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National Science Foundation (NSF)

NSF-23-540: Pathways into the Earth, Ocean, Polar, and Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences (GEOPAths)

Slots: An organization may serve as sole submitting organization or as lead organization of a collaborative project on only one submission per cycle, regardless of track, but may serve as the non-lead organization of a collaborative project more than once per cycle.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Contact RII.

LOI: Not required.

External Deadline: March 27, 2023

Recurring Deadlines: February 23, 2024; Fourth Friday in February, Annually Thereafter

Award Information

Award Type: Standard or Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 15, with ~5 awards being made in each of the three tracks.

Anticipated Award Amount: $6,000,000. NSF anticipates available funding for the GEOPAths program to be approximately 6 million total for new awards per fiscal year. See section III below for further information about the anticipated number of awards in the program’s three tracks and the duration of awards. The estimated program budget, number of awards, and award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds.

Who May Serve as PI: There are no restrictions or limits.

Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23540/nsf23540.htm

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/.

Materials to submit include:

  • (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
  • (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

The Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) supports the Pathways into the Geosciences – Earth, Ocean, Polar and Atmospheric Sciences (GEOPAths) funding opportunity. GEOPAths invites proposals that specifically address the current needs and opportunities related to education, learning, training and professional development within the geosciences community through the formation of STEM Learning Ecosystems that engage students in the study of the Earth, its oceans, polar regions and atmosphere. The primary goal of the GEOPAths funding opportunity is to increase the number of students pursuing undergraduate and/or postgraduate degrees through the design and testing of novel approaches that engage students in authentic, career-relevant experiences in geoscience. In order to broaden participation in the geosciences, engaging students from historically excluded groups or from non-geoscience degree programs is a priority. This solicitation features three funding tracks that focus on Geoscience Learning Ecosystems (GLEs):

  1. GEOPAths: Informal Networks (IN). Collaborative projects in this track will support geoscience learning and experiences in informal settings for teachers, pre-college (e.g., upper level high school) students, and early undergraduates in the geosciences.
  2. GEOPAths: Undergraduate Preparation (UP). Projects in this track will engage pre-college and undergraduate students in extra-curricular experiences and training in the geosciences with a focus on service learning and workplace skill building.
  3. GEOPAths: Graduate Opportunities (GO). Projects in this track will improve research and career-related pathways into the geosciences for undergraduate and graduate students through institutional collaborations with a focus on service learning and workplace skill building.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

NSF-23-536: Scholarships in STEM Network (S-STEM-Net)

Slots: An organization may submit at most one S-STEM-Hub proposal (as a single institution, a subawardee, or a member of a collaborative research project).

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Contact RII.

LOI: Not required.

External Deadline: March 29, 2023

Recurring Deadlines: March 27, 2024; Fourth Wednesday in March, Annually Thereafter

Award Information

Award Type: Standard Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 1 – 5

Anticipated Award Amount: $15,000,000

Who May Serve as PI: There are no restrictions or limits.

Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23536/nsf23536.htm

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/.

Materials to submit include:

  • (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
  • (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

Through this solicitation, NSF seeks to foster a network of S-STEM stakeholders and further develop the infrastructure needed to generate and disseminate new knowledge, successful practices and effective design principles arising from NSF S-STEM projects nationwide. The ultimate vision of the legislation governing the S-STEM parent program[1] (and of the current S-STEM-Net solicitation) is that all Americans, regardless of economic status, should be able to contribute to the American innovation economy if they so desire.

To support collaboration within the S-STEM network, NSF will fund several S-STEM Research Hubs (S-STEM-Hub). The S-STEM Network (S-STEM-Net) will collaborate to create synergies and sustain a robust national ecosystem consisting of multi-sector partners supporting domestic low-income STEM students in achieving their career goals, while also ensuring access, inclusion, and adaptability to changing learning needs. The Hubs will investigate evolving barriers to the success of this student population. It will also disseminate the context and circumstances by which interventions and practices that support graduation of domestic low-income students (both undergraduate and graduate) pursuing careers in STEM are successful.

The target audience for this dissemination effort is the community of higher education institutions, faculty, scholars, researchers and evaluators, local and regional organizations, industry, and other nonprofit, federal, state, and local agencies concerned with the success of domestic low-income STEM students in the United States.

Activities required of all S-STEM-Hub projects:

Regardless of focus, all Research Hubs must propose and budget for activities to:

  • identify, develop, and support promising innovative research ideas that generate valuable new knowledge on the US higher education enterprise in general and the S-STEM community in particular;
  • gather, analyze, and utilize the data and insights resulting from the experiences of those participating in S-STEM projects to share information about what works and what does not under given circumstances, regarding low-income STEM student achievement;
  • share and leverage effective practices on a national scale to improve the achievement and success of domestic low-income students pursuing careers in STEM (including veterans, graduate students, and students in rural areas, if appropriate);
  • provide intellectual infrastructure for collaborations with potential to expand the knowledge base about support for domestic low-income, high-achieving STEM students;
  • develop mechanisms for dissemination of successful practices, the context in which they work and research results; and,
  • ensure that the Research Hub’s activities are inclusive of the broad collection of institutions with S-STEM projects in the research focus of interest including, but not limited to, 2-year colleges, PUIs, minority-serving institutions, and/or research-intensive universities, as appropriate.

