Physical Sciences & Engineering

G. Davidowitz

UArizona may submit two proposals total, regardless of type.

The Equipment Grants Program (EGP) serves to increase access to shared-use special purpose equipment/instruments for fundamental and applied research for use in the food and agricultural sciences programs at institutions of higher education, including State Cooperative Extension Systems. The program seeks to strengthen the quality and expand the scope of fundamental and applied research at eligible institutions, by providing them with opportunities to acquire one shared-use piece of equipment/instrument that supports their research, research training, and extension goals and may be too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NIFA grant programs. EGP grants are not intended to replace requests for equipment in individual project applications. The program emphasizes shared-use instrumentation that will enhance the capabilities of researchers, educators, and extension specialists both within and outside the proposing organization.

Proposals to the EGP must involve acquisition of a single, well-integrated piece of equipment/instrument. Well-integrated means that the ensemble of equipment that defines the instrument enables specific fundamental or applied research experiments in the food and agricultural sciences, including data science and data systems; separating or removing an element or component of such an integrated instrument would preclude that research from occurring or succeeding. An instrument acquired with support from EGP is expected to be fully operational by the conclusion of the first year of the project.

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

The RINGS program (NSF 21-581) is a partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a number of industry partners to enhance both resiliency as well as performance across the various aspects of Next Generation (NextG) communications, networking and computing systems. The goal of this solicitation is to invite the submission of proposals to set up a Virtual Organization (VO) for the RINGS program.

UArizona may submit a maximum of two proposals (e.g. 2 RED Innovation Track or 1 RED A&I Track and 1 RED Two-year Track).

For all tracks, the Principal Investigator must be a department chair/head (or equivalent) to provide leadership for the change process. Due to this requirement, this opportunity is Institutionally Coordinated.

The goal of the RED program is to catalyze revolutionary, not incrementally reformist, changes to the education of the next generation of engineers. Revolutionary means radically, suddenly, or completely new; producing fundamental, structural change; or going outside of or beyond existing norms and principles. The complex problems facing society in the 21st Century, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand changes to the way engineers are educated and the integration of new modes of learning for engineering students

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

The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. 

S. Fleming
W. Burleson
J. Roveda
H. Hua
M. Barton
M. Van Dyke

June 2022 update: RII/RDS has identified proposal teams who are working on concept outlines. PIs interested in collaborating on a concept outline should please email RDS with questions.

While NSF currently allows more than one concept outline to be submitted by an institution, UArizona may ultimately only submit one full proposal. Therefore, due to the complexity and scope of this program, RII is Institutionally Coordinating the submission of Concept Outlines to NSF, as well as the full proposal once NSF's invitations have been sent out.

Research Development Services hosted an informational webinar about the NSF Regional Innovation Engines solicitation on May 16th that included an overview of the opportunity, a discussion on the internal coordination process, and short introductions to some of the regional innovation partners available for proposing teams. Please Contact RDS for a copy of the recording. Joining Research Development was a panel consisting of Tech Launch Arizona, Tech Parks Arizona, Arizona FORGE, CyVerse, and Government & Community Relations.

Full sponsor guidelines

The NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program is a bold new initiative, committed to creating regional-scale, technology-driven innovation ecosystems throughout every region of the United States, accelerating emerging technologies, driving economic growth, addressing key societal challenges, and maintaining national competitiveness.

The NSF Engines program aims to fund regional coalitions of partnering organizations to establish NSF Engines that will catalyze technology and science-based regional innovation ecosystems. Each Engine must focus on addressing specific aspects of a major societal and/or economic challenge that are of significant interest in the Engine’s defined “region of service,” where such a region could range from a metropolitan area (including its adjacent rural regions) to an area spanning parts of several states. The mission of an Engine must be clearly rooted in regional interests and the development of regional talent. The emphasis on “regions” expresses NSF’s aim to stimulate innovation-driven economic growth within a particular region of service. The NSF Engines program is particularly interested in creating new business and economic growth in those regions of America that have not fully participated in the technology boom of the past several decades.

NSF will fund Engines to carry out an integrated and comprehensive set of activities spanning use-inspired research, translation-to-practice, entrepreneurship, and workforce development to nurture and accelerate regional industries. Engines must also work to bring together an inclusive and diverse network of partners and stakeholders who will participate in the regional innovation ecosystem. With the goal of advancing emerging industries and creating societal and economic value, NSF Engines will emphasize research that meaningfully engages the consumers of research outcomes in motivating that research as well as in the subsequent prototyping and piloting of research-based solutions (i.e., co-design and co-creation), the translation of research results to practice, entrepreneurship, and direct economic growth.

