Funding Opportunities at NSF

1
Funding Opportunities at NSF

• Ken Chong
• Engineering Advisor, CMMI
• Program Director, Mechanics and Structures of
  Materials

2
Overview

• Introduction to Funding at NSF
• Types of Funding
• Unsolicited versus Solicited Awards
• Selected Engineering Solicitations
• Educational and Developmental Awards
• After the Award Supplements
• Other funding Opportunities

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Funding at NSF

• NSF provides funding via grants and cooperative
  agreements to more than 2,000 colleges,
  universities, K-12 school systems, businesses,
  informal science organizations and other research
  organizations throughout the U.S.
• NSF receives and processes over 45,000 proposals
  per year
• Approximately 11,000/yr are funded
• Engineering Directorate (ENG) received 9,427
  proposals in FY 2006
• 1,737 were funded from
• 18 Success Rate

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Federal Basic Research, FY 2006
26.9 Billion
NSF 3.5 Billion
Total Federal RD, FY 2006
132.2 Billion
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NSF 4.1 Billion
13
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Total U.S. RD, FY 2006 300 Billion
NSF 4.1 Billion
NSF 1.4
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Types of Funding

• There are two major categories of funding
• Unsolicited Proposals
• Solicited Proposals
• Most grants are awarded in ENG (and NSF) through
  means of unsolicited proposal programs

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Proposal and Awards Policies and Procedures Guide
(PAPP)

• Covers all general regulations and procedures for
  submission of proposals and duties during awards
• Format, requirements, budget concerns
• Basic guidelines for all types of proposals
• Replaced GPG and GPM
• New Regulations
• Font Sizes and Style Specified

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Unsolicited Proposals Announcement See
PAPP for Details

• Core funding instrument
• Submitted to a particular program
• Topics covered deal with various research areas
  covered
• Generally awarded to one PI or a small group of
  researchers
• Collaborative Proposals
• Tackle a larger problem via leveraging abilities
  and equipment of various researchers
• Two or more proposals submitted together, still
  separate awards but made together for one idea
• Award Size
• Approximately 240-300K for three years
• Unsolicited Success Rate in ENG
• 14 of submitted proposals awarded

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Solicited Proposals

• Submitted in response to specific research
  initiatives and special thrust areas
• Defined by NSF in response to needs and desires
  of the communities programs serve and the health
  of science/engineering as a whole
• Each solicitation has its own requirements,
  regulations, and submission dates specific to it
• Initiatives have varied goals
• Address timely specific problems
• Develop the careers of researchers and enhance
  education of students
• Provide a means of enhancing the research
  capabilities of institutions
• etc.

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GRANTSMANSHIP

• "Broader Impact" - a good discussion of this in
  the following website. http//www.nsf.gov/pubs/200
  4/nsf04045/nsf04045.htm
• don't send in multiple proposals.
• TWELVE STEPS TO A WINNING RESEARCH PROPOSAL By
  George A. Hazelrigg, NSF

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Example Engineering Solicitations Research
Initiatives
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Active Nanostructures and Nanosystems (ANN)
Announcement NSF 06-595

• Collaborative research and education in
• Active nanostructures
• Nanosystems with improved functionality and new
  architectures
• Hierarchical nanomanufacturing
• Long-term societal and educational implications
  of scientific and technological advances on the
  nanoscale
• Program goal support fundamental research and
  catalyze synergistic science and engineering
  research and education
• Funded through the Nanoscale Exploratory Research
  (NER) and Nanoscale Interdiciplinary Research
  Teams (NIRT) programs
• Deadline in November 2007

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Materials Use Science and Engineering and
Society (MUSES)

• Aimed at soliciting new multidisciplinary
  activities address complex issues related to
  materials use in the environment
• Involves researchers from the engineering,
  physical and life sciences, economics,
  mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, and
  education
• Research stresses the fundamental understanding
  of comprehensive materials flows that extend from
  natural resource materials extraction through
  processing and manufacturing, assembly, and
  distribution and consumer use and on through
  recycling, disposal, and reuse
• Deadline in February-March, look for new
  solicitation

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George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake
Engineering Simulation Research (NEESR)
Announcement NSF 04-015

• Research projects utilizing the NSF-supported
  George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Engineering
  Simulation Research
• Supports innovative research and education about
  the performance of structural, nonstructural,
  geotechnical, hydraulic, and other civil
  infrastructure systems during earthquake
  excitation or tsunamis
• Advance experimental simulation techniques and
  instrumentation for NEES for future research
• Specific unique guidelines and regulations Read
  solicitation carefully while preparing proposal
• Five categories of submission Individual
  Investigator, Small Group, Grand Challenge,
  Simulation Development, and Payload
• Deadline for submission in late January
• Contact Joy Pauschke, NEESR PD jpauschke_at_nsf.gov
  for more information

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Explosives and Related Threats Frontiers in
Prediction and Detection (EXP)
Announcement NSF 07-528

• NSF-wide effort, in coordination with the efforts
  of other agencies in threat detection and
  mitigation
• Advance fundamental knowledge in new technologies
  for sensors and sensor networks
• Research will lead to better detection of
  explosives and related threats, including
  improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
• Advances in the use of sensor data in control and
  decision making, particularly in relation to the
  prediction and detection of explosives and
  related threats
• Research on prediction and detection of
  biological, toxic chemical, and nuclear weapons
  is excluded from the scope of this solicitation
• Small and large awards are provided to individual
  researchers and teams
• Submission Deadline March (look for new
  solicitation in FY 08)

