2022 NSF ENG CAREER Workshop open for sign-up!

An NSF ENG CAREER Workshop focused on engineering will be held virtually on May 11 - 13, 2022. The objective of the 2022 NSF ENG Directorate Workshop is to introduce junior faculty who are interested in submitting NSF CAREER proposals to the Directorate for Engineering. The workshop aims to provide individuals with proposal development insights and a forum in which they can interact with NSF program directors and recent NSF CAREER awardees.

Application Opens March 15th

  • Application Deadline March 28th

  • Application Status Notification:

    • Selected to attend the General Session (all participants): 4/8/22

    • General session registration deadline: 4/8/22

    • Selected Mock Panel participants:

    • Mock Panel participants registration deadline: 4/8/22

    • Mock Panel participants provided access to Conflict of Interest (COI) form and mock proposals for review (required): 4/18/22 - 5/4/22

    • Mock Panel Proposal Review submission: 5/4/22

Go here for more details.

DoED FY 2019 Research Funding Webinars Available On Demand

The Department of Education's research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has just posted a series of on-demand webinars related to research funding opportunities for FY 2019 (many of which have proposal deadlines in August 2018). These include an IES Basic Overview, an IES Grant Writing Workshop, National Research and Development Centers, and Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy and Practice in Special Education. If you are new to any of these programs, or if you'd like to know about recent changes, be sure to check these out. A critical step in developing a competitive proposal is to get to know your agency and your program. These webinars are a great way to start that process.

NSF ENG Drops Deadlines for Core Proposals

NSF had released a Dear Colleague Letter announcing that, effective August 15th, NSF's Directorate of Engineering (CBET, CMMI, ECCS, and EEC) will no longer have proposal windows or target dates for core (investigator-initiated) proposals to their disciplinary programs. This does not apply to targeted solicitations such as CAREER, MRI, ERC, etc.  As a part of this change, they  will also implement a guideline in which a declined proposal (or substantively similar proposal/topic by the same PI) is ineligible for resubmission until a minimum of one year has passed from the date of its initial submission. 

While NSF states that their main motivation is to improve the quality of the proposals they receive since fewer proposals will be submitted before they're ready, it's also true that when there is no official deadline, NSF programs receive fewer proposals. As NSF has been struggling with high proposal pressure, this effect was likely another important motivation for this change.

As we all know, something that can be done any time is often done at no time. Don't let this happen to you! Set your own deadline for submitting your core proposal, write it in big red letters on your calendar, announce it to the world - whatever it takes to generate the feeling of urgency that you and your co-PIs need to get your proposal done!

(See NSF's FAQs about this policy change here.)

NSF Offering Webinar on Smart & Autonomous Systems Program

NSF is offering a webinar at 12 pm EDT on June 13, 2018 about the Smart and Autonomous Systems program, which is in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate, Division of Intelligent Instelligent Systems (IIS).  NSF's program synopsis states that, "The Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS) program focuses on Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS) that are capable of robust, long-term autonomy requiring minimal or no human operator intervention in the face of uncertain, unanticipated, and dynamically changing situations. IPS are systems that combine perception, cognition, communication, and actuation to operate in the physical world. Examples include, but are not limited to, robotic platforms, self-driving vehicles, underwater exploration vehicles, and smart grids. To foster such intelligent systems, the S&AS program supports research in four main aspects of IPS: cognizant, taskable, adaptive, and ethical"

This description is very broad, so it's important to understand what topics align with the interests of this program. This webinar is a good first step to determining if your project idea might be a good fit.

To sign up for this webinar, go here.

NSF Issues DCL for Data-Driven Discovery Science in Chemistry

NSF's Division of Chemistry, together with the Catalysis Program and the Process Systems, Reaction Engineering, and Molecular Thermodynamics Program of the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) have issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) to invite research proposals that utilize modern data science in the context of chemical and chemical engineering research. 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.

For more information, click on this link.

NSF and USAF Announce Partnership in Science & Eng Research

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and National Science Foundation (NSF) Director France Córdova signed a Letter of Intent May 9, 2018, creating a new partnership for collaboration on scientific and engineering research to bolster national security.  The Letter of Intent initiates a strategic partnership focused on research in four areas of common interest: space operations and geosciences, advanced material sciences, information and data sciences, and workforce and processes.

For more info, see this link.

NSF Webinar for EHR Proposers June 19th

NSF will host a webinar for PIs who are interested in applying for NSF CAREER grants through the Directorate for Education and Human Resources. If you are one of those folks, this could be a very worthwhile webinar, as each directorate uses the CAREER program in its own way and has its own expectations.

The webinar is scheduled for June 19, 2018 from 2 - 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time. For more info, go to this EHR CAREER webinar link

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Great NIH Resource: Expenditures by Category

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NIH recently published a very interesting and useful table detailing the funding allocated over recent years by research, condition, or disease category. This data includes estimated amounts for 2016 and 2017. You can click through on any year and category to see what projects were funded. Follow those links as you would use results from a RePORTER query to identify program officers, study sections and FOAs. A great resource for PIs trying to figure out where at NIH their research fits! Click here to go to NIH's table.

NOAA Science Collaboration Program

The NOAA Science Collaboration Program (NSCP/$75 million) represents an effort to support the development of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers and scientists with expertise in NOAA-related sciences. This will be accomplished through collaborations between these scientists and professionals in areas of mutual interest across the full spectrum of NOAA sciences. It is expected that some of the scientists will collaborate onsite at NOAA facilities and laboratories. NOAA will also support associated workshops that will serve to further enhance collaborative relationships. Through this funding opportunity, NOAA is also interested in supporting complementary earth-systems modeling efforts in areas such as hydrology and coastal dynamics which can serve as a catalyst for collaborations between NOAA professionals and scientists supported through this program. NOAA will support social science research that evaluates the impact of NOAA-related science to society and seeks to find ways to determine how environmental and related sciences can be communicated and utilized more effectively to protect life and property, assist decision makers, and enhance economic development. See NOAA-NWS-NWSPO-2017-2004858 NOAA Science Collaboration Program Due June 13.

NSF Dear Colleague Letter lists International Funding Mechanisms

A recent NSF Dear Colleague letter was issued to remind researchers involved in the BRAIN initiative of funding programs and mechanisms that support international cooperation. Most of these programs are equally applicable to international collaborations in other research topics funded by NSF and bear repeating:

Who Funds What: A Quick Guide

This table (in pdf) gives an overview of the agencies (and a few foundations) that are most active in funding academic research and what types of research they fund. The links take you to the funding page of the agency (which can sometimes to be difficult to find for agencies where funding research is not a major part of their mission), not just to the agency's home page.

Video: How to Use NIH's RePORTER to Identify the Study Section and Program that Fits Your Research

NIH's RePORTER awards database has been around a while now, but many researchers aren't aware that NIH has been adding a number of nifty new capabilities that make this a powerful research tool that you can use to identify the IC, program and study section that best fits your research. This video shows how to do that.