August 2016
The FAS Research Development group publishes this monthly Funding Newsletter for SEAS faculty and researchers. The newsletter includes notable Federal, private, and internal Harvard funding opportunities. To provide feedback, please complete our two-question survey.  
Questions? 
Erin Cromack: cromack@fas.harvard.edu | 617-496-5252 
Jennifer Corby: jcorby@fas.harvard.edu | 617-495-1590  
For more information on our support services, please visit our website.

Did you know? All Harvard affiliates have access to the funding opportunity database, Pivot. 

Click on the links below to read a program synopsis
Internal Opportunities
External Opportunities

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
 
Foundation Opportunities

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Computer & Information Science and Engineering (NSF CISE)

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (NSF: MPS)
National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering

Internal Opportunities

climate_change
Deadline: October 1, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $150,000 over one or two years
Target Applicants: Full-time assistant, associate, or full professors from any Harvard School may apply for an award. Students and postdoctoral scholars with an identified faculty mentor who will supervise their research are also eligible to apply.
 
The Harvard University Climate Change Solutions Fund supports research and policy initiatives intended to hasten the transition from carbon-based energy systems to those that rely on renewable energy sources, to develop methods for diminishing the impact of existing carbon-based energy systems on the climate, and to propel scientific, technological, legal, policy and artistic innovations needed to accelerate progress toward cleaner energy and a greener world. 

This year, because of generous donations from individual donors, additional funds will be dedicated to proposals that relate to climate change issues in China and in equatorial regions, broadly defined. Proposals in these areas are especially encouraged to apply.

Applications should propose research that will advance solutions to climate change. Solutions may include both preparedness and mitigation and strong consideration will be given to projects that demonstrate a clear pathway to application, as well as riskier proposals with the potential to be transformative over time.



OTD
Physical Sciences and Engineering Accelerator Awards
Pre-Proposal Deadline: October 3, 2016
Full Proposal Deadline (by invite): November 21, 2016
Award Amount: $50,000 to $100,000
Eligible Applicants: Principal Investigators whose employer is Harvard University
 
The PSE Accelerator Awards are designed to support innovative research aimed at extending preliminary observations, establishing proof-of-concept, scaling-up a product or process, and generating (or enhancing) intellectual property positions. The objective of the program is to accelerate research projects towards one of following value-creation inflection points: (1) formation of a start-up company, (2) licensing the technology to an established company, or (3) securing follow-on industrial funding for continued R&D. 

The review criteria will emphasize: the commercial potential of the research project; the existence of, or the possibility of filing, intellectual property; and the delineation of a clear R&D roadmap detailing how Accelerator Funding will lead to a value-creation inflection point. Particular emphasis will be given to those projects that could result in a Harvard-led start-up.



RadcliffeExplore
Deadline: October 24, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $18,000 
Eligible Applicants: Ladder faculty members or current or former Radcliffe Institute fellows
 
Exploratory seminars provide funding to bring together scholars, practitioners, and artists from Harvard University and around the world to develop ideas and research across the disciplines. Seminars are usually one or two days in length and are held at the Radcliffe Institute with all logistical arrangements handled by Radcliffe staff. Applications are welcome from all academic fields.


U.S. Department of Defense

HELMRI
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
High Energy Laser Multidisciplinary Research Initiative (HEL-MRI) Program of the OSD High Energy Laser-Joint Technology Office (HEL-JTO) 
OSP Deadline: August 22, 2016
Full Proposal Deadline: August 29, 2016
Award Amount: The average individual award amount is estimated to be $600,000 per year; MRI programs are up to five years duration (3 year base period, plus 2 option year periods). The DoD intends to award approximately $66 million under this FOA competition over the life of the Multidisciplinary Research Initiative (MRI).
 
The HEL-MRI intends to enhance the capabilities of U.S. institutions of higher education (hereafter referred to as universities) to perform basic science and engineering research and related education in lasers, optics, and other areas critical to national defense applications of HELs. The HEL-MRI will support university-led multidisciplinary teams whose research efforts intersect more than one traditional science and engineering discipline within the general area of HELs. Multidisciplinary team effort can accelerate research progress in areas particularly suited to this approach by cross-fertilization of ideas and also can help to hasten the transition of basic research findings to practical application. 

The HEL-MRI solicits proposals from U. S. universities to conduct basic research in six thrust areas of High Energy Laser (HEL) technologies:
  •  Thrust Area #1: Next Generation High Energy Laser Technologies
  • Thrust Area #2: High-Power Propagation through Deep Turbulence
  • Thrust Area #3: Next Generation Beam Combination Techniques
  • Thrust Area #4: Modeling of the Lower Atmosphere
  • Thrust Area #5: Low Stress Coatings for HEL Deformable Mirrors
  • Thrust Area #6: Materials Development for High Energy Laser Systems


ACCAPG
U.S. Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG)
Robots in Manufacturing Environments Manufacturing Innovation Institute (RIME-MII) 
OSP Deadline: August 25, 2016
Concept Paper Deadline (required): September 1, 2016
Full Proposal Deadline: mid- to late-November 2016
Award Amount: DoD anticipates funding $80 million for this RIME-MII, distributed across five fiscal years (FY 17-21); this program requires a minimum 1:1 cost share

This FOA solicits proposals to initiate and sustain the RIME-MII as part of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) program. These Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MII) bring together industry, institutions of higher education (four-and two-year universities, community colleges, technical institutes, etc.), and federal and state agencies to accelerate innovation by investing in industrially relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications. 

These MIIs help bridge the gap between basic/early research and product development by developing and scaling critical technologies in the manufacturing readiness level 4 to 7 ranges. Each Institute is to have a specific technical and market focus, serving as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence, providing the critically important infrastructure necessary to create a dynamic, highly collaborative environment spurring manufacturing technology innovations and technology transfer leading to domestic production scale-up and commercialization.
 
The government intends for this FOA to support the establishment of a RIME-MII to advance state-of-the-art application of collaborative robotic technologies in manufacturing environments. The motivation for the RIME-MII is to increase U.S. competitiveness in robotics applied primarily in manufacturing environments by: 1) encouraging the development and scale-up for commercialization of critical enabling technologies such as; human-robot/robot-robot collaboration; perception and sensing; robot control to include adaptation, learning, and repurposing; autonomy and mobility; and dexterous manipulation; 2) establishing common standards and testing protocols allowing the integration of multiple robotics technologies; 3) creating a robotic technology solution repository (to include modelling tools, databases, catalog of technology demonstrations and concept sharing mechanisms); and 4) providing workforce training and education programs to ensure the U.S. workforce can effectively utilize and collaborate with robots in a broad spectrum of manufacturing environments.



