Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 2, 2020 by 12:00PM

Sponsor Deadline (if nominated): December 14, 2020

Award Amount: $200,000/year for 3 years plus $25,000/year to the institution to cover costs associated with administering the grant award

 

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Moore Inventor Fellows program seeks to identify outstanding inventors and innovators who harness science and technology to enhance the conduct of scientific research, strengthen environmental conservation, or improve the experience and outcomes of patient care. The foundation aims to support inventions at an early stage that could lead to proof-of-concept work on an invention or advance an existing prototype that tackles an important problem. To be eligible, applicants must be no more than 10 years past receiving the terminal advanced degree in their field (M.S., Ph.D. or M.D.). If awarded, fellows are expected to devote at least 25% of their own time to the pursuit of their invention. 

 

Each institution will be required to contribute $50,000 in annual direct support of the inventor's work. This could include support for undergraduate or graduate students, equipment, supplies, and other needs that will enable the fellow to make progress on their work. Direct salary support is acceptable provided it includes a proportionate release of time from teaching or other duties. Funds that were designated for the fellow's use before the fellow was awarded a Moore Inventor Fellowship (such as start-up funds) do not qualify. A clear statement of the proposed institutional support is required as part of the nomination.

 

Harvard University, as single institution, is limited to submitting two proposals to this opportunity. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is facilitating the internal application and review process for applicants. To be considered for one of the two Harvard nominations, potential applicants must first submit a pre-proposal online using the link above. More information on the award can be found on the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation website. 

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 12, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: November 20, 2020 at 1 PM

Award Amount: Each award is anticipated to provide $1.5-5 million in funds to the eligible applicant. The MLSC expects to invest up to $10M through this Research Infrastructure Program.

 

The Research Infrastructure program (formerly known as the Open or Competitive Capital Program) provides grants for capital projects that support the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts by enabling and supporting life sciences research and development in the Commonwealth. Applicants must be requesting funding for life sciences "infrastructure" defined as: "advanced and applied sciences that expand the understanding of human physiology and have the potential to lead to medical advances or therapeutic applications." Applicants will have to demonstrate how the requested infrastructure will benefit the entire life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts. Allowable costs include equipment, research supplies and reagents, purchase of hardware and software, generation of data via core facilities, and purchase of analytical equipment. 

 

The MLSC envisions that recipients under the Program will receive a grant that leverages additional funds that have been identified and raised for the proposed project. Applicants that have succeeded in attracting significant additional funds will benefit during the review process.

 

Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 16, 2020 by 12:00PM

Sponsor Deadline (if nominated): January 5, 2021

Award Amount: $80,000 for 2 years

 

The Brain Research Foundation's Annual Seed Grant Program provides start-up funding for new research projects in the field of neuroscience that will likely lead to extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or other outside funding sources. The objective of the BRF Seed Grant Program is to support new and innovative projects, especially those of junior faculty, who are working in new research directions. To be eligible, the PI must be a full-time Assistant or Associate Professor studying 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.

 

Harvard University is limited to submitting one proposal to this opportunity. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is facilitating the internal application and review process for applicants. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, potential applicants must first submit a pre-proposal.

Full Proposal Deadline: April 26, 2021

Award Amount: $100,000 per year for two years

 

This program seeks to advance and enlarge the range of technologies available to the neurosciences. The fund is especially interested in how technology may be used or adapted 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. A goal of the Technological Innovations awards is to foster collaboration between the neurosciences and other disciplines; therefore, collaborative and cross-disciplinary applications are explicitly invited.

 

Recent recipients include Alexander Schier (MCB, 2017-2018).

Individuals who have completed all the requirements for a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree, including successful defense of the dissertation, no earlier than December 10, 2013 and no later than December 10, 2020 are eligible to apply. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Each Fellow is expected to begin tenure on June 1 (for 12 months) or September 1 (for 9 or 12 months) of the year in which the award is received.

 

The Bias2 Program supports research, features speakers, and engages the data science community towards using data science to uncover bias and systemic racism, as well as to understand and combat the use of badly-conceived data science that can reinforce bias and inequity. This special funding opportunity seeks to support research data science projects to uncover bias and inequities--- whether in public policy, on internet platforms, in health outcomes, or elsewhere --- as well as projects that seek to develop new algorithmic and statistical methods, related for example to fairness, transparency, data inaccuracy that can lead to bias, or confounding. 

 

Individuals who hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard school and who have principal investigator rights at that school are eligible to apply. Recognizing that strength comes through diversity, the Program welcomes proposals from teams with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and identities. PIs are encouraged to consider this aspect of their proposal, and whether it can be helpful to involve partners from affected communities.

 

The Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI) is seeking applications from researchers whose interests are in data science, broadly construed, and including researchers with a primarily methodological focus as well as researchers who advance both methodology and application. Fellows will be provided with the opportunity to pursue their research agenda in an intellectually vibrant environment with ample mentorship. We are looking for independent researchers who will seek out collaborations with other fellows and with faculty across all schools of Harvard University.

