Physical Sciences & Engineering

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

Eligible institutions shall submit only ONE lead proposal per UEI number. Eligible institutions that have multiple and/or different UEI numbers shall submit no more than one lead proposal from each different UEI number.

The Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) is administered through NASA's Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM). Through MUREP, NASA provides financial assistance via competitive awards to Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNH), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU), Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI), and other MSIs, as required by MSIfocused Executive Orders. These MSI recipient institutions then provide their students financial assistance to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

MUREP investments enhance the research, academic and technology capabilities of MSIs through multiyear cooperative agreements. Awards assist faculty and students in research and provide authentic STEM engagement related to Agency missions. Additionally, awards provide NASA specific knowledge and skills to MSI students who have historically been underrepresented and underserved in STEM. MUREP investments assist NASA in meeting the goal of a diverse workforce through student participation in internships and fellowships at NASA Centers and the Agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The NASA OSTEM MUREP Program solicits proposals from four-year colleges/universities designated by the U.S. Department of Education as MSIs. (see the NASA MSI List) for the MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) awards. MIRO develops significant scientific, engineering, and/or technology research centers. The purpose of MIRO is to strengthen and develop the research capacity and infrastructure of MSIs in areas of strategic importance and value to NASA’s mission and priorities. MIRO awards promote STEM literacy and enhance and sustain the capability of institutions to perform NASA-related research and education. Additionally, MIRO strengthens student participation in research at MSIs in order to develop and diversify the next generation of the STEM workforce. MIRO awards directly support research pertinent to NASA’s five Mission Directorates (MDs) – Aeronautics Research, Exploration Systems Development, Space Operations, Science, and Space Technology.

Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 1 // L. Folks (Semiconductor Strategy)

Applicant institutions are limited to no more than two pre-applications or applications as the lead institution.

The DOE SC program in Basic Energy Sciences (BES) announces a re-competition of the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) program and encourages both new and renewal applications. Applications from multi-disciplinary teams will be required to propose discovery science and use-inspired basic research that addresses priority research directions and opportunities identified by a series of BES workshop and roundtable reports. The focus of the EFRC program is on fundamental scientific research, therefore applications to this FOA must not propose applied research and technology development activities.

BES is soliciting renewal applications for basic science in three topical areas: 1) Transformative manufacturing, 2) Quantum information science (QIS), and 3) Environmental management. BES is soliciting new applications for basic science in two topical areas: 1) Co-design of materials and processes to revolutionize microelectronics and/or QIS fabrication, and 2) Environmental management.

 Limit: 1 // J. M. Roveda (Electrical and Computer Engineering) - Track 1: ExpandAI Capacity Building Pilots (CAP)

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: An organization may submit one proposal per submission window. An organization must wait for a determination from NSF (e.g., Award, Decline, or Returned Without Review) on the pending proposal before submitting a new proposal in the next window. Declined proposals require a new invitation to submit (via the Concept Outline process) and significant revision, while proposals Returned Without Review may be submitted using the same invited Concept Outline (assuming that the proposal is received within one year of the original Concept Outline invitation).

The National Science Foundation and its partners support the continued growth of a broad and diverse interdisciplinary research community for the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-powered innovation, providing a unique opportunity to broadly promote the NSF vision and core values, especially inclusion and collaboration. The National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes program has established a national network of multisector flagship centers of AI research and workforce development that address a wide range of society's grand challenges through AI-powered innovation.

PROGRAM TRACKS

This program solicitation offers two Tracks corresponding to stages of readiness for partnerships in AI Institutes. These are “ExpandAI Capacity Building Pilots” and “ExpandAI Partnerships” as described below.

Track 1: ExpandAI Capacity Building Pilots

Capacity Building Pilots (CAP) are planning and growth efforts focused on the establishment of AI activities at the funded MSI and the early exploration of future synergistic partnerships that have the potential to be part of prospective ExpandAI Partnerships. Successful pilots will result in establishing new AI research capacity, education/workforce development in AI, and/or AI infrastructure capacity at the proposing institution and, potentially, a basis for future AI partnerships. CAP activities should plan for engaging appropriate communities to test the feasibility of partnerships as well as developing plans for continuing capacity development. Plans should consider required research infrastructure, plans to leverage established groups in related research areas, and inclusion of faculty training and research experiences that emphasize the diversification of investigators. 

