Tag Archives: NSF

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Application Webinars Announced

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The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.

GRFP Application Webinars providing an overview of the program, eligibility, and application requirements will be offered September 16-20 (attachment has a schedule, instructions, and links). Space is limited to 500 participants per session (register early!). A recorded webinar will be posted at nsfgrfp.org.

To register for a webinar, please visit the NSF GRFP page.  Additional information about the webinars can be found in this notice. 

Eligibility guidelines for the GRFP program can be found in the current Program Solicitation. 

2020 GRFP Applications are now open.  Please click here to apply.

Limited Submission Opportunity: NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program

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Internal Limited Submission Deadline to the Office of Research Administration: Friday, August 30, 2019 at 5pm.

NSF Deadline: September 27, 2019

Synopsis of the Program:

The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers.

IGE focuses on projects aimed at piloting, testing, and validating innovative and potentially transformativeapproaches to graduate education. IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for theircustomization, implementation, and broader adoption. The program supports testing of novel models or activities withhigh potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches.

The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacitybuilding needs in graduate education. Strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers,informal science centers, and academic partners are encouraged.

Goals of the IGE Program are to:

  • Catalyze rapid advances in STEM graduate education broadly as well as those responsive to the needs of particular disciplinary and interdisciplinary STEM fields, and
  • Generate the knowledge base needed to inform the development of models as well as their implementation and adaptability.

The IGE Program calls for proposals to:

  • Design, pilot, and test new, innovative and transformative approaches for inclusive STEM graduate education;
  • Examine the potential to extend a successful approach developed in one discipline or context to other disciplines, or transfer an evidence-based approach to a new context; and,
  • Develop projects that are informed by learning science and the existing body of knowledge about STEM graduate education.

Limit on the Number of Proposals per Organization: Institutions are restricted to submitting two (2) proposals to this solicitation.

For full details on this opportunity please visit the NSF IGE webpage or the solicitation (NSF 17-585).

For details regarding the University of Akron’s limited submission process, visit the ORA Limited Submission webpage.

NSF Critical Aspects of Sustainability (CAS)

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Economic development and human progress have led to a proliferation of manufactured chemicals and materials made from limited resources found in nature (i.e., minerals and metals, petroleum-based products and natural gas). Long-term sustainability requires consideration of the availability of specific natural resources, energy, and water usage. NSF continues to support efforts that seek to improve the efficiency with which natural resources are used to meet human needs for products and services. Sustainability research encompasses the design, manufacture and use of efficient, effective, safe and more environmentally-benign products and processes; stimulates innovation across all sectors to design and discover new chemicals and materials, production processes, and product stewardship practices; and, increases performance and value while meeting the goals of protecting and enhancing human health and the environment.

This program seeks to support basic research through core disciplinary programs aimed at improving the sustainability of resources for future generations while maintaining or improving current products in order to offer technologically-advanced, economically competitive, environmentally-benign and useful materials to a global society. In order to address these challenges, the program aims to identify opportunities for innovation in a wide range of contributing disciplines as well as integrative activities. This program encourages the development of new experimental and theoretical/modeling approaches that will aid in both reductionist and whole-systems approaches.

This program welcomes proposals in any area of research supported through the participating divisions that address the topics outlined below. The selected topics are of particular interest to core disciplinary programs in the participating divisions and do not include all funding opportunities and priorities in the area or sustainability at NSF. Proposals are submitted to the relevant core Programs indicated below in the participating Divisions, and all questions regarding proposals should be addressed by the cognizant Program Officers to which submission is contemplated. Proposals should be submitted with the “CAS:” prefix in the title.

The Division of Chemistry (CHE/MPS) welcomes proposals to its Disciplinary Research Programs, including Chemical Catalysis (CAT), Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI), Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms-A (CSDM-A), Chemical Structure Dynamics and Mechanisms-B (CSDM-B), Chemical Synthesis (SYN), Chemical Theory, Models and Computational Methods (CTMC), Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP), Environmental Chemical Sciences (ECS), and Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN). All proposals must be on chemical aspects of sustainability.

The Division of Materials Research (DMR/MPS) welcomes proposals to its Topical Materials Research Programs, including Biomaterials (BMAT), Ceramics (CER), Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT), Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM), Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN), Polymers (POL), and Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC). All proposals must be on materials aspects of sustainability and focused on fundamental materials-research approaches.

The Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems Division (CBET/ENG) has several core programs that review proposals on research topics related to sustainability, including Molecular Separations (MolS), Biosensing, Environmental Sustainability (EnvS), Biological and Environmental Interactions of Nanoscale Materials (BioNano), Combustion and Fire Systems (CFS), and Particulate and Multiphase Processes (PMP).

For the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI/ENG), proposals addressing sustainable materials processing are welcome. Of interest are manufacturing processes with reduced use of toxic components, such as solvents, carbon emissions, and pollutants; processes under ambient conditions, as opposed to extreme temperatures, pressures or other harsh conditions; and increased conservation of natural resources, such as water, raw material, and energy. Proposals to CMMI must be submitted to the Advanced Manufacturing (AM) Program and align with the scope of the program.

The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR/GEO) welcomes fundamental and transformational geosciences projects addressing the distribution of Critical Minerals and Materials in the Earth. The following programs in the division support research on this topic: Petrology and Geochemistry (CH), Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry (GG), and Frontier Research in Earth Sciences (FRES).