 

The HDSI Postdoctoral Fellows Program will support outstanding researchers whose interests relate to the following themes:

Successful applicants will be expected to lead their own research agenda while collaborating with others, including members of Harvard's faculty, and to contribute to building up the field of data science. The Fellows program offers numerous opportunities to engage with the broader data science community, both inside and outside Harvard, including through seminar series, informal lunches, mentoring opportunities, opportunities for fellow-led programming, and other networking events. During COVID-19 and following Harvard University policy we as the HDSI are flexible about the location of our postdoctoral fellows. At the same time, applicants should know that some collaborations with faculty, for example when lab-based, may require being on campus.

Deadline: November 30, 2020

Award Amount: up to $100,000

 

The primary purpose of the Fund is to support faculty-led and student-driven research projects that focus on advancing key challenges and opportunities facing Africa - whether it be emerging technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution; climate change and its effect on health, agriculture, water, and/or sanitation; renewable energy and its benefit to infrastructure and/or society; health; aging; materials science; and the governance and policies needed for an entrepreneurial economy. Activities the Fund may support include but are not limited to research; associated travel costs; and the publication and dissemination of findings. Special consideration will also be given to projects that propose multidisciplinary collaboration between Harvard faculty across more than one school and Africa-based academics. More information is available in the Request for Applications and at the link above.

Deadline: Rolling

Award Amount: Up to $5,000

Target Applicants: Applications are invited from individuals who hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard school and who have principal investigator rights at that school.

 

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 24, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: December 3, 2020

Award Amount: $60,000

 

The Research Scholar Program aims to support early-career professors who are pursuing research in fields relevant to Google. The award is open to professors (assistant, associate, etc) at a university or degree-granting research institution who received their PhD within seven years of submission (e.g. applicant in 2020 must have received PhD in 2013 or later). Exceptions will be made for applicants who have been teaching seven years or fewer and had delays, such as working in industry, leave of absence, etc. Research interests include: 

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: December 31, 2020

Award Information: Awarded amounts will vary depending on the research proposal and usage requirements documented in the proposal, and will be in the form of promotional credits applicable to AWS services. The credits can be used for up to one year.

 

The AWS Cloud Credits for Research Program (formerly AWS Research Grants) supports researchers who seek to:

Sponsor Deadline: Rolling

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Award Information: Award amounts vary, however they usually cover a significant amount of the cost for a graduate student to work on the project for a year. FAS and SEAS applicants must request an indirect cost rate of 69% on sponsored research applications to industry.  

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: October 20, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: October 27, 2020

Award Amount: The level of funding for individual awards made under this

BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. SAVaNT is a 48-month program broken into two phases: Phase 1 base period (24 months) and a Phase 2 option (24 months).

 

The Defense Sciences Office (DSO) at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative research proposals that significantly advance the performance of atomic vapors for electric field sensing and imaging, magnetic field sensing, and quantum information science (QIS). The Science of Atomic Vapors for New Technologies (SAVaNT) program will advance the performance of the versatile atomic vapor platform with metrics informed by limitations of the current state of the art (SOA). The program has three Technical Areas (TAs) based on the application domains where atomic vapors are expected to have the biggest impact: Rydberg Electrometry (TA1), Vector Magnetometry (TA2), and Vapor Quantum Electrodynamics (vQED) (TA3). Proposers seeking awards for multiple TAs must submit stand-alone proposals for each. SAVaNT advances will lay the foundations for new technologies that address important DoD needs, including applications that require low size, weight and power (SWaP), high sensitivity electric and magnetic field measurements as well as application that require scalable room-temperature quantum memories and interfaces. The common scientific challenge across the program will be to improve atomic coherence in vapors. The associated technical challenges will depend on the specifics of the most dominant decoherence mechanisms in each approach.

 

DARPA anticipates multiple awards.

 

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: October 23, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: October 30, 2020

Award Amount: Awards made from this BAA will be approximately $100,000-$150,000 total for the first year with two option years. If funded for three years, the totals would generally be $300,000-$450,000.

 

On behalf of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Centers, Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division (NSWC IHEODTD) is soliciting research of interest in support of the Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC). Work funded under this BAA may include basic research, applied research and some advanced technology development research.

 

The topics of interest include:

Award Amount: The scope and quality of the proposals received will determine the level of funding for individual awards made under this solicitation, as well as the availability of funds. TSARA is a 24-month project with a 12-month base period and two six-month option periods of performance.

 

The goal of this study is to investigate novel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automated target detection (ATD) algorithms that leverage complex SAR image exploitation to demonstrate improved and predictable performance levels without requiring significant increase in SAR resolution compared to manual exploitation for the same classes of targets and clutter. This effort seeks to: 1) develop and deliver prototype ATD algorithms for SAR systems that maximize detection performance in the presence of clutter; and 2) to validate performance prediction models using these algorithms with the goal of maximizing SAR collection capacity. This solicitation seeks to engage teams that bring to the table a strong SAR modeling background and automated SAR detection algorithms to support experimentation and analysis, as well as to develop a new class of predictive collection and exploitation strategies that significantly improve the impact of these systems.