Regardless of the focus, all proposals for a Research Hub must describe a plan to include and leverage the diversity of constituents, approaches, disciplines, and ideas that may exist within a thematic topic, and a strategy to explore new knowledge and generate best practices that will be transferable to other locations.

While the exact structure of a Research Hub may take many different forms, a successful S-STEM-Hub proposal must:

  • present the rationale for the creation of a Research Hub as opposed to a regular research grant. Research questions grounded in the literature that constitute the starting point for the Hub should also be included;
  • justify the research work that otherwise could not be advanced without the funded collaboration (why a large award with multiple PIs is needed);
  • identify the relevant stakeholders for the proposed Research Hub focus;
  • involve multiple S-STEM constituencies and institutions and present a clear plan to recruit researchers and solicit perspectives and expertise from institutions including, but not limited to, 2-year colleges, PUIs, minority-serving institutions, and/or research-intensive universities, as appropriate;
  • demonstrate that the proposed S-STEM-Hub’s leadership and advisory structures are reflective of the institution types that most significantly intersect their focus area;
  • describe how the S-STEM-Hub will leverage diverse institutional data streams and/or tackle challenges that cannot be accomplished by a single institution or a team of PIs; and
  • describe a project management plan and a mechanism to encourage and enable interaction between S-STEM-Hub stakeholders.
  • present an external evaluation plan for the Hub’s activities.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

NSF-23-528: Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC)

Slots: 1

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Contact RII.

LOI: February 15, 2023

External Deadline: May 25, 2023

Award Information

Award Type: Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 15

Anticipated Award Amount: $20,000,000

Who May Serve as PI: 

The PI must hold a full-time administrative or faculty position at the proposing institution. Part-time administrators, adjunct faculty, and temporary hires are not eligible to serve as PI.

Preliminary proposals must identify up to three individuals from the submitting institution (including the PI) to participate in the EPIIC workshops, and at least one administrator is required to serve on this team. See Section II for details about the workshops. See Section V.A. for more details about the make-up of proposing teams.

Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23528/nsf23528.htm

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the USC Research and Innovation (R&I) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/.

Materials to submit include:

  • (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
  • (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

A. Intent

The Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) program is intended to broaden participation in innovation ecosystems by supporting capacity-building efforts at institutions of higher education interested in growing external partnerships. Establishing innovation ecosystems requires broad networks of partners working together to create a virtuous cycle of use-inspired research, translation of those research results to practice, and the development of a skilled workforce. Further, diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystems that contribute to the long-term community economic health of a region require the engagement of all interested IHEs within a region to participate and contribute their unique set of skills and expertise. However, IHEs not currently classified as R1 or R2 institutions according to the 2021 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education lack the infrastructure and resources needed to grow external partnerships and effectively contribute to innovation ecosystems, even though they are expected to play key roles within their region. This solicitation aims to provide these institutions with the support necessary to become equitable partners in innovation ecosystems.

The creation of this program is motivated by NSF’s, including TIP’s, commitment to accelerating scientific and technological innovation nationwide, particularly through the new NSF Regional Innovation Engine (NSF Engines) program. Importantly, participation in this solicitation is not predicated on an existing partnership with organizations submitting proposals under an NSF Engines solicitation. Furthermore, it is expected that the capacity-building efforts funded under this solicitation will provide significant innovation partnership opportunities irrespective of future participation in an NSF Engine.

MSIs, PUIs, and two-year institutions interested in using this capacity-building opportunity to develop the infrastructure needed to participate in an NSF Engine are especially encouraged to apply.

B. Desired Activities

Capacity-building efforts supported by this solicitation should focus on the resources, infrastructure, and expertise required for an institution to establish meaningful partnerships with external organizations to facilitate participation in the regional innovation ecosystem. Such efforts may include, but are not limited to:

  • Growing corporate, community, and/or local government relations;
  • Building external partnerships for nimble workforce development programs responsive to regional needs;
  • Growing external partnerships to advance technology commercialization, especially those relevant to the regional innovation ecosystem; and/or
  • Expanding the institution’s research enterprise (e.g. research development, research administration, research leadership, etc.) through external partnerships.

Awards made in response to full proposals under this solicitation will provide funding to support a range of activities that are currently hard to accomplish within the institution, such as award management, relief time for faculty and staff for developing external partnerships, infrastructure, and resources to facilitate participation in future NSF solicitations.

C. Funding Process

Because participation in NSF funding opportunities may represent significant logistical challenges for this solicitation’s intended audience, this program is employing a three-phase process to provide proposing teams guidance and mentorship generating project ideas and proposal development.

