Maritime Surveillance and Targeting (CDMaST) program. Participation in CDMaST Phase 1 is not required to be considered for award in CDMaST Phase 2. The DARPA CDMaST program seeks to demonstrate a new approach to naval warfare consisting of highly distributed manned and unmanned Systems of Systems (SoS) acting collaboratively to control the seas. Specifically, the goal is to demonstrate the ability to conduct third-party, cross-domain (i.e., above, on, and under the ocean) targeting to hold enemy ships and submarines at risk over wide, contested areas while showing significantly increased military effectiveness, adaptability, and cost imposition to opponents. This DARPA program is unique in that the objective is not to develop and demonstrate a specific technology but to develop and demonstrate a new warfighting concept. Specifically, DARPA is trying to transform the future of sea control through implementation of a highly distributed system of systems approach.
 
Proposers must address all three Technical Areas:
  • TA1 - Architecture Development
  • TA2 - Testbed Integration Support
  • TA3 - Experimentation
One award is anticipated.

Research Associateship Programs
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadlines: November 1, 2017; February 1, 2018; May 1, 2018; August 1, 2018
Award Amount: Awards include stipends (ranging from $42,000-$80,000), health insurance, professional travel and relocation. Award durations vary by program.
 
The National Research Council (NRC) administers competitive graduate, postdoctoral and senior research awards on behalf of 26 U.S. federal research agencies and affiliated institutions with facilities at over 100 locations throughout the U.S. and abroad. Awardees have the opportunity to conduct independent research in an area compatible with the interests of the sponsoring laboratory; devote full-time effort to research and publication; access the excellent and often unique facilities of the federal research enterprise; and collaborate with leading scientists and engineers at the sponsoring laboratories. Disciplines include Chemistry; Earth, Atmospheric and Space Sciences; Engineering, Applied Science, and Mathematics; Life Sciences; and Physics.
 
Find research opportunities that match your interests by exploring this website: www.nationalacademies.org/rap . Contact prospective Research Adviser(s) and host lab(s) to discuss your interests and then you may apply online using the WebRAP electronic application system. Prospective applicants should carefully read the details and eligibility of the program to which they are applying. Some laboratories have citizenship restrictions (open only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents), and some laboratories have Research Opportunities that are not open to senior applicants (more than 5 years beyond the Ph.D.). In addition, applicants should note application deadlines, as not all laboratories participate in all reviews.

DODMURI
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Army Research Office (ARO) and Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI)
OSP Deadline: October 25, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 1, 2017
Award Amount: Typical annual funding per grant is in the $1,250,000 to $1,500,000 range for up to 5 years of support.
 
The Department of Defense (DoD) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), one element of the University Research Initiative (URI), is sponsored by the DoD research offices. Those offices include the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The MURI program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. DoD's MURI program addresses high risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. Detailed descriptions of topics of interest to AFOSR, ARO and ONR are listed in the program solicitation.
 
The total amount of funding for five years available for grants resulting from this MURI FOA is estimated to be approximately $170 million dollars pending out-year appropriations.

DoDExtraDev
Department of the Army - USAMRAA
US Special Operations Command Broad Agency Announcement for Extramural Biomedical Research and Development
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Proposals (required): Pre-proposals will be reviewed in three submission cycles. The remaining deadlines are: November 3, 2017 and April 14, 2018.
Award Amount: A budget should be commensurate with the nature and complexity of the proposed research.    
 
Special Operations Forces (SOF) medical personnel place a premium on medical equipment that is small, lightweight, ruggedized, modular, multi-use, and designed for operation in extreme environments. The equipment should be easy to use, require minimum maintenance, and have low power consumption. Drugs and biologics should not require refrigeration or other special handling. All materiel and related techniques should be simple and effective. Research projects may apply existing scientific and technical knowledge for which concept and/or patient care efficacy have already been demonstrated to meet SOF requirements. The following are SOF's Research Areas of Interest (RAIs):
 

1.     Medical Simulation and Training Technologies;

2.     Damage Control Resuscitation;

3.     Prolonged Field Care (PFC);

4.     Portable Lab Assays and Diagnostics;

5.     Force Health Protection and Environmental Medicine;

6.     Canine Medicine; and

7.     Human Operational Performance.

 
Research and development funded through this BAA are intended and expected to benefit and inform both military and civilian medical practice and knowledge. It is estimated that approximately $3 million is available for this BAA.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Electronics Resurgence Initiative: Page 3 Materials and Integration
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: November 6, 2017 (DARPA will continue to accept proposals after the due date until January 31, 2018, but proposers are warned that the likelihood of available funding is greatly reduced for proposals submitted after the initial closing date deadline)
Award Amount: The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds.
 
The goal of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) is to more constructively enmesh the technology needs and capabilities of the defense enterprise with the commercial and manufacturing realities of the electronics industry. A trio of simultaneously-released ERI BAAs, this one among them, parallel the research areas detailed on page three of Gordon Moore's seminal 1965 paper: materials and integration, architecture, and design. These new page-three-inspired investments, along with a series of related investments from the past year, comprise the overall Electronics Resurgence Initiative. The "ERI Page 3 Investments" are the next steps in creating an electronics capability that will provide a foundational contribution to U.S. national security.
 
The overall goal of the Three Dimensional Monolithic System-on-a-Chip (3DSoC) program is to develop 3D monolithic technology that will enable > 50X improvement in SOC digital performance at power. 3DSOC aims to drive research in process, design tools, and new compute architectures for future designs while utilizing U.S. fabrication capabilities. The goal of the Foundations Required for Novel Compute (FRANC) program is to define the foundations required for assessing and establishing the proof of principle for beyond von Neumann compute architectures. FRANC will seek to demonstrate prototypes that quantify the benefits of such new computing architectures.

Multiple awards are anticipated.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Electronics Resurgence Initiative: Page 3 Investments Design Thrust
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: November 14, 2017 (DARPA will continue to accept proposals after the due date until January 31, 2018, but proposers are warned that the likelihood of available funding is greatly reduced for proposals submitted after the initial closing date deadline)
Award Amount: The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds.
 
The goal of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) is to more constructively enmesh the technology needs and capabilities of the defense enterprise with the commercial and manufacturing realities of the electronics industry. A trio of simultaneously-released ERI BAAs-this one among them-parallel the research areas detailed on page three of Gordon Moore's seminal 1965 paper: materials and integration, architecture, and design. These new page-three-inspired investments, along with a series of related investments from the past year, comprise the overall Electronics Resurgence Initiative. The "ERI Page 3 Investments" are the next steps in creating an electronics capability that will provide a foundational contribution to U.S. national security.
 
The Design thrust of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI): Page 3 Investments will address today's System-On-Chip (SoC) design complexity and cost barriers, creating the environment needed for the next wave of US semiconductor innovation. The Page 3 Design thrust includes two programs that will operate independent of each other: Intelligent Design of Electronic Assets (IDEA): "No human in the loop" 24-hour layout generation for mixed signal integrated circuits, systems-in-package, and printed circuit boards; and Posh Open Source Hardware (POSH): An open source System on Chip (SoC) design and verification eco-system that enables cost effective design of ultra-complex SoCs.
 
Multiple awards are anticipated.
Department of the Army - U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA)
Medical Simulation and Information Sciences, Toward A Next-Generation Trauma Care Capability: Foundational Research for Autonomous, Unmanned, and Robotics Development of Medical Technologies (FORwARD) Award
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Applications (required): November 20, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 5, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $1,300,000 for 2 years
 
The Medical Simulation and Information Sciences Research Program (MSISRP) Toward A Next-Generation Trauma Care System: Foundational Research for Autonomous, Unmanned, and Robotics Development of Medical Technologies (FORwARD) award is expected to facilitate cutting-edge, next generation scientific studies and to promote significant innovation in the state-of-the-art and basic, foundational, and ground-breaking research in technologies, including biologically-inspired models of cognitive computing, neural networks, environmental sensing and other approaches to adaptive, autonomous inference generation and artificial intelligence in the medical domain to dramatically advance first responder/point of injury trauma care and outcomes. MSISRP is seeking highly imaginative and innovative basic research ideas and concepts for a next-generation military and civilian trauma care system that is responsive to remote, mass casualty, disaster and/or military combat-related trauma care requirements. The MSISRP FORwARD Award mechanism is being offered for the first time in FY17.
 