 

The Principal Investigator must be a US citizen, and participation of foreign nationals is prohibited. The Government anticipates one award, but may make more than one award, or none.

Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts (strongly encouraged for TA1 only): October 26, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 8, 2020

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 Quantum Apertures program will be a 48-month program, with four 12-month phases. This BAA (BAA1) only solicits proposals for the first two phases, over a total of 24 months. A second BAA (BAA2) is planned to be released during the middle of Phase 2 soliciting proposals for Phases 3 and 4. BAA2 will only be available to awardees of BAA1.

 

The Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) at DARPA seeks innovative proposals in the area of quantum-based "Rydberg" sensor-based RF receivers. The program will demonstrate the potential to receive modulated RF signals over a very large spectral range using a single receiving element with state-of-the-art sensitivity.

 

This BAA (BAA1) has two Technical Areas. Technical Area One (TA1) focuses on developing the quantum engineering of the sensor. TA1 will also demonstrate the reception of presently used waveforms. Technical Area Two (TA2) will focus on developing applications and novel waveforms. In BAA2, performers will develop arrays, as well as build the TA2 applications developed under BAA1. A single proposal to BAA1 may respond to either TA1 or TA2, but not both. A proposer wishing to propose to both TAs must submit separate proposals, one for TA1 and the other for TA2.

 

DARPA anticipates making $45M over four years available for this program. Multiple awards are expected.

Sponsor Deadline for Executive Summaries (strongly encouraged): October 26, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: December 23, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 8, 2021

Award Amount: Each award will include a 24-month base period (each 12-month interval of the base period shall not exceed $250,000 for a maximum of $500,000) and a 12-month option period (a maximum of $500,000 awarded as the "Director's Fellowship," reserved for a limited number of awardees who demonstrate exceptional YFA project performance over the 24-month base period).

 

DARPA's 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 DoD and National Security challenges and needs. In particular, 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. Participation is open to individuals who are U.S. Citizens, U.S. Permanent Residents, and Foreign Nationals who are current Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate Professors; or current Tenured faculty within 3 years of their Tenure date. 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. Once awards are made, each YFA performer will be assigned a DARPA Program Manager with interests closely related to their research topic. The Program Manager will act as project manager and mentor to the YFA award recipients.

 

DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the areas of interest to DARPA's six technical offices: Biological Technologies Office (BTO), Defense Sciences Office (DSO), Information Innovation Office (I2O), Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), Strategic Technology Office (STO), and Tactical Technology Office (TTO). This RA solicits single PI proposals for research and development in the following specific Topic Areas (TAs) of interest:

At the executive summary phase, proposing PIs are limited to one executive summary per TA; at the full proposal phase, proposing PIs are limited to submitting only one full proposal to only one topic under this RA. The YFA Proposers Day was held on September 25, 2020 via webcast. DARPA will post the presentation at: http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: October 30, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: November 6, 2020

Award Amount: The total award value for the combined Phase 1 Base (up to $500,000 for 9 month Feasibility Study) and Phase 2 Option (up to $500,000 for 9 month Proof of Concept) is a maximum of $1,000,000 per proposal.

 

DARPA is issuing an Artificial Intelligence Exploration (AIE) Opportunity inviting submissions of innovative basic or applied research concepts in the technical domain of intelligent hardware simulation. If successful, the Ditto program will result in a comprehensive, automated software framework that can take in a microelectronic system design, train effective ML surrogate models of sub-system components (which incorporate some knowledge about the real-world component they represent), and can integrate these ML models in a way that allows them to expand/collapse into appropriate levels of hierarchy while maintaining acceptable levels of accuracy and coverage. This framework will not only represent an advance of the field of AI, but will also result in faster (and therefore more frequent) comprehensive full-system simulation that will enable microelectronic engineers to make more informed decisions earlier in the design process, result in earlier fault detection, improve corner case testing, and mitigate field-able risk for critical system applications. Ditto frameworks will address one of three different system design types to explore: integrated circuits (ICs), mixed-signal printed circuit boards (PCBs), or networked distributed systems (NDS).

 

This AIE Opportunity is issued under the Program Announcement for AIE, DARPA-PA-20-02.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: review not required for awards made directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: November 30, 2020

Award Amount: Fellowships provide a weekly stipend, travel reimbursement and daily expense allowance. Fellowships last 8-12 weeks during the summer months.

 

The U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP) offers hands-on exposure to Air Force research challenges through 8- to 12-week research residencies at participating Air Force research facilities for full-time science, mathematics, and engineering faculty at U.S. colleges and universities. The objectives of the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program are to: stimulate professional relationships among AFRL SFFP participants and the scientists and engineers at Air Force research facilities; enhance the research interests and capabilities of faculty (both new and experienced researchers) in the U.S. academic community; elevate the awareness in the U.S. academic community of Air Force research needs and foster continued research at Fellows' institutions; Fellows with opportunities to perform high-quality and meaningful research at AFRL Directorates, Air Force Test Center, the United States Air Force Academy, or the Air Force Institute of Technology; and provide nationally accredited mentoring of academic researchers at technical directorates of the AFRL, Air Force Test Center, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Air Force Institute of Technology. Each of the participating Air Force research facilities and individual research advisors has specific areas of interest. SFFP applicants need to find an individual research advisor at one of the Air Force research facilities to discuss and eventually evaluate their formal research proposal. The collaboration between the Air Force research advisor and research fellow is critical to program success. Click here to see a list of the participating Air Force research facilities.