Phase 1. Submitting Preliminary Proposals: Phase 1 requires the submission of a brief preliminary proposal. Proposing teams will be selected to participate in Phase 2 based on their institution’s need for capacity-building for innovation partnerships as supported by the preliminary proposal. See Section V.A. for instructions on writing preliminary proposals and Section VI.A. for details on the selection criteria.

Phase 2. EPIIC Workshops: The workshops will include virtual and in-person meetings designed to create an interactive and free-thinking environment where participants from a range of academic institutions immerse themselves in collaborative thinking processes to construct impactful approaches to identifying and improving infrastructure limitations that impede an institution’s ability to meaningfully engage in cross-sector partnerships to advance efforts in workforce development, R&D, and translation of R&D results to practice.

The workshops will be led by a facilitator whose role is to assist in defining the institutional challenges and foster fruitful discussions among participants. The facilitator will be joined by a small number of mentors who are selected by NSF based on their expertise. The facilitator and mentors will take full part in the workshops, but they will not be eligible to receive funding under this collaborative activity.

The EPIIC workshops will include:

  • Virtual Orientation: The workshops will begin with this 1.5-hour virtual kick-off meeting.
  • Challenge Identification Workshops: This series of four half-day virtual events will allow participants to define the scope of the institutional challenges associated with partnership building.
  • In-Person Solution Development and Cohort Formation Event: This three-day, in-person workshop will be used for solution ideation, solution selection and stewarding, and cohort building.
  • Virtual Synchronous Feedback Session: This virtual meeting will allow participants to receive additional feedback from their peers shortly after the in-person event.
  • Proposal Development: Teams invited to submit full proposals will receive additional mentor support to develop their proposals.

At the workshops, representatives from each participating institution will be expected to engage constructively in dialogue with one another, the facilitators, and mentors to develop collaborative proposals. They will work together to identify the impediments to developing successful partnerships and the strategies for ameliorating those impediments; and to develop, in cohorts, capacity-building projects.

Specific outcomes of the EPIIC workshops are expected to include:

  • The specific challenges to establishing and growing partnerships with industry, state, local, and/or tribal governments, non-profits, etc. are identified;
  • Meaningful, actionable solutions to these challenges are developed, and;
  • Participating institutions self-organize to create cohorts based on common capacity-building goals and/or potential solutions.

Phase 3: At the conclusion of the workshops, a subset of teams will be invited to submit collaborative full proposals. Invitations to submit full proposals are conditioned upon full participation in the workshops by the proposing team.

Full proposals will be reviewed by NSF Program Officers and external reviewers following the merit review criteria outlined in the PAPPG and in Section VI.A. of the link above.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

NSF-23-527: NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM)

Slots: Two.

An institution may submit up to two proposals (either as a single institution or as a subawardee or a member of an inter-institutional consortia project (lead or co-lead) for a given S-STEM deadline. Multiple proposals from an institution must not overlap with regard to S-STEM eligible disciplines. See Additional Eligibility Information below for more details (see IV. Eligibility Information).

Institutions with a current S-STEM award should wait at least until the end of the third year of execution of their current award before submitting a new S-STEM proposal focused on students pursuing degrees in the same discipline(s).

The above restrictions do not apply to collaborative planning grant proposals.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Contact RII.

External Deadline: March 2, 2023 for Tracks 2, 3 & Collaborative Planning Grants; March 29, 2023 for Track 1 proposals

Recurring Deadlines: February 20, 2024 for Tracks 2, 3, & Collaborative Planning Grants; Third Tuesday in February, Annually Thereafter; March 28, 2024 for Track 1 proposals and Fourth Thursday in March, Annually Thereafter

Award Information

Award Type: Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 50-90

Anticipated Award Amount: $80,000,000 to $120,000,000

Awards for Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) projects may not exceed $1,000,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.

Awards for Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) projects may not exceed $2,500,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.

Awards for Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia) projects may not exceed $5,000,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.

Collaborative Planning projects may not exceed $100,000 for a maximum duration of 1 year.

Who May Serve as PI:

For Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) and Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) projects, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in an S-STEM eligible discipline in the past two years. The Principal Investigator must be able to provide the leadership and time required to ensure the success of the project. Projects involving more than one department within an institution are eligible, but a single Principal Investigator must accept overall management and leadership responsibility. Faculty from all departments involved need to have roles in the project as either Co-Principal Investigators, senior personnel or scholar mentors. Other members of the S-STEM project senior leadership and management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators.

For Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia) projects, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline, (b) an academic administrator who has taught an S-STEM eligible discipline in the past two years, or (c) a non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher investigating questions related to low-income student success. The Principal Investigator must be able to provide the leadership and time required to ensure the success of the project. Track 3 consortium proposals must have a Principal Investigator who accepts overall management and leadership responsibility across all consortia members. Faculty from all institutions and departments involved need to have roles in the project as either Co-Principal investigators, senior personnel or scholar mentors. Other members of the S-STEM project senior leadership and management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators or as Principal Investigators on collaborative research proposals.