For additional information, including due dates for specific NSF Divisions, please visit the CAS program page.

National Science Foundation (NSF) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Collaborative Research Opportunity in Smart and Connected Communities

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The US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on Research Cooperation. The MOC provides an overarching framework to encourage collaboration between the US and Japanese research communities. NSF and JST are pleased to announce a collaborative research opportunity aligned with the goals of the NSF Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) Program.

Complementary expertise and resources in the US and Japan enable research in areas which are fundamental to smart and connected community solutions. Specific areas include, but are not limited to, disaster response and emergency management, precision agriculture, cybersecurity of the electric grid and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, and wired and wireless networking.

Proposals are expected to adhere to the solicitation guidelines for the NSF and JST programs from which the funding is sought and must represent an integrated, well-coordinated collaborative effort. This document provides guidelines for the preparation, submission, review, and award of NSF-JST collaborative proposals. Proposers are advised that all documents submitted to NSF or JST may be shared with the other agency in order to implement the two-way agency activities

NSF Solicitation – Smart and Connected Communities, NSF 19-564. Eligible award category: Planning Grants.

NSF Deadline: September 6, 2019

JST Solicitation – Japan (JST) – US (NSF) Joint Research 2019. Deadline: September 8, 2019.

Additional information can be found in the NSF Dear Colleague letter about the joint NSF – JST Collaborative Research Opportunity. 

NSF Research.gov Support for Collaborative Proposals with Subawards

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NSF is pleased to announce that as of June 24, 2019, the research community can prepare and submit full, research collaborative proposals with subawards in Research.gov. This is in addition to the existing capability (since April 2018) to prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in Research.gov. Since that initial release just over a year ago, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has implemented several enhancements to the site, including additional flexibilities for PDF uploads, support for PDFs generated from LaTeX source documents, and compliance checks for fonts and font sizes. Future enhancements to the Research.gov proposal system will allow the preparation and submission of separately submitted collaborative proposals from multiple organizations.

Compared to FastLane, our grants management system launched in 1994, the Research.gov proposal system is much easier to use and provides proposers with faster document uploads and the ability to quickly create and update documents. We encourage you to try the new system, and we are confident that you will agree that this next generation grants management system is more efficient and less burdensome than FastLane.

Also, as of June 24, 2019, a new email notification functionality was implemented to generate Sponsored Project Office (SPO)/Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) email notifications when Principal Investigators (PIs) enable proposal access to SPOs/AORs. A similar email notification is available in FastLane, and we are excited to add the capability in Research.gov.

Modernizing Proposal Preparation and Submission

NSF’s modernization of its FastLane system continues with the goal of improving the user experience to prepare and submit NSF proposals, while also reducing administrative burden for both proposers and NSF staff. As capabilities are migrated from FastLane to Research.gov, the system features will expand until it eventually replaces FastLane for proposal preparation and submission.

While proposers can still prepare and submit collaborative proposals with subawards as well as full, research non-collaborative proposals in FastLane, NSF encourages the research community to use the new Research.gov proposal system because as NSF continues to enhance the new system incrementally, your vital feedback is being incorporated during the development process.

Preparing and Submitting Proposals in Research.gov

Here’s some of the current Research.gov features that proposers are enjoying:

  • Integrated compliance checks for fonts, margins, and line spacing;
  • Real-time compliance feedback and alerts, so proposers know a proposal section is compliant before moving on to another section;
  • Specific checks on the budget screens and for Collaborators and Other Affiliations (COA) uploads;
  • A few seconds to upload documents versus 30-90 seconds for each document upload in FastLane; and
  • Embedded relevant sections of the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and video job aids, so proposers don’t have to go to multiple sites to access guidance and tools.

Initiating a Proposal in Research.gov

By answering a few questions in the five-step proposal wizard, Research.gov customizes the set-up process and compliance rules for the proposal being created. In addition, the proposal wizard dynamically drives the proposal sections that are required on subsequent screens.

If you have not done so already, we invite you to initiate a proposal in Research.gov by following the steps outlined below:

  • Open Research.gov and click “Sign In” located at the top right of the screen;
  • Enter your NSF ID and password and click “Sign In;”
  • From the Research.gov “My Desktop” page, click “New! Prepare Proposals (Limited proposal types)” in the “Prepare & Submit Proposals tile” or go to this option from the top navigation bar by selecting the “Prepare & Submit Proposals” tab and clicking on “New! Prepare Proposals (Limited proposal types);”
  • Select the “Prepare Proposal” option in the “Prepare New Proposal” tile on the left side of the Proposal Preparation page; and
  • Follow the five-step proposal wizard to set up the proposal.

After completing the initiation steps, you are ready to complete all required and optional sections of your proposal and then submit it to NSF.

Submitting Feedback

NSF wants to hear from you! To submit feedback about the new Research.gov Proposal Preparation and Submission Site:

  • Go to the Research.gov Feedback page;
  • Choose “Other” under the Site Area dropdown menu;
  • Include your feedback in the Comments or Suggestions field; and
  • Click Submit when you are ready to send your feedback to NSF.

Training Resources and Additional Information

We encourage you to share this information with your colleagues. If you have 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.