National Science Foundation (NSF)

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

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 per lead institution.

The National Science Foundation's vision of “a Nation that leads the world in science and engineering research and innovation, to the benefit of all, without barriers to participation” encompasses core values of research excellence, inclusion, and collaboration, as described in NSF's Strategic Plan. The NSF Division of Materials Research (DMR) supports a broad interdisciplinary research community, which encompasses materials science, physics, chemistry, mathematical sciences, and engineering disciplines, providing a unique opportunity to broadly promote the NSF vision and core values, especially inclusion and collaboration.

The DMR Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials Research (PREM) program aims to enable, build, and grow formal partnerships between minority-serving institutions and DMR-supported centers and/or facilities through materializing the PREM pathway. The PREM pathway aims at broadening participation through enhanced recruitment, retention, and degree attainment by members of those groups most historically underrepresented in materials research. As an essential ingredient for its success, PREM supports excellent research and education endeavors that nurture and strengthen such partnerships and advance the materials research field.

Information about current PREMs and a description of the PREM framework can be found at https://prem-dmr.org/.

The PREM program activity is expected to enhance both the quantity and quality of materials research and education opportunities for students and faculty members at minority-serving institutions, and to demonstrably lead to broadened participation in materials research. These opportunities result from long-term, multi-investigator, collaborative research and education partnerships that define a framework wherein a supportive and stable PREM pathway for promoting inclusiveness in STEM is designed and built. In this context, the framework includes the partnership, the pathway (i.e., the recruitment/retention/degree attainment paradigm), as well as essential research and education elements that collectively propel the participants’ progression along the pathway. Additionally, the PREM activity may also contribute to and strengthen broadening participation efforts at partnering institutions (i.e., the DMR-supported centers and facilities).

A PREM typically encompasses research thrust(s) that involve several faculty members addressing materials research topic(s). Sustained support is developed through a collaborative effort by the participants from both partnering institutions that is based on common intellectual interests (either pre-existing or newly identified) and complementary backgrounds, skills, and knowledge. Ideally, a PREM proposal defines a vision for the partnership that simultaneously promotes inclusiveness and research excellence; the proposed research should be aligned with research supported by DMR. The role of each institutional partner should be explicit, and project goals to achieve the vision should be clearly defined and addressed. Importantly, anticipated challenges and expected outcomes towards increasing participation of groups underrepresented in STEM and research output must be identified and addressed. Plans for student/faculty reciprocal exchange between partnering institutions are required. Project assessment and evaluation plans are required and are designed to emphasize an increase in the quality and quantity of research, education, and broadening participation endeavors measured relative to the beginning of the award. Successful PREMs can be developed regardless of the starting research and capacity levels at the lead institution.

Efforts for broadening participation in materials research rely on creating research and education partnerships that promote inclusive institutional cultures. An effective partnership defines a framework that contains the PREM pathway towards broadening participation, as well as research and education resources. Through effective utilization of research and education resources and depending on the level of support that the lead institution can provide to enable research efforts, a variety of strategies may be developed towards a progressive materialization of the recruitment/retention/degree attainment components of the PREM pathway. Examples include but are not limited to workshops, technical meetings, technical courses, curricular development, summer schools, outreach towards improving recruitment, student mentoring activities, and overall opportunities in science learning and training.

Starting research and capacity levels will position the PREM partnership at a specific location within the PREM pathway, which can range from pre-recruitment to pre-degree attainment stages. It is expected that eventually, and as a result of the developed strategies and proposed research and education elements, the partnership on the PREM pathway will evolve and mature, leading to an increased enrollment of underrepresented students in graduate school, and eventually, to a diverse materials research workforce at all levels (i.e., student, postdoctoral, faculty, STEM career). As examples, to date, successful PREMs have devised innovative strategies around recruitment, retention, and degree attainment that have successfully promoted enrollment of minority students in STEM Ph.D. programs in both minority- and non-minority-serving institutions throughout the U.S. Other successful PREMs have prepared undergraduates at the lead institution for recruitment by the partner institution, which provides another example of a fully materialized PREM pathway that benefits both institutions by simultaneously broadening participation in STEM areas as well as increasing research output.