Collaborative Planning grants are intended to help a collection of institutions plan for a future Inter-institutional Track 3 proposal. For Collaborative Planning grants, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a faculty member teaching in any S-STEM eligible discipline, or (b) a STEM administrator (department head or above) at one of the institutions within the envisioned inter-institutional consortia, or (c) a non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher investigating questions related to low-income student success. The Principal Investigator on a Collaborative Planning grant must demonstrate the capacity to convene and lead a team of inter-institutional S-STEM eligible faculty, social science or educational researchers, and administrators focused on low-income student success to write the desired proposal in a 1-year timeframe

Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23527/nsf23527.htm

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the USC Research and Innovation (R&I) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/.

Materials to submit include:

  • (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
  • (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

The main goal of the S-STEM program is to enable low-income students with academic ability, talent or potential to pursue successful careers in promising STEM fields. Ultimately, the S-STEM program seeks to increase the number of low-income students who graduate with a S-STEM eligible degree and contribute to the American innovation economy with their STEM knowledge. Recognizing that financial aid alone cannot increase retention and graduation in STEM, the program provides awards to institutions of higher education (IHEs) not only to fund scholarships, but also to adapt, implement, and study evidence-based curricular and co-curricular[1] activities that have been shown to be effective supporting recruitment, retention, transfer (if appropriate), student success, academic/career pathways, and graduation in STEM.

Social mobility for low-income students with academic potential is even more crucial than for students that enjoy other economic support structures. Hence, social mobility cannot be guaranteed unless the scholarship funds the pursuit of degrees in areas where rewarding jobs are available after graduation with an undergraduate or graduate degree.

The S-STEM program encourages collaborations, including but not limited to partnerships among different types of institutions; collaborations of S-STEM eligible faculty, researchers, and academic administrators focused on investigating the factors that affect low-income student success (e.g., institutional, educational, behavioral and social science researchers); and partnerships among institutions of higher education and business, industry, local community organizations, national labs, or other federal or state government organizations, as appropriate.

Scholars must be domestic low-income students, with academic ability, talent or potential and with demonstrated unmet financial need who are enrolled in an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree program in an S-STEM eligible discipline. Proposers must provide an analysis that articulates the characteristics and academic needs of the population of students they are trying to serve. NSF is particularly interested in supporting the attainment of degrees in fields identified as critical needs for the Nation. Many of these fields have high demand for training professionals that can operate at the convergence of disciplines and include but are not limited to quantum computing and quantum science, robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, computer science, data science and computational science applied to other frontier STEM areas and other STEM or technology fields in urgent need of domestic professionals. It is up to the proposer to make a compelling case that a field is a critical need field in the United States.

S-STEM Eligible Degree Programs

  • Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Engineering, and Associate of Applied Science
  • Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Applied Science
  • Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Engineering
  • Doctoral

S-STEM Eligible Disciplines

  1. Disciplinary fields in which research is funded by NSF, with the following exceptions:
    1. Clinical degree programs, including medical degrees, nursing, veterinary medicine, physical therapy, and others not funded by NSF, are ineligible degrees.
    2. Business school programs that lead to Bachelor of Arts or Science in Business Administration degrees (BABA/BSBA/BBA) are not eligible for S-STEM funding.
    3. Masters and Doctoral degrees in Business Administration are also excluded.
  2. Technology fields associated with the S-STEM-eligible disciplines (e.g., biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology).

Proposers are strongly encouraged to contact Program Officers before submitting a proposal if they have questions concerning degree or disciplinary eligibility.

The S-STEM program particularly encourages proposals from 2-year institutions, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and urban, suburban and rural public institutions.

[1] an activity at a school or college pursued in addition to the normal course of study.

Description of Program Tracks: The following sections describe each track differences:

Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building)

Track 1 projects seek to increase the participation of institutions that have never had an award from the S-STEM program or the STEM Talent Expansion (STEP) program. This requirement applies to the institution as a whole. One S-STEM or STEP award to any department or school within the institution makes the entire institution ineligible for a Track 1 award.

Track 1 projects must be led by a PI who is (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines being pursued by the targeted scholars, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in one of the eligible disciplines within the two years prior to submission and can dedicate the time necessary to assure project success. The PI must be a member of the proposed project’s leadership and management team. The leadership and management team should also include a STEM administrator (department head or above). Faculty members from all departments or academic units involved should have a role in the project either as Co-PIs, senior personnel, or scholar mentors. The project team could include, if appropriate, a non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher to support evidence-based responses to items raised by the external evaluator through formative evaluation. This additional researcher cannot take the place of the external evaluator.

Track 1 proposals may also include a focus on student transfer or progression to graduate school. In this case, if needed, two or more institutions could partner.

Track 1 proposals may request up to $750,000 total for up to 6 years.

Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution)

Track 2 proposals have the same S-STEM goals as Track 1 proposals. They generally involve and benefit only one institution, but they will serve more scholars than Track 1 proposals. Any IHE (as described under the eligibility section) can submit a Track 2 proposal, whether or not the institution has received prior S-STEM or STEP awards.

Track 2 proposals may, in some cases, also include a focus on student transfer or progression to graduate school. In this case, if needed, two or more institutions could partner.

Track 2 projects must be led by a PI who is (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines being pursued by the targeted scholars, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in one of the eligible disciplines in the last two years from submission and can dedicate the time necessary to assure project success. The PI must be a member of the proposed project’s leadership and management team. The leadership and management team should also include a STEM administrator (department head or above). Faculty members from all departments or academic units involved should have a role in the project either as Co-PIs, senior personnel, or scholar mentors. The project team could include, if appropriate, a non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher to support evidence-based responses to items raised by the external evaluator through formative evaluation. This additional researcher cannot take the place of the external evaluator.

Proposals for Track 2 may request up to $1,500,000 total for up to 6 years.

Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia)

Track 3 projects support multi-institutional collaborations that focus on a common interest or challenge. For example, a collaboration among community colleges and four-year institutions may focus on issues associated with successful transfer of low-income students from 2-year institutions to 4-year programs. In another example, a multi-institutional collaboration may focus on investigating factors, such as self-efficacy or identity, which contribute to the success or degree attainment of domestic, low-income students in different types of institutions.

Proposals with a strong focus on the transfer or advancement of students from one educational level to another should collaborate with appropriate institutional partners. For example, proposals focused on the transfer of students from 2-year institutions to 4-year institutions should include faculty and administrators from 2-year institutions and 4-year institutions in the leadership team; likewise, proposals focusing on the advancement of undergraduate students at predominately undergraduate institutions to graduate programs should include institutions, administrators and Co-PIs representing both the undergraduate programs and the receiving graduate programs.

Track 3 projects have the same overall goals as Track 1 and 2 projects but seek to accomplish these goals at a very large scale by leveraging multi-institutional efforts and infrastructure. In addition to the expectations stated in section II.B.2 for all tracks, Track 3 projects are expected to:

  • Establish an authentic, strong and mutually beneficial collaboration across all institutions involved in the consortia, providing comparable benefits to all institutions in terms of number of scholarships as well as in the infrastructure established to serve low-income students;
  • Establish strong technical assistance and processes that support and manage project activities across institutions involved in the collaborative effort.
  • Engage in high quality research to advance understanding of how to adapt, implement and scale up effective evidence-based programs and practices designed to foster positive outcomes for low-income students in STEM.

NSF does not favor a particular research design over others. How the chosen research methods and approaches are aligned with and appropriate for the research goals should be fully explained in the proposal. The ultimate goal of S-STEM is to support low-income students. Projects are strongly discouraged from allowing a desired sample size to play a role in the determination of the size of awarded scholarships.

Track 3 projects are managed by leadership and management teams composed of faculty members who are currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline(s), STEM administrators, and non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researchers. The PI of Track 3 proposals must be either (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines, (b) a STEM administrator (department head or above), or (c) a non-teaching researcher whose expertise is in institutional, educational, or social science research in higher education. Faculty from all the institutions and disciplines involved need to be included in the leadership team and/or senior personnel. The lead PI needs to demonstrate the capacity, experience and resources needed to manage a complex, large-scale project and the necessary time to dedicate to assure project success.

Track 3 proposals may request up to $5 million total for up to 6 years.

Track 3 projects will be reviewed by NSF during their third year to determine whether satisfactory progress has been made, with continued funding contingent on the result of the third-year review. See section VII.C on reporting requirements.

Collaborative Planning Grants to Develop an Inter-institutional Consortium

Collaborative Planning projects provide support for groups of two or more IHEs and other potential partner organizations to establish fruitful collaborations, increase understanding of complex issues faced by low-income students at each institution, establish inter-institutional agreements when necessary and develop mechanisms for cooperation in anticipation of a future Track 3 proposal that will benefit all institutions and their scholars as equal partners.

This category of projects aims to provide proposers from two or more institutions the funds and time to establish the relationships and agreements necessary for submitting an Inter-institutional Consortia S-STEM proposal. It is expected that proposers will be ready to write and submit this Inter-institutional Consortia proposal within 1-2 years of receiving a Collaborative Planning grant award. Any subsequent proposals to S-STEM based on this work must describe the results of the planning effort.

Inter-institutional Consortia projects represent diverse collaborations, including partnerships between 2-year colleges and 4-year colleges and universities, between 4-year colleges and graduate programs, or between comparable institutions looking to implement and study parallel interventions. As such, Collaborative Planning grants can address these, or other, types of partnerships that might result in a stronger Track 3 proposal. Ideally, planning grants should reflect authentic collaborations between institutions, prepare collaborative partners to award scholarships at all collaborating institutions and provide programming according to each institution’s needs assessment and realities.

