Physical Sciences & Engineering

1. A.  Jalilzadeh (Systems and Industrial Engineering)
2. M. Chertkov (Applied Mathematics)
3. S. Missoum ( Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering)

4. D. Moore (Natural Resources & the Environment)

UA may submit four pre-applications as the lead institution in a single- or multi-institutional team. No more than two pre-applications for each PI at the applicant institution are allowed. 

The DOE SC program in Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) hereby announces its interest in research applications to explore potentially high-impact approaches in the development and use of scientific machine learning (SciML) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the predictive modeling, simulation and analysis of complex systems and processes.

High-performance computational models, simulations, algorithms, data from experiments and observations, and automation are being used to accelerate scientific discovery and innovation. Recent workshops, report, and strategic plans across the DOE have highlighted the research, development, and use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for science, energy, and security. Relevant domains include materials, environmental, and life sciences; high-energy, nuclear, and plasma physics; and the DOE Energy Earthshots Initiative, for examples. A 2018 Basic Research Needs workshop and report on scientific machine learning (SciML) and AI1 identified six Priority Research Directions (PRDs) for the development of the broad foundations and research capabilities needed to address such DOE mission priorities. The first three PRDs for foundational research are a set of themes common to all SciML approaches and correspond to the need for domain-awareness, interpretability, and robustness and scalability, respectively. Of the other three PRDs for capability research, PRD #5 (Machine Learning-Enhanced Modeling and Simulation) and uncertainty quantification are the subject of this FOA. 

1. S. Song ( Biomedical engineering)
2. M. Latypot (Materials Science and Engineering)
    

The Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering allow the nation's most promising early career professors to pursue their science and engineering research with few funding restrictions and limited paperwork requirements. The Foundation invites the presidents of 50 universities to nominate two early-career professors each from their institutions. Nominations are carefully reviewed by the Fellowship Advisory Panel, comprised of distinguished scientists and engineers. 20 recipients will receive individual grants of $875,000 distributed over five years. Of the $175,000 paid each year, $17,500 is available to the university as compensation for administrative costs.

Packard Fellows are inquisitive, passionate scientists and engineers who take a creative approach to their research, dare to think big, and follow new ideas wherever they lead. The Fellowships for Science and Engineering program invests in future leaders who have the freedom to take risks, explore new frontiers in their fields of study, and follow uncharted paths that may lead to groundbreaking discoveries.The Foundation emphasizes support for innovative individual research that involves the Fellows, their students, and junior colleagues, rather than extensions or components of large-scale, ongoing research program.
 

Eligibility: 

• Candidates must be faculty members who are eligible to serve as principal investigators engaged in research in the natural and physical sciences or engineering and must be in the first three years of their faculty careers, that is, whose initial faculty appointments began no earlier than May 31, 2020, and no later than May 31, 2023.
• Disciplines that will be considered include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering. Candidates engaged in research in the social sciences will not be considered.

Ineligible areas

The Foundation recognizes that certain areas of contemporary science and engineering already have access to relatively generous funding (for example, clinical research, research associated with the design and construction of large national facilities such as accelerators and space stations and applied research of direct relevance to national security), the Packard Fellowships are directed to other, less generously supported fields.

Apply to the UA internal competition.
UA may submit one proposal.

The mission of the Foundation is to support early stage investigators engaged in basic biomedical research that has the potential to significantly advance the understanding, diagnosis or treatment of disease.

The funds are designed to provide to tenure track faculty members in their first to fourth year, at American Institutions, who hold M.D. and/or Ph.D. degrees, start-up support to move the project forward to the point where R01 or other independent funding can be obtained.  Applicants with current R01 funding should not apply.

Grant provides $60,000 annually for a period of up to three years.  Grants are not renewable.  Institutions may submit one proposal per session.  Interested candidates should work through their sponsored projects office.

