NASA University Leadership Initiative (ULI) – Proposal Opportunity

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Amendment 1 to the NASA ARMD Research Opportunities in Aeronautics – 2018 (ROA-2018) NRA has been posted on the NSPIRES web site.

Solicitation: NNH18ZEA001N

Research proposals are sought in seven topic areas for Appendix D.4 in support of University Leadership Initiative (ULI).

ULI provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges, defining interdisciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact. By addressing the most complex challenges associated with ARMD strategic thrusts, universities will accelerate progress toward achievement of high impact outcomes while leveraging their capability to bring together the best and brightest minds across many disciplines. In order to transition their research, Principal Investigators are expected to actively explore transition opportunities and pursue follow-on funding from stakeholders and industrial partners during the course of the award.

Proposals are sought in seven topic areas corresponding to the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD):

  • Topic 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations
  • Topic 2: Innovation in Commercial Supersonic Aircraft
  • Topic 3: Ultra-Efficient Commercial Vehicles
  • Topic 4: Transition to Alternative Propulsion and Energy
  • Topic 5: Real-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance
  • Topic 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation
  • Topic 7: Aviation Manufacturing

An Applicant’s Workshop will be held on Wednesday April 4, 2018 from 12:30-3:00 ET (https://ac.arc.nasa.gov/ppbriefing/ and sign in as a “Guest” using your full name).  Additional information on page D-33 of the solicitation.

This NRA will use a 2-step proposal process. Step-A proposals are required, in place of the NOI, and are due May 16, 2018.

CDMRP Releases FY2018 Defense Medical Research and Development Program Funding Opportunities

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The Department of Defense (DOD) – Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) recently released funding opportunities and program pre-announcements for FY2018.

A current CDMRP funding opportunity is the Military Performance Optimization Research Award, with a pre-application deadline of 4/11/18.  This program will support research addressing physical performance optimization, cognitive performance optimization, injury prevention and reduction, and deployment health protection.

Although funds have not been appropriated for the below CDMRP programs, anticipated funding opportunities for FY2018 include:

CDMRP provides the information about anticipated funding opportunities in pre-announcements so that investigators have adequate time to plan and develop proposals for submission.  Further information on the CDMRP, current opportunities and anticipated opportunities can be found on their webpage.

 

 

Trump, Congress approve largest U.S. research spending increase in a decade

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Researchers can now breathe a sigh of relief; even though the 2018 Federal spending plan took six additional months to pass, there are some encouraging budget figures for Research & Development (R&D).  Over the past 12 months, the US R&D community has expressed considerable fears about the future of funding.

The new Federal budget for “federal R&D spending will reach its highest point ever in inflation-adjusted dollars,” according to the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) article “AAAS Celebrates Federal Spending Increases for Scientific Research” (3/23/18).

Science published an article on Friday, March 23rd as well, “Trump, Congress approves largest U.S. spending increase in a decade,” highlighting some of the key science agencies benefiting from the spending plan:

  • NIH receives an 8.3% increase
  • NSF receives a 3.9% increase
  • Department of Energy (DOE) receives almost a 15% increase
  • NASA receives a 7.9% increase

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture also received funding increases, although not in the amazing proportions as those mentioned above.  Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not receive any budgetary increase; they received a partial win,  narrowly escaping the proposed deep cuts that lawmakers ultimately rejected.

The Science article estimated that “R&D spending in 2018 will reach $176.8 billion.”

Science & Technology Highlights in the First Year of the Trump Administration

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The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently published a report entitled Science & Technology Highlights the First Year of the Trump Administration detailing many of the Science & Technology (S&T) achievements over the last year.  Reading between the lines, this document provides researchers valuable information about the Federal Government’s funding priorities and areas of interest.

Researchers can reasonably anticipate that Federal funding agencies will give priority to the OSTP areas of interest, if not additional or special funding opportunities.  For example, NIH’s National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) has a special notice for funding research on Advancing Research of Effect of Maternal Opioid Exposure on Developing Brain and NSF‘s 2019 budget request (news release 18-012) seeks an increase in funding to accelerate the progress of its “10 Big Ideas for Future Investments“, including special attention for cybersecurity research.

Per the report, “The Trump Administration is committed to advancing technological development and conducting research and development (R&D) to ensure national security, grow the economy, create well-paying jobs, and improve the lives of Americans across this great nation. Over the past year, OSTP has led coordinated Administration efforts to promote emerging technologies, empower Americans to innovate, and defend American technologies abroad. President Trump demonstrated his commitment to the importance of Federal scientific exploration by requesting $151.2 billion for Federal R&D investment in the FY 2018 budget – a 2% increase over FY 2017.1 Furthermore, the President’s FY 2018 Budget Request would result in the highest percent of the budget for the conduct of R&D since the FY 2014 Budget Request.2 In August, OSTP and OMB released the annual Administration R&D budget priorities for FY 2019, advising agencies to prioritize basic and early-stage applied research, the foundation for the development of transformative commercial products and services.”

The S&T areas highlighted in the report include:

  • Artificial Intelligence & Autonomy
  • Biomedical Innovation
  • Connectivity
  • Cybersecurity & Government IT Services
  • Digital Economy
  • Energy Dominance
  • Homeland Defense & National Security
  • Opioid Epidemic Response
  • Scientific Discovery
  • Space Exploration
  • STEM Education

“These highlights represent only a fraction of the tremendous scientific and technological work conducted across the Federal Government. Every day, Federal scientists and policymakers advance the frontiers of human knowledge and inform national policy to deliver the benefits of these advances to the American people. OSTP looks forward to continuing to advocate for American scientists and technologists in the year ahead, and working together to ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in technological innovation and scientific discovery.”

Additional information on the S&T highlights, including advances for each priority area, can be found in the Science & Technology Highlights report or on the OTSP webpage.

NSF Public Access Policy Expansion

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The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Public Access policy is intended to expand public access to the results of its federally-funded research. This aligns with the Foundation’s long-standing commitment to clear and open communication of research results, which is central to fulfilling NSF’s primary mission of promoting the progress of science, advancing the frontiers of knowledge, and helping to ensure the nation’s future prosperity.

NSF’s Public Access policy requires NSF-funded investigators to deposit peer-reviewed, published journal articles and juried conference papers in the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR). NSF-PAR was launched in late 2015 in partnership with the Department of Energy (DoE) to enable NSF-funded investigators to meet this deposit requirement and to include the relevant information in their annual and final project reports.

Public Access Expansion

Beginning on March 26, 2018, NSF authors who are jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) can retrieve previously submitted final manuscripts from the DOE system and pull them into NSF-PAR to meet NSF’s Public Access requirement. When an author indicates they have deposited a record into the DOE E-Link system and a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) match is found, the system will upload it to NSF-PAR for submission. The uploaded record will also be linked automatically to the project report associated with the award. This integration will only be available for jointly-funded publications by NSF and DOE, but future efforts will engage additional agencies.

Additional information is available on the Research.gov “About Public Access” page and in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (NSF 18-041) on the NSF.gov website.

For IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or rgov@nsf.gov. Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov.