NSF is excited to announce the new INTERN NSF DCL 21-013, which provides funding for non-academic internships to all NSF-supported graduate students, including those supported by the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) (https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2021/nsf21013/nsf21013.jsp).

INTERN offers expanded benefits to students seeking internship experiences, including more funding and more flexibility:

1. Up to $55,000 of funding can be requested;
2. Besides travel support, funds can be requested for stipends (if the Fellow is on reserve), tuition, and health insurance;
3. Up to $2,500 of the funding may be used for materials and supplies;
4. Indirect costs are permitted;
5. Collaboration arrangements with the internship host are confirmed before the request for funding;
6. While it is expected that internships will be on-site, specific exceptions may be granted;
7. Funding requests may be submitted at any time.
   Because of the flexibility and benefits that INTERN now offers to Graduate Research Fellows and internship host organizations, NSF will suspend the next GRIP competition. Full information on INTERN funding for Graduate Research Fellows (GRFP) is available in the DCL (https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2021/nsf21013/nsf21013.jsp). Additional information on specific terms and conditions for INTERN supplements to NSF GRFP awards can be requested by sending an email to GRFP INTERN: GRFPINTERN@nsf.gov.

For more information, please visit the NSF page.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Mid-scale Research Infrastructure (Mid-scale RI) Big Idea is intended to provide an agile, Foundation-wide process to fund experimental research capabilities in the mid-scale range ($6 million to $100 million), between the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) and Major Facilities thresholds. Recently, the solicitation (NSF 21-505) for the Mid-scale RI-1 program (total project cost of $6 million up to but not including $20 million), one of two funding opportunities that span the mid-scale range, was published with a deadline of January 7, 2021 for preliminary proposals.

On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 and Thursday, November 5, 2020, NSF will host outreach webinars with information about the Mid-Scale RI-1 funding opportunity. Each session will begin at 1:00 p.m. EST and have two parts: a general Mid-scale RI-1 information session (1:00 p.m. -1:40 p.m. EST) with Q&A followed by Directorate-specific breakouts (1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EST) where more technical questions will be addressed. Information on Day 1 will be repeated on Day 2.

To access the main webinars and follow-on directorate-specific breakouts:

Webinar 1
Event: Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (Mid-scale RI-1): NSF 21-505 Q&A – Main meeting
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. – 1:40 p.m. Eastern Time
Join ZoomGov Meeting
        https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1614702269?pwd=djl0Z2hnU3I3QXNiRHYraitMclhjZz09
        Meeting ID: 161 470 2269
        Passcode: 5i8ELv
Join via phone:
        (669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
        Meeting ID: 161 470 2269
Captions: View real-time captions at: www.fedrcc.us/ by clicking “Join Now” and entering event ID 4614984

• You will enter through a waiting room and be let in by an NSF staff member.
• Questions: Please submit questions via Chat during the webinar. There will be no participant audio-enabled questions or screen sharing.

Directorate Breakouts: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 from 1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time

•  You will enter through a waiting room and be let in to the breakout by an NSF staff member.
• Please follow instructions provided during the breakouts for Q&A.

Mid-scale RI-1 BIO breakout
Join ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1605815851?pwd=THJGL3JIYjRYdGVoQ3VzT08rQitOZz09
Meeting ID: 160 581 5851
Passcode: g&2Xz!
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 160 581 5851

Mid-scale RI-1: CISE breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1612060097?pwd=YjEyRGFsKzRJK3FiM3NuZUdyTkNzZz09
Meeting ID: 161 206 0097
Passcode: Ze23gm
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 206 0097

Mid-scale RI-1: EHR breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1603796946?pwd=R2hnQWFzZUE0bzZhV042ajl2d3VrZz09
Meeting ID: 160 379 6946
Passcode: p.YKu9
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 160 379 6946

Mid-scale RI-1 ENG breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1612903336?pwd=eGtJdTZ1T0JJZGFtQWZqbnlhbHJuZz09
Meeting ID: 161 290 3336
Passcode: T=2giY
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 290 3336

Mid-scale RI-1 GEO breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1618475292?pwd=UmNOSU5TL1J0REUxd3NiQkxmdUFJQT09
Meeting ID: 161 847 5292
Passcode: g&2Xz!
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 847 5292

Mid-scale RI-1 MPS breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1605221356?pwd=WUxVVzEyeW9jYys5UytOV2NxQlFuZz09
Meeting ID: 160 522 1356
Passcode: Ty9C78
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 160 522 1356

Mid-scale RI-1: SBE breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1615969789?pwd=a0RTazNHS0pXd2QzNGlFMkgzODlwZz09
Meeting ID: 161 596 9789
Passcode: 4cq@ip
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 596 9789