Proposals must articulate a clear vision motivating the capacity building activities, with a focus on long-term benefits to the MSI such as enhanced faculty capacity for foundational and/or use-inspired AI research or new effective models for increased education and career pathways in AI. Proposals to this track must include a strong Institutional Need and Support Statement (see proposal preparation instructions) containing an assessment of the current AI research and instructional capacity and infrastructure, a demonstration of institutional need for capacity building in AI, and a statement of the commitment of institutional support for the proposed activities. Proposals that substantiate a strong case in this need and support statement are likely to be most compelling for the funding opportunity. Further guidance for this supporting document can be found in Proposal Preparation Instructions.

Successful proposals will feature a Capacity Building Plan that features clear and measurable outcomes/benefits of capacity building. Suitable activities for such a plan are:

• establishment or significant enhancement of foundational or use-inspired AI research, marked by increased faculty research output;
• design of academic pathways or innovative models for teaching and learning in AI, incorporating how students learn effectively in AI activities, and bringing AI disciplinary advances into the undergraduate and graduate experience;
• establishment or significant expansion of AI career pathways for students resulting from new AI activities;
• enhanced AI research infrastructure;
• significant increase in the participation of investigators and students who have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented in AI; and
• a plan for objective process evaluation in support of the proposed efforts.

Note that this list is representative of suitable activities and outcomes for this track. CAP activities need not be limited to this list, and proposals do not have to include every type of outcome represented in that list. Proposers are encouraged to select and integrate the activities most appropriate for their institutional context and their vision for capacity building toward partnerships. 

Early partnership development between the proposing MSI and one or more AI Institutes is neither required nor encouraged in a CAP proposal.

Track 2: ExpandAI Partnerships

The ExpandAI Partnership (PARTNER) track is an opportunity for MSIs to scale up already-established AI research and/or education programs and to initiate/leverage new collaborations with AI Institutes. These partnerships will be multi-organization collaborations submitted by an MSI and will include a subaward to an AI Institute. PARTNER projects are centered around shared, complementary goals. Proposals will be submitted as single-organizational collaborative proposals. PARTNER proposals may only be submitted by a qualifying MSI as indicated in Eligible Institutions in this solicitation. 

PARTNER proposals should scale up and make fully productive an appropriate existing capacity in AI research, education/workforce development, and/or infrastructure capacity. The proposing MSI in this track is not required to have previously been awarded a CAP project under this program. PARTNER proposals must constitute a significant new partnership that has the clear potential to build on the institution’s current AI capacity as well as leverage the intrinsic strengths and talents of the MSI for mutual benefit in collaborative AI activities.

MSIs applying for this track must demonstrate readiness to leverage external expertise and financial resources to focus on medium- and long-range plans to leverage this funding opportunity and new partnerships to develop AI capacity within the MSI, including but not limited to further development of the MSI’s envisioned methodological thrusts, use cases, educational and/or workforce development activities, and the potential for the MSI to expand and scale these efforts through formal, mutually beneficial partnerships. Proposals should include at least one (and if appropriate, more) established AI Institutes in developing a roadmap for collaborative work in some unifying theme or focus. 

PARTNER proposals must feature a compelling Partnership Roadmap for collaborative work in some unifying theme or focus. Roadmaps are the beginning of a joint strategy between organizations for collaborative work. These roadmaps may also include community building activities (e.g., workshops) to further develop common interests, objectives, and goals for the growth of collaborative activities. Effective roadmaps are both depicted visually (e.g., conceptual diagram, logic model, table, etc.) and fully explained by a descriptive narrative. The roadmap should address all proposed projects involving research, education/workforce development, infrastructure, and any other types that are applicable to the collaboration. Roadmaps might address:

• enhancement of existing projects by virtue of new collaboration;
• initiation of new projects made possible by the collaboration;
• community building activities (e.g., workshops) to further develop common interests, objectives, and further growth of the partnership;
• potential and plans for scaling nascent programs;
• an evaluation plan for measuring the growth and mutual benefit of activities in all projects.

UArizona is not eligible to submit during this FY* // Institutionally Coordinated //  Limit: 1 

Please contact HSI Initiatives for more information. 