Proposals must contain an adequately detailed description of the project to be clearly understandable by the scientific members of the Trustees.  They need not be in the detail requested by the NIH for R01 grants and should not exceed five pages in length.  Additional material can be submitted, but the five-page application should contain the essential information.  References should also be included to support the proposal.  Note that the five page limit is only for the project description.  

In addition to the institution providing recognition of an internal selection process resulting in no more than one candidate, (this requires just a sentence that may be included in the letters), the proposal must be accompanied by letters of approval by the Dean of the medical school and/or another senior faculty member or members who can represent the support of the institution and who are acquainted with the qualifications of the applicant and the potential impact of his/her work.

No applicants // Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 2 

UArizona may submit two proposals.
No more than two proposals across both tracks may be submitted by any Lead institution.

The Centers for Innovation and Community Engagement in Solid Earth Geohazards program supports university-based centers to advance research on the fundamental solid Earth processes that underpin natural hazards. Centers will catalyze, coordinate, and produce transformative research, lead innovation, and enable convergent approaches for systems-level insights that require the collective efforts of a large group of individuals.

Centers focus on addressing major, fundamental science challenges for understanding solid Earth geohazards, primarily those related to faulting, volcanoes, mass movements, and other dynamic processes. In particular, the Centers will advance understanding in one or more of the priorities outlined in the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine decadal survey report The Earth in Time, including; What is an earthquake? What drives volcanism? What are the causes and consequences of topographic change? and How can Earth science research reduce the risk and toll of geohazards?

Centers will also foster different dimensions of community engagement to meaningfully improve the national welfare. Flagship community engagement activities will take bold and creative action to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in the geoscience workforce and expand the impact of fundamental research in solid Earth geohazards to inform and prepare a broader community. Centers will establish partnerships to enable public outreach, hazard mitigation and other community engagement activities.

The Program has two tracks, both of which are described in this solicitation. Track I – Center Catalyst awards are intended to provide resources to catalyze initiatives to develop future centers. These awards would support groups to develop the science, management, and broader impact concepts for of a major research center. Track II – Center Operation awards are intended to support the operation of a fully developed center.
 

Track I – Center Catalyst 

For the FY 2022 competition, Track I – Center Catalyst proposals will address topics that focus on the fundamental processes that create solid Earth geohazards, including earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and other solid earth or tectonic processes. The proposal’s scope will align with one or more of the priorities outlined in the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine decadal survey report The Earth in Time, including; What is an earthquake? What drives volcanism? What are the causes and consequences of topographic change? and How can Earth science research reduce the risk and toll of geohazards?

Catalyst proposals will outline center development activities, including goal setting, strategic planning and community building, as well as developing and piloting center-scale activities that generate new knowledge with a broad range of impacts. Awardees must engage in research, broader impact activities, and center development activities over the two-year duration of the award. The activities may build on pre-existing efforts, but new, collaborative results attributed to the award are expected.

Track I - Center Catalyst Principal Investigators are required to develop a complete strategic plan for operating a future Center. Proposals will describe community engagement activities that will be carried out to develop the plan by the end of the award period. NSF staff will evaluate the plan and monitor progress throughout the award period. Developing a strong strategic plan may require consultation with strategic planning experts. 

Proposals should speak to a broad audience of Earth scientists and clearly articulate the value of the proposed Center to fundamental research and community engagement in solid Earth geohazards.

Key milestones during a Track I project will include a mandatory virtual site visit at the end of year 1 and submission of the strategic plan at 24 months. Additional information is provided in the proposal preparation guidance for a Track I full proposal.

Track II – Center Operations

In FY 2022, the program will consider only those proposals built around a compelling research challenge or theme related to fundamental earthquake processes. NSF intends to open future competitions to proposals focused more broadly on solid Earth geohazards.

Center Operations proposals are expected to outline broad, strategic, center-scale activities in accordance with the Center Attributes, as described earlier in this section. Centers will be agile structures that respond rapidly to emerging opportunities, promote synergy, enhance collaborations, and engage in potentially transformative research. Centers will integrate research, innovation, education, science communication, and efforts to broaden participation.