SC2
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2)
OSP Deadline: August 26, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 2, 2016
Award Amount: SC2 will consist of 3 phases, each culminating in a tournament event. Each phase lasts 1 year. Up to 30 teams may be selected to participate in the collaborative-competition. DARPA intends to fund the best performing teams (approximately 10) in the amount of $750K at the end of PE1 and PE2. A total of $3.75 million in prizes will be awarded at the SC2 Championship Event.
 
The Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) aims to ensure that the exponentially growing number of military and civilian wireless devices will have full access to the increasingly crowded electromagnetic spectrum. Competitors will reimagine spectrum access strategies and develop a new wireless paradigm in which radio networks will autonomously collaborate and reason about how to share the RF spectrum, avoiding interference and jointly exploiting opportunities to achieve the most efficient use of the available spectrum. SC2 teams will develop these breakthrough capabilities by taking advantage of recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and the expanding capacities of software-defined radios. In SC2, the performance of autonomous systems will be evaluated through a round-robin tournament-style competition. 

SC2 has two participation tracks. Proposal Track teams participate in SC2 through a contract with DARPA, Open Track teams do not. In the Proposal Track, teams will submit a proposal to be evaluated on the basis of its technical merit as stated in the Collaborative Intelligent Radio Networks Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). In the Open Track option, teams must register to participate via the SC2 website. In order to secure one of the open track slots, teams must complete and score well in the entrance hurdles. DARPA welcomes all manner of potential participants in the Open Track Option, especially those who have not previously worked with DARPA. 



dispersedcomputinn
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Dispersed Computing
OSP Deadline: August 31, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 7, 2016
Award Amount: depends upon the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. Dispersed Computing is a 4 year program with 2 24-month phases. DARPA anticipates multiple awards for Technical Areas 1 and 2. Technical Area 3 awards (via option exercise), if any, will occur in Phase 2 of the program.
 
DARPA solicits innovative research proposals in the area of algorithms and protocols for mission-aware computation and communication across broad-scale, physically dispersed computing infrastructure. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.
 
The program is divided into three technical areas (TAs): 
  • TA1: Algorithms for Dispersed Mission-Aware Computation; 
  • TA2: Programmable Nodes and Protocol Stacks; and 
  • TA3:Technology Integration. 


CREATE
Army Research Laboratory (ARL)
Fiscal Year 2017 Collaborative Research for Enhanced Academic-TTCP Engagement (CREATE)
OSP Deadline: September 8, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 15, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $200,000 for one year
 
The CREATE Program aims to develop a coherent fundamental research program across the five TTCP nations (USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand) that demonstrates enhanced mutual reliance (EMR) by leveraging unique research capabilities in the five international partner nations through collaboration. As such, the four other international partner nations and the US Air Force issue parallel calls for research at commensurate funding levels. Cross-national collaborations will not be funded in this call. However, it is expected that there will be significant collaboration between successful performers from different nations after award. 

Proposals are sought for research into novel fusion methods to improve situation awareness. These methods must be able to fuse data sourced from physics-based sensors with human-based sources of information. While the research will be fundamental in nature, it is expected that the problems addressed will focus on information fusion issues specific to Army scenarios.



DARPAELM
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Engineered Living Materials (ELM)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts: September 15, 2016 (strongly encouraged for Track 2 only)
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: September 27, 2016 (for Track 1); November 10, 2016 (for Track 2)
Award Amount: Multiple awards are possible. The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. Track 1 awards will have a 48-month Period of Performance. Track 2 awards will have a 24-month Period of Performance
 
The Engineered Living Materials (ELM) program will develop design tools and methods that enable the engineering of structural features into cellular systems that function as living materials, thereby opening up a new design space for building technology. ELM is a two track program: Track 1 is Hybrid-ELM, to develop methods for adding living cells to scaffolding materials such that the resulting hybrid material is both structurally sound, and exhibits desirable characteristics of living things; and Track 2 is Programmable-ELM, to explore methods for programming structural features into multicellular biological systems through genetic engineering.

A Proposer's Day for this challenge will take place in Arlington, VA, on August 26, 2016. 



NEEC
Naval Surface Warfare Center
Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) Broad Agency Announcement for FY16
OSP Deadline: October 3, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: October 10, 2016
Award Amount: The funded amount and period of performance of each proposal selected for award may vary depending on the research area and the technical approach to be pursued by the offeror selected
 
This program solicits research of interest from colleges and universities in support of the Naval Engineering Education Consortium. 

Areas of interest include: Ship Integration and Design; Unmanned Vehicles/Autonomous Systems; Additive Manufacturing; Signatures and Silencing; Hydrodynamics/Hydromechanics; Metrology & Calibration for High Energy Lasers; Metrology & Calibration for Additive Manufacturing/3D printing Technologies; Metrology of Sensors/Detectors; Big Data Analytics for assessment purposes; Emerging software development; Laser systems development; Electronic Warfare and Radar; Human Systems Interface; CBR Defense; Biodefense; and Viscoelastic polymer research.



ONRYIP
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Young Investigator Program (YIP) 
OSP Deadline: October 28, 2016
Full Proposal Deadline: November 4, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $170,000 per year for 3 years. Additional funds (beyond the basic $170,000 yearly amount) for capital equipment which enhances the Young Investigator's proposed research may be requested for the first budget period. As an incentive to become involved in other ONR activities, the Office may match on a 1-for-1 basis, the first $25,000 of additional funding to support additional, collaborative research with a Navy laboratory during the YIP award
 
The objectives of ONR's Young Investigator Program (YIP) are to attract outstanding early-career faculty members to the Department of the Navy's research program, to support their research, and to encourage their teaching and research careers. Eligible proposals address research areas including, but not limited to: Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism; Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance; Ocean Battlespace Sensing; Sea Warfare and Weapons; Warfighter Performance; and Naval Air Warfare and Weapons, which are of interest to ONR program officers. 

The Principal Investigator of a proposal must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident (on the date proposals are due), holding a first or second full-time tenure-track or tenure-track-equivalent faculty position at that university, and have begun her/his first full-time appointment on or after 04 November 2011.



DODBAAs
Other DoD Opportunities:

If you are interested in DoD funding opportunities, please note:
The Defense Innovation Marketplace is a centralized source for Department of Defense science and technology (S&T) planning, acquisition resources, funding, and financial information. 


U.S. Department of Energy

HEP17
Department of Energy: Office of Science
FY 2017 Research Opportunities in High Energy Physics
Sponsor Letter of Intent Deadline (highly encouraged): August 23, 2016
OSP Deadline: September 13, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 20, 2016
Award Amount: It is anticipated that approximately $100,000,000 will be available for all awards under this FOA for the project period of three years. The number, duration and size of awards will depend on the number of applications selected for award after merit review, and the actual amount of funds available in FY 2017 and future fiscal years
 
The Office of High Energy Physics (HEP) invites new and renewal grant applications for support of research programs in High Energy Physics. The mission of the HEP program is to understand how the universe works at its most fundamental level, which is done by discovering the elementary constituents of matter and energy, probing the interactions between them, and exploring the basic nature of space and time.
 