A Collaborative Planning grant should allow institutions to gather data, design shared mechanisms for data collection and student support, and establish the necessary memorandum of understanding (MOUs) or articulation agreements to facilitate students’ transition between institutions and ultimate success. Different methodological approaches may be employed to uncover the needs across institutions. PIs should propose approaches they feel are appropriate to their specific context. Surveys, focus groups, interviews, etc., can also be included in the planning grant as mechanisms to understand the needs of students. Furthermore, Collaborative Planning proposals must include the following elements in the project description:

  • what is already known about all potential partner institutions;
  • the planning grant goals;
  • name of the individuals and offices that will be approached at each institution and description of the potential contributions of collaborators representing multiple perspectives;
  • the steps to build effective collaborations to achieve the project goals (needs assessment, articulation agreements; meetings, etc.);
  • the steps and actions to further refine and develop the future S-STEM Track 3 proposal, including how programmatic details will be decided (the interventions, the definition of the scholarship eligibility requirements based on institutional data; establishment of scholarship amounts, and methods), leveraging the expertise of the collaborators;
  • narrative of how the development of the collaboration will lead to a stronger future Track 3 proposal, and;
  • a mechanism to assess the collaborative planning effort’s progress towards its stated goals.

If appropriate, Collaborative Planning Grant proposals may request funds to pilot evidence-based supports at one or more institutions in order to collect preliminary data and strengthen those activities. Participating institutions can also test new policies and administrative procedures that, per a needs assessment or other institutional data, have potential to remove barriers or otherwise improve outcomes for potential S-STEM scholars.

Please note that, while collaborative planning projects may wish to share any findings or implementation mechanisms, a formal dissemination plan is not required.

Collaborative planning grants are managed by a PI who is either (a) a faculty member teaching in any S-STEM eligible discipline, (b) STEM administrator (department head of above) at one of the institutions within the envisioned inter-institutional consortia, or (c) a non-teaching researcher whose expertise is in institutional, educational, or social science research in higher education. The PI must provide the required leadership and the capacity to convene and lead a team of inter-institutional STEM faculty and social science or education researchers to write the desired proposal in a 1-2-year timeframe. A successful Track 3 proposal will likely require a range of expertise including STEM faculty and administrators at all institutions, financial aid officers, and education, learning science or social science researchers interested in low-income student success or other pertinent topics. It is ideal that management of the planning grant incorporate the appropriate senior personnel across institutions as needed. Planning grants can also speak to potential gaps in expertise that might hinder a forthcoming Track 3 proposal and work to identify and build relationships with qualified individuals or organizations that would enhance the impact of future collaborative efforts.

Please note that the Collaborative Planning Grant proposals described in this solicitation are a solicitation-specific project category and are separate and distinct from the type of proposal described in Chapter II.E.1 of the PAPPG. When preparing a Collaborative Planning Grant proposal in response to this solicitation, the “Research” type of proposal should be selected in the proposal preparation module in FastLane or Grants.gov.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

(CLOSED) NSF-23-521: Strengthening the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals Ecosystem (SCIPE)

Slots: 1

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Contact RII.

LOI: N/A

External Deadline: January 18, 2024;

Recurring Deadlines: January 18, 2024; Third Thursday in January, Annually Thereafter

Award Information

Award Type: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant or Cooperative Agreement

Estimated Number of Awards: 4

Anticipated Award Amount: $15,000,000

Who May Serve as PI: To ensure relevance to community needs and to facilitate adoption, those proposals of interest to one or more domain divisions must include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise relevant to the targeted research discipline. All proposals shall include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise relevant to OAC.

Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23521/nsf23521.htm

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the USC Research and Innovation (R&I) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/.

Materials to submit include:

  • (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
  • (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

The overarching goal of this solicitation is to democratize access to NSF’s advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) ecosystem and ensure fair and equitable access to resources, services, and expertise by strengthening how Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIP) function in this ecosystem. It aims to achieve this by (1) deepening the integration of CIPs into the research enterprise, and (2) fostering innovative and scalable education, training, and development of instructional materials, to address emerging needs and unresolved bottlenecks in CIP workforce development. Specifically, this solicitation seeks to nurture, grow and recognize the national CIP [1] workforce that is essential for creating, utilizing and supporting advanced CI to enable and potentially transform fundamental science and engineering (S&E) research and education and contribute to the Nation’s overall economic competitiveness and security. Together, the principal investigators (PIs), technology platforms, tools, and expert CIP workforce supported by this solicitation operate as an interdependent ecosystem wherein S&E research and education thrive. This solicitation will support NSF’s advanced CI ecosystem with a scalable, agile, diverse, and sustainable network of CIPs that can ensure broad adoption of advanced CI resources and expert services including platforms, tools, methods, software, data, and networks for research communities, to catalyze major research advances, and to enhance researchers’ abilities to lead the development of new CI.