It should be emphasized that the partnership is expected to develop capacity in at least one segment of the PREM pathway within the duration of the award, commensurate with the partnership’s starting research and capacity levels. The vision for the partnership, however, must include a deliberate effort that aims at the full completion of the pathway, possibly in subsequent awards.

Successful PREMs are expected to:

• Engage in compelling scientific materials research: research thrust(s) must have a well-integrated research program with compelling intellectual merit and broader impacts. Each thrust must demonstrate clear benefits from a collaborative approach, which in turn defines the research and education partnership.
• Promote inclusion of participants from underrepresented groups in the PREM pathway covering all or a segment of the recruitment/retention/degree-attaining sequence through opportunities in science learning and training. These opportunities are the result of applying the elements from the PREM framework in the PREM pathway. Challenges and progress throughout the stages of recruitment, retention, and degree attainment are addressed, as appropriate.
• Propose either existing or newly designed elements in the framework that will successfully promote broadening participation efforts and research output in materials research at the partnering institutions. The proposed elements must clearly define purpose, challenges, and expected outcomes towards broadening participation and increasing research output.
• Provide metrics: PREM partners propose specific metrics with which the partnership will be evaluated. The metrics will emphasize increase in both quality and quantity of research and broadening participation measured relative to the beginning of the award in each partnership. Successful PREMs can be developed regardless of differences in starting research and capacity levels at the lead institution.
• Specify gains: Each partner must specify anticipated gains both in terms of broadening participation and research output. Using the metrics identified in the proposal, gains will be evaluated and assessed within the context of the segment in the PREM pathway that a specific partnership is targeting.
• Establish reciprocity: Reciprocal faculty and student exchanges are a core component of the partnership. Scientific and educational collaboration among all partners with measurable benefits to all are key attributes of a successful PREM. 

A PREM may address any area of research supported by the NSF Division of Materials Research which includes 8 programs, known as Topical Materials Research Programs (TMRP): Biomaterials (BMAT), Ceramics (CER), Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT), Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM), Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN), Polymers (POL), and Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC). For a detailed description of the research supported by the 8 core programs visit: https://www.nsf.gov/materials.

Furthermore, in alignment with NSF’s interest in strengthening Emerging Industries, proposals addressing fundamental materials research in the following areas are of interest to DMR:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Research in this area could include the utilization of machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, and other emerging data-centric approaches to address complex problems within the realm of materials science. Of particular interest are applications of AI to traditional materials science issues, such as those found in ceramics, metals, metallic alloys, and other materials categories. The use of AI and machine learning to enable advanced manufacturing, and using predictive design to program the composition, structure, and/or function of materials are also of interest.
• Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology: Research endeavors in this area could address materials-related obstacles hindering the integration of synthetic biology techniques into the development of next-generation materials and living or active materials relevant to biotechnology. Fundamental materials research at the intersection of synthetic biology and abiotic materials and technologies, as well as the crossroads of engineering biology and materials science is of particular interest. This may encompass the development of materials, living materials, active materials, and material systems with the potential to revolutionize food production and agriculture, human well-being and biomedical applications, environment, energy, information storage, and processing, as well as the creation of pluripotent and autonomous materials capable of sensing and adapting to their environment. The focus on new approaches to manufacture at scale novel materials that are safer and more sustainable is encouraged (see https://roadmap.ebrc.org/2021-roadmap-materials/ for more information.)
• Advanced Manufacturing: Research in this area could explore novel strategies for creating composite materials that span different materials classes, including the fusion of digital- and self-assembly techniques. Advancements in modeling and monitoring processing with a focus on in situ characterization are of interest. Additionally, developing ability to print functionality, such as spatially resolved mechanical and chemical properties alongside structures are also of interest. Furthermore, hierarchical materials, achieved through a combination of self-assembly and top-down additive manufacturing, as well as the integration of manufacturing approaches for heterogeneous materials (soft and hard), and precision synthesis and characterization of macromolecular and bespoke polymer materials are also areas of interest.