All applications should address specific research goals in one or more of the following six research subprograms:
  • The Energy Frontier, where powerful accelerators are used to create new particles, reveal their interactions, and investigate fundamental forces;
  • The Intensity Frontier, where intense particle beams and highly sensitive detectors are used to pursue alternate pathways to investigate fundamental forces and particle interactions by studying events that occur rarely in nature, and to provide precision measurements of these phenomena;
  • The Cosmic Frontier, where non-accelerator-based experiments observe the cosmos and detect cosmic particles, making measurements of natural phenomena that can provide information about the nature of dark matter, dark energy, and other fundamental properties of the universe that impact our understanding of matter and energy.
  • Theoretical High Energy Physics, where the vision and mathematical framework for understanding and extending the knowledge of particles, forces, space-time, and the universe are developed;
  • Accelerator Science and Technology Research and Development, where the technologies and basic science needed to design, build, and operate the accelerator facilities essential for making new discoveries are developed; and
  • Detector Research and Development, where the basic science and technologies needed to design and build the High Energy Physics detectors essential for making new discoveries are developed.


Early Career Research Program
Sponsor Pre-Proposal Deadline (required): September 8, 2016
OSP Deadline: November 4, 2016
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (if invited): November 14, 2016
Award Amount: $750,000 over five years
Target Faculty: Assistant and Associate Professors who received doctorates in 2006 or later
 
The Early Career Research Program supports the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulates research careers in the disciplines supported by the DOE Office of Science. Opportunities exist in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); High Energy Physics (HEP), and Nuclear Physics (NP).  



IDEAS
Department of Energy: Advanced Research Projects (ARPA-E)
Innovative Development in Energy-Related Applied Science (IDEAS)
OSP Deadline: Not required for concept papers
Sponsor Concept Paper Deadline: rolling through September 30, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $500,000 over one year
 
This program provides rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. IDEAS awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. IDEAS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that also do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology.



DOEAnnual
Annual Funding Opportunity Announcement
OSP Deadline: 5 business days in advance of submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling through September 30, 2016
 
The Office of Science (SC) supports work in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics. 

This FOA will remain open until September 30, 2016, 11:59 PM Eastern Time, or until it is succeeded by another issuance, whichever occurs first.


Foundation Opportunities

Parma
Informatics Research Starter Grants
OSP Deadline: August 25, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 1, 2016
Award Amount: $100,000 for one year
Target Faculty: U.S. citizens or permanent residents beginning independent research careers in informatics at the faculty level, who do not have other substantial sources of research funding.
 
The goal of the Informatics program is to promote development and use of informatics in an integrative approach toward understanding normal processes of human biology and disease processes. Informatics awards support career development of scientists engaged in research that significantly integrates state-of-the-art information technology developed with advanced biological, chemical, and pharmacological sciences in the following areas:
  • Genetics Proteomics
  • Molecular Systems Biology
  • Medical (human) Pathways and Networks
  • Pharmaco- Integrative Biology
  • Population Modeling and Simulation
Genomics Molecular Epidemiology
  • Functional
  • Structural
  • Toxico-
  • Pharmaco-
  • Comparative.


Google2
Sponsor Deadline: September 30, 2016
Award Information: up to $150,000; most awards are funded at the amount needed to support one graduate student for one year and range from $40,000 to $70,000
 
This program supports academic research in computer science, engineering, and related fields. Each funded project will be assigned a Google sponsor, who will discuss research directions, engage with professors and students, and enable interactions between the project team and Google. 

Faculty Research Awards are one-year awards structured as current-use unrestricted gifts (subject to a gift assessment at the local School rate) to support the research of world-class permanent faculty members at top universities around the world. Although Google states that Faculty Research Awards do not cover indirect costs, administrative costs, or overhead, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Google's University Relations group have reached an agreement that authorizes each School to assess gifts in line with university and school policies. For FAS and SEAS, the gift assessment fee on unrestricted current-use gift funds is 15%. This includes, at certain schools, the exemption of some classes of funds such as financial aid. 

Please direct any questions about the acceptance of Google Faculty Research Awards to Denise Gorayeb, Recording Secretary (denise_gorayeb@harvard.edu), or Jen Chow, Director of Foundation and Corporate Development, OVPR (jennifer_chow@harvard.edu).



Simons2
Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences
Sponsor Letter of Intent Deadline: October 3, 2016
OSP Deadline: February 21, 2017
Sponsor Deadline (if invited): February 28, 2017
Award Amount: Up to $2.5 million per year for an initial period of 4 years
 
A Simons Collaboration in MPS should address a mathematical or theoretical topic of fundamental scientific importance, where a significant new development creates a novel area for exploration or provides a new direction for progress in an established field. The questions addressed by the collaboration may be concrete or conceptual, but there should be little doubt that answering them would constitute a major scientific milestone. 

Each collaboration is led by a collaboration director, who is expected to determine the scientific agenda, to coordinate the scientific activities of the other members, to determine (in collaboration with the other members) the scientific themes and to organize collaboration meetings and activities as appropriate, including a two-day annual conference at the foundation. The project should involve outstanding researchers with a range of career stages and PIs are expected to perform research that advances the goals of the collaboration and to collaborate as appropriate with other members of the collaboration.  



USIsrael
Regular Research Grants
OSP Deadline: November 7, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: November 15, 2016
Award Amount: $230,000 maximum for 4 years
 
The Regular Research Grants Program is open to all scientists from Israel and the USA who would like to conduct joint research in a variety of scientific research. Applications must be submitted together by at least one scientist from each country, but not more than six in total. The Israeli and American principal investigators must have obtained a PhD, or MD, or an equivalent degree, and must be faculty members or equivalent. 

The following areas of research are eligible for the upcoming deadline: Atmospheric and earth sciences; chemistry; computer sciences; ecology and systematic biology; energy research; environmental research; materials research; mathematical sciences; oceanography and limnology; physics; psychology; sociology, and special programs.



McDonnell
James S. McDonnell Foundation
Studying Complex Systems Collaborative Activity Awards
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: Budgets for collaborative activities vary greatly depending on the scope of the proposed project and on the number of people involved

The Foundation offers Collaborative Activity Awards to initiate interdisciplinary discussions on problems or issues, to help launch interdisciplinary research networks, or to fund communities of researchers and practitioners dedicated to developing new methods, tools, and applications of basic research to applied problems. Strong preference will be given to applications involving multi-institutional collaboration. 