The objective of the FY17 MSISRP FORwARD Award is focused on addressing the following Topic Areas: 1. Autonomous and Unmanned Medical Capability; and 2. Medical Robotics Research.
 
The MSISRP expects to allot approximately $2.6M of the FY17 Army RDT&E 6.1-Basic Research appropriation to fund approximately one FORwARD award application per Topic Area for a total of two awards for the FORwARD mechanism, depending on the quality and number of applications received.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED)
OSP Deadline: November 17, 2017 
Sponsor Deadline: November 28, 2017
Award Amount: 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 program is divided into two phases (18 months and 30 months).
 
DARPA's Information Innovation Office (I2O) is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of automated defense against social engineering attacks. The core technology to be developed in this program is the capability to automatically elicit information from a malicious adversary in order to identify, disrupt, and investigate social engineering attacks. ASED will do this by mediating communications between users and potential attackers with bots that actively detect attacks and coordinate investigations to discover the identity of the attacker.
 
The ASED program is divided into three technical areas:
1. Automated Detection of Social Engineering Attacks
2. Automated Investigation of Social Engineers
3. Scalable Evaluation Team
 
DARPA anticipates multiple awards under this solicitation. While proposers may submit proposals for all three technical areas, proposers selected for TA3 cannot be selected for any portion of the other two technical areas, whether as a prime, subcontractor, or in any other capacity from an organizational to an individual level.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Electronics Resurgence Initiative: Page 3 Investments Architectures Thrust
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: December 4, 2017 (DARPA will continue to accept proposals after the due date until January 31, 2018, but proposers are warned that the likelihood of available funding is greatly reduced for proposals submitted after the initial closing date deadline)
Award Amount: The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds.
 
The goal of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) is to more constructively enmesh the technology needs and capabilities of the defense enterprise with the commercial and manufacturing realities of the electronics industry. A trio of simultaneously-released ERI BAAs-this one among them-parallel the research areas detailed on page three of Gordon Moore's seminal 1965 paper: materials and integration, architecture, and design. These new page-three-inspired investments, along with a series of related investments from the past year, comprise the overall Electronics Resurgence Initiative. The "ERI Page 3 Investments" are the next steps in creating an electronics capability that will provide a foundational contribution to U.S. national security.
 
The Page 3 Architectures thrust of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) seeks to demonstrate heterogeneous computing systems that provide the performance advantages of specialized processors, while maintaining the programmability of general purpose processors. The goal of the Software Defined Hardware SDH) program is to build runtime-reconfigurable hardware and software that enables near ASIC performance without sacrificing programmability for data-intensive algorithms. The overall goal of the Domain-specific System on Chip (DSSoC) program is to develop a heterogeneous SoC comprised of many cores that mix general-purpose processors, special-purpose processors, hardware accelerators, memory, and input/output (I/O). Multiple awards are anticipated .

DARPA_YFA
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Young Faculty Award (YFA)
OSP Deadline: November 27, 2017 
Sponsor Deadline: December 4, 2017
Award Amount: Each award will include a 24-month base period (a maximum of $500,000) and a 12-month option period (a maximum of $500,000). The 12-month option period, referred to as the "Director's Fellowship," will be reserved for a limited number of awardees who demonstrate exceptional YFA project performance over the 24-month base period.
 
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) program aims to identify and engage rising stars in junior faculty positions in academia and equivalent positions at non-profit research institutions and expose them to Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security challenges and needs. In particular, this YFA will provide high-impact funding to elite researchers early in their careers to develop innovative new research directions in the context of enabling transformative DoD capabilities. The long-term goal of the program is to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers in the research community who will focus a significant portion of their future careers on DoD and National Security issues. DARPA is particularly interested in identifying outstanding researchers who have previously not been performers on DARPA programs, but the program is open to all qualified applicants with innovative research ideas.
 
Participation is open to individuals who are U.S. Citizens, U.S. Permanent Residents, and Foreign Nationals. Proposers must be one of the following (excluding any personal leaves of absence) at a U.S.-based institution by the full proposal deadline:
  • current Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate Professors;
  • current Tenured faculty within 3 years of their Tenure date; or
  • an equivalent at a non-profit research institution within 12 years of the receipt of their Ph.D.
This Research Announcement solicits single principal investigator (PI) proposals for research and development in the following specific Technical Areas of interest:
  • Designing Ungameably Complex Games
  • Topological Photonics
  • Artificial Intelligence for Materials Discovery
  • Transformative Radiation Sensing
  • Engineered Interactions with the Energy of the Vacuum
  • Novel Methods for Nonsurgical Brain Interfaces
  • Self-forming Chronic Central Nervous System (CNS) Neural Interfaces
  • The Minimal Plant: Engineering Plants for Easy Biosynthetic Pathway Design with High Modularity
  • Antifouling Solutions for Large, Nonplanar Optical Surfaces
  • Replicating Cell-Cell Information Transfer
  • Programmable DNA Repair for Improved Genome Editing Outcomes
  • Efficient Integrated Nanophotonics
  • Adversarial Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Developing Intelligent Sensors for Fentanyl and Related Toxins
  • High Quality Atomic Traps and Waveguides
  • Wideband Efficiency in Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers
  • Materials and Actuator Innovation for Small Scale Mobility and Manipulation
  • Reducing Software Attack Surface through Compiler-Rewriter Cooperation
  • Computational Models of the Spread of False or Misleading Information
  • Big Data Summarization
  • Decentralized Control of Networked Unmanned Autonomous Systems
  • REsilience through COmposable Logistics (RECOiL)
  • Wide Area Sensing Using the Internet of Things
  • Tactical Terrain Analysis
  • Thermostructural Sensitivity to Uncertainties
  • Swarm Intent Understanding
Multiple awards are anticipated.

AirForce_SummerFaculty
Air Force Research Laboratory
Summer Faculty Fellowships
Sponsor Deadline: December 5, 2017
Award Amount: The Fellowship provides a stipend and relocation allowance. Fellowships will range from 8 to 12 weeks.
 
The U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program offers hands-on exposure to Air Force research challenges through research residencies at participating Air Force research facilities for full-time science, mathematics, and engineering faculty at U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants' research interests must be in line with the interests and needs of the various Air Force Research Facilities. These include the nine Air Force Research Laboratory Directorates, Air Force Test Center, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Air Force Institute of Technology. Click here to learn more about the areas of interest to the various Air Force Research Facilities and for contact information for each facility. Each research opportunity offered through the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program has a research advisor (in some cases two research advisors) who direct all work involved with the project. To be eligible for an award, each application must be approved by the designated research advisor for that research opportunity and must be endorsed by the appropriate Air Force research facility.
 
Applicants to the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program must be citizens of the United States. All appointments are subject to the participant's successful security investigation and approved access to unclassified government information systems. U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program faculty participants have the opportunity to bring a graduate student with them.
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
Dynamically and Controllably Reconfigurable Antennas through Physical Deformation Processes
OSP Deadline: December 8, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: December 15, 2017
Award Amount: $4,800,000 over 5 years
 
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) seeks unclassified proposals from educational institutions in the United States for deployable, reconfigurable, multifunctional antennas research. DoD has a need for antennas that are versatile, mechanically sound, and have predictable and reproducible properties. Physical reconfigurability is an especially effective means to enable such antennas. A goal is for these antennas to achieve in each configuration properties and performance over time equivalent to those of static, single-function antennas. This topic requires multidisciplinary research in design, stimuli-response reconfiguration, mechanical and structural characterization, and electromagnetic measurement and optimization.
 
A single award is anticipated under this announcement.
 
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
Design and Testing of Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies
OSP Deadline: October 24, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: October 31, 2017
Award Amount: $10,000,000 maximum for area of interest 1; $6,000,000 maximum for area of interest 2. At least 20% non-Federal cost share of the total allowable costs must be provided.
 