UPDATED from NSF 21-536 to NSF 24-597 to reflect the updated solicitation posted August 16, 2024

Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 1
Track 1 ONLY

H. Kim (Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics)

Proposals may be submitted under two tracks (i.e., Track 1 and Track 2). All projects should include a focus on STEM graduate students in research-based PhD and/or master's degree programs. Track 1 proposals may request a total budget up to $3 million for projects up to five years in duration; Track 2 proposals may request a total budget up to $2 million for projects up to five years in duration; NSF requires that Track 2 proposals focus on programs from institutions not classified as Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity (R1). U of A is not eligible for Track 2.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master's and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas, through a comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.

The NRT Program accepts proposals in any interdisciplinary or convergent research theme of national importance and encourages specific priority research areas that change periodically. All interdisciplinary or convergent research themes should align with NSF or other national STEM research priority areas and have high potential to develop novel, innovative practices in graduate education. Proposers should describe the importance of the NRT project's thematic focus to the Nation and the particular need to train students for a variety of careers in that thematic area.

Limit: 1 // C-k Chan (Steward Observatory) & G. Leroy (Management Information Systems)

The overarching goal of this solicitation is to democratize access to NSF’s advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) ecosystem and ensure fair and equitable access to resources, services, and expertise by strengthening how Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIP) function in this ecosystemThis solicitation will support NSF’s advanced CI ecosystem with a scalable, agile, diverse, and sustainable network of CIPs that can ensure broad adoption of advanced CI resources and expert services including platforms, tools, methods, software, data, and networks for research communities, to catalyze major research advances, and to enhance researchers' abilities to lead the development of new CI.

Limit: 1*// H. Kavan (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering)  

*UA may submit one proposal under the Research Partnerships track. There is no institutional limitation on the Technology Translation track.

If you don’t have a demonstrated and substantial industry relationship as required for a PFI submission, please reach out to Brian Adair(link sends e-mail) or Lindsay Ridpath(link sends e-mail), to help develop those connections so that your proposal is competitive. PFI proposals are accepted three times per year and you may be better served by strengthening your industry relationship and waiting for the next cycle.


The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Translational Impacts (TI) offers researchers from all disciplines of science and engineering funded by NSF the opportunity to perform translational research and technology development, catalyze partnerships and accelerate the transition of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace for societal benefit.

The Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track seeks to achieve the same goals as the PFI-TT track by supporting instead complex, multi-faceted technology development projects that are typically beyond the scope of a single researcher or institution and require a multi-organizational, interdisciplinary, synergistic collaboration. A PFI-RP project requires the creation of partnerships between academic researchers and third-party organizations such as industry, non-academic research organizations, federal laboratories, public or non-profit technology transfer organizations or other universities. Such partnerships are needed to conduct use-inspired research on a stand-alone larger project toward commercialization and societal impact. In the absence of such synergistic partnership, the project’s likelihood for success would be minimal.

The intended outcomes of both PFI-TT and PFI-RP tracks are: a) the commercialization of new intellectual property derived from NSF-funded research outputs; b) the creation of new or broader collaborations with industry (including increased corporate sponsored research); c) the licensing of NSF-funded research outputs to third party corporations or to start-up companies funded by a PFI team; and d) the training of future innovation and entrepreneurship leaders.


 

The please be aware of important revisions in the PFI program recently announced in solicitation NSF 23-538, as outlined below:

NSF Lineage Requirement
Innovation Corps (NSF I-CorpsTM) Teams awards no longer convey the lineage required to submit a PFI proposal.
All proposals submitted to the PFI program must meet a lineage requirement by having NSF-supported research results in any field of science and engineering: Principal Investigator (PI) or a co-PI must have had an NSF award that ended no more than seven (7) years prior to the full proposal deadline date or be a current NSF award recipient. The proposed technology development project must be derived from the research results and/or discoveries from this underlying NSF award.