The SCIPE program is led by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and has participation from other NSF directorates/divisions, as described in Section II. Program Description, Programmatic Areas of Interest. Not all directorates/divisions are participating at the same level, and some have specific research and education priorities. The appropriate contact for the SCIPE program in any directorate/division is the Cognizant Program Officer (PO) for the respective directorate/division/office/program listed below.

All projects are expected to clearly articulate how they address essential community needs, will provide resources that will be widely available to and usable by the research community, and will broaden participation from underrepresented groups. Prospective PIs are strongly encouraged to contact the Cognizant Program Officers in CISE/OAC and in the participating directorate/division relevant to the proposal to ascertain whether the focus and budget of their proposed activities are appropriate for this solicitation. Such consultations should be completed at least one month before the submission deadline. PIs should include the names of the Cognizant Program Officers consulted in a Single Copy Document as described in Section V.A. Proposal Preparation Instructions. The intent of the SCIPE program is to encourage collaboration between CI and S&E domain disciplines. (For this purpose, units of CISE other than OAC are considered domain disciplines.) To ensure relevance to community needs and to facilitate adoption, those proposals of interest to one or more domain divisions must include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise relevant to the targeted research discipline. All proposals shall include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise pertinent to OAC.

Prospective PIs contemplating submissions that primarily target communities relevant to directorates/divisions that are not participating in this solicitation are directed to explore instead the education and workforce development programs of the respective directorates/divisions.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

(CLOSED) NSF-22-630: Quantum Sensing Challenges for Transformational Advances in Quantum Systems (QuSeC-TAQS)

Slots: 2.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Closed.

LOI: December 16, 2022

External Deadline: April 3, 2023

Award Information

Award Type: Standard or Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 10 – 12

Anticipated Award Amount: $25,000,00. Anticipated funding amount is pending availability of funds. Each project team may receive support of up to a total of $2,500,000 over the project duration of 4 years. It is not expected that all awards will receive the maximum amount; the size of awards will depend upon the type of research program proposed. The budget must be commensurate with the scope of the project and thoroughly justified in the proposal.

Who May Serve as PI: The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a faculty member employed by the submitting organization. A minimum of one (1) PI and two (2) co-PIs must participate.

Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22630/nsf22630.htm

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Office of Research Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/.

Materials to submit include:

  • (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
  • (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

Competitive proposals are expected to present interdisciplinary and collaborative projects that identify a need and describe a sound scientific and engineering approach for developing a novel sensing system with enhanced performance compared to classical technologies. Successful proposals should make a compelling case for how the proposed research project has potential to deliver breakthroughs in quantum sensing technologies that could impact society.

Proposed projects should pursue either or both of the following tracks:

  1. Explore new ideas using for enhanced sensing functionalities using quantum information science and engineering principles. Proposals should describe how the project will result in experimental tests or a proof of principle for new concepts, platforms, or approaches for enhanced sensing.
  2. Translate quantum information science and engineering discoveries into scalable quantum sensor systems or networks. Proposals should describe how the project will demonstrate advantages for targeted applications as a result of applying fundamentally quantum phenomena.

Competitive proposals will come from interdisciplinary research teams led by at least three (3) investigators who collectively contribute synergistic expertise from domains such as engineering, computer science, mathematical and physical sciences, biology, or geoscience. Competitive proposals should also address the QuSeC-TAQS programmatic considerations described below, such as the potential for transformative advances on a targeted quantum sensor technology, the potential for interdisciplinarity and convergence in the research process, plans for experimental demonstration, and the potential for broader impacts such as educational and training opportunities, partnerships, or international collaboration, student mobility and exchanges.

Potential Quantum Sensing research areas:

Innovative proposals on a diverse range of quantum sensors topics are sought. A partial list of quantum sensor topics is provided here. This list is not intended to be comprehensive, nor limiting. Rather, these technical areas are merely presented to illustrate possible considerations. The scientific and engineering communities are strongly encouraged to explore possibilities beyond these examples.

Sensors, in general, consist of devices and systems that interact with the environment and provide a measurable response. Quantum sensors take advantage of quantum mechanical phenomena such as quantum states, quantum spins, matter-wave duality, coherence, superposition, and/or entanglement and quantum correlations to extend sensing capabilities. Importantly, quantum sensors can provide transduction mechanisms to reach beyond the traditional limits of classical sensors in terms of precision, accuracy, bandwidth, speed, or other factors such as size, weight, and power. Sensors using multi-particle entanglement or squeezing have demonstrated progress towards metrology at the Heisenberg limit. Furthermore, networks of quantum sensors have been proposed to enhance the sensitivity of clocks, telescopes, magnetometers, or other instruments.

Quantum sensing has the potential to revolutionize investigation of complex biological systems, where traditional modes of exploration are often limited by studies of microscopic phenomena with macroscopic tools. Creation of new bio-compatible quantum probes and sensing protocols can provide new insights about complex biological systems that cannot be accessed through classical measurements. For example, nanoscale sensors and coherent spectroscopy can reveal correlations and couplings at length and time scales that were previously inaccessible, or gradients in temperature and metabolites that were previously impossible to study. Such advances can potentially provide new knowledge about biological functions and dynamics within cells.