The objectives of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) are to continue the development of carbon capture technologies to either the engineering scale or to a commercial design. This FOA will consist of the following two Areas of Interest:
  1. Scaling of Carbon Capture Technologies to Engineering Scales Using Existing Host Site Infrastructure: The objective of Area of Interest 1 is to test transformational solvent-based CO2 capture technologies at engineering scales using existing infrastructure, or membrane-based approaches that, due to their modular nature, can be built and tested at a relevant scale that can be easily replicated for larger systems.
  2. Initial Engineering, Testing, and Design of a Commercial-Scale, Post-Combustion CO2 Capture System: The objective of Area of Interest 2 is to complete an initial design of a commercial-scale, post-combustion CO2 capture system for application at an existing coal-fueled generating unit.
Applicants may submit more than one application; however, the applicant must target only one area of interest per application.
Medium/Heavy-Duty, On-Road Natural Gas Engine Research and Development
Concept Paper Deadline (required): November 8, 2017
OSP Deadline: January 4, 2018
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 11, 2018
Award Amount: $1,000,000-$2,000,000. Applicants are required to provide a minimum of 20% of the total project cost (i.e., 20% of the sum of the federal and non-federal shares).
 
VTO seeks cost-shared projects for the research of medium and heavy-duty on-road natural gas engines. Specifically, this topic addresses engine efficiency improvements, fuel system enhancements, and emission after-treatment technologies, which are barriers to the adoption of natural gas engine technologies. CNG engine efficiency needs to be closer to that of diesel in order to improve the viability of natural gas fueled medium and heavy-duty trucks. There are significant barriers to achieving these efficiency levels that can be addressed with early-stage, low technology readiness level (TRL) research, including:
 
  • Fundamental experiments and modeling to understand fuel mixing and combustion for improved engine design
  • Advanced ignition systems to enable highly-efficient dilute combustion
  • Fundamental catalysis research for after-treatment solutions to meet emissions standards with advanced combustion technology.
 
Potential technologies include (but are not limited to) combustion strategies, engine subsystems, emission control systems, fuel systems, and controls. A complete engine development project is outside the scope of this effort, but engine subsystem research must have a plausible pathway to higher engine efficiency.
 
Teams are encouraged to include medium- and heavy-duty vehicle or engine manufacturers but it is not required.
Generation 3 Concentrating Solar Power Systems
Concept Paper Deadline (required): November 3, 2017
OSP Deadline: January 11, 2018
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 19, 2018
Award Amount: $500,000-$35,000,000
 
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technology Office (SETO) is seeking applications under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to fund applied research and development to enable the reduction of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) generated by concentrating solar power (CSP) to 6 ¢/kWh-electric or less, without subsidies. This FOA intends to develop integrated thermal system solutions to overcome the temperature limitations of current CSP systems, while lowering capital costs by enabling the use of advanced turbines and achieving a higher overall system efficiency in converting solar thermal energy into electricity. Applications to this FOA are expected to advance individual high temperature components which have been developed at lab scale, and test them as an integrated system at a multi-MW thermal scale that can accept solar thermal energy, store it, and efficiently deliver it to a working fluid at high temperature, representative of a high efficiency power cycle.
Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies
OSP Deadline: November 15, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 22, 2017
Award Amount: $3,000,000 maximum. Applicants are required to provide a minimum of 20% of the total project cost (i.e., 20% of the sum of the federal and non-federal shares).
 
The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to develop transformational technologies that are capable of step-change reductions in CO2 capture cost and energy penalties. One of the technical pathways that is supported is Post-Combustion Capture, which is primarily applicable to PC-fired power plants. The principal challenge in post-combustion capture is separating the low percentage of CO2 from other flue gas constituents that generally are detrimental to separation materials, capture systems, materials of construction, and process and plant efficiency.
 
Research and development under this FOA is focused on developing CO2 capture technologies for both coal and natural-gas power generation. However, any proposed R&D for natural gas-fired systems must provide a discussion on how test results from natural gas derived flue gas will be applicable to the development of the proposed technology with coal-derived flue gas.
 
This FOA supports the development of transformational CO2 capture technologies, materials, and enabling technologies at the bench-scale for PC or natural gas power plants. Applications must address (1) material compatibility, (2) process engineering, (3) technical risks, and (4) development pathways for the proposed technology to significantly improve the likelihood that advanced CO2 capture systems can meet DOE performance, cost, and schedule targets. It is expected that at the end of the project, the technology would be ready to advance to the next stage of development.

DOEOther
Other DOE Opportunities


U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPAWildland
Wildland Fires Sensor Challenge
OSP Deadline: November 15, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 22, 2017
Prototype Submission Deadline: January 5, 2018 
Award Amount: Up to $60,000
 
Six federal agencies have announced a Wildland Fire Sensors Challenge seeking an accurate, lower-cost, and low-maintenance air quality monitoring system that can be used during a wildfire or controlled fire. The data provided by the sensor system will help federal, state, local and tribal agencies protect the health of first responders and communities affected by the smoke. Developers are encouraged to submit a prototype sensor system that measures fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The system should be capable of rapid deployment and continuous real-time monitoring of highly dynamic air pollution levels during a fire event. Developers should also aim for designs that are easy to use and self-powered; include location data; and wirelessly transmit data to a central data-receiving station.  

Foundation Opportunities
ACS National Awards
Sponsor Deadline: November 1, 2017
 
The ACS National Awards program is designed to encourage the advancement of chemistry in all its branches, to support research in chemical science and industry, and to promote the careers of chemists. The program recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of chemistry. By managing and promoting approximately 65 awards that honor major achievements by ACS members and other scientists, the program increases public awareness of chemistry's contributions.
 
The program welcomes nominations for distinguished individuals, particularly those from underrepresented groups, such as women, minorities, and chemists from industry. Any individual, except a member of the award selection committee or an ACS Board member during their terms of service, may submit either one nomination or one support letter for each award.

BRF
Brain Research Foundation
Fay/Frank Seed Grant Program
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 13, 2017 by 12:00 PM
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent (if nominated): January 8, 2018
Award Amount: $80,000 for a two year grant period. Indirect costs are not permitted.
 
The objective of the Brain Research Foundation Fay/Frank Seed Grant Program is to provide start up monies for new research projects in the field of neuroscience that will likely lead to extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health or other outside funding sources. Applicants must be full time Assistant or Associate Professors working in the area of brain function. This includes molecular and clinical neuroscience as well as studies of neural, sensory, motor, cognitive, behavioral and emotional functioning in health and disease.
 
This is a limited submission opportunity and Harvard may put forward only one nominee to submit a letter of intent during the first phase of the BRF Seed Grant competition. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will conduct the internal competition to select the Harvard nominee. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, potential applicants must submit an internal pre-proposal via the link above.
Regular Research Grants
OSP Deadline: November 14, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 21, 2017
Award Amount: $230,000 maximum for four years
 
The U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation promotes scientific relations between the U.S. and Israel by supporting collaborative research projects in a  wide area of basic and applied scientific fields, fo r peaceful and non-profit purposes. Applications to the program are made jointly by a US and an Israeli researcher(s) who would like to work together. No prior cooperation is required, but the synergy between the PIs must be evident. Applications must be submitted together by at least one scientist from each country, but not more than six in total.
Technology Impact Award
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent: November 15, 2017
OSP Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): March 8, 2018
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): March 15, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $200,000 for 12-24 months
 
The Technology Impact Award provides seed funding to address the gap between technology development and clinical application of cancer immunotherapies. These grants aim to encourage collaboration between technology developers and clinical cancer immunologists and to generate the proof-of-principle of a novel platform technology in bioinformatics, ex vivo or in silico modeling systems, immunological or tumor profiling instrumentation, methods, reagents and assays, or other relevant technologies that can enable clinician scientists to generate deeper insights into the mechanisms of action of effective or ineffective cancer immunotherapies.
 