Proposals furthering the science of complex systems and/or proposals intending to apply complex system tools and models to problems where such approaches are not yet considered usual or mainstream are appropriate. Please note that this Foundation limits the number of inquiries an investigator may submit to one every three years. 



Simons
Targeted Grants in Mathematics and Physical Sciences
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: A typical Targeted Grant in MPS provides funding for up to five years. The funding provided is flexible and based on the type of support requested in the proposal. There is no recommended funding limit.
 
The Simons Foundation division for Mathematics and Physical Sciences seeks to extend the frontiers of basic research. The division's primary focus is on mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science. This program is intended to support high-risk projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance on a case-by-case basis. Expenses for experiments, equipment, or computations, as well as for personnel and travel, are allowable.



 SonyFaculty
Faculty Innovation Award
OSP Deadline: September 23, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 30, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $100,000
 
The Sony Faculty Innovation Award provides up to $100K in unrestricted funds to conduct pioneering research in the following areas: Artificial Intelligence; Human Computer Interaction; Affective/Positive Computing; Knowledge-Based Information Extraction; Computational Neuroscience; Modular Neural Networks; Conversational Agent; Speech Recognition; Spoken Language Understanding; Active Vision; Multi-modal Sensor Data Fusion; Functional Image Sensing; Internet of Things (IoT); Multiple Sensor Networks; mm-Wave Wireless Communication & Radar System; Unlicensed Band (5GHz/2.4GHz) Co-existence; Autonomous-decentralized Wireless Network; AR / VR; Immersive Experience; Computational Photography; ADAS / Autonomous Driving; Electro-acoustic Transducer; and Robotics.
Note: these awards are likely to be received as gifts and therefore do not need to be submitted though OSP. Please check with your grant administrator before submitting your proposal.



Sony2016
2016 Focused Research Award
OSP Deadline: September 23, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 30, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $150,000 per year (which can be renewed for subsequent years)
 
The Sony Focused Research Award provides an opportunity for university faculty and Sony to conduct collaborative, focused research. The award provides up to a $150K annual fund, and may be renewed for subsequent year(s). The research topics are: Sensor Fusion with mm-Wave Radar for Automotive Application; Next Generation 60GHz Wireless Network; Next Generation Novel Display System; Image-based Photo-realistic Rendering; Machine Learning Based Image Processing; High-accuracy Inertial Navigation System; and Evolving Reinforcement Learning from Simulation to Real Environment. 
Note: these awards are likely to be received as gifts and therefore do not need to be submitted though OSP. Please check with your grant administrator before submitting your proposal.


Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) 


CORE3D
Creation of Operationally Realistic 3D Environment (CORE3D)
OSP Deadline: September 8, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 15, 2016
Award Amount: The amount of resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds
 
The CORE3D program aims to develop technology that generates, in an automated way, accurate 3D object models with real physical properties, from multiple data sources including commercial satellite panchromatic and multi-spectral imagery for global coverage, and airborne imagery and Geographic Information System (GIS) vector data, where available, for improved resolution and fidelity.


BAA
Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days before submission to sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling between May 3, 2016 and May 2, 2017
Award Amount: Awards generally support a period of performance of 12 months or less; resources made available under this BAA will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds
 
IARPA invests in high-risk, high-payoff research that has the potential to provide our nation with an overwhelming intelligence advantage. This BAA solicits abstracts or proposals for IARPA. IARPA is soliciting proposals for research on topics that are not addressed by emerging or ongoing IARPA programs or other published IARPA solicitations. The BAA primarily, but not solely, seeks proposals for early stage research (which IARPA refers to as "seedlings").


National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
OtherNASA
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Pioneer
Pioneer Award 
OSP Deadline: August 26, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 2, 2016
Award Amount: $700,000 per year for up to 5 years
 
The NIH Pioneer Award initiative complements NIH's traditional, investigator-initiated grant programs by supporting individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering and possibly transforming approaches to addressing major biomedical or behavioral challenges that have the potential to produce an unusually high impact on a broad area of biomedical or behavioral research. 

To be considered pioneering, the proposed research must reflect substantially different scientific directions from those already being pursued in the investigator's research program or elsewhere. While the research direction may have as its foundation the applicant's prior work and expertise, it cannot be an obvious extension or scale up of a current research enterprise which could be anticipated to be competitive as a new or renewal R01 application. Rather, the proposed project must reflect a fundamental new insight into the potential solution of a problem, which may derive from the development of exceptionally innovative approaches and/or from the posing of radically unconventional hypotheses.



NewInnovator
New Innovator Award
OSP Deadline: September 1, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 9, 2016
Award Amount: $300,000 per year for up to 5 years
Target Faculty: Early career faculty within 10 years of completing a terminal research degree or within 10 years of completing medical residency; applicants may not have received R01 funding
 
The NIH New Innovator Award supports unusually creative investigators with highly innovative research ideas at an early stage of their career when they may lack the preliminary data required for an R01 grant application. The emphasis is on innovation and creativity; preliminary data are not required, but may be included. The review process emphasizes the individual's creativity, the innovativeness of the research approaches, and the potential of the project, if successful, to have a significant impact on an important biomedical or behavioral research problem. The research proposed for a New Innovator Award may be in any scientific area relevant to the mission of NIH (biological, behavioral, clinical, social, physical, chemical, computational, engineering, and mathematical sciences). 



Transformative
Transformative Research Award 
OSP Deadline: September 30, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 7, 2016
Award Amount: No limit
 
The goal of the NIH Transformative Research Awards initiative is to provide support for collaborative investigative teams or individual scientists who propose unusually innovative research projects, which, if successful, would have a major impact in a broad area of biomedical or behavioral research. 

To be considered transformative, projects must have the potential to create or overturn fundamental scientific paradigms through the use of novel approaches, to transform the way research is conducted through the development of novel tools or technologies, or to lead to major improvements in health through the development of highly innovative therapies, diagnostic tools, or preventive strategies. Consistent with this focus, applications supported under the Transformative Research Awards initiative will reflect ideas substantially different from mainstream concepts. Little or no preliminary data are expected. Projects must clearly demonstrate the potential to produce a major impact in a broad area of biomedical or behavioral research.  


OtherNIH2
Other NIH Opportunities:

National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letters

EAGER
Exploratory Research on High-Efficiency, Monolithic, Two Dissimilar Materials (TDM) Photovoltaics
(via EAGER funding mechanism)
OSP Deadline: September 23, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 30, 2016
Award Amount: unspecified
 
The purpose of this DCL is to support innovative, exploratory research in materials, fabrication processes, device structure and integration of monolithic, TDM solar cells to achieve energy conversion efficiency beyond 30% at one SUN with cost-effective manufacturability. This DCL seeks to support novel and exploratory fundamental research to enable major advances in high-efficiency, monolithic, TDM solar cells including but not limited to perovskites material. Proposed research directions should be amenable to cost effective manufacturability. To achieve this goal, critical research challenges must be addressed. 