 

Applicants to this program must be U.S. citizens. Research Fellows are highly encouraged to bring a graduate student with them for the research period. Graduate students must also be U.S. citizens to be eligible to participate. Graduate student applications must be completed and submitted to the faculty advisor to be uploaded as a part of their application proposal.

Concept Paper Deadline (required): November 5, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 12, 2021

Full Proposal Deadline: January 20, 2021

Award Amount: Up to $3M. Cost sharing may be required, see solicitation for more details.

 

The objective of this FOA is to research and develop next-generation building technologies that have the potential for significant energy savings and improved demand flexibility, affordability, and occupant comfort. An additional goal is to advance building construction, remodeling, and retrofit practices, and associated workforces.

 

The 2020 BENEFIT FOA will invest up to $80 million across 2 topic areas to allow all interested parties to research and develop high-impact technologies and practices that will improve energy productivity, improve flexibility, security and resilience, as well as lower energy costs:

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 10, 2020

Sponsor Deadline: November 18, 2020

Award Amount: Up to $500,000. Cost sharing of at least 20% of the total allowable costs is required.

 

The overarching objective of this FOA and single Area of Interest is to generate lab-scale data and experience to further encourage the development of technologies and commercial approaches to enable a hydrogen-based energy economy while achieving net-negative CO2 emissions through gasification of coal, biomass, and carbonaceous mixed wastes such as plastics. Projects funded under this FOA must perform R&D to address a technology gap that would achieve objective(s) as described in the following area of interest (AOI): Co-gasification of Coal, Biomass and Plastic Wastes for Production of Hydrogen and Fuels with Negative Carbon Potential.

• Request for Information: Understanding Workforce-Development Assets and Gaps for Technical and Non-Technical Bioenergy Workforce Preparation - November 2, 2020
• FY 2021 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program - rolling through September 30, 2021 or until replaced by a successor FOA*
• Notice of Intent to issue DE-FOA-0002397 titled University Turbine Systems Research (UTSR) - Focus on Hydrogen Fuels*

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: November 13, 2020 by 4:00PM in order to be considered in the initial round of selections. It is within IARPA's sole discretion whether to evaluate any proposals received after this date but prior to the BAA Closing Date of December 14, 2020.

Award Amount: Not specified

 

The Intelligence Community (IC) and the Department of Defense (DoD) missions require that information and data be generated, stored, used, transmitted, and received in secure facilities and "in the wild." Vigilance regarding the security of data is important regardless of where the data are being utilized. Significant investments in infrastructure by the U.S. Government and the private sector have provided a high level of confidence in the security of data in facilities under the control of the data owner. In some environments where there is potentially much less control, data security becomes more challenging.

 

One possible indicator of attempted data breach is unexpected RF Transmissions. The goal of the SCISRS program is to develop smart radio techniques to automatically detect and characterize these suspicious Signals and other RF Anomalies in complex RF environments. The specific types of Anomalies include LPI Signals, Altered or Mimicked Signals, and abnormal, unintended Emanations. Applicants should bear in mind that the techniques need to be scalable, computationally efficient, and adaptable to a range of radio hardware.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline: November 17, 2020 by 4:00PM in order to be considered in the initial round of selections. It is within IARPA's sole discretion whether to evaluate any proposals received after this date but prior to the BAA Closing Date of December 17, 2020.

Award Amount: Not specified

 

IARPA is seeking innovative power solutions to support Intelligence Community (IC) applications. RESILIENCE is envisioned to be a 3-year, 9-month effort, beginning approximately January 2021 and extending through October 2024.

 

Reliable sources of power are a key enabler for many intelligence missions. The IC has some portable power needs that are similar to those of any other large enterprise; for example, to support its mobile workforce by providing power for handheld and other mobile devices. However, the IC also has mission needs for power that are far more challenging than those of the private sector to enable intelligence missions, such as powering unmanned robots or vehicles that keep IC personnel out of harm's way or powering electronic devices that are placed in extreme environments where they must function unattended for long periods of time. For some IC applications, quiet operation and minimal generation of heat are preferred. Collectively, the IC's needs for power present an extremely challenging set of requirements to power solutions experts: unyielding volume and mass limitations, unobtrusive operation, maximum lifetime and reliability, and operation in extreme environments.

 

Objectives of the RESILIENCE program include power solutions with high energy density, high power density, long calendar life, quiet operation, and robustness to extreme environmental conditions such as large temperature fluctuations, vibration, shock, overcharge and complete discharge. Detailed information about specific goals, objectives, metrics and milestones can be found in this BAA.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: October 26, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: November 2, 2020

Award Information: The maximum amount of an NSTGRO grant will be $80,000 per year (this total includes a student stipend, faculty advisor allowance, visiting technologist experience allowance, and funding for health insurance and tuition and fees). These are multi-year awards. The NSTGRO grant does not provide university overhead.