The most competitive applications will address areas where technological innovation stands to benefit the field and cancer patients most, and that will ultimately lead to effective next generation personalized cancer immunotherapies. Applicants must hold a faculty appointment as a tenure-track assistant professor (or higher rank) at the time of award activation.
Nomination Deadline: November 30, 2017
Award Amount: $500,000
 
The Lemelson-MIT Prize is awarded to outstanding mid-career inventors, who have developed a patented product or process of significant value to society, which has been adopted for practical use, or has a high probability of being adopted. The Lemelson-MIT Prize seeks to highlight the pivotal role inventive activity plays in the achievement of positive social, cultural and economic goals. The objectives of the Lemelson-MIT Prize are to:
  • recognize and reward America's outstanding mid-career inventors
  • celebrate individuals who enhance economic opportunity and community well-being through their inventive work and who have global perspective
  • increase awareness and foster the work of inventors and the potential for commercialization and wider adoption of their inventions
  • promote role models who can inspire young people to pursue creative lives and careers
Candidates for the Lemelson-MIT Prize must:
  • be U.S. citizens or permanent residents
  • be mid-career, which is defined as having received their bachelor's degree no more than twenty-five years ago. A nominee for the 2018 Lemelson-MIT Prize must have received their bachelor's degree in 1993 or later.
  • be the primary inventor of two or more granted U.S. patents, one of which is a product or process that has been commercialized or has potential or realized adoption
  • serve as an inspiration to young people, through their creativity, outreach or mentoring activities
Candidates may be individuals or two collaborating inventors, and they must be nominated by one of their peers.
Technology Awards
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent: December 4, 2017
Award Amount: $100,000 per year for 2 years

These awards encourage and support scientists working on the development of novel and creative approaches to understanding brain function. The Endowment Fund is interested in how a new technology may be used to monitor, manipulate, analyze, or model brain function at any level, from the molecular to the entire organism. Technology may take any form, from biochemical tools to instruments to software and mathematical approaches. Because the program seeks to advance and enlarge the range of technologies available to the neurosciences, research based primarily on existing techniques will not be considered. Applicants must be in tenured or tenure-track faculty positions.
Wireless Innovation Project
OSP Deadline: February 26, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: March 5, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $300,000 over three years
 
The Wireless Innovation Project seeks to identify and fund the best innovations using wireless related technology to address critical social issues. Project proposals must demonstrate significant advancement in the field of wireless-related technology applied to social benefit use. The project must be at a stage of research where an advanced prototype or field/market test can occur during the award period.
 
Projects should involve an established multi-disciplinary team that demonstrates the expertise needed for a comprehensive solution to the targeted problem. For example, a team may consist of members from two or more of the following disciplines: engineering, design, business, international development, or other relevant disciplines. A team may also consist of university-based researchers and non-profit organizations working such areas as international development, health or environment.

IARPA
IARPA_other
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System Appendix D: Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System for Combustion Science, Complex Fluids, Fluid Physics, Fundamental Physics, and Materials Science
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for Notices of Intent (strongly encouraged): October 31, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 15, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $100,000 per year for up to 2 years
 
This Appendix solicits ground-based research proposals to utilize NASA's Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) system ( https://psi.nasa.gov/) to develop new analyses and scientific insights. The PSI system is designed to be a resource for researchers to data mine information generated from completed reduced-gravity physical sciences experiments performed on the International Space Station (ISS), on Space Shuttle flights, and on Free Flyers, or from related ground-based studies. Specifically, this call is for the utilization of data from investigations that are currently available in the PSI system. The experiments were conducted as part of NASA's Physical Sciences Research Program in support of NASA's Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA) Division. This Appendix is soliciting proposals from established researchers and graduate students.
 
It is expected that approximately five investigations will be selected from this Appendix, including both established researcher and graduate student proposals.

NASAJohnsonSpace
Johnson Space Center:  Research Opportunities for ISS Utilization
Exploration Technology Demonstration and National Lab Utilization Enhancements
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline for White Papers (recommended): Rolling through October 31, 2019 (see solicitation for schedule of review cycles)
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: Rolling through December 31, 2019 (see solicitation for schedule of review cycles)
Award Amount: Details below
 
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 areas: Space Suit CO2 Sensor and Experiment Housing for Space Biology Pathfinder Research on Orion EM-1 (please note that submissions for this second Thrust Area do not fit into a standard NRA Cycle.
 
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. 
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. 
Cooperative Agreement Notice: Dual Use Technology Development at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) - 2018
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadlines for Step-1 White Papers (required): November 1, 2017; May 2, 2018
Award Amount: MSFC resource contribution awards will range from $10,000 to $100,000, and must be matched or exceeded by Offeror contributions. Contributions can be cash, in-kind (non-cash) resources, or a combination of each. Project duration is up to 12 months.
 
NASA will award cooperative agreements for technology development partnerships with United States commercial businesses and/or colleges and universities with the goal of developing a technology to meet a specific NASA need at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), as well as those of the partner. This goal will be accomplished by selecting Offerors who will cooperatively share in the development cost of the technology that meets the specified NASA need.
 
MSFC has several technology development focus areas for this solicitation, including
* Innovative/Advanced Propulsion Systems
* Advanced Manufacturing; Structures and Materials
* Technologies Supporting Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS).
* Technologies Supporting Spacecraft Systems
* Technologies Enabling Science Research
* Technologies Supporting Systems Engineering
 
For more information on the technology programs and capabilities at MSFC, please see the following link: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/capabilities/index.html.
 
NASA anticipates funding up to 10 pending acceptable proposals.
Unsolicited Proposals
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2018
Award Amount: Proposed budget should be commensurate with the scope of the project.
 
NASA encourages the submission of unique and innovative proposals that will further the Agency's mission. While the vast majority of proposals are solicited, a small number of unsolicited proposals that cannot be submitted to those solicitations and yet are still relevant to NASA are reviewed and some are funded each year. Proposals should be submitted at least six months in advance of the desired starting date.
Before any effort is expended in preparing a proposal, potential proposers should:
  1. Review the current versions of the NASA Strategic Plan and documents from the specific directorate, office, or program for which the proposal is intended to determine if the work planned is sufficiently relevant to current goals to warrant a formal submission.
  2. Potential proposers must review current opportunities (e.g., at https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/solicitations.do?method=init&stack=push) to determine if any solicitation already exists to which the potential project could be proposed.
  3. Potential proposers should review current awards (e.g., by doing key word searches at Research.gov, or at the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) grant status page, and the NASA Life and Physical Sciences Task Book) to learn what, if any, related work is already funded by NASA. Such preparation reduces the risk of redundancy, improves implementation, and sometimes results in collaboration.
After those three things have been done, the proposer may contact an appropriate NASA person to determine whether NASA has any interest in the type of work being proposed and if any funding is currently available.

OtherNASA
Other NASA Opportunities
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

OtherNIHOpps
NIH Opportunities
National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters

NSFDCLAIM
Research on Integrated Photonics Utilizing AIM Photonics Capabilities
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: ECCS window from October 1, 2017 to November 1, 2017
Award Amount: Not specified

This DCL seeks to encourage innovative exploratory and translational research by academic faculty and small businesses in all aspects of integrated photonics that utilize the current silicon photonics capabilities resident in AIM Photonics.  Research projects utilizing the AIM Photonics fabrication process technologies via multi-project wafer runs should have an objective to bring a specific innovation to integrated photonics circuits and components or to demonstrate a new approach that uses integrated photonics as its differentiator. Examples of such challenges may include:
 
  • Research into new applications of PICs that have promise of breakthrough performance due to the use of an integrated photonic component;
  • New devices that are realizable within AIM Photonics standardized integrated silicon photonics process;
  • PIC implementations that have innovative contributions to advancements of photonics circuits (i.e., low power, greater bandwidths and dynamic ranges, better tolerances, new topologies, etc.);
  • Innovative design approaches and new models of integrated photonics devices/circuits;
  • Materials and attachment technologies for incorporating integrated photonics into novel packages.