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

• Planning or Pilot Projects (PPP) track: There are no restrictions or limits.
• Implementation and Evaluation Projects (IEP) track: There are no restrictions or limits.
• Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP) track: One award and one submission per institution is allowed. *Institutions with an active award are not eligible to apply to this track. Due to an active award, UArizona may not submit a proposal until 2028, unless the new guidelines indicate otherwise. 

The goals of the HSI program are to enhance the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associates or baccalaureate degrees in STEM. Achieving these, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires additional strategies that support building capacity at HSIs through innovative approaches: to incentivize institutional and community transformation; and to promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Intended outcomes of the HSI Program include broadening participation of students that are historically underrepresented in STEM and expanding students' pathways to continued STEM education and integration into the STEM workforce.

The HSI program is aligned with the National Science Board's vision for, and the NSF's commitment to, a more diverse and capable science and engineering workforce.1 2 HSIs are heterogeneous and unique in many respects.3 Some HSIs have well-established undergraduate STEM programs while others are just beginning to create STEM programs. Whether 2-year or 4-year, public or private, the HSIs serve a wide range of students with a diverse set of educational backgrounds. The need for tailored initiatives, policies, and practices (mindful of socio-cultural awareness) should meet the students' needs and institutions' expectations while advancing undergraduate students at HSIs toward higher levels of academic achievement in STEM. This is the motivation behind three HSI program tracks: Track 1: Planning or Pilot Projects (PPP); Track 2: Implementation and Evaluation Projects (IEP); and Track 3: Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP). Track 3, ITP, is motivated by work on organizational identities for HSIs that suggest that organizational culture and identity play a key role in the success of an HSI in promoting student success in STEM.4

Track 3: The Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP) track supports institution-wide structural or systemic changes to enhance undergraduate STEM education at the proposing HSI. The ITP must be grounded in STEM education research and broadening participation research and be designed to make institutional infrastructure and policy changes to support long-term institutional changes that encourage and support faculty in implementing evidence-based practices that enhance student outcomes in STEM at the proposing HSI.

Under the ITP track, research (including foundational research) that improves our understanding of how to build HSI institutional capacity in STEM is encouraged. Such research should result in a strategic understanding about how the multiple components of the HSI program goals work synchronously to advance STEM education. All institution types are encouraged to apply, especially PUIs (including community colleges). Proposed activities can include adaptation of evidence-based strategies and/or the design and implementation of innovative strategies. The ITP must include both project evaluation and dissemination components, as well as an education research component. The ITP proposed structural or systemic changes are expected to be institutionalized and sustained by the HSI.

Institutionally Coordinated //  Limit: 1 // M. Franco ( HSI Initiatives)

Please contact HSI Initiatives for more information. 

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

• Planning or Pilot Projects (PPP) track: There are no restrictions or limits.
• Implementation and Evaluation Projects (IEP) track: There are no restrictions or limits.
• Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP) track: One award and one submission per institution is allowed. Institutions with an active award are not eligible to apply to this track.

The goals of the HSI program are to enhance the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associates or baccalaureate degrees in STEM. Achieving these, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires additional strategies that support building capacity at HSIs through innovative approaches: to incentivize institutional and community transformation; and to promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Intended outcomes of the HSI Program include broadening participation of students that are historically underrepresented in STEM and expanding students' pathways to continued STEM education and integration into the STEM workforce.

The HSI program is aligned with the National Science Board's vision for, and the NSF's commitment to, a more diverse and capable science and engineering workforce.1 2 HSIs are heterogeneous and unique in many respects.3 Some HSIs have well-established undergraduate STEM programs while others are just beginning to create STEM programs. Whether 2-year or 4-year, public or private, the HSIs serve a wide range of students with a diverse set of educational backgrounds. The need for tailored initiatives, policies, and practices (mindful of socio-cultural awareness) should meet the students' needs and institutions' expectations while advancing undergraduate students at HSIs toward higher levels of academic achievement in STEM. This is the motivation behind three HSI program tracks: Track 1: Planning or Pilot Projects (PPP); Track 2: Implementation and Evaluation Projects (IEP); and Track 3: Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP). Track 3, ITP, is motivated by work on organizational identities for HSIs that suggest that organizational culture and identity play a key role in the success of an HSI in promoting student success in STEM.4

Track 3: The Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP) track supports institution-wide structural or systemic changes to enhance undergraduate STEM education at the proposing HSI. The ITP must be grounded in STEM education research and broadening participation research and be designed to make institutional infrastructure and policy changes to support long-term institutional changes that encourage and support faculty in implementing evidence-based practices that enhance student outcomes in STEM at the proposing HSI.