 

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) seeks to sponsor U.S. citizen, U.S. national and permanent resident graduate student research that has significant potential to contribute to NASA's goal of creating innovative new space technologies for our Nation's science, exploration, and economic future. This call for graduate student space technology research proposals solicits proposals on behalf of individuals pursuing or planning to pursue master's or doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in relevant space technology disciplines at accredited U.S. universities. NASA Space Technology Graduate Researchers will perform research at their respective campuses and at NASA Centers. In addition to their faculty advisor, each recipient will be matched with a technically relevant and community-engaged NASA researcher who will serve as the research collaborator on the award. Through this collaboration, graduate students will be able to take advantage of broader and/or deeper space technology research opportunities directly related to their academic and career objectives, acquire a more detailed understanding of the potential end applications of their space technology efforts, and directly disseminate their research results within the NASA community. Awards resulting from this solicitation will be made in the form of grants to accredited U.S. universities with the faculty advisor as the Principal Investigator (PI). Awards resulting from this solicitation are planned to coincide with the start of the 2021 academic year and are subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

 

Only one proposal may be submitted on behalf of a student in response to this solicitation. The proposal must be submitted by an accredited U.S. university unless one of the following two conditions applies. If the individual seeking support (1) is currently an undergraduate and does not know which accredited U.S. university they will be attending in the fall of 2021 or (2) is currently not enrolled as either an undergraduate or graduate student and does not know which accredited U.S. university they will be attending in the fall of 2021, the NSTGRO Proposal Submission Office will submit the proposal on their behalf.

 

NASA made 63, 65, and 56 new grant awards as a result of the last three solicitation cycles (NSTGRO20, NSTRF19, and NSTRF18, respectively); the NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships (NSTRF) solicitation was the predecessor solicitation. NASA expects to make a similar number of new NSTGRO21 awards, pending the receipt of highly meritorious proposals. 

Sponsor Deadline for Notices of Intent (strongly encouraged): October 30, 2020

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 15, 2020

Award Information: A maximum of $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 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), Space Shuttle flights, Free Flyers, commercial cargo flights to and from the ISS, 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 (see solicitation for a complete list). The PSI system is designed to include experimental data from the following six research areas: 1) Biophysics, 2) Combustion Science, 3) Complex Fluids, 4) Fluid Physics, 5) Fundamental Physics, and 6) Materials Science. This Appendix solicits proposals in the six research areas listed above.

 

This Appendix is soliciting proposals from established researchers and graduate students. A total of approximately five awards are anticipated.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadlines for Full Proposals: November 12, 2020; February 25, 2021; June 24, 2021

Award Information: The Federal share of awards will not exceed $80,000 in total costs. Student teams are required to raise a minimum of $2,000 through crowdfunding or industry/organization support, though NASA reserves the right to fund a project even if cost sharing goals are not met. The NASA grants will have a one-year period of performance.

 

The University Student Research Challenge (USRC) seeks to challenge students to propose new aeronautics ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). The students also have the challenge of raising cost share funds through a crowdfunding platform. The process of creating and preparing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator. Crowdfunding requires students to act like entrepreneurs, teaching skills such as how to understand the market, fundraise and execute a project. Crowdfunding also raises awareness in the general public about students' research and can excite and bring non-traditional communities into contact with ARMD.

 

The proposed project must be relevant to the ARMD Strategic Implementation Plan and address one of ARMD's six strategic thrusts as they affect aviation:

NASA has no set expectations as to the team size. The number of students participating in the investigation is to be determined by the scope of the project and the student Team Leader. Faculty can serve as mentors and/or participants in the project team. A letter of support is required from a faculty mentor of the accredited U.S. University or College. NASA will make approximately 5 awards for all three cycles of this USRC solicitation.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: November 6, 2020

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: November 16, 2020

Award Information: The Base effort will be funded up to $700,000, and has an expected duration of up to 12 months. The Option period will be funded up to $7.5M for up to 24 months.

 

This Appendix is seeking proposals for the design and prototype fabrication of autonomously deployable and relocatable lunar surface solar arrays for future missions during the "Sustainment Period" of lunar South Pole exploration. The array technology developed from this Appendix shall allow for autonomous deployment, retraction, and mobility to new surface sites as future mission architectures and concepts of operation will likely require such flexibility. Given the nature of space operations and the fuel requirements associated with a lunar landing, Lunar VSAT efforts should be designed to minimize mass to the full extent possible.

 

Contracts resulting from this Appendix will include a Base period focused on design and analysis tasks to ensure basic feasibility of the proposed system, and an Option period that focuses on the build and test of a prototype of the proposed system concept. NASA anticipates selecting up to four offerors to create initial Lunar VSAT designs and conduct appropriate analyses (Base effort). NASA also anticipates that up to two Options will be exercised to awardees to build and test a prototype system.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission

Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: Rolling through September 30, 2021 (proposals should be submitted at least 6 months in advance of the desired starting date)

Award Information: 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.

 

Before any effort is expended in preparing a proposal, potential proposers should:

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.