Award Information
The funding amounts in both tracks of the PFI program have significantly increased. Specifically:

• PFI-Technology Translation (PFI-TT) projects will be funded for up to $550,000 for 18-24 months per award; and

• PFI-Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) projects will be funded for up to $1,000,000 for 36 months.
   

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

M.D. Ramirez-Andeotta ( Environmental Science) - subaward to UTexas as an Alliance proposal.

An organization may serve as a lead organization on only one proposal per project type, not including conferences.Proposals that exceed the organizational limit will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made. 

For Network Connectors, Design and Development Launch Pilots, and Conferences, full proposals must be submitted as a single submission from a lead organization, with other collaborating organizations included as subawardees. 

Collaborative Change Consortia and Alliances may submit proposals in one of two ways: 

• a single submission from a lead organization, with other collaborating organizations included as subawardees, OR 

• separate submissions from a lead organization and two collaborating organizations, with any additional collaborating organizations included as subawardees.

The INCLUDES Initiative is a comprehensive, national effort to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discovery and innovation, focused on NSF’s commitment to ensuring accessibility and inclusivity in STEM fields, as communicated in the NSF Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2022 - 2026. The vision of the INCLUDES Initiative is to catalyze the STEM enterprise to work collaboratively for inclusive change, resulting in a STEM workforce that reflects the diversity of the Nation’s population. More specifically, the INCLUDES Initiative seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance equity and sustain systemic change to broaden participation in STEM fields at scale. Significant advancement in the inclusion of groups that have historically been excluded from or underserved in STEM will result in a new generation of STEM talent and leadership to secure the Nation’s future and long-term economic competitiveness. 

With this solicitation, NSF offers support for five types of projects that connect and contribute to the National Network: (1) Design and Development Launch Pilots, (2) Collaborative Change Consortia, (3) Alliances, (4) Network Connectors, and (5) Conferences. The INCLUDES National Network is a multifaceted collaboration of agencies, organizations, and individuals working collectively to broaden participation in STEM. The INCLUDES National Network serves as a testbed for designing, implementing, studying, refining, and scaling collaborative change models and is composed of:

Institutionally coordinated // Limit 1 // PI: J. M. Wang-Roveda (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
 

Institutionally coordinated submission. Contact RDS for more information.
Number of pre-proporsals allowed as lead institution: two

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced tremendously and today promises personalized healthcare; enhanced national security; improved transportation; and more effective education, to name just a few benefits. Increased computing power, the availability of large datasets and streaming data, and algorithmic advances in machine learning (ML) have made it possible for AI research and development to create new sectors of the economy and revitalize industries. Continued advancement, enabled by sustained federal investment and channeled toward issues of national importance, holds the potential for further economic impact and quality-of-life improvements.

The 2023 update to the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan, informed by visioning activities in the scientific community as well as interaction with the public, identifies as its first strategic objective the need to make long-term investments in AI research in areas with the potential for long-term payoffs in AI. AI Institutes represent a cornerstone Federal Government commitment to fostering long-term, fundamental research in AI while also delivering significantly on each of the other eight objectives in that strategy. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) identifies AI Institutes as a key component of a bold, sustained federal push to scale and coordinate federal AI R&D funding and to reinforce the foundation of technical leadership in AI.

This program is a multisector effort led by the National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the Simons Foundation (SF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Department of Defense (DOD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)), Capital One Financial Corporation (Capital One), and Intel Corporation (Intel).

This program solicitation expands the nationwide network of AI Research Institutes with new funding opportunities over the next two years. In this round, the program invites proposals for institutes that have a principal focus in one of the following themes aimed at transformational advances in a range of economic sectors, and science and engineering fields:

• Group 1 - Awards anticipated in FY 2024:
  • Theme 1: AI for Astronomical Sciences
     
• Group 2 - Awards anticipated in FY 2025:
  • Theme 2: AI for Discovery in Materials Research
  • Theme 3: Strengthening AI

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

An organization may only submit 1 proposal as the lead. There is no limit on the number of proposals on which an organization can be included as a sub-recipient.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is soliciting proposals for managing the operation and maintenance of the National Geophysical Facility (hereafter referred to as NGF) an NSF-funded major facility. The NGF is designed to enable the research community to ask, and address, questions about a variety of Earth processes from local to global scales. NGF will operate global and regional networks of sensors; provide a lending library of instrumentation and support services to enable PI-led field experiments; support archiving, quality control, and delivery of geophysical data and data product development; and provide education, outreach, workforce development, and community engagement activities that serve a wide range of audiences. NGF will be a single facility, with a single operator that will succeed NSF’s current geophysical facilities, the Seismological Facility for the Advancement of GEoscience (SAGE) and the Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of GEoscience (GAGE).