Webinar 2
Event: Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (Mid-scale RI-1): NSF 21-505 Q&A – Main meeting
Date/Time: Thursday, November 5, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. – 1:40 p.m. Eastern Time
Join ZoomGov Meeting
        https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1614702269?pwd=djl0Z2hnU3I3QXNiRHYraitMclhjZz09
        Meeting ID: 161 470 2269
        Passcode: 5i8ELv
Join via phone:
        (669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
        Meeting ID: 161 470 2269
Captions: View real-time captions at: www.fedrcc.us/ by clicking “Join Now” and entering event ID 4614984

• You will enter through a waiting room and be let in by an NSF staff member.
• Questions: Please submit questions via Chat during the webinar. There will be no participant audio-enabled questions or screen sharing.

Directorate Breakouts: Thursday, November 5, 2020 from 1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time

•  You will enter through a waiting room and be let in to the breakout by an NSF staff member.
• Please follow instructions provided during the breakouts for Q&A.

Mid-scale RI-1 BIO breakout
Join ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1605815851?pwd=THJGL3JIYjRYdGVoQ3VzT08rQitOZz09
Meeting ID: 160 581 5851
Passcode: g&2Xz!
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 160 581 5851Mid-scale RI-1: CISE breakout
Join ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1612060097?pwd=YjEyRGFsKzRJK3FiM3NuZUdyTkNzZz09
Meeting ID: 161 206 0097
Passcode: Ze23gm
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 206 0097

Mid-scale RI-1: EHR breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1603796946?pwd=R2hnQWFzZUE0bzZhV042ajl2d3VrZz09
Meeting ID: 160 379 6946
Passcode: p.YKu9
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 160 379 6946

Mid-scale RI-1 ENG breakout
Join ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1612903336?pwd=eGtJdTZ1T0JJZGFtQWZqbnlhbHJuZz09
Meeting ID: 161 290 3336
Passcode: T=2giY
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 290 3336

Mid-scale RI-1 GEO breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1618475292?pwd=UmNOSU5TL1J0REUxd3NiQkxmdUFJQT09
Meeting ID: 161 847 5292
Passcode: g&2Xz!
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 847 5292

Mid-scale RI-1 MPS breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1605221356?pwd=WUxVVzEyeW9jYys5UytOV2NxQlFuZz09
Meeting ID: 160 522 1356
Passcode: Ty9C78
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 160 522 1356

Mid-scale RI-1: SBE breakoutJoin ZoomGov Meeting
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1615969789?pwd=a0RTazNHS0pXd2QzNGlFMkgzODlwZz09
Meeting ID: 161 596 9789
Passcode: 4cq@ip
Join via phone:
(669)254-5252 US (San Jose) or (646)828-7666 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 161 596 9789

For more information about NSF, please visit the NSF page.

Today, nearly twenty years after the publication of the Final NIH Statement on Sharing Research Data in 2003, we have released a Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing. This represents the agency’s continued commitment to share and make broadly available the results of publicly funded biomedical research. We hope it will be a critical step in moving towards a culture change, in which data management and sharing is seen as integral to the conduct of research. Responsible data management and sharing is good for science; it maximizes availability of data to the best and brightest minds, underlies reproducibility, honors the participation of human participants by ensuring their data is both protected and fully utilized, and provides an element of transparency to ensure public trust and accountability.

This policy has been years in the making and has benefited enormously from feedback and input from stakeholders throughout the process. We are grateful to all those who took the time to comment on Request for Information, the Draft policy, or to participate in workshops or Tribal consultations. That thoughtful feedback has helped shape the Final policy, which we believe strikes a balance between reasonable expectations for data sharing and flexibility to allow for a diversity of data types and circumstances. How we incorporated public comments and decision points that led to the Final policy are detailed in the Preamble to the DMS policy.

The Final policy applies to all research funded or conducted by NIH that results in the generation of scientific data. The Final Policy has two main requirements (1) the submission of a Data Management and Sharing Plan (Plan); and (2) compliance with the approved Plan. We are asking for Plans at the time of submission of the application, because we believe planning and budgeting for data management and sharing needs to occur hand in hand with planning the research itself. NIH recognizes that science evolves throughout the research process, which is why we have built in the ability to update DMS Plans, but at the end of the day, we are expecting investigators and institutions to be accountable to the Plans they have laid out for themselves.

I strongly suspect we will hear both from those who think we should have gone farther and required that all data resulting from NIH-funded research be shared, regardless of extenuating factors, and those who think we have gone too far in requiring all applicants to develop a Plan. Which perhaps means we’ve gotten it just right! For some investigators and disciplines, who have been at the forefront of data sharing, this will be very familiar; for others, this will be new territory. Anticipating that variation in readiness, and in recognition of the cultural change we are trying to seed, there is a two-year implementation period. This time will be spent developing the information, support, and tools that the biomedical enterprise will need to comply with this new policy. NIH has already provided additional supplementary information – on (1) elements of a data management and sharing plan; (2) allowable costs; and (3) selecting a data repository – in concert with the policy release.

As NIH Director Francis Collins notes in his Director’s Statement today, the novel coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of making research data broadly accessible. But even as the world struggles with this acute global crisis, it is important to note that we are at an extraordinary time in biomedical science, where new technologies, data science, and understanding of fundamental biology are converging to accelerate the pace of discovery and medical advancement. The Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing builds on those exciting opportunities, and we look forward to working with our stakeholders to fulfill its vision.

For more Information, Please visit the NIH page.

Submission Window Date(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter’s local time):

     January 11, 2021 – January 25, 2021

DMREF is the primary program by which NSF participates in the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) for Global Competitiveness. MGI recognizes the importance of materials science and engineering to the well-being and advancement of society and aims to “deploy advanced materials at least twice as fast as possible today, at a fraction of the cost.” MGI integrates materials discovery, development, property optimization, and systems design with a shared computational framework. This framework facilitates collaboration and coordination of research activities, analytical tools, experimental results, and critical evaluation in pursuit of the MGI goals. Consistent with the MGI Strategic Plan, DMREF highlights four sets of goals:

• Leading a culture shift in materials science and engineering research to encourage and facilitate an integrated team approach;
• integrating experimentation, computation, data-intensive/-driven approaches, and theory, and equipping the materials science and engineering communities with advanced tools and techniques;
• making digital data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, and useful to the community; and
• creating a world-class materials science and engineering workforce that is trained for careers in academia or industry.

DMREF will accordingly support activities that significantly accelerate materials discovery and development by building the fundamental knowledge base needed to advance the design and development of materials with desirable properties or functionality. This will be accomplished through forming interdisciplinary teams of researchers working synergistically in a “closed loop” fashion, building a vibrant research community, leveraging data science, providing ready access to materials data, and educating the future MGI workforce. Achieving this goal could involve some combination of:

• strategies to advance materials design through testing methodology;
• theory, modeling, and simulation to predict behavior or assist in analysis of multidimensional input data; and
• validation through synthesis, growth, processing, characterization, and/or device demonstration.

This FY 2021 solicitation is open to all materials research topics. DMREF aligns with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) recommendations for strengthening American leadership in Industries of the Future, namely, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science, advanced manufacturing, advanced communications, and biotechnology. Furthermore, DMREF aligns with national priorities for defense and homeland security, information technologies and high-performance computing, critical minerals and sustainability, human health and welfare, clean energy, and the development of a diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. By facilitating interdisciplinary integrative materials research, DMREF is supportive of the NSF long-range transformative agenda, “Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments“.

This solicitation represents a crosscutting activity involving the Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Engineering (ENG), and Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE). Additionally, partnership with other federal agencies, specifically the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), may lead to an interagency effort. Submitted proposals may be shared with interested representatives from AFRL and AFOSR.

Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 25

The number of awards will depend on the availability of funds and the quality of the proposals.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $40,000,000

Anticipated funding amount is pending availability of funds.

These funds will be partitioned among the participating Divisions (funds are not pooled), each of which will support proposals of scientific interest to that Division. Proposals on topics situated at the boundaries between two or more Divisions may be co-reviewed by those Divisions. Such proposals, if highly ranked, will be eligible for co-funding by those Divisions.

For more information concerning the details of the program, eligibility, and submission instructions, please visit the NSF page.

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) education outreach program offers an opportunity for schools with formal or pending education partnership agreements in place with the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, to submit an application for the 2021 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Grants Program.

These competitive grants are designed to increase the participation and performance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs for students grades 4-12 in Ocean, Monmouth, Mercer, and Burlington Counties in New Jersey.

Funding opportunities associated with this grant are in the following categories:

• Costs associated with the development and execution of virtual STEM Learning and Activities, such as STEM Camps and other initiatives.
• Costs associated with teacher participation in a STEM education program or conference. Includes travel expenses (transportation, lodging, and per diem) and conference registration.
• Robotics competition participation in the 2020/2021 school years. Includes registration and associated costs. Robotics competitions include, but are not limited to, FIRST (www.usfirst.org), SEA PERCH (www.seaperch.org), and VEX (vexrobotics.com).
• Costs associated with other STEM Education Outreach Initiatives that harness and collaborate with National or Regional organizations. This might include, but not be limited to: Math Counts (www.mathcounts.org), the Journal of Visualized Experiments (www.jove.com), Camp Invention (www.invent.org).

For more information about eligibility or grant details, please see the grant page.