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Example Engineering Solicitations Development
and Education
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Major Research Instrumentation Acquisition Grants
(MRI) Announcement NSF 07-510

• The MRI program assists in the acquisition or
  development of major research instrumentation
• Supports purchase, upgrade, or development, of
  major state-of-the-art instrumentation for
  research, research training, and integrated
  research/education activities at organizations
• Improve access to and increase use of modern
  research and research training instrumentation to
  researchers and graduate and undergraduate
  students
• Enable academic departments or cross-departmental
  units to create well-equipped learning
  environments that integrate research with
  education
• Foster the development of the next generation of
  instrumentation for research and research
  training
• Promote partnerships between academic researchers
  and private sector instrument developers
• Proposals may be for
• a single instrument,
• a large system of instruments
• multiple instruments that share a common or
  specific research focus
• Proposal Deadline Fourth Thursday in January,
  annually

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Integrative Graduate Education and Research
Traineeship (IGERT) Announcement NSF
07-540

• Developed to meet the challenges of educating
  future Ph.D. scientists and engineers
• Emphasizes multidisciplinary training
• Proposals must describe integrative,
  research-based, graduate education and training
  activities in emerging areas of science and
  engineering
• Encourage gain the breadth of skills, strengths,
  and understanding for interdisciplinary work
  while still permitting well grounded training in
  a major field
• Provides 2 million over 5 years to institution
• Contact Carol Van Hartesveldt cvanhart_at_nsf.gov

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Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI)
Announcement NSF 05-592

• Support high quality research by faculty with
  active involvement of undergraduate students
• Strengthen the research environment in academic
  departments that are oriented primarily toward
  undergraduate instruction
• Submission Deadlines Same as Unsolicited Award
  Dates

http//www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf00144
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Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program
Announcement NSF 05-579

• Foundation-wide activity that offers the NSFs
  most prestigious awards for new faculty members
• Recognizes and supports the early
  career-development activities of those
  teacher-scholars who are most likely to become
  the academic leaders of the 21st century
• Awardees selected on the basis of creative,
  career-development plans that integrate research
  and education
• Five year research and education plan, minimum
  budget of 400,000
• Full Proposal Deadline Date Late July each year

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• Other Solicited/Special Funding Opportunities

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Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with
Industry (GOALI) Announcement NSF 07-522

• This program provides funding meant to stimulate
  interactions and staff exchange between
  universities and industry
• Fundamental research generally is performed in
  academe in parallel with more applied research in
  industry
• Encourage the development of creative modes of
  collaborative interactions with industry through
• Industry-University Collaborative Projects
• Faculty and Students in Industry
• Faculty-in-Industry
• Post Doctoral Industrial Fellowships
• Graduate Student Industrial Fellowships
• Undergraduate Industrial Fellowships
• Industry Engineers and Scientists in Academe
• Industry Presence on Campus
• Industry-Based Graduate Assistantship
• Proposals are submitted according to the
  deadlines for Unsolicited Proposals

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Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER)
Announcement See PAPP for information

• Proposals for small-scale, exploratory, high-risk
  research in the fields of science, engineering,
  and education normally supported by the NSF
• Also used to support fundamental science and
  engineering projects whose results may enable
  mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery
  from catastrophic events
• Collection of Perishable Data (e.g. Aftermath of
  Hurricane Katrina)
• Contact cognizant Program Officer to discuss
  funding
• SGER awards cannot exceed 200,000 for a period
  of two years
• Most are for smaller amounts and/or for shorter
  durations

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Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER)
(continued)

• SGER Funding is granted for
• preliminary work on untested and novel ideas
• ventures into emerging and potentially
  transformative research ideas
• application of new expertise or new approaches to
  "established" research topics
• having a severe urgency with regard to
  availability of, or access to data, facilities or
  specialized equipment, including quick-response
  research on natural or anthropogenic disasters
  and similar unanticipated events
• efforts of similar character likely to catalyze
  rapid and innovative advances

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Workshop Proposals

• Workshop proposals funded and encouraged to
  advise NSF Program Directors on appropriate
  emphasis areas for programs
• Can be a valuable mechanism not only for
  establishing research program agenda, but also
  for informing potential PIs regarding program
  priorities
• Are accepted throughout the fiscal year at the
  discretion of the cognizant PD
• Contact PD for more information

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• After the Award Supplements

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Research Experiences forUndergraduates (REU)
Announcement NSF 07-569

• Funding provided for REU Sites or REU supplements
  to PIs with existing awards
• Incorporates active research experience
• Intended to attract and retain undergraduates in
  mathematics, science and engineering through
  research experiences
• One REU supplement per Parent Grant
• Inclusion of Underrepresented groups
• A second REU student could be awarded if a
  student is from these groups
• Deadlines for submission vary with Directorate,
  Division

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Research Experiencesfor Teachers (RET)
Announcement NSF 07-557

• Supplements to current NSF Awards
• Helps build long term collaborative relationships
  between K-12 teachers of science and mathematics
  and the NSF research community
• Encourages researchers to form partnerships with
  teachers for K-12 Outreach
• Consult with cognizant PD of award for funding
  opportunities

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International Research and Education in
Engineering (IREE) Announcement NSF 06-026

• Awarded in conjunction with the Office of
  International Science and Engineering (OISE)
• Provide supplemental funding to current awardees
  to support international travel by early-career
  researchers in the United States
• Can fund an extended-stay visit to one or more
  foreign institutions/laboratories, including
  industrial laboratories
• Enable international research experience and
  perspective, and to enable closer research
  interaction between U.S. institutions and their
  foreign counterparts
• Deadline for submission end of May