The award recipient will work closely with NSF and the scientific community to ensure that NGF capabilities support, and advance, Earth Sciences and related disciplines. In cooperation with NSF, and within available resources, the recipient will plan and execute a viable, coherent, and inclusive program to: (1) streamline the management and operations of existing geophysical facility capabilities into one consolidated geophysical facility; (2) enhance existing facility capabilities in instrumentation, data services and cyberinfrastructure; and (3) implement a bold vision to broaden participation and foster a culture of equity and inclusion in the Earth Sciences and related disciplines.

The NSF Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) in the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) has primary responsibility for the programmatic oversight of NGF and activities will be coordinated with the Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE), Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS), and Office of Polar Programs (OPP). 

A single award will be made as a cooperative agreement with a duration of five years. NSF may renew the award for an additional five years, subject to availability of funds, the recipient's satisfactory performance, and review of a cost proposal for the second 5-year period. NSF’s decision will be informed by the National Science Board Statement on Recompetition of Major Facilities (NSB 2015-45 or its successor).
 

For planning purposes, proposers can assume a base budget of approximately $39.5 million during the first year of the award, beginning October 2025 and should plan for no more than a 6% budget increase in each of the subsequent years. All budget amounts given herein are tentative and for initial planning purposes only. Actual annual funding increments will be determined based on the detailed cost estimate required per Section VII.C below and an Annual Plan and Budget submitted by the recipient to, and approved by, NSF. Funding increments are subject annually to the availability of funds and will be contingent on the performance of the recipient. Ongoing recapitalization of instrumentation, and escalation factors used for cost estimating, should be articulated in the Cost Estimating Plan.

Transition funding of up to $1,000,000 for a duration of up to six (6) months will be available for organizations other than the incumbent organization. Relevant transition activities include interviewing and hiring personnel, establishing subcontracts, transferring data and property, and obtaining permits and licenses. Should a transition period be necessary, the incumbent will retain responsibility for management of NGF and the new recipient will have the appropriate level of access to incumbent personnel and facilities associated with NGF as determined by NSF. The funding request for a transition period should be made within the Transition Plan and should not be included in the formal cost estimate or proposed budget for the initial 5-year period but must conform to the same requirements.

Institutionally Coordinated // Limit: 1 // PI: R. Deil-Amen ( College of Education)
 

UArizona may submit one proposal.

Through this solicitation, NSF seeks to foster a network of S-STEM stakeholders and further develop the infrastructure needed to generate and disseminate new knowledge, successful practices and effective design principles arising from NSF S-STEM projects nationwide. The ultimate vision of the legislation governing the S-STEM parent program[1] (and of the current S-STEM-Net solicitation) is that all Americans, regardless of economic status, should be able to contribute to the American innovation economy if they so desire.

To support collaboration within the S-STEM network, NSF will fund several S-STEM Research Hubs (S-STEM-Hub). The S-STEM Network (S-STEM-Net) will collaborate to create synergies and sustain a robust national ecosystem consisting of multi-sector partners supporting domestic low-income STEM students in achieving their career goals, while also ensuring access, inclusion, and adaptability to changing learning needs. The Hubs will investigate evolving barriers to the success of this student population. It will also disseminate the context and circumstances by which interventions and practices that support graduation of domestic low-income students (both undergraduate and graduate) pursuing careers in STEM are successful.

The target audience for this dissemination effort is the community of higher education institutions, faculty, scholars, researchers and evaluators, local and regional organizations, industry, and other nonprofit, federal, state, and local agencies concerned with the success of domestic low-income STEM students in the United States.