NSFChina
NSF/NSFC Joint Research on Environmental Sustainability Challenges
OSP Deadline: October 13, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 20, 2016
Award Amount: up to $500,000 over four years (U.S. team) + 3 million yuan (China Team)

The NSF Engineering Directorate (ENG) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Department of Engineering and Material Sciences (DEMS) are partnering to encourage joint research by U.S. - China teams collaborating on fundamental research that addresses critical environmental sustainability challenges. Every proposal must include the participation of researchers from at least one U.S. institution and at least one institution in China. The proposal submitted to NSF must conform to NSF proposal requirements as specified in NSF's posted Grant Proposal Guide, and the matching proposal submitted to NSFC must conform to requirements posted by NSFC.



NSFUK
Special Guidelines for Submitting Collaborative Proposals under the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK (CBET-EPSRC) Lead Agency Activity
OSP Deadline: October 13, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 20, 2016
Award Amount: Unspecified

The goal of this activity is to reduce some of the barriers that researchers currently encounter when working internationally. The CBET-EPSRC Lead Agency Activity will allow US and UK researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process. Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of CBET and the EPSRC's Engineering Theme's missions. Proposers should review the CBET Program Descriptions for research supported through CBET and the EPSRC Engineering Theme for further information on what areas of research are eligible for support through this activity. Proposals are expected to adhere to typical proposal budgets and durations for the relevant CBET and EPSRC program from which funding is sought.



SusChem
FY 2017 Sustainable Chemistry, Engineering, and Materials Funding Opportunity
OSP Deadline: Five business days prior to the appropriate sponsor deadline
Sponsor Deadline: Proposals should be submitted through the existing program of interest in participating divisions; each division provides a different submission window (deadline)
Award Amount: Unspecified
 
The SusChEM initiative addresses the interrelated challenges of sustainable supply, engineering, production, and use of chemicals and materials. In FY 2017, the participating divisions are Chemistry (CHE); Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET); Materials Research (DMR); Earth Science (EAR); and the Materials Engineering and Processing Program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI).
 
Examples of fundamental research topics of interest in SusChEM include the replacement of rare, expensive, and/or toxic chemicals/materials with earth-abundant, inexpensive, and benign chemicals/materials; recycling of chemicals/materials that cannot be replaced; development of non-petroleum based sources of important raw materials; elimination of waste products and enhancements in efficiencies of chemical reactions and processes; discovery of new separation science that will facilitate recycling and production of valuable chemicals/materials; and development and characterization of low cost, sustainable, and scalably-manufactured materials with improved properties.



NSFNIST
NSF-NIST Interaction in Basic and Applied Scientific Research in BIO, ENG & MPS
OSP Deadline: Five business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
Award Amount: up to $25,000
 
This Dear Colleague Letter is intended to facilitate interactions between Principal Investigators (PIs), co-PIs, post-doctoral scholars and both undergraduate and graduate students supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as scientists and engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The program provides supplements to NSF-supported researchers with active awards in participating divisions within NSF's Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorates for collaboration with researchers in the NIST Laboratories and User Facilities.



UAS
Supporting Fundamental Research in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
OSP Deadline: Five business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Various
Award Amount: Various 
 
With this Dear Colleague, NSF announces their intention to support, foster, and accelerate fundamental research that advances the positive use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to save lives, increase safety and efficiency, and enable more effective science and engineering research. These research investments will be made through existing CISE and ENG core and crosscutting research programs.
 
NSF-funded advancements are enabling a wide variety of beneficial applications of UAS in areas such as monitoring and inspection of physical infrastructure, prevention of airport bird strikes, smart emergency/disaster response, natural gas leak detection, agriculture support, personal services, and observation and study of weather phenomena including severe storms.



DataBrain
Data Resources for the BRAIN Initiative
OSP Deadline: Five business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Various
Award Amount: Various
 
This broad interagency effort is supporting projects that are using different combinations of technologies and model organisms, generating multi-modal data sets aimed at understanding specific circuit contributions to brain function. These data sets include systematic collections of molecular profiles, anatomic information, functional properties of brain cells, as well as neuronal activity data, connectivity maps and high-resolution data on complex behaviors.
 
The standing core programs or solicitations at NSF that are most relevant to this effort include:
  • Advances in Biological Informatics (ABI);
  • Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2); and
  • Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBs).


ENGUS
Collaborative Supplemental Funding Opportunity in Graphene and 2D Layered Materials and Devices under the U.S. NSF/ENG - US-EC International Opportunity
OSP Deadline: Five business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Various
Award Amount: Various
 
The Directorate for Engineering (ENG) is pleased to announce a U.S.-EU collaborative research opportunity. The goal is to enable research synergy through international collaboration and reduce some of the current barriers to working internationally. NSF/ENG, the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) and the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission (EC) will address these points by allowing U.S. and EU researchers to submit requests for funding that will be considered as supplements to existing grants. More specifically, this will be in the form of funding available for international collaboration between the U.S. and the EU in the area of Graphene and two-dimensional (2D) Layered Materials and Devices.



Exploring
Exploring Mechanisms to Enhance the Economic and Societal Impacts of Fundamental Advances in Information and Communications Technologies
OSP Deadline: Five business days prior to submission to the sponsor
Sponsor Deadline: Various
Award Amount: Various 
 
Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) announce the intention to explore new models for maximizing the societal, psychological, and behavioral impact of these and other advances in ICT, particularly for low-income and disadvantaged individuals, families, and communities. 



DARPASC2
NSF Support for DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) Participants
Release Date: July 21, 2016

Wireless systems constitute a major source of productivity for nearly every sector of society and in turn drive the nation's overall economic competitiveness. Given the rapid proliferation of wireless networks and edge devices as well as the growth in wireless applications and services, precious spectrum resources are in ever-greater demand. Because wireless spectrum is finite, this demand cannot be met by simply allocating additional spectrum bands. Instead, spectrum sharing is seen as a viable option to meet the demand for scarce wireless spectrum by identifying unused frequency bands in the spatial and temporal domains.

In March 2016, in response to the challenge described above - the increasing demand for wireless spectrum - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced a Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) that aims to reward teams for developing smart systems that collaboratively, rather than competitively, adapt in real time to today's fast-changing, congested spectrum environment.

Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) encourages academic researchers to participate in SC2, and announces its intention to support those researchers to pursue novel strategies in spectrum collaboration as part of SC2. NSF intends to accept proposals from academic researchers actively engaged in SC2 in one of two ways: (i) supplemental funding requests to existing NeTS/EARS awards on wireless spectrum research; or (ii) EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER). Support is restricted to those researchers who are SC2 participants but are not being funded by DARPA for SC2 specifically.


National Science Foundation: Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (NSF: CISE)

Partners4Innovation
Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research - Technology Translation
OSP Deadline: August 31, 2016
Letter of Intent (required) Deadline: September 8, 2016
Full Proposal Deadline: October 11, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $200,000 for 18 months
 
The PFI program offers opportunities to connect new knowledge to societal benefit through translational research efforts and/or partnerships that encourage, enhance and accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship. The subject of this solicitation is PFI: AIR-Technology Translation (PFI: AIR-TT).
 
The PFI: AIR-TT solicitation serves as an early opportunity to move previously NSF-funded research results with promising commercial potential along the path toward commercialization. Projects are supported to demonstrate proof-of-concept, prototype, or scale-up while engaging faculty and students in entrepreneurial/innovative thinking.



NSFIntel
NSF/Intel Partnership on Information-Centric Networking in Wireless Edge Networks (ICN-WEN)
OSP Deadline: August 31, 2016
Sponsor Letter of Intent (required) Deadline: September 19, 2016
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: November 21, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $3M total for 3 years
 
This program targets wireless networks to support applications whose latency and/or scalability requirements will necessitate capabilities beyond those supported by emergent 5G wireless networks.
 
This solicitation seeks unique data network architectures featuring an information plane using an Information-Centric Networking (ICN) approach and addressing discovery, movement, delivery, management, and protection of information within a network, along with the abstraction of an underlying communication plane creating opportunities for new efficiencies and optimizations across communications technologies that could also address latency and scale requirements.



ICorpsTeams
Innovation Corps Teams Program (I-Corps Teams)
OSP Deadline: September 8, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 15, 2016 (December 15, 2016; March 15, 2017; June 15, 2017; September 15, 2017)
Award Amount: Up to $50,000
 
In order to jumpstart a national innovation ecosystem, NSF has established the NSF Innovation Corps Teams Program (NSF I-Corps Teams). The NSF I-Corps Teams purpose is to identify NSF-funded researchers who will receive additional support - in the form of mentoring and funding - to accelerate innovation that can attract subsequent third-party funding.
 
The purpose of the NSF I-Corps Teams grant is to give the project team access to resources to help determine the readiness to transition technology developed by previously-funded or currently-funded NSF projects. The outcomes of I-Corps Teams projects will be threefold: 1) a clear go or no go decision regarding viability of products and services, 2) should the decision be to move the effort forward, a transition plan for those projects to move forward, and 3) a technology demonstration for potential partners.



PAWR
Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR): Establishing the PAWR Project Office (PPO) (PAWR/PPO)
OSP Deadline: September 13, 2016
Sponsor Preliminary Proposal (required) Deadline: September 20, 2016
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: November 23, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $1 million per year for five years, pending availability of funds. 
NOTE: This is a Limited Submission Opportunity: an organization may participate in no more than one PPO proposal submitted to this solicitation. If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please contact Erin Cromack.
 
The Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program aims to support advanced wireless research platforms conceived by the U.S. academic and industrial wireless research community. PAWR will enable experimental exploration of robust new wireless devices, communication techniques, networks, systems, and services that will revolutionize the nation's wireless ecosystem, thereby enhancing broadband connectivity, leveraging the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), and sustaining US leadership and economic competitiveness for decades to come.



VMware
NSF/VMware Partnership on Software Defined Infrastructure as a Foundation for Clean-Slate Computing Security (SDI-CSCS)
OSP Deadline: September 28, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 5, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $3M each over 3 years
 
As the digital and physical worlds become increasingly intertwined, the real-world consequences of cyber-threats will become more pronounced. To mitigate foreseeable risks, fundamental advances in security are needed. This program will therefore explore the hypothesis that software defined infrastructure (SDI) enables realistic opportunities to revisit and improve the foundations of end-to-end computing security.
 
The goal of this joint solicitation between NSF and VMware is to foster novel, transformative, multidisciplinary research that spans systems, networking, and security with the aim of exploring and creating groundbreaking new approaches to security based on the concept of SDI.



 WiFiUS
Wireless Innovation between Finland and the US (WiFiUS)
OSP Deadline: October 10, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 17, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $300,000 over 2 years
 
With this solicitation, NSF's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the Academy of Finland continue a joint program in the area of wireless networking, known as Wireless Innovation between Finland and US (WiFiUS) that provides for an international collaboration arrangement whereby US researchers may receive funding from NSF and Finnish collaborators may receive funding from the Academy of Finland to pursue joint projects.
 
Specifically, this solicitation continues the previous WiFiUS effort, encouraging new and closer research collaborations, and addressing compelling research challenges on novel frameworks, architectures, protocols, theories, methodologies, and tools for the design and analysis of robust and highly dependable wireless communication systems and networks, particularly in light of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT).



CompData
Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering
OSP Deadline: Varies by research area (5 business days before the sponsor deadline)
Sponsor Deadline: Varies by research area; deadlines fall between October 31, 2016 and December 1, 2016
Award Amount: Award amounts vary; awards average between $100,000 and $500,000
 
Advanced computational infrastructure and the ability to perform large-scale simulations and accumulate massive amounts of data have revolutionized scientific and engineering disciplines. The goal of the CDS&E program is to identify and capitalize on opportunities for major scientific and engineering breakthroughs through new computational and data analysis approaches.



RET
Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science
OSP Deadline: October 25, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: November 1, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $600,000 for up to 3 years
 
This program supports active long-term collaborative partnerships between K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Computer and Information Science, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers and community college and university faculty and students to bring knowledge of engineering or computer and information science and engineering as well as technological innovation to pre-college/community college classrooms. The goal of these partnerships is to enable K-12 STEM teachers and community college faculty to translate their research experiences and new knowledge gained in university settings into their classroom activities. 



CRI
CISE Research Infrastructure (CRI)
OSP Deadline: October 25, 2016
Sponsor Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 1, 2016
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: January 18, 2017
Award Amount: The majority of Institutional Infrastructure awards will be made in the $200,000 to $750,000 range; the majority of Community Infrastructure awards will be made in the $50,000 to $100,000 range
 
The CISE Research Infrastructure (CRI) program drives discovery and learning in the core CISE disciplines of the three participating CISE divisions by supporting the creation and enhancement of world-class research infrastructure that will support focused research agendas in computer and information science and engineering. This infrastructure will enable CISE researchers to advance the frontiers of CISE research.