NSFDCIncludes
Announcement of an Effort to Expand the NSF INCLUDES National Network
OSP Deadline: November 3, 2017;  April  9, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: November 13, 2017; April 16, 2018
Award Amount: $300,000 for two years (EAGER); $250,000 for up to two years (Conference) 

Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) is a comprehensive effort to enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering discovery and innovation by proactively seeking and effectively developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent from all sectors and groups in our society. As one element of its multi-faceted approach to NSF INCLUDES, NSF is currently focusing on and identifying novel ways in which new and currently-funded NSF projects from across all NSF directorates can engage with the NSF INCLUDES National Network. We have called this process building "on-ramps" to the NSF INCLUDES National Network. To do this, we encourage the submission of funding requests for i) Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER), ii) Conferences and Workshops, and iii) Supplements to existing NSF-funded grants.
Advancing Frontiers in Seafloor Science and Engineering Research
OSP Deadline: November 7, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 15, 2017
Award Amount: Generally limited to $50,000 but under exceptional circumstances may be supported up to $100,000
 
Enhanced partnerships between the Engineering and the Marine Geology and Geophysics (MG&G) research communities are needed to advance sensing capabilities. To stimulate these partnerships, NSF requests proposals to support workshops that focus on appropriate engineering and marine science challenges and stimulate debate, discussion, visioning, and collaboration between the two research communities.

Workshops typically support 20-80 attendees. In addition to academic researchers, workshop participants may include scientists, engineers, educators, and practitioners from industry and federal agencies. Workshop proposals should include two deliverables: 1) a draft report at the end of the workshop that defines the technology gaps and engineering challenges as well as innovative new directions in technology development, and 2) a second more comprehensive report that addresses these topics and includes a technology road map.
Opportunity for Active EFRI and ERC Awardees to Apply for Supplemental Funding through the Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) Program
OSP Deadline: November 16, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 27, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $100,000

The National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering (NSF/ENG) continually seeks to advance scientific progress in research and innovation while broadening participation of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This letter seeks to inform the community about an opportunity to pursue both of these goals through supplements to active Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) research awards and active Engineering Research Center (ERC) awards from the Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) Program. The REM Program supports the active involvement of research participants (high school students, STEM teachers, undergraduate STEM students, faculty, and veterans) in hands-on research in order to bring participants into contact with suitable STEM mentors and expose them to this rich research experience.

NSFDCTransitiontoGrad
Improving and Supporting the Transition to Graduate School in the Mathematical Sciences
OSP Deadline: November 29, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: December 6, 2017
Award Amount: Varies by division
 
The National Science Foundation's Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) are collaborating to encourage proposals that would improve and support student transition to and subsequent success in doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences. Participating divisions within the two directorates are the Divisions of Mathematical Sciences (DMS), Graduate Education (DGE), Undergraduate Education (DUE), and Human Resource Development (HRD).  Projects that develop partnerships among faculty, departments, and graduate schools, as well as those that leverage technology are expected. To achieve the dual aims of (1) scalability and (2) sustainability, it is envisioned that most proposed strategies will also: (3) reach students predominantly at their home institutions, with limited student travel required, and (4) have the potential to create systemic change regarding how students are prepared for success in graduate school, particularly doctoral programs. All projects should contain a rigorous evaluation plan that includes assessment of impact on students and the institution.
 
Announcing the Creation of the Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) Systems Program
OSP Deadline: January 17, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: January 24, 2018
Award Amount: Unspecified

The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering, announces creation of the Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) program. The ECI program represents a new and integrated vision for fundamental research to underpin transformative innovations for the built environment that are resilient, economical, and adaptable to enhance national prosperity and societal benefits. In support of this vision, the ECI program replaces the Engineering for Natural Hazard (ENH), Geotechnical Engineering and Materials (GEM), and Structural and Architectural Engineering and Materials (SAEM) programs. ECI will also support research in construction engineering that is compatible with this vision. The ENH and SAEM programs will no longer accept proposals. The GEM program will not accept proposals after 5:00 p.m. submitter's local time on December 29, 2017. Active awards in ENH, GEM and SAEM programs will be managed by the ECI Program Directors and will remain eligible for supplements and extensions.
Announcing Realignment of the Civil Infrastructure Program
OSP Deadline: January 17, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: January 24, 2018
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering, announces a realigned focus for the Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) program. The re-aligned Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) program focuses on fundamental and innovative research in the design, operation and management of civil infrastructure that contributes to creating smart, sustainable and resilient communities at local, national and international scales. This program emphasizes civil infrastructure as a system in which interactions between spatially and functionally distributed components and inter-system connections exist. This DCL highlights three important program changes:
  • All critical civil infrastructure systems are of interest, including transportation, power, water, pipelines and others. The program requires that investigators clearly articulate the basic and fundamental contribution that will be generated.
  • The program particularly welcomes potentially disruptive ideas that will open new frontiers and transform relevant research communities. Topics of interest include novel system and service designs that are inspired by or in harmony with nature, that involve humans as part of the design, and that adapt to changing populations and technological advances; system integration that seeks to create seamless integration across physical, cyber and human systems; real-time control, adaptation and intervention requiring the development of a new generation of models and algorithms; big data analytics that challenge existing paradigms and generate methodological breakthroughs; and social-technological-infrastructure connections that create critical knowledge in understanding how people interact with civil infrastructures.
  • Proposals in construction engineering are no longer accepted by the CIS program. They should be submitted to the Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (EIC) program.

NSF_DCL-IMEE
Announcing Realignment of the Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events (IMEE) Program and Change in Program Name to Humans, Disasters and the Built Environment (HDBE) 
OSP Deadline: January 17, 2018 
Sponsor Deadline: January 24, 2018 
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), within the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering, announces a realignment of the Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events (IMEE) program. Consistent with realignment, the program name has changed to Humans, Disasters and the Built Environment (HDBE). IMEE will no longer accept proposals; active awards in IMEE will be managed by the HDBE Program Director and will remain eligible for supplements and extensions.

The HDBE program supports fundamental, multidisciplinary research on the interactions between humans and the built environment within and among communities exposed to natural, technological and other types of hazards and disasters. The program seeks proposals that enrich understanding and explore implications of these interactions, whether through theoretical, methodological or empirical advances, thereby contributing to society's capabilities to learn from, prepare for and respond to hazards and disasters.
NSF Accepting Proposals Related to Hurricane Irma
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: N/A
Award Amount: See details below
 
Through this Dear Colleague Letter, NSF encourages the submission of proposals that seek to address the challenges related to Hurricane Irma. NSF also will support fundamental science and engineering research projects whose results may enable our country to better prepare for, respond to, recover from, or mitigate future catastrophic events. Research proposals relating to a better fundamental understanding of the impacts of the storm (both physical, biological and societal), human aspects of natural disasters (including first responders and the general public), emergency response methods, and approaches that promise to reduce future damage also are welcome.

Multiple proposal mechanisms are available to conduct new research related to Hurricane Irma.
  • RAPID: Proposals focusing on projects with severe urgency with regard to availability of, or access to, data, facilities or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural disasters. RAPID proposal project descriptions are expected to be brief and may not exceed 5 pages, with a maximum request of $200K for one year, although many are much smaller.
  • EAGER: Proposals to conduct fundamental research representing exploratory work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches. This research may be considered especially "high risk-high payoff" in the sense that it, for example, involves radically different approaches, applies new expertise, or engages novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives. EAGER proposal project descriptions are expected to be brief, and may not exceed 8 pages. Requests may be up to $300K and with a maximum award duration of two years.
  • Supplements to existing awards: Small amounts of supplemental funding to existing awards may be requested.
Proposals may be submitted at any time.
NSF_DC_Harvey
NSF Accepting Proposals Related to Hurricane Harvey
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Varies by mechanism; please see below

NSF and its staff are deeply concerned for the people and institutions affected by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath. Now that the consequences of Hurricane Harvey are upon us, new science and engineering questions are being raised. Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF encourages the submission of proposals that seek to address the challenges related to this storm. NSF also will support fundamental science and engineering research projects whose results may enable our country to better prepare for, respond to, recover from, or mitigate future catastrophic events. Research proposals relating to a better fundamental understanding of the impacts of the storm (physical, biological and societal), human aspects of natural disasters (including first responders and the general public), emergency response methods, and approaches that promise to reduce future damage also are welcome. Multiple types of proposals may be submitted to conduct new research related to Hurricane Harvey, as follows:
  • Rapid Response Research (RAPID): Proposals focusing on projects with severe urgency with regard to availability of, or access to, data, facilities or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural disasters. RAPID proposal project descriptions are expected to be brief and may not exceed five pages, with a maximum request of $200K for up to one year, although many are much smaller.
  • Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER): Proposals to conduct fundamental research representing exploratory work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches. This research may be considered especially "high risk-high payoff" in the sense that it, for example, involves radically different approaches, applies new expertise, or engages novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives. EAGER proposal project descriptions are expected to be brief, and may not exceed eight pages. Requests may be up to $300K and with a maximum award duration of two years.
  • Supplemental funding requests to existing awards: Small amounts of supplemental funding and up to six months of additional support may be requested. 
 