Center proposals will organize their scope into Major Activities, which will provide the framework for aligning the proposed scope with realistic budgets and timelines for achieving Center goals. A Major Activity will most frequently be a major research thrust of the Center but may also be a large-scale effort for workforce development, community-building, broadening participation, or other comparable effort to support broader impacts.

Centers may need flexibility to advance Major Activities or to respond quickly and effectively to emerging research and/or broader impact opportunities through subaward seed funding. These emerging areas may include (but are not limited to): high-risk research projects; emerging areas of interdisciplinary research; development of new cyberinfrastructure to support the Center; support for early-career faculty or for investigators changing fields; and innovative educational, diversity-promoting, or outreach ventures. Seed funding is not intended to provide a substitute for NSF individual investigator funding, nor should it be used to fund foundational operational support for the Center. Proposals should describe the criteria and mechanisms for selecting and evaluating projects that may require seed funding.

Key milestones will include periodic site visits and other oversight by NSF staff. The initial Track II awards will be made for five years (contingent on acceptable progress). Additional information is provided in the proposal preparation guidance for a Track II full proposal.

Institutionally Coordinated.
Please contact RDS for more information. 

The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences. Based on institutional nominations, the program provides discretionary funding to faculty at an early stage in their careers. Criteria for selection include an independent body of scholarship attained in the early years of their appointment (see below), and a demonstrated commitment to education, signaling the promise of continuing outstanding contributions to both research and teaching. The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program provides an unrestricted research grant of $100,000.

Eligibility

The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program is open to academic institutions in the States, Districts, and Territories of the United States of America that grant a bachelor’s or higher degree in the chemical sciences, including biochemistry, materials chemistry, and chemical engineering. Nominees must hold a full-time tenure-track academic appointment, and are normally expected to have been appointed no earlier than mid-year 2017. Awardees are from Ph.D. granting departments in which scholarly research is a principal activity. Undergraduate education is an important component. Institutions may submit only one Camille Dreyfus nomination annually. Renominations are accepted.

Selection

The Foundation seeks Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars who demonstrate leadership in research and education. Nominations must provide compelling evidence of the advance of important knowledge in the chemical sciences by the nominee. Further, the nomination should describe dedication and contributions to education in the chemical sciences, particularly with respect to undergraduates.

The nominee’s scholarly research achievements are assessed by a panel of distinguished faculty in the chemical sciences. The letters of recommendation should address the nominee’s research accomplishments as an independent faculty member. Other considered factors are: awards and honors, publication of research achievements in leading journals, and success in attracting research funding.

Budget

The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award provides a $100,000 unrestricted research grant. Of the total amount, $7,500 is for departmental expenses associated with research and education. Charges associated with indirect costs or institutional overhead are not allowed. Defrayal of academic-year salary is not permitted. Funds are normally expended over a period of five years. Foundation approval is not required for budgetary changes after an award is made. If the awardee leaves the institution, the transfer of the remaining funds requires prior Foundation approval.

Nomination Procedure

Institutions may make only one nomination annually for the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program. All nomination materials, including the letters of support, must be received at the Foundation office by the deadline noted above. Nominations recommended for approval are presented to the Foundation’s Board of Directors in time for award announcements by early May 2023. The nomination consists of:

1. The online nomination form 
2. A letter of nomination from an institutional representative highlighting the nominee’s achievements, and the basis for selection (limited to two pages)
3. A summary description of the nominee’s research accomplishments as an independent faculty member, and a description of research plans (limited to five pages, including references, with use of at least one graphic being encouraged)
4. A statement intended to convince the reviewers of the nominee’s dedication to education in the chemical sciences (limited to two pages)
5. A CV (limited to four pages) including a list of publications in which independent contributions and undergraduate coauthors are clearly identified. Research support should be indicated
6. A budget (limited to one page) describing how award funds are anticipated to be used

No applicants // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 3

UA  is limited to no more than three pre-applications, or applications with one for each PI at the applicant institution.