Atomic clocks have made substantial impacts, for example by enabling GPS navigation, high-speed communication networks, and precision measurements. New applications for atomic clocks may come from chip-scale devices, portable systems, and advancements in the state-of-the-art using quantum logic spectroscopy or other forms of quantum control. Improvements in metrology, time-transfer, navigation, very long baseline interferometry, quantum networking, and even geodesy via measurements of gravitational time dilation are just a few of the application areas that have been suggested for next generation atomic clocks. Proposals for collaborative work to realize new applications, or work to improve key components, subsystems, or device functionality is encouraged.

Matter-wave optics such as atom interferometry, neutron interferometry, and electron holography systems provide unique sensitivity to several atomic, molecular, and solid-state properties. Measurements of gravity, inertial displacements (acceleration and rotation) and the index of refraction for de Broglie waves due to various potentials have been mainstays in this field. Collaborative projects to pioneer new applications in disciplines ranging from physics and materials science to geoscience and navigation are encouraged. Well-motivated work on critical subsystems, including chip-scale devices, integrated photonics, and laser systems are also encouraged, as a means to enable targeted applications.

Solid-state and chip-scale methods to detect standards for quantities such as voltage, current, irradiance and temperature benefit from quantum sensors. Since the redefinition of the kilogram in terms of Planck’s constant, all the SI base units can now be realized in terms of quantum phenomena, potentially leveraging new quantum sensor modalities.

Magnetometers have diverse applications ranging from remote sensing and navigation to biological and medical research. Quantum sensors may improve magnetoencephalography studies of cognition, cardiology studies in vivo, laboratory measurements of single neurons, and even intracellular studies of biological dynamics. Optical magnetometers with atoms, molecules, or atom-like defects in solids such as nitrogen vacancy centers in diamonds may be further enhanced using quantum effects to increase sensitivity, reliability, and compatibility with various environments. Superconducting systems and magnetometers based on electron and proton spins can be improved too. Related studies of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are also encouraged to extend the sensitivity and applicability of MRI systems.

Identification of molecules in samples, for chemical and biological content analysis, e.g. through coherent Raman spectroscopy of rotational and vibrational modes, can be used for understanding biological systems, or for disease diagnosis. Spectroscopy using entangled photons may provide benefits such as enhanced precision, discrimination, or contrast. Benefits may also include lower doses of exposure, or more remote, contactless measurements, and lead to novel platforms for biotechnology and medicine.

Uses of entanglement and many-body quantum states to enable new capabilities such as non-invasive imaging or measurements with precision beyond the standard quantum limit are encouraged. High-efficiency quantum transducers to convert information contained in microwave, mechanical, or magnetic domains into modulations on photonic quantum states are needed. Projects exploring chip-level integration of quantum sensors or engineering of key components and subsystems for quantum sensors are also desirable. Additional examples of possible topics include novel molecular and materials architectures for quantum sensing; improved imaging, entangled-photon microscopy, spectroscopy, or photonic systems using quantum optics; enhancing measurements of electric fields and GHz or THz radiation possibly using Rydberg atomic states and coherent spectroscopy.

QuSeC-TAQS Programmatic Considerations:

The following features are deemed important under this research solicitation:

  • Quantum Sensing: It is expected that proposed research projects will focus on quantum sensing, leveraging both fundamental understanding of quantum phenomena and novel application concepts. Clear rationale as to the novelty and the potential for enhanced capabilities as compared to classical sensors and systems should be addressed.
  • Interdisciplinarity and Convergence: Progress in this field may benefit from research that draws upon expertise in multiple disciplines including (but not limited to) physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, geoscience, computer science, and engineering. Proposals should describe how the project will facilitate scientists and engineers to work together in research teams involving theory, modeling, design, characterization, device fabrication, and testing.
  • Experimental Demonstration: Proposals should describe how the project will realize a proof-of-concept for novel quantum functionalities, characterize quantum device properties, or system performance in relevant conditions for potential applications.

The QuSeC-TAQS program also encourages diverse activities with the potential to increase the impact of projects:

  • Education and Training: Proposals that in addition to research create education, training, and workforce development opportunities in areas of quantum information science and engineering related to quantum sensing are encouraged.
  • Partnerships: The creation or development of partnerships with industry, National Laboratories, or other academic institutions can be valuable for developing new concepts and platforms, for scaling up, and subsequently for commercialization of technologies based on quantum sensor concepts. Such partnerships are therefore encouraged where appropriate.
  • International Collaboration and Student Mobility and Exchange: Collaboration with international scientific teams who are leaders in the field is welcome. Travel support for principal investigators, research personnel and students may be considered. Opportunities for developing student exchange are encouraged in order to develop a globally engaged workforce for QIS technologies.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

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