NSFDCRemoveProcess
Removal of Deadlines for the Process Separations Program in the Division of Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transport Systems in the Directorate for Engineering
OSP Deadline: N/A
Sponsor Deadline: N/A
Award Amount: N/A

The Process Separations Program in the Division of Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) has, as of June 2017, eliminated target dates and will accept proposals for consideration at any time. To allow time to adapt to the "open submission - no deadline" guidelines, new proposals will be considered for review after July 20, 2017.

By accepting proposals at any time, investigators will have greater opportunities to prepare proposals, build strong collaborations, and think more creatively resulting in more complex, interdisciplinary projects that have the potential to dramatically advance science. We anticipate that the elimination of deadlines will increase proposal success rate and reduce the burden on institutions and the community by expanding the submission period over the course of the year, as opposed to the previous 20-day window in October.


NSF_DC_Software
Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) Program in Fall 2017
OSP Deadline: N/A
Sponsor Deadline: N/A
Award Amount: N/A 

In order to successfully complete an evaluation and incorporate findings into current and future Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) programs, new project proposals to the SI2 program will not be accepted during the remainder of calendar year 2017. This decision impacts only proposals pursuant to the SSI new proposal deadline of September 19, 2017. Any proposals already submitted to this deadline should be withdrawn (or may be returned without review.) Active awards are not impacted. PIs are encouraged to monitor the SI2   program web page for information about new software-related funding opportunities later this fall.

  NSFDCCombustion
Removal of Deadlines for the Combustion and Fire Systems Program in the Division of Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transport Systems in the Directorate for Engineering
OSP Deadline: N/A
Sponsor Deadline: N/A
Award Amount: N/A

The Combustion and Fire Systems Program in the Division of Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) will, as of June 2017, eliminate target dates and accept proposals for consideration at any time. To allow time to adapt to the "open submission - no deadline" guidelines, new proposals will be considered for review after August 20, 2017.

By accepting proposals at any time, investigators will have greater opportunities to prepare proposals, build strong collaborations, and think more creatively resulting in more complex, interdisciplinary projects that have the potential to dramatically advance science. We anticipate that the elimination of deadlines will increase proposal success rate and reduce the burden on institutions and the community by expanding the submission period over the course of the year, as opposed to the previous 20-day window in October.

  NSFDCBPC
Pursuing Meaningful Actions in Support of Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC)
OSP Deadline: N/A
Sponsor Deadline: N/A
Award Amount: N/A 

With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), CISE announces a pilot effort to enhance the community's awareness of and barriers to broadening participation in computing (BPC), as well as to provide information and resources to principal investigators (PIs) so that they can develop interest, skills, and activities in support of BPC at all levels (K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate).
 
Towards this end, CISE is pursuing a pilot BPC effort:
  • Beginning this fall, CISE will enhance support for the foundations of BPC through dedicated outreach to the community and support for PIs to learn about BPC. In addition, all CISE PIs will be strongly encouraged to include meaningful BPC plans in the Broader Impacts section of submitted proposals, starting with deadlines in fall 2017 (refer to program-specific solicitations for details), and/or to begin preparing to include such plans in future proposal submissions.
  • Building on NSF's experience with center-scale activities such as the Engineering Research Centers (ERC) and Science and Technology Centers (STC) programs, CISE will also pilot a requirement for meaningful BPC plans in all proposals submitted to the Expeditions in Computing program, and to the Frontier competitions of the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) programs.
  • CISE will continue with outreach and education efforts throughout the community and will expand the BPC pilot requirement to additional CISE programs calling for multi-investigator, team-oriented science in fall 2018.
  • During this period, CISE will conduct an evaluation of the pilot to assess the effectiveness of the approach and determine appropriate next steps, including potential further expansion of this effort in 2019 and beyond.

NSFDCD3SC
 
Successful D3SC proposals will emphasize new information that 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 (especially experimental chemists) and data scientists to advance research goals are strongly encouraged. The most competitive proposals will provide detailed discussion of specific data-enabled approaches to be used, the significant chemical problem to be studied, new fundamental chemical knowledge to be gained, as well as the broader relevance of the proposed activities to other areas of chemical research. Proposal elements that consider error and uncertainty analysis, record and store appropriate metadata, and determine the robustness and reliability of data are encouraged. Examples of possible topics include (but are not limited to) using tools of data visualization, data mining, machine learning (including emerging approaches such as deep learning and active learning), or other data analysis approaches to: 
  • Accelerate the discovery of more efficient or selective catalysts; 
  • Advance the design of new chemical species and/or synthetic reactions, and forecast improved synthetic conditions; 
  • Map the mechanisms by which chemicals interact and transform, both covalently and noncovalently, and predict structure/property relations based on existing chemical datasets; 
  • Discover principles of multiscale organization underlying emergent chemical phenomena in macromolecular systems; 
  • Enable real-time feedback loops between chemical data collection and processing for rapid identification and correlation of key events during chemical measurements; 
  • Harness chemistry's rich, diverse but distributed datasets and identify novel ways of sharing and utilizing chemical data derived from multiple instruments, datatypes, and locations; 
  • Develop innovative approaches for integrating, correlating, and analyzing chemical simulation or measurement data to provide new chemical insights.

NSF_DC_US-ISRAEL
Special Guidelines for Submitting Collaborative Proposals under NSF and US-Israel Binational Science Foundation Collaborative Research Opportunities
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Varies by opportunity; see details below
Award Amount: Varies by opportunity; see details below
 
NSF and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Research Cooperation. The MOU provides for an international collaboration arrangement whereby US researchers may receive funding from the NSF and Israeli researchers may receive funding from the BSF. Through a lead agency model, NSF and BSF will address these issues by allowing US and Israeli researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process at NSF, which will be the lead agency. Collaborative research proposals will be accepted to the NSF programs listed on the  NSF and BSF Participating NSF Programs web page. Note that deadlines and application windows vary by program.

NSFDCUpdatedPrograms
 
  • Biophotonics: This program's scope remains unchanged.
  • Cellular and Biochemical Engineering (CBE): The name change for this program, formerly Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering (BBE), indicates the addition of the characterization and engineering of therapeutic live cells to the program. Another significant revision is that all proposals are required to include a section on the impact of proposed research on the associated biomanufacturing process.
  • Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering (DARE):This program has been refocused from the previous General and Age Related Disabilities Engineering (GARDE) program. The new scope retains the primary emphasis on engineering advancements that will positively impact the lives of individuals with disabilities while expanding the focus to include fundamental research in two areas: human movement and injury mechanisms. Fundamental research in these focus areas is linked directly to both minimizing disabilities and improving outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
  • Engineering of Biomedical Systems (EBMS): This program has been refocused from the previous Biomedical Engineering (BME) program. The primary shift in focus is to emphasize the engineering nature of research to be funded by EBMS, as compared to an application of existing technology. The targeted themes were removed to instead focus on the engineering process of studying biomedical systems, including the validation of hybrid system designs and models of physiological and pathophysiological systems.
  • Nano-Biosensing:  This program was revised to emphasize the importance of incorporating reproducibility of measurements and sensor performance, while decreasing error rate in the developed nano-biosensing systems.