Institutionally Coordinated // Limit: 2 //  PIs: 
Track 3 - Inter-institutional Consortia:
K. Ogden (Chemical and Environmental Engineering) 

Track 3 - Inter-institutional Consortia:
D.Glickenstein (Mathematics)

An institution may submit up to two proposals (either as a single institution or as a subawardee or a member of an inter-institutional consortia project (lead or co-lead) for a given S-STEM deadline. Multiple proposals from an institution must not overlap with regard to S-STEM eligible disciplines. See Additional Eligibility Information below for more details (see IV. Eligibility Information).

Institutions with a current S-STEM award should wait at least until the end of the third year of execution of their current award before submitting a new S-STEM proposal focused on students pursuing degrees in the same discipline(s).

The above restrictions do not apply to collaborative planning grant proposals.

The S-STEM program provides institutions of higher education (IHEs) with funds for scholarships to encourage and enable domestic low-income students with academic ability, talent or potential and demonstrated financial need to enter the US workforce following completion of associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degrees in S-STEM eligible disciplines. To enable social mobility of these students with academic talent, funds should be allocated to support scholars in areas of regional or national need. 

Description of Program Tracks

• Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building)
  UA is not eligible to apply to Track 1, due to a previous award under this track.
   
• Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution)
  Track 2 proposals have the same S-STEM goals as Track 1 proposals. They generally involve and benefit only one institution, but they will serve more scholars than Track 1 proposals. Any IHE (as described under the eligibility section) can submit a Track 2 proposal, whether or not the institution has received prior S-STEM or STEP awards.
  Track 2 proposals may, in some cases, also include a focus on student transfer or progression to graduate school. In this case, if needed, two or more institutions could partner.
  Track 2 projects must be led by a PI who is (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines being pursued by the targeted scholars, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in one of the eligible disciplines in the last two years from submission and can dedicate the time necessary to assure project success. The PI must be a member of the proposed project's leadership and management team. The leadership and management team should also include a STEM administrator (department head or above). Faculty members from all departments or academic units involved should have a role in the project either as Co-PIs, senior personnel, or scholar mentors. The project team could include, if appropriate, a non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher to support evidence-based responses to items raised by the external evaluator through formative evaluation. This additional researcher cannot take the place of the external evaluator. Proposals for Track 2 may request up to $2,500,000 total for up to 6 years.
  
   
• Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia)
  Track 3 projects support multi-institutional collaborations that focus on a common interest or challenge. Inter-institutional Consortia projects represent diverse collaborations, including partnerships between 2-year colleges and 4-year colleges and universities, between 4-year colleges and graduate programs, or between comparable institutions looking to implement and study parallel interventions. For example, a collaboration among community colleges and four-year institutions may focus on issues associated with successful transfer of low-income students from 2-year institutions to 4-year programs. In another example, a multi-institutional collaboration may focus on factors that contribute to the success or degree attainment of domestic, low-income students in different types of institutions.
  Proposals with a strong focus on the transfer or advancement of students from one educational level to another should collaborate with appropriate institutional partners. For example, proposals focused on the transfer of students from 2-year institutions to 4-year institutions should include faculty and administrators from 2-year institutions and 4-year institutions in the leadership team; likewise, proposals focusing on the advancement of undergraduate students at predominately undergraduate institutions to graduate programs should include institutions, administrators and Co-PIs representing both the undergraduate programs and the receiving graduate programs.
  Track 3 projects have the same overall goals as Track 1 and 2 projects but seek to accomplish these goals at a very large scale by leveraging multi-institutional efforts and infrastructure. In addition to the expectations stated below in section II.B.2 for all tracks, Track 3 projects are also expected to:

1. Establish an authentic, strong and mutually beneficial collaboration across all institutions involved in the consortia, providing comparable benefits to all institutions in terms of number of scholarships as well as in the infrastructure established to serve low-income students;
2. Establish strong technical assistance and processes that support and manage project activities across institutions involved in the collaborative effort.
3. Engage in high quality educational or social sciences research to advance understanding of how to adapt, implement and scale up effective evidence-based programs and practices designed to foster positive outcomes for low-income students in STEM.
   
