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NSF Research Coordination Networks (RCN) are designed to foster communication and promote new collaboration among scientists, engineers and educators with diverse expertise and who share a common interest in a new or developing area of science, engineering or technology translation. By encouraging the formation of new groups and networks, the RCN program will advance fields and create novel directions and opportunities for fundamental and applied research as well as science education. RCN awards are intended to foster networking activities and thus will not directly support costs related to primary research. RCN awards can be used for synthesis activities where existing data and collaboration are utilized to advance knowledge in disciplinary and cross-disciplinary areas. Projects funded through this award can be found here.
Support will be provided for groups of investigators to communicate and coordinate their efforts across disciplinary, organizational, institutional, geographical and/or international boundaries. The objectives are to facilitate open communication and exchange of information and resources; to integrate research, education, and/or infrastructure, including cyberinfrastructure, activities of scientists, educators, and engineers working independently on topics of common interest; to nurture a sense of community among young scientists, educators, and engineers; and to minimize isolation and maximize cooperation so as to eliminate unnecessary duplication of efforts.
RCN proposals should focus on a research question, topic or particular technology, approaches, or development of standards relevant to one or more participating NSF programs. RCN proposals can be up to 5 years in duration and with typical budget requests up to $500,000.
(NSF 14-579)
The Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) and Research Opportunity Awards (ROA) funding opportunities support research by faculty members at predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs). RUI proposals support PUI faculty in research that engages them in their professional field(s), builds capacity for research at their home institution, and supports the integration of research and undergraduate education. ROAs similarly support PUI faculty research, but these awards typically allow faculty to work as visiting scientists at research-intensive organizations where they collaborate with other NSF-supported investigators. All NSF directorates may support RUI and ROA funding activities. Prospective PIs should contact disciplinary program officers to identify specific NSF programs and to determine the feasibility and timing of RUI/ROA requests. General RUI/ROA points of contact are available through the website https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/rui_roa/contacts.jsp. RUI may also provide support for research instrumentation or other research tools depending on the availability of relevant funding opportunities in individual NSF divisions. (PUIs can also apply for instrument funding through NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program (https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5260), which accepts proposals to obtain shared scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training. See the MRI solicitation for program-specific requirements.). RUI awards for faculty research projects will typically be for a period of 3 years. In recent years, the annual award size of individual investigator RUI projects has ranged between $75,000 and several hundred thousand dollars, although some awards are higher. Awards for collaborative proposals may be at a higher level, depending on the number of faculty and participants involved. Typical ROA awards are for up to $80,000 for periods of two to 12 months, although the amount varies depending on the type of request and duration.
Proposals are accepted anytime with full proposals due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time. Submission deadlines may also vary by program and proposals must meet program-specific requirements to be considered for review. PIs should contact cognizant program officers for guidance.
The multi-disciplinary SaTC program seeks fundamentally new, principled approaches to protect and defend cyberspace against harmful actions by determined adversaries, and to assess their effectiveness. The SaTC program also seeks to explore innovative approaches for growing a capable, next-generation cyber workforce, and for accelerating the transition of successful cybersecurity research into practice and useful products and services. The SaTC program welcomes proposals that address cybersecurity and privacy, and that draw on expertise in one or more of these areas: computing, communication, and information sciences; engineering; education; mathematics; statistics; and social, behavioral, and economic sciences. Proposals that advance the field of cybersecurity and privacy within a single discipline or interdisciplinary efforts that span multiple disciplines are both welcome. The SaTC program spans the interests of NSF's Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), and STEM Education (EDU).
The Mind, Machine and Motor Nexus (M3X) Program supports fundamental research that explores embodied reasoning as mediated by bidirectional sensorimotor interaction between human and synthetic actors. For the purposes of this program, embodiment is defined as the capacity to interact with physics-based environments. The M3X Program seeks to spur innovative and path-breaking work that can improve understanding of interaction between human and synthetic actors in a broad range of settings, while also exploring implications for the advancement of fundamental theory, foundational technologies, and meaningful applications. Successful submissions to the M3X program will therefore advance knowledge by exploring the convergence of human and synthetic actors’ capabilities and actions during the performance of tasks situated within physics-based environments. The M3X program encourages research on sensorimotor interaction and embodied reasoning between human and synthetic actors in real, virtual, or hybrid settings, over a range of spatial and temporal scales, and for different modes of interaction. The M3X program supports research derived from conceptual, mathematical, empirical, experimental, computational, and cross-cutting perspectives, among others. Multi-disciplinary perspectives are encouraged but must be integrated to promote a holistic treatment of the research. Topics of interest to the M3X program include — but are by no means limited to — collaboration, cooperation, and competition among human and synthetic actors; the role of virtual, mixed and hybrid environments in decision making and learning; new approaches to modeling, guiding and controlling processes of reasoning and interaction; as well as the development of research infrastructure (including open source instrumentation, models, data and environments) that will accelerate research in this area. Research involving only a single human actor or a single synthetic actor is not appropriate for the M3X program and should be directed towards other NSF programs. Similarly, research that does not include interaction with a physics-based environment, such as interaction between actors based exclusively on language or exchange of characters on a screen, is also not appropriate for the M3X program.