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

NSFCISECRI
CISE Research Infrastructure (CRI)
OSP Preliminary Proposal Deadline: October 26, 2017
Sponsor Preliminary Proposal Deadline: November 2, 2017
OSP Deadline: January 4, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: January 11, 2018
Award Amount: See details below

The CISE Research Infrastructure (CRI) program drives discovery and learning in the core CISE disciplines of the three participating CISE divisions by supporting the creation and enhancement of world-class research infrastructure that will support focused research agendas in computer and information science and engineering. This infrastructure will enable CISE researchers to advance the frontiers of CISE research. Further, through the CRI program, CISE seeks to ensure that individuals from a diverse range of academic institutions, including minority-serving and predominantly undergraduate institutions, have access to such infrastructure.

The CRI program supports two classes of awards:
  • Institutional Infrastructure (II) awards support the creation of new (II-NEW) CISE research infrastructure or the enhancement (II-EN) of existing CISE research infrastructure to enable world-class CISE research opportunities at the awardee and collaborating institutions.
  • Community Infrastructure (CI) awards support the planning (CI-P) for new CISE community research infrastructure, the creation of new (CI-NEW) CISE research infrastructure, the enhancement (CI-EN) of existing CISE infrastructure, or the sustainment (CI-SUSTAIN) of existing CISE community infrastructure to enable world-class CISE research opportunities for broad-based communities of CISE researchers that extend well beyond the awardee institutions. Each CI award may support the operation of such infrastructure, ensuring that the awardee institution(s) is (are) well positioned to provide a high quality of service to CISE community researchers expected to use the infrastructure to realize their research goals.
Twenty-five to 30 awards are expected, with up to 15 Institutional Infrastructure (II) awards and up to 15 Community Infrastructure (CI) awards in each competition. The majority of the II awards will be made in the $200,000 - $750,000 range, though a small number of II awards may be made in the $750,000 - $1,000,000 range. The majority of the CI awards will be made in the $500,000 - $1,000,000 range, though a very small number of CI awards may be made in the $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 range. The majority of the Community Infrastructure Planning (CI-P) awards will be made in the $50,000 - $100,000 range.
 
Please note:  A university or organization may submit no more than three Institutional Infrastructure (II) proposals per competition. There is no limit on Community Infrastructure (CI) proposals per competition. Please contact Erin Hale ([email protected]) if you are interested in submitting an Institutional Infrastructure proposal.
NSF_CISE_Petascale
Petascale Computing Resource Allocations
OSP Deadline: October 30, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 6, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $15,000  

In 2013, a new NSF-funded petascale computing system, Blue Waters, was deployed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The goal of this project and system is to open up new possibilities in science and engineering by providing computational capability that makes it possible for investigators to tackle much larger and more complex research challenges across a wide spectrum of domains. The purpose of this solicitation is to invite research groups to submit requests for allocations of resources on the Blue Waters system. Proposers must show compelling science or engineering challenges that require petascale computing resources. Proposers must also be prepared to demonstrate that they have science or engineering research problems that require and can effectively exploit the petascale computing capabilities offered by Blue Waters. Proposals from or including junior researchers are encouraged, as one of the goals of this solicitation is to build a community capable of using petascale computing.

NSFCISEJuno
Japan-US Network Opportunity (JUNO) :  R&D for Trustworthy Networking for Smart and Connected Communities
OSP Deadline: November 21, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: November 30, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $450,000 over three years will be made to US organizations, pending availability of funds

NSF and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan have agreed to embark on a collaborative research program to address compelling research challenges associated with enabling trustworthy networks supporting the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems (CPS). This NSF solicitation parallels an equivalent NICT solicitation. Proposals submitted under this solicitation must describe joint research with counterpart Japanese investigators who are requesting funding separately under the NICT solicitation. 
 
This program seeks joint Japanese-US research projects that leverage each nation's expertise and address the following work areas:
  • Trustworthy IoT/CPS Networking: Developing the foundations for a future resilient edge cloud/network system to ensure trustworthy end-to-end networks, addressing such factors as the heterogeneity, characteristics, resource constraints and potential mobility of end devices/sensors, the diversity of access network technologies, the availability/placement of computing resources and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements.
  • Trustworthy Optical Communications and Networking: Addressing the need for trustworthy, high-availability, agile optical edge/access and integrated optical/wireless networks that are resilient against disasters, large traffic surges and other major disruptions.
Scalable Parallelism in the Extreme (SPX)
OSP Deadline: January 2, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: January 9, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $1,000,000 over two to four 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.
NSF/Intel Partnership on Foundational Microarchitecture (FoMR)
OSP Deadline: January 5, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: January 12, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 over up to 3 years

The confluence of transistor scaling, increases in the number of architecture designs per process generation, the slowing of clock frequency growth, and recent success in research exploiting Thread Level Parallelism (TLP) and Data Level Parallelism (DLP) all point to an increasing opportunity for innovative microarchitecture techniques and methodologies in delivering performance growth in the future.

The NSF/Intel Partnership on Foundational Microarchitecture Research will support transformative microarchitecture research targeting improvements in instructions per cycle (IPC). This solicitation seeks microarchitecture technique innovations beyond simplistic, incremental scaling of existing microarchitectural structures. Specifically, FoMR seeks to advance research that has the following characteristics: (1) high IPC techniques ranging from microarchitecture to code generation; (2) "microarchitecture turbo" techniques that marshal chip resources and system memory bandwidth to accelerate sequential or single-threaded programs; and (3) techniques to support efficient compiler code generation. Advances in these areas promise to provide significant performance improvements to continue the cadence promised by Moore's Law.

OtherNSFCISE
Other NSF: CISE Opportunities  
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (NSF: MPS)
NSFMPSDMR 
NSF: MPS
Division of Materials Research: Topical Materials Research Programs (DMR-TMRP) 
OSP Deadline: October 25, 2017 
Sponsor Deadline: November 1, 2017 
Award Amount: Varies by project; see below
 
Research supported by the Division of Materials Research (DMR) focuses on advancing fundamental understanding of materials, materials discovery, design, synthesis, characterization, properties, and materials-related phenomena. DMR awards enable understanding of the electronic, atomic, and molecular structures, mechanisms, and processes that govern nanoscale to macroscale morphology and properties; manipulation and control of these properties; discovery of emerging phenomena of matter and materials; and creation of novel design, synthesis, and processing strategies that lead to new materials with unique characteristics. These discoveries and advancements transcend traditional scientific and engineering disciplines. The Division supports research and education activities in the United States through funding of individual investigators, teams, centers, facilities, and instrumentation. Projects supported by DMR are essential for the development of future technologies and industries that meet societal needs, as well preparation of the next generation of materials researchers.
 
This solicitation applies to the following six DMR Topical Materials Research Programs that fund research and educational projects by individual investigators or small groups: Biomaterials (BMAT), Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM), Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN), Polymers (POL), and Solid-State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC).