• NASA Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion-2020 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2020) - December 18, 2020
• Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2020 (ROSES-2020) - September 24, 2021
• Research Opportunities in Aeronautics 2020 (ROA-2020) - September 30, 2021*

 

 

To get funding as quickly as possible to the research community, NIH is using Urgent and Emergency competing revisions and administrative supplements to existing grant awards. This approach allows NIH to leverage resident expertise, getting additional funding to those researchers who are already working with other organisms, models, or tools so that they can quickly shift focus to the novel coronavirus. These Urgent and Emergency competitive revision Funding Opportunity Announcements allow NIH to fund applications quickly, often in under three months, sometimes much quicker than that, because evaluation for scientific and technical merit is done by an internal review panel convened by staff of the NIH awarding institute or center rather than by its traditional peer review process. These opportunities require applications to be submitted in response to an Emergency or Urgent Notice of Special Interest (NOSI). In addition to the opportunities for revisions and supplements to existing awards, other notices of special interest seek full research project grant proposals to conduct research on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-2019 through an array of parent FOAs. NIH is maintaining a list of COVID-19 specific notices of special interest in the funding opportunities section at the link above. 

 

This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) seeks to inform the community about an opportunity to pursue supplements from the Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) Program to active Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) research awards and active Engineering Research Center (ERC) awards. Active EFRI and ERC awardees may apply for supplemental funding from the REM program via FastLane. REM funding will support costs associated with bringing Research Participants (RPs) into the research environment over the summer to participate in mentored activities and research aligned with the ERC- and EFRI-supported research goals. REM supplement recipients are encouraged to extend structured mentoring into the academic year.

 

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) have signed an agreement on Research Cooperation. The agreement provides an overarching framework to encourage collaboration between US and French research communities and sets out the principles by which jointly supported activities might be developed. The agreement is a lead agency opportunity whereby collaborative proposals between US and French researchers are submitted to only the lead agency for review, and the partner agency agrees to accept the review. Based on the lead agency review of collaborative proposals, NSF and ANR will make joint funding decisions to support meritorious collaborative projects. The lead agency opportunity allows for reciprocal acceptance of merit review through unsolicited mechanisms with the goal to reduce some of the current barriers to working internationally.

This year, the program is seeking proposals which address the topic of Physics from Molecules to Cells. The emergence, evolution, dynamics and function of self-organized cellular systems stem from the interaction of biological components and the environment to yield robust, resilient and adaptive living systems. Through this DCL, NSF and ANR seek proposals that use multidisciplinary approaches that emphasize quantitative, predictive and theory driven science aimed at understanding. The program seeks proposals which integrate approaches from theoretical and experimental physics and biology to develop testable and quantitative understanding of biological questions. Projects providing innovative methodological or conceptual approaches to a biological question and with a strong theoretical physics component are strongly encouraged. Purely descriptive projects without predictive quantitative components are of low priority. Projects that leverage unique resources and capabilities of partners in the US and France will be given priority.

 

With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the NSF Division of Physics (PHY) encourages the community to explore the scientific opportunities at the intersection between Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) physics and Elementary Particle Physics (EPP). This DCL encourages interdisciplinary research across the domains of AMO and EPP physics aimed at developing new small-scale experiments and techniques that could complement large EPP facilities. Towards this end, the NSF Division of Physics encourages the submission of proposals that explore this overlap regime. Proposals can be submitted to one of the following programs for review and funding consideration, as described in Solicitation NSF 20-580:

 

Titles of proposals addressing the goals of this DCL should begin with "PM: . . . " Proposals for theoretical and/or experimental research, conceptual development, conferences, or development of new instruments are welcome. Plans for data analysis should include a detailed assessment of systematic errors and use appropriate statistical methods. Experimental designs that incorporate empirical exploration of unknown systematics are desirable. Potential proposers are encouraged to contact the cognizant program directors of the programs listed above.

The proposal title should be prefaced with "Sentinels:" Neither Division puts a limit on proposal budgets and expects budgets to be appropriate for the scope of the proposed project. The relevant programs in BIO/MCB and ENG/CBET all accept proposals without deadline. Proposals are reviewed as they are received.  Investigators interested in submitting a proposal are strongly encouraged to contact one of the Program Directors listed in the full Dear Colleague Letter.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: February 3, 2021 (CS for All)
Sponsor Deadline: February 10, 2021 (CS for All)
Award Amount: varies by program

 

 

 

NSF will consider supplemental funding requests for up to an additional six months of graduate student support on active NSF grants with the following goals:

The PI/co-PI of an active NSF award may request supplemental funding for one or more graduate students to gain knowledge, skills and experiences that will augment their preparation for a successful long-term career through an internship in a non-academic setting, including the following:

PIs are encouraged to discuss with the cognizant NSF program director activities that are synergistic with the NSF project scope. It is expected that the graduate student and the PI on the NSF grant will work together to identify innovative experiences that add the most educational value for the graduate student through activities that are not already available at the student's academic institution. Further, it is expected that the internship will be research-focused in a STEM field or in STEM education research and will be on-site at the host organization unless a specific exception to this is granted due to extenuating circumstances by the cognizant program officer.