Funding for this program will prioritize regions across the Nation without well-established innovation ecosystems. Engines in regions of the country where prospective ecosystem members exist, but where innovation activities are only loosely connected, are of particular interest.

Concept Outline Narrative Components must include (from the solicitation)

The Concept Outline narrative must address each component below, with the following labeled sections: (Concept outlines for Type-1 proposals should only address Sections a-d, below:

• Topic Area: Describe the national and societal significance of the broad topic area that the Engine is aiming to address.
• Region of Service: A brief description of the intended geographical region of service, and the current state of the innovation ecosystem in the region of service (see Appendix A).
• Purpose and Vision of the proposed Engine: The overall purpose and vision of the proposed Engine, which must list specific use-inspired challenge(s) that the Engine will address, as well as the current state of practice and major gaps the Engine will focus on (e.g., scientific and technological innovations, policy, products, services, workforce expertise).
• Regional Importance and Impact: How the proposed region of service is well-positioned to create the Engine, catalyze the associated regional innovation ecosystem, and result in meaningful translational outputs (e.g., products, services, startup companies, tools, and technologies).

Narratives for Type-2 Concept Outlines must also include:

• Partnerships: The envisioned regional innovation ecosystem of partners and stakeholders, clearly identifying (1) existing core partners and their expected contributions and (2) potential additional partners, how such partners would help accomplish the Engine’s vision and core functions, and plans to recruit these partners prior to the submission of the proposal.
• Workforce Development: The future regional workforce needs in the proposed topic area.
• Related Initiatives: How the proposed NSF Engine differs from and/or leverages other existing large-scale efforts in the topic area.

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

Applicant institutions are limited to both:

• No more than two pre-applications or applications as the lead institution in a multiinstitution team; and
• No more than one pre-application or application for each PI.

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

There is no institutional limitation on the Technology Translation track; however, we encourage you to contact RDS for industry engagement and proposal development support. Contact RDS if you are interested in applying to the Technology Translation track.

1. The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program funds technology translation and development based on prior NSF-funded research projects from all science and engineering disciplines supported by NSF.
2. PFI contains two separate tracks for submission: PFI-Technology Translation (PFI-TT) and PFI-Research Partnerships (PFI-RP).

UArizona may submit four Letters of Intent.

Ticket #1: T. Eifler

The DOE SC program in High Energy Physics (HEP) hereby announces its interest in new applications for support of Artificial Intelligence Research for High Energy Physics. This FOA refers to research into and development of computational systems that take action to achieve a goal as Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and may include Machine Learning (ML) techniques as appropriate. This Announcement invites applications for AI research in three topic areas: AI research for HEP, HEP for AI research, and development of an HEP AI Ecosystem. The HEP program explicitly encourages applications from non-traditional HEP institutions and researchers that may broaden the participation in HEP research and the AI sub-field.

Hee-Dae Kim

UArizona may submit four Concept Papers in medical sciences and four Concept papers in physical sciences and engineering.

The W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program uses a three-step process for this opportunity. The first step is a Concept paper. The Undergraduate Education program is currently not accepting concept papers. The next steps are by the foundation’s invitation. UArizona review criteria reflect previous interactions with the W.M. Keck Foundation. Proposals should focus on basic, fundamental science with broad applications.

The proposed work should show a significant leap forward rather than an extension of existing work. 

To be considered by Keck, applicants must have a statement from a federal program officer expressing that the project is not a good fit due to risk (rather than technical or theoretical fit) or a decline from a federal program where the summary statement or individual reviews highlight the incredible novelty, but the high-risk nature that makes it difficult to fund at the federal level.

T. Meixner

UArizona may submit one pre-application as the lead institution.

RDS is offering two Department of Energy Urban Integrated Field Labs (IFL) UArizona Collaboration Webinars:

March 31, 3p to 4p
April 1, 12p to 1p

This opportunity is Institutionally Coordinated through this internal competition selection due to the short deadline and relevance to multiple areas on campus.

Limited Submissions language from the solicitation: Applicant institutions are limited to no more than one letter of intent, pre-application, or application as lead institution.

The Urban IFLs will necessarily involve diverse scientific disciplines to develop comprehensive projects including field observations, data assimilation, modeling, and model data fusion, to inform equitable solutions based on state-of-the-art uncertainty quantification and data analytics. Applications must be multi-institutional and focus on the development of a single IFL. Interested faculty are encouraged to partner with colleagues at ASU and NAU.

DOE Informational Webinar slides