The DOE SC program in Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) hereby announces its interest in applications in the areas of Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Data Resources for fusion energy and plasma sciences. The goal of this FOA is to support multidisciplinary teams aiming to apply advanced and autonomous algorithms to address high-priority research opportunities across the FES program. Applicants are encouraged to propose research in new systems for managing, formatting, curating, and accessing experimental and simulation data, provided in publicly available databases. Of high programmatic importance are approaches that support the realization of a fusion pilot plant on a decadal timescale.

No applicants // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 3

UA may submit three LOIs.
Applications that are submitted by applicants that have not submitted a required LOI or pre-application may be declined without further review.

Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) aims to build foundations for Office of Science (SC) research and training at institutions historically underrepresented in the SC research portfolio. RENEW leverages SC’s unique national laboratories, user facilities, and other research infrastructures to provide undergraduate and graduate training opportunities for students and academic institutions not currently well represented in the U.S. science and technology (S&T) ecosystem. The hands-on experiences gained through RENEW will open new career avenues for participants, forming a nucleus for a future pool of talented young scientists, engineers, and technicians with the critical skills and expertise needed for the full breadth of SC research activities. Principal Investigators (PIs), key personnel, and students and postdoctoral researchers supported by RENEW awards will be invited to participate in HEP researcher meetings and/or SC-wide professional development and collaborator events.

The DOE SC High Energy Physics (HEP) program hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for the Reaching a New Energy sciences Workforce for High Energy Physics (RENEW-HEP) initiative. This program is intended to support training and research experiences in support of particle physics for members of underserved communities, with the dual goals of : (1) increasing the likelihood that participants from underrepresented populations, such as those present at minority serving institutions (MSIs)1 , will pursue a career in a Science, Technology, MSIs are understood broadly to include, but not be limited to, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Primarily Black Institutions (PBIs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribally Controlled Colleges 2 Engineering or Math (STEM) related field; and (2) supporting investigators and building research infrastructure at institutions that have not traditionally been part of the particle physics portfolio.

M.K. Johnson 
The submission for this funding program is coordinated with UA Foundation. 
 

The New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award provides early-career scientists the investment needed to propel them into successful research careers.

Young faculty in the sciences often struggle to secure grant funding. We established the New Innovator Awards to launch the careers of promising scientists whose research addresses significant food and agriculture challenges. These awards allow the grantees to focus exclusively on research without the pressure of securing additional funding.

We grant New Innovator Awards to outstanding early career investigators who have been in the tenure-track position no longer than three years. The Award goes to individuals with the creative ideas, skills, knowledge and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research program.

We give preference to individuals who are within eight years of receiving a Ph.D. or equivalent degree. Eligible candidates must also conduct research that aligns with our Challenge Areas.

Individuals with significant research experience prior to obtaining their faculty position are not eligible for this award.

Each applicant can receive from FFAR up to $150,000 per year for a maximum of three years totaling $450,000 investment.

To further support the grantees, and allow them to fully focus on their research, matching funds are not required for this program.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

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.

Ticket #1: B. Parent
Ticket #2: Open

UArizona may submit two pre-applications.

Contact RDS to apply

The DOE SC program in Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) hereby announces its interest in receiving new or renewal single-investigator or small-group research applications to carry out frontier-level research in basic plasma science and engineering. The FES Discovery Plasma Science: Plasma Science and Technology–General Plasma Science (GPS) program supports research at the frontiers of basic and low temperature plasma science, including dynamical processes in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas, such as magnetic reconnection, dynamo, shocks, turbulence cascade, structures, waves, flows and their interactions; behavior of dusty plasmas, non-neutral, single-component matter or antimatter plasmas, and ultra-cold neutral plasmas; plasma chemistry and processes in low temperature plasma, interfacial plasma, synthesis of nanomaterials, and interaction of plasma with surfaces, materials or biomaterials. In addition, this portfolio supports microelectronics and Quantum Information Science (QIS) research opportunities.