 

The intent of this solicitation is to request proposals from organizations willing to serve as service providers (SPs) within the NSF Innovative High-Performance Computing (HPC) program to provide advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) capabilities and/or services in production operations to support the full range of computational- and data-intensive research across all of science and engineering (S&E). The Advanced Computing Systems & Services program is intended to complement previous NSF investments in advanced computational infrastructure by provisioning resources, broadly defined to include systems and/or services, in two categories:

The Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Community Research Infrastructure (CCRI) program drives discovery and learning in the core CISE disciplines of the three participating divisions [(Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF), Computer and Network Systems (CNS), and Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS)] by funding the creation and enhancement of world-class research infrastructure. This research infrastructure will specifically support diverse communities of CISE researchers pursuing focused research agendas in computer and information science and engineering. This support involves developing the accompanying user services and engagement needed to attract, nurture, and grow a robust research community that is actively involved in determining directions for the infrastructure as well as management of the infrastructure. This should lead to infrastructure that can be sustained through community involvement and community leadership, and that will enable advances not possible with existing research infrastructure. Further, through the CCRI program, CISE seeks to ensure that researchers from a diverse range of institutions of higher education (IHEs), including minority-serving and predominantly undergraduate institutions, as well as researchers from non-profit, non-academic organizations, have access to such infrastructure. The CCRI program supports three classes of awards:

Each CCRI Medium or Grand award may include support for operation of the infrastructure, ensuring that the awardee organization(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.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: February 8, 2021
Sponsor Deadline: February 16, 2021
Award Amount: up to $750,000 over up to 4 years (Research Proposals); up to $100,000 over up to 18 months (Transition to Practice Proposals)

The Formal Methods in the Field (FMitF) program aims to bring together researchers in formal methods with researchers in other areas of computer and information science and engineering to jointly develop rigorous and reproducible methodologies for designing and implementing correct-by-construction systems and applications with provable guarantees. FMitF encourages close collaboration between two groups of researchers. The first group consists of researchers in the area of formal methods, which, for the purposes of this solicitation, is broadly defined as principled approaches based on mathematics and logic to system modeling, specification, design, analysis, verification, and synthesis. The second group consists of researchers in the "field," which, for the purposes of this solicitation, is defined as a subset of areas within computer and information science and engineering that currently do not benefit from having established communities already developing and applying formal methods in their research. This solicitation limits the field to the following areas that stand to directly benefit from a grounding in formal methods: computer networks, distributed/operating systems, embedded systems, human centered computing, and machine learning. A proposal pursuing a different field area must make a strong case for why the field area of interest is one that does not currently benefit from formal methods but would be a strong candidate for inclusion as a field area. The FMitF program solicits two classes of proposals:

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 8, 2021

Sponsor Deadline: January 15, 2021

Award Amount: $250,000 - $850,000 per year. The FRHTP will be funded for an initial duration of five years. Three awards are expected in FY 2021.

 

Focused Research Hubs in Theoretical Physics (FRHTP) are designed to enhance significant breakthroughs at an intellectual frontier of physics by providing resources beyond those available to individual investigators, so as to promote a collaborative approach to a focused topic while promoting the preparation of scientists at the beginning of their independent scientific careers. Although interdisciplinary aspects may be included, the bulk of the effort must fall within the purview of the Division of Physics. The successful hub will demonstrate: (1) the potential to advance science; (2) the enhancement of the development of early career scientists; (3) creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, diversity, and public outreach; (4) potential for broader impacts, e.g., impacts on other field(s) and benefits to society; (5) a synergy or value-added rationale that justifies a group approach. The proposal must present a compelling case that the FRHTP can achieve its scientific goals within a five-year time frame. The FRHTP is intended to support postdoctoral researchers and enable collaborative interactions via support for travel, collaboration meetings and workshops. The FRHTP are not intended to provide additional support for senior personnel (individual PIs), graduate or undergraduate students. Proposals may only be submitted in the specific topics listed in this solicitation, which define particular areas in theoretical physics in which the Division of Physics sees a need for a focused research hub. Future versions of this solicitation will allow response on different theoretical physics topics. It is expected that one award will be funded in each hub topic. The specific hub topics for this solicitation are:

Any one individual may be the PI or co-PI for only one proposal. It is strongly recommended that prospective PIs contact the FRHTP Program Officer(s) to ascertain that the focus and budget of their proposed FRHTP are appropriate for this solicitation.

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission of a full proposal

Sponsor Deadline: Rolling; a Research Concept Outline (RCO) must be submitted to ENGUKRI@nsf.gov at least 60 days prior to the submission of a full proposal.

The Directorate for Engineering (ENG), Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET), the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), and the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) of the National Science Foundation and the Engineering, ICT and Manufacturing the Future Themes of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are pleased to announce the ENG-EPSRC Lead Agency Opportunity. The goal of this opportunity is to reduce some of the barriers that researchers currently encounter when working internationally. The ENG-EPSRC Lead Agency Opportunity will allow US and UK researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process.

Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of CBET, CMMI, and/or ECCS with the EPSRC Engineering, ICT and/or Manufacturing the Future Themes. Proposers choose either NSF or EPSRC to serve as the "lead" agency to review their proposal. The non-lead agency will honor the rigor of the review process and the decision of the lead agency. For research teams that would like EPSRC to act as lead agency, please see the instructions here. Proposers should review the CBET, CMMI, and ECCS Program Descriptions for research supported through these divisions and the EPSRC website for further information on what areas of research are eligible for support through this activity. Proposals are expected to adhere to typical proposal budgets and durations for the relevant NSF programs and EPSRC Themes from which funding is sought.

Please Note: A Research Concept Outline (RCO) must be submitted to ENGUKRI@nsf.gov at least 60 days prior to the submission of a full proposal. A proposal that is submitted without a previously approved RCO will be returned without review (RWR).

• Advanced Manufacturing (AM) - Rolling
• Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (BMMB) - Rolling
• Biophotonics - Rolling
• Biosensing - Rolling
• Catalysis - Rolling
• Cellular and Biochemical Engineering (CBE) - Rolling
• Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) - Rolling
• Combustion and Fire Systems - Rolling
• Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) - Rolling
• Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering (DARE) - Rolling
• Dynamics, Control and Systems Diagnostics (DCSD) - Rolling
• Electrochemical Systems - Rolling
• Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) - Rolling
• Energy, Power, Control, and Networks (EPCN) - Rolling
• Engineering Design and System Engineering (EDSE) - Rolling
• Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) - Rolling
• Engineering of Biomedical Systems (EBMS) - Rolling
• Environmental Engineering - Rolling
• Environmental Sustainability - Rolling
• Fluid Dynamics - Rolling
• Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment (HDBE) - Rolling
• Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MOMS) - Rolling
• Mind, Machine and Motor Nexus (M3X) - Rolling
• Operations Engineering (OE) - Rolling
• Particulate and Multiphase Processes - Rolling
• Process Systems, Reaction Engineering and Molecular Thermodynamics - Rolling
• Thermal Transport Processes - Rolling
• Re-entry to Active Research Program (RARE) - Rolling* 

Nomination Deadline: October 21, 2020

Award Amount: $1,000,000 over 5 years

 

The Alan T. Waterman Award honors an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation. The awardee receives a grant of $1 million over five years for scientific research or advanced study in any field of science, plus a medal and other recognition. Eligibility criteria include:

Institutions may nominate an unlimited number of individuals and there are no restrictions on who may nominate. 

 

 

The International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program supports international research and research-related activities for U.S. science and engineering students. The IRES program contributes to development of a diverse, globally engaged workforce with world-class skills. IRES focuses on active research participation by undergraduate and/or graduate students in high quality international research, education and professional development experiences in NSF-funded research areas. The overarching, long-term goal of the IRES program is to enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering research and education and to strengthen economic competitiveness through training the next generation of research leaders. Track I focuses on the development of world-class research skills in international cohort experiences. Track II is dedicated to targeted, intensive learning and training opportunities that leverage international knowledge at the frontiers of research. Student participants supported by IRES funds must be citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States.

For all IRES proposals, PIs are strongly encouraged to outline virtual, hybrid or other alternative approaches to strengthen and maintain international collaboration in the event travel is not undertaken, and/or in addition to travel. It is expected that these approaches will extend collaboration beyond the actual international trip and strengthen IRES proposals overall.

Sponsor Deadline for Letter of Intent: December 9, 2020

Award Amount: up to $2M over 4 years

The Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program of the NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) serves a critical role in helping ENG focus on important emerging areas in a timely manner. This solicitation is a funding opportunity for interdisciplinary teams of researchers to embark on rapidly advancing frontiers of fundamental engineering research. For this solicitation, NSF will consider proposals that aim to investigate emerging frontiers in one of the following two research areas:

This solicitation will be coordinated with the Directorate for Biological Sciences, the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. EFRI seeks proposals with potentially transformative ideas that represent an opportunity for a significant shift in fundamental engineering knowledge with a strong potential for long term impact on national needs or a grand challenge.

The goals of the Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) program are to accelerate the process of scientific discovery and prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for multiteam international collaborations. The AccelNet program supports strategic linkages among U.S. research networks and complementary networks abroad that will leverage research and educational resources to tackle grand research challenges that require significant coordinated international efforts. The program seeks to foster high-impact science and engineering by providing opportunities to cooperatively identify and coordinate efforts to address knowledge gaps and research needs. This solicitation invites proposals for the creation of international networks of networks in research areas aligned with a grand challenge identified as a priority by the research community or NSF, such as the NSF Big Ideas or in an active program solicitation. AccelNet awards support the connections among research networks, rather than supporting fundamental research as the primary activity. Each network of networks is expected to engage in innovative collaborative activities that promote synergy of efforts across networks and provide professional development for U.S. students, postdoctoral scholars, and early-career researchers. Two proposal categories covered by this solicitation include: Design and Implementation.

Research on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning*

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: January 15, 2021
Sponsor Deadline: January 25, 2021
Award Amount: up to $850,000 over 3 years