PRAC
Petascale Computing Resource Allocations (PRAC)
OSP Deadline: November 2, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: November 9, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $40,000

In 2013, a new NSF-funded petascale computing system, Blue Waters, was deployed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The goal of this project and system is to open up new possibilities in science and engineering by providing computational capability that makes it possible for investigators to tackle much larger and more complex research challenges across a wide spectrum of domains.
 
The purpose of this solicitation is to invite research groups to submit requests for allocations of resources on the Blue Waters system. Proposers must show compelling science or engineering challenges that require petascale computing resources. Proposers must also be prepared to demonstrate that they have science or engineering research problems that require and can effectively exploit the petascale computing capabilities offered by Blue Waters. Proposals from or including junior researchers are encouraged, as one of the goals of this solicitation is to build a community capable of using petascale computing.


OtherCISE
Other NSF: CISE Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (NSF: MPS)
Centers for Chemical Innovation
OSP Deadline: September 8, 2016
Sponsor Deadline (Phase I Preliminary Proposals): September 15, 2016
Award Amount: $600,000 per year for 3 years (Phase I awards); $4M per year for 5 years (Phase II awards)
 
The Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program supports research centers focused on major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges. CCIs that address these challenges will produce transformative research, lead to innovation, and attract broad scientific and public interest. The FY 2017 Phase I CCI competition is open to projects in all fields supported by the Division of Chemistry, and must have focus and impact in chemistry.



JointNSFNIH
Joint NSF/NIH Initiative on Quantitative Approaches to Biomedical Big Data
OSP Deadline: September 21, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 28, 2016
Award Amount: $200,000 to $300,000 per year for up to 3 years
 
The Quantitative Approaches to Biomedical Big Data Program is designed to support research that addresses important application areas at the intersection of the biomedical and data sciences by encouraging inter- and multi-disciplinary collaborations that focus on innovative and transformative approaches to address these challenges.

Examples of application areas that are appropriate under this competition include the following:
  • Development of methods for mobile health (mHealth) data, where mHealth includes new data not traditionally used in the biomedical sciences (e.g. data from mobile devices, social networks, wearable electronics, sensors)
  • Development of methods for precision (or personalized) medicine. The goal of precision medicine is to develop a targeted treatment (or prevention) regimen that takes into account unique characteristics of an individual such as genetic makeup, environmental factors, and lifestyle.

  
DMSNIGMS 
Joint DMS/NIGMS Initiative to Support Research at the Interface of the Biological and Mathematical Sciences
OSP Deadline: September 7, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 14, 2016
Award Amount: $100,000 to $400,000 over 3 to 5 years
 
This program supports research in mathematics and statistics on questions in the biological and biomedical sciences. Both the NSF's Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) and the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences recognize the need and urgency for promoting research at the interface between the mathematical sciences and the life sciences. This program is designed to encourage new collaborations, as well as to support existing ones.



FRG
Focused Research Groups in the Mathematical Sciences
OSP Deadline: September 20, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 27, 2016
Award Amount: $150,000 to $500,000 per year, for up to three years
 
The purpose of the FRG activity is to allow groups of researchers to respond to recognized scientific needs of pressing importance, to take advantage of current scientific opportunities, or to prepare the ground for anticipated significant scientific developments in the mathematical sciences. Groups may include, in addition to mathematicians and statisticians, researchers from other science and engineering disciplines appropriate to the proposed research.



LIGO
LIGO Research Support
OSP Deadline: October 19, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 26, 2016
Award Amount: Unspecified; the majority of recent awards fall between $100,001 and $500,000
 
The LIGO Research Support program oversees the commissioning and operation of the Laser Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory (LIGO), and provides support for LIGO users and other experimental investigations in gravitational physics and related areas. This includes tasks that range from instrument science, data analysis and detector characterization to source population calculations and the connection between the gravitational waves and the electromagnetic and neutrino signatures of astrophysical events.
 
In addition, the program supports infrastructure activities such as short- and long-term visitor programs, workshops, and research centers involving the participation of external scientists from universities, national laboratories, and industry, as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.


OtherMPS
Other NSF: MPS Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Directorate for Engineering

S12SSI
Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation: Scientific Software Integration
OSP Deadline: September 12, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 19, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $12,500,000 is expected to be available for awards to 12 SSI proposals.
 
SSI awards target larger, interdisciplinary teams organized around the development and application of common software infrastructure aimed at solving common research problems faced by NSF researchers in one or more areas of science and engineering. SSI awards will result in a sustainable community software framework serving a diverse community or communities. 

These awards will focus on software architectures, processes that explicitly address issues of sustainability, manageability, usability, composability, and interoperability, as well as environments (e.g., code repository, build and test framework, reporting mechanisms, etc.) that are meaningful for the targeted science community. Well-reasoned dissemination and outreach mechanisms, pathways for integration of community software elements (such as those developed by SSE teams) into the developed framework, and associated support structures will be an integral part of these awards. When appropriate, involvement with industry and government laboratories, as well as partnering with international efforts is encouraged.



RFE
Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE)
OSP Deadline: September 14, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 21, 2016
Award Amount: Estimated $100,000 per project per year; all PIs should discuss the budget of proposed projects with a cognizant program officer before submission

The NSF Engineering (ENG) Directorate has launched a multi-year initiative, the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century. Professional Formation of Engineers (PFE) refers to the formal and informal processes and value systems by which people become engineers. It also includes the ethical responsibility of practicing engineers to sustain and grow the profession in order to improve quality of life for all peoples. The engineering profession must be responsive to national priorities, grand challenges, and dynamic workforce needs; it must be equally open and accessible to all. 

RFE aims to transform the engineering formation system, and thus the impact of proposed projects on this system must be described. PIs should provide a roadmap detailing how they envision the proposed research will eventually broadly impact practice within the engineering formation system, even if these activities are not within the scope of the submitted proposal. 



NeuroNex
NSF: Directorate for Engineering
Developing a National Research Infrastructure for Neuroscience (NeuroNex)
Letter of Intent Deadline: September 2, 2016
OSP Deadline: October 14, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 21, 2016
Award Amount: $500,000 to $2M per year, over three to five years

NeuroNex calls for proposals addressing fundamental questions in neuroscience and cognitive science that by their nature require the convergence of multiple disciplines to answer. Through NeuroNex, NSF seeks to support groups of investigators with a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds to work together at the nexus of their respective fields to accelerate our understanding of brain function across the phylogenetic spectrum. 

This solicitation aims to support highly interdisciplinary teams of investigators for two types of activities: (1) neurotechnology hubs to develop, institutionalize, and disseminate the use of innovative brain technologies by investigators studying brain structure and function in diverse species, and/or (2) theory teams to foster theoretical approaches that have the potential to reveal the neural underpinnings of behavior and cognition across organizational levels, scales of analysis, and/or a range of species, including humans.