Under the ITP track, research (including foundational research) that improves our understanding of how to build HSI institutional capacity in STEM is encouraged. Such research should result in a strategic understanding about how the multiple components of the HSI program goals work synchronously to advance STEM education. All institution types are encouraged to apply, especially PUIs (including community colleges). Proposed activities can include adaptation of evidence-based strategies and/or the design and implementation of innovative strategies. The ITP must include both project evaluation and dissemination components, as well as an education research component. The ITP proposed structural or systemic changes are expected to be institutionalized and sustained by the HSI.

Institutionally Coordinated //  Limit: 1 // Currans (Urban Planning)

Please contact HSI Initiatives for more information. 

The purpose of the DDETFP Local Competition is to stimulate interest among students attending an Institution of Higher Education (IHE) of Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) and community colleges (CC) to conduct transportation-related research, pursue transportation-related degrees, for entering the transportation workforce, and enhancing the breadth, scope and diversity of knowledge of the entire transportation community in the United States (U.S.). The DDETFP Local Competition provides funding for students to pursue associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees in transportation-related disciplines in all modes of transportation. The DDETFP Local Competition enhances racial equity by providing opportunities to students enrolled in minority serving institutions of higher learning.

Applicants for the administration of the DDETFP Local Competition are IHEs that must be currently designated as one of the MSI identified or a community college. The IHE must be accredited by a federally-recognized accrediting agency and must be located within the United States or its territories, both administratively as well as the campus the students are attending. If the IHE is selected to administer the local competition, the IHE must ensure eligibility of the students applying for DDETFP as described.

Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 1

M. Chertkov (Applied Math)

Applicant institutions are limited to both:
• No more than two pre-applications or applications as the lead institution.
• No more than one pre-application or application for each PI at the applicant institution.

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 data reduction techniques and algorithms to facilitate more efficient analysis and use of massive data sets produced by observations, experiments and simulation.

Scientific observations, experiments, and simulations are producing data at rates beyond our capacity to store, analyze, stream, and archive the data in raw form. Of necessity, many research groups have already begun reducing the size of their data sets via techniques such as compression, reduced order models, experiment-specific triggers, filtering, and feature extraction. Once reduced in size, transporting, storing, and analyzing the data is still a considerable challenge – a reality that motivates SC’s Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) program [1] and necessitates further innovation in data-reduction methods. These further efforts should continue to increase the level of mathematical rigor in scientific data reduction to ensure that scientifically-relevant constraints on quantities of interest are satisfied, that methods can be integrated into scientific workflows, and that methods are implemented in a manner that inspires trust that the desired information is preserved. Moreover, as the scientific community continues to drive innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), important opportunities to apply AI methods to the challenges of scientific data reduction and apply data-reduction techniques to enable scientific AI, continue to present themselves [2-4].

The drivers for data reduction techniques constitute a broad and diverse set of scientific disciplines that cover every aspect of the DOE scientific mission. An incomplete list includes light sources, accelerators, radio astronomy, cosmology, fusion, climate, materials, combustion, the power grid, and genomics, all of which have either observatories, experimental facilities, or simulation needs that produce unwieldy amounts of raw data. ASCR is interested in algorithms, techniques, and workflows that can reduce the volume of such data, and that have the potential to be broadly applied to more than one application. Applicants who submit a pre-application that focuses on a single science application may be discouraged from submitting a full proposal.

 Limit: 2 // G. Davidowitz (Entomology), F. Duca (Animal & Comparative Biomedical Sciences)

Two proposals total per eligible institution.

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.

UArizona is ineligible to propose as a lead institution * // Limit: 1 

The proposal must be submitted by Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) accredited in, and having a campus located in the U.S., that are not currently classified as a Doctoral University with “Very High Research Activity” (R1 institutions) according to the 2021 Carnegie Classification update: https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/.

These include two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the U.S., acting on behalf of their faculty members. Eligibility is based on the classification on the date of proposal submission deadline.

All U.S.-based accredited Institutions of Higher Education, including R1 institutions, are eligible to be named a subawardee (partner) institutions. Funding of partnering institutions must be requested via subawards; separately submitted collaborative proposals are not permitted. The total amount of funding to subawardee institutions is limited to no more than 30% of the total award amount.