NSF_MPS_DivOfPhysics
NSF: MPS
Division of Physics: Investigator-Initiated Research Projects  
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Varies by program; see below
Award Amount: Varies; see details 

The Division of Physics (PHY) supports physics research and the preparation of future scientists in the nation's colleges and universities across a broad range of physics disciplines that span scales of space and time from the largest to the smallest and the oldest to the youngest. The Division is comprised of disciplinary programs covering experimental and theoretical research in the following major subfields of physics: Accelerator Science; Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics; Computational Physics; Elementary Particle Physics; Gravitational Physics; Integrative Activities in Physics; Nuclear Physics; Particle Astrophysics; Physics of Living Systems; Plasma Physics (supported under a separate solicitation); and Quantum Information Science. The deadlines for this program are as follows:  
  • October 25, 2017 - Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics - Experiment & Theory; Elementary Particle Physics - Experiment; Gravitational Physics - Experiment & Theory; Integrative Activities in Physics; LIGO Research Support; Particle Astrophysics - Experiment; Physics of Living Systems
  • November 8, 2017 - Nuclear Physics - Experiment and Theory
  • December 7, 2017 - Elementary Particle Physics - Theory; Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology - Theory; Quantum Information Science
  • December 6, 2018 - Computational Physics
 
OtherNSFMPS 
Other NSF: MPS Opportunities 

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering (NSF: ENG)
Leading Engineering for America's Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure (LEAP HI)
OSP Deadline for Letters of Intent: December 8, 2017
Sponsor Deadline for Letters of Intent: December 15, 2017
OSP Deadline for Full Proposals: February 12, 2018
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: February 20, 2018
Award Amount: $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 over up to 5 years

The LEAP HI program challenges the engineering research community to take a leadership role in addressing demanding, urgent, and consequential challenges for advancing America's prosperity, health and infrastructure. LEAP HI proposals confront engineering problems that are too complex to yield to the efforts of a single investigator - problems that require sustained and coordinated effort from interdisciplinary research teams, with goals that are not achievable through a series of smaller, short-term projects. LEAP HI projects perform fundamental research that may lead to disruptive technologies and methods, lay the foundation for new and strengthened industries, enable notable improvements in quality of life, or re-imagine and revitalize the built environment.
  • LEAP HI supports fundamental research projects involving collaborating investigators, of duration up to five years, with total budget between $1 million and $2 million.
  • LEAP HI proposals must articulate a fundamental research problem with compelling intellectual challenge and significant societal impact, particularly on economic competitiveness, quality of life, public health, or essential infrastructure. One or more CMMI core topics must lie at the heart of the proposal, and integration of disciplinary expertise not typically engaged in CMMI-funded projects is encouraged.
  • LEAP HI proposals must highlight engineering research in a leadership role.
  • LEAP HI proposals must demonstrate the need for a sustained research effort by an integrated, interdisciplinary team, and should include a research integration plan and timeline for research activities, with convincing mechanisms for frequent and effective communication.
NSF:ENG
Other NSF: ENG Opportunities
National Science Foundation: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary
Alan T. Waterman Award
Sponsor Deadline: October 23, 2017
Award Amount: $1,000,000 over a five-year period
 
The Alan T. Waterman Award is the highest honor awarded by the National Science Foundation and recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation. In addition to a medal, the awardee receives a grant of $1,000,000 over a five year period for scientific research or advanced study in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, social, or other sciences at the institution of the recipient's choice.
 
Recent Harvard recipients include Robert Wood (SEAS, 2012) and David Charbonneau (Astronomy, 2009).
 
Eligibility and Selection Criteria:
  • Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents
  • Candidates must be 40 years of age or younger OR no more than 10 years beyond receipt of their Ph.D. degree by December 31 of the year in which they are nominated.
  • Candidates should have demonstrated exceptional individual achievements in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality to place them at the forefront of their peers.
  • Criteria include originality, innovation, and significant impact on their field
 
Nominations instructions:
  • Nomination packages consist of a nomination and four letters of reference submitted via FastLane: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/honawards/
  • The names of four references are required for each nomination. References must be requested by the nominator and submitted by the established FastLane deadline.
  • The references cannot come from the nominee's home institution.
  • Reference letters should not exceed two pages.
Institutions may nominate an unlimited number of individuals. There are no restrictions on who may nominate but those planning to nominate SEAS faculty members are asked to notify the Office of the Dean at [email protected].
  
NSFCISemSys 
Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Processing and Storage Technologies (SemiSynBio) 
OSP Deadline: October 23, 2017 
Sponsor Deadline: October 30, 2017 
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 per year for three years
 
NSF has established a partnership with the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Global Research Collaboration (GRC) program and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) to announce a solicitation on the "Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Processing and Storage Technologies (SemiSynBio)". Future ultra-low-energy computing, storage and signal-processing systems can be built on principles derived from organic systems that are at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and engineering. New information technologies can be envisioned that are based on biological principles and that use biomaterials in the fabrication of devices and components; it is anticipated that these information technologies could enable stored data to be retained for more than 100 years and storage capacity to be 1,000 times greater than current capabilities. These could also facilitate compact computers that will operate with substantially lower power than today's computers. Research in support of these goals can have a significant impact on advanced information processing and storage technologies. This focused solicitation seeks high-risk/high-return interdisciplinary research on novel concepts and enabling technologies that will address the scientific issues and technological challenges associated with the underpinnings of synthetic biology integrated with semiconductor technology. This research will foster interactions among various disciplines including biology, engineering, physics, chemistry, materials science, computer science, and information science that will enable heretofore-unanticipated breakthroughs as well as meet educational goals.
  
NSFCISaTC 
 
The SaTC program welcomes proposals that address cybersecurity and privacy, and draw on expertise in one or more of these areas: computing, communication and information sciences; engineering; economics; education; mathematics; statistics; and social and behavioral sciences. Proposals that advance the field of cybersecurity and privacy within a single discipline or interdisciplinary efforts that span multiple disciplines are both encouraged.
NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub 
OSP Deadline: November 16, 2017 
Sponsor Deadline: November 27, 2017 
Award Amount: $10,500,000 over five years

The NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub will drive and support the work of the NSF INCLUDES National Network over the life-cycle of the initiative by: (a) promoting the NSF INCLUDES guiding vision and strategy; (b) developing a collaborative infrastructure to support the activities of the various entities partnering in the NSF INCLUDES National Network; (c) fostering progress among Network partners toward shared models, measurement practices, and evaluation criteria; (d) communicating the discoveries of and generating enthusiasm for the NSF INCLUDES National Network; and (e) advancing the expansion and scale of the NSF INCLUDES National Network by connecting expertise from multiple sectors and other private and public funders.
The three critical functions of the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub are summarized below:
  1. Communication and Networking: From the beginning the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub should direct efforts toward building the Network infrastructure by facilitating continuous communication and information updates, designing community activities, and fostering collaboration across all elements of the Network.
  2. Network Assistance and Reinforcement: As NSF INCLUDES Alliances and other organizations join the NSF INCLUDES National Network, the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub should focus attention on assistance and reinforcement activities including technical assistance, conducting research, and facilitating shared measurement and data analysis across the Network.
  3. Visibility and Expansion: The NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub should provide resources for efforts to focus on expansion and sustainability within the National Network, increase NSF INCLUDES visibility and communicate impact, while also serving as a repository for funding opportunities, research and knowledge generated by the NSF INCLUDES National Network and stakeholders.
Please Note : This is a limited submission opportunity. Harvard University may serve as the lead institution on only one NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub proposal, although it may serve as a collaborating partner on other proposals. Please contact Erin Hale ([email protected]) if you are interested in applying.

NSF_CrossCyberlearning
Cyberlearning for Work at the Human-Technology Frontier
OSP Deadline: December 22, 2017
Sponsor Deadline: January 8, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $750,000 over two to three years

The purpose of the Cyberlearning for Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program is to fund exploratory and synergistic research in learning technologies to prepare learners to excel in work at the human-technology frontier. This program responds to the pressing societal need to educate and re-educate learners of all ages (students, teachers and workers) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content areas to ultimately function in highly technological environments, including in collaboration with intelligent systems. Innovative technologies can reshape learning processes, which in turn can influence new technology design. Learning technology research in this program should be informed by the convergence of multiple disciplines: education and learning sciences, computer and information science and engineering, and cognitive, behavioral and social sciences. This program funds learning technology research in STEM and other foundational areas that enable STEM learning.
Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES): Enabling Spectrum for All
OSP Deadline: January 10, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: January 18, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $750,000 over up to 3 years

The National Science Foundation's Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) are coordinating efforts to identify bold new concepts to significantly improve the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization while addressing new challenges in energy efficiency and security, thus enabling spectrum access for all users and devices, and allowing traditionally underserved Americans to benefit from wireless-enabled goods and services. The SpecEES program solicitation seeks to fund innovative collaborative research that transcends the traditional boundaries of existing programs.
 
OtherNSFCross2 
Other NSF: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary Opportunities

_________________________________________

For assistance, please contact:

Erin Hale
Senior Research Development Officer
[email protected] | 617-496-5252

Jennifer Corby
Research Development Officer
[email protected] | 617-495-1590


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