PFI
Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research - Technology Translation (PFI: AIR-TT)
Letter of Intent Deadline: September 8, 2016
OSP Deadline: October 4, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 11, 2016
Award Amount: Up to $200,000 over 18 months
Target Applicants: Lineage Requirement: The Principal Investigator (PI) or a co-PI must have had an NSF award that ended no more than 6-years prior to the chosen submission window's full proposal deadline date or be a current NSF award recipient. The proposed proof-of-concept or prototype/scale-up must be derived from the research results and/or discoveries from this underlying NSF award. In addition to the PI, there must be at least one other participant on the project (e.g., someone listed as a co-PI, Senior Personnel, Other Professional, subawardee, consultant, collaborator, etc.) with explicit business experience (for example, someone from the technology transfer office, the business school, a local/regional development office, a business entity, etc.). This person must have an active role that is explicitly described along with the specification of a time commitment on the project.

The development of basic research into deployed technology is often depicted as a sequence of steps from basic research through proof-of-concept, prototype, product development and finally commercialization. While the sequence of events may not occur in a straightforward linear fashion, the knowledge associated with each step is necessary for the transition to occur. This PFI: AIR-TT solicitation is aimed at advancing knowledge along this continuum for projects with technology innovation(s) that have already passed the basic research phase. 

The proposed project should be into the proof-of concept or early prototype phase with promising results and an identified potential market need or application. Proposed research should address the next stage technology/knowledge gap(s) or barrier(s) that must be solved/demonstrated as part of the path from the basic research discovery to eventual successful commercialization.



NSFDOE
NSF/DOE Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering
OSP Deadline: October 14, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: October 21, 2016
Award Amount: $3,500,000

The goal of this initiative is to enhance basic plasma research and education in this broad, multidisciplinary field by coordinating efforts and combining resources of the two agencies. The current solicitation also encourages submission of proposals to perform basic plasma experiments at NSF and DOE supported user facilities, such as the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the University of California, Los Angeles and facilities located at DOE national laboratories, designed to serve the needs of the broader plasma community.


 

OtherNSFDFE 

Other NSF: Directorate for Engineering Opportunities

National Science Foundation: Crosscutting and Interdisciplinary

SATC
Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC)
OSP Deadline: September 9, 2016 (medium projects); September 19, 2016 (large projects); November 10, 2016 (small projects)
Sponsor Deadline: September 16, 2016 (medium projects); September 26, 2016 (large projects); November 18, 2016 (small projects); December 15, 2016 (cybersecurity education projects)
Award Amount: Up to $3M over up to 5 years, depending on project size

The SaTC program welcomes proposals that address cybersecurity and privacy, and draw on expertise in one or more of these areas: computing, communication and information sciences; engineering; economics; education; mathematics; statistics; and social and behavioral sciences. Proposals that advance the field of cybersecurity and privacy within a single discipline or interdisciplinary efforts that span multiple disciplines are both encouraged. Proposals may be submitted in one of the following three project size classes:
  • Small Projects: up to $500,000 for up to three years;
  • Medium Projects: $5,001 to $1.2M for up to four years;
  • Large Projects: $1.2M to $3M for up to five years.
In addition to the project size classes, proposals must be submitted pursuant to one of the following designations, each of which may have additional restrictions and administrative obligations as specified in this program solicitation.
  • CORE: the main focus on the SaTC research program, spanning the interests of NSF's Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).
  • EDU: The Education (EDU) designation will be used to label proposals focusing entirely on cybersecurity education. NOTE: proposals that are designated as EDU have budgets limited to $300,000 and durations of up to two years.
  • STARSS: The Secure, Trustworthy, Assured and Resilient Semiconductors and Systems designation will be used to label proposals that are submitted to the joint program focused on hardware security with the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). NOTE: the STARSS designation may only be used for Small Proposals.
  • TTP: The Transition to Practice (TTP) designation will be used to label proposals that are focused exclusively on transitioning existing research results to practice. NOTE: the TTP designation may only be used for Small and Medium Proposals.

NSFCIO
Other NSF: Crosscutting & Interdisciplinary Opportunities

 



Banting
Deadline to request Harvard institutional endorsement: September 14, 2016
Sponsor Deadline: September 21, 2016
Award Amount: $70,000 per year (taxable) for two years
Target Applicants: Canadian citizens who have/will fulfill PhD degree requirements between 9/21/13 and 9/30/17
 
The objective of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program is to attract and retain top-tier postdoctoral talent, both nationally and internationally, to develop their leadership potential and to position them for success as research leaders of tomorrow, positively contributing to Canada's economic, social and research-based growth through a research-intensive career. Candidates to be hosted by Harvard must fulfill all degree requirements for a PhD or equivalent between September 21, 2013 and September 30, 2017 and must be Canadian Citizens or permanent residents of Canada who have obtained/will obtain their PhD or equivalent from a Canadian university. Applications are accepted from all fields in the humanities, social sciences, health research, natural sciences and engineering.
 
Those who wish to apply for a fellowship hosted by Harvard University must include with their application an institutional letter of endorsement signed by the Vice Provost for Research.  To request this endorsement letter, candidates must submit their contact information and a copy of their proposed supervisor's statement online here by September 14, 2016.



DOJ
National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Crime Forecasting Challenge
Timeline: NIJ will release the Challenge and the first datasets in early September 2016
Prize Information: 40 $15,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the large business category; 40 $10,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the small teams/small business category; and 40 $5,000 prizes will be apportioned to the winners in the student category.
 
The Crime Forecasting Challenge seeks to harness the advances in data science to address the challenges of crime and justice, encouraging data scientists from across all scientific disciplines to foster innovation in forecasting methods. The goal is to develop algorithms that advance place-based crime forecasting through the use of data from one police jurisdiction.
 
Contestants may enter forecasts in one of the following categories:
  • Full-time student (undergraduate);
  • Small team or small business; or
  • Large businesses.


RadcliffeFellow
Deadline for applications in the natural sciences and mathematics: October 6, 2016
Award Amount: Stipend of up to $75,000 for one year with additional funds for project expenses
 
The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program annually selects and supports 50 leading artists and scholars who have both exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishments. Fellows receive office or studio space and access to libraries and other resources of Harvard University during the fellowship year, which extends from early September 2017 through May 31, 2018. Fellows are expected to be free of their regular commitments so they may devote themselves full time to the work outlined in their proposal. Applications in all academic disciplines, professions, and creative arts are encouraged. 

For assistance, please contact:

Erin Cromack
Senior Research Development Officer

Jennifer Corby
Research Development Officer
jcorby@fas.harvard.edu | 617-495-1590
Research Development | Research Administration Services | research.fas.harvard.edu