Limit: 1 // PI: D. Soh (Wyant College of Optical Sciences)

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER), through its Bioimaging Research effort, hereby announces its interest in receiving innovative applications to advance fundamental research or use-inspired technologies of new bioimaging or sensing approaches. Fundamental research to enhance spatial and temporal resolution, measurement speed, long-term sample stability, selectivity, sensitivity, or chemical specificity of bioimaging technologies are desirable. Proposed research should demonstrate a comparative advantage over state-of-the-art techniques or identify biological characteristics that cannot currently be measured. Quantum-enabled technologies are allowed but not required in this FOA. Applications can be submitted under one of two subtopics: 1) Novel research concepts proceeding through technical validation that are not required to evaluate new biological hypotheses; 2) Innovative experimental prototype research proceeding through hypothesis-driven biological experimentation; proposals submitted under this subtopic are encouraged to coordinate with biological collaborators if domain expertise is not in-house. All applications are expected to describe how, if realized, they would advance biological knowledge of plant and microbial systems relevant to bioeconomy or environmental research in fields of study supported by BER.

Program Objective

BER is soliciting applications in the following subtopic areas: 1) fundamental imaging or sensing research from concept to validation or 2) evaluation of biological hypotheses or questions with feasible, use-inspired prototypes. Under subtopic 1) applications could evaluate, untested concepts, and theoretical models, develop novel experimental prototypes and validate measurement accuracy against known technical or biological validation standards. Under subtopic 2) research of experimental prototypes of instruments and methods that will include demonstration of feasibility leading to hypothesis-driven biological experimentation to demonstrate value to the user community. This FOA does not solicit late-stage optimization after initial prototype research, or engineering development of resources, or equipment.

Subtopic 1: Concept to Validation

Projects can begin at the conceptual (pre-experimental) stage and move through validation by comparing technical performance and biological measurements against accepted standards. This stage is too early to investigate new biological questions until proven accurate and reproducible. The intent of the first subtopic is to include applications that might not yet have experimental demonstration of feasibility but hold promise of significant impact if successful. These high-risk high-reward applications might reside completely within a scientific and technical field of research and are not required to demonstrate novel biological utility. However, validation against already characterized synthetic or biological samples in BER-supported bioenergy and environmental research should be included. Measurement should be compared to known or “gold-standard” targets measured by competing methods.

Demonstration in living systems is not required, but systems must have future impact on in situ imaging, measuring, or modeling for plant- and microbial-based bioenergy research. Proposed projects should hold promise for significant advances in imaging or sensing and must include plans to manage the high risk inherent in testing novel concepts and techniques. These “high-risk/high reward” projects might have no preliminary data to support the concept making feasibility challenging to evaluate for scientific merit. However, reviewers will be instructed to evaluate merit based on the future significance of the potential for success and the risk-reward balance when evaluating the applications for consideration of funding. In all applications it is expected that the future significance for biological investigations in fields of study supported by BER will be described.

Subtopic 2: Prototypes for Biological Hypothesis Research

Projects can begin with use-inspired experimental prototypes that will be tested for technical and biological validation but cannot include development to field-ready demonstration prototypes. In addition to technical research and testing, projects must include research to evaluate an untested biological question or hypothesis. Optionally, collaboration with external biological investigators can be included towards evaluating biological hypotheses. The intent of the second subtopic is for technically feasible research that can be tested to demonstrate utility for biological users. Public dissemination of research results can provide demonstration of value to the BER research community and generate interest in adoption of new technologies.

Demonstration in living systems is not required, but technical systems must have future impact on in situ imaging, measuring, or modeling of plant- and microbial-based bioeconomy or environmental research. Applications should demonstrate an advantage over current techniques or measure new biological characteristics that could not be accessed with existing approaches. Further, evaluating untested biological hypotheses is required to demonstrate project significance to bioenergy, bioeconomy, or environmental research. Multidisciplinary teams of physical and chemical scientists, plant biologists, microbiologists, and engineers are encouraged to develop high impact imaging and sensing approaches that are inspired by well-defined biological hypotheses. Optional funding for collaboration with investigators outside of the PIs laboratory can be requested in the application for out years two and three. In all applications it is expected that the future significance for biological investigations in fields of study supported by BER will be described.