   NSF does not favor a particular research design over others. How the chosen research methods and approaches are aligned with and appropriate for the research goals should be fully explained in the proposal. The ultimate goal of S-STEM is to support low-income students with awards covering their unmet need, up to the maximum allowable scholarship amount (whatever is less). Projects are strongly discouraged from allowing a desired sample size to play a role in the determination of the size of awarded scholarships.
   Track 3 projects are managed by leadership and management teams composed of faculty members who are currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline(s), STEM administrators, and non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researchers. The PI of Track 3 proposals must be either (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines, (b) a STEM administrator (department head or above), or (c) a non-teaching researcher whose expertise is in institutional, educational, or social science research in higher education. Faculty from all the institutions and disciplines involved need to be included in the leadership team and/or senior personnel. The lead PI needs to demonstrate the capacity, experience and resources needed to manage a complex, large-scale project and the necessary time to dedicate to assure project success.
   Track 3 proposals may request up to $5 million total for up to 6 years.
   Proposers should be aware that Track 3 projects will be formally reviewed by NSF during their third year to determine whether satisfactory progress has been made, with continued funding contingent on the result of the third-year review. See section VII.C on reporting requirements.

• Collaborative Planning Grants to Develop an Inter-institutional Consortium
  Collaborative Planning projects provide support for groups of two or more IHEs and other potential partner organizations to establish fruitful collaborations, increase understanding of complex issues faced by low-income students at each institution, establish inter-institutional agreements when necessary and develop mechanisms for cooperation in anticipation of a future Track 3 proposal that will benefit all institutions and their scholars as equal partners.
  This category of projects aims to provide proposers from two or more institutions the funds and time to establish the relationships and agreements necessary for submitting an Inter-institutional Consortia S-STEM proposal. It is expected that proposers will be ready to write and submit this Inter-institutional Consortia proposal within 1-2 years of receiving a Collaborative Planning grant award. Any subsequent proposals to S-STEM based on this work must describe the results of the planning effort.

New institutional restrictions for this program for 2022:

1. An institution may submit up to two proposals (either as a single institution or as subawardee or a member of an inter-institutional consortia project) for a given S-STEM deadline. Multiple proposals from an institution must not overlap with regard to S-STEM eligible disciplines. See Additional Eligibility Information below for more details (see IV. Eligibility Information).
2. Institutions with a current S-STEM award should wait at least until the end of the third year of execution of their current award before submitting a new S-STEM proposal focused on students pursuing degrees in the same discipline(s).

The above restrictions do not apply to collaborative planning grant proposals.

Limit: 1  // PI: M. Chertkov (Mathematics)

Uarizona may submit one proposal.

Despite decades of research, scientists do not fully understand the dynamic nature of pathogen and disease emergence. Emerging (and re-emerging) pathogens represent a continuing risk to national security because they threaten health (animal, human, and ecosystem) and economic stability. Often, society falls short on the coordination and breadth of expertise needed to respond to such threats. Effective responses to emerging pathogens will require sustained, global-scale efforts of researchers and organizations. This can only be accomplished by synergistic integration of innovative scientific and technological advances across disciplines and scales, and effective knowledge transfer into practice. As part of these efforts, NSF is organizing a set of activities around the broad theme of Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP).

The PIPP initiative focuses on foundational research and development activities needed to tackle grand challenges in infectious disease pandemics through prediction and prevention. The PIPP Phase II Centers Program expands upon the Phase I Development Grant Program and is the NSF's flagship program to establish a network of Centers or large-scale awards/investments that will support interdisciplinary team-based approaches to accelerate research and development activities in emerging infectious diseases and pandemics. The overall goal of the PIPP Phase II Centers program is to support research and development activities needed to transform society's ability to forecast the likelihood of pandemic-scale events, detect outbreaks early, and respond efficiently.

Continued advancement, enabled by sustained federal investment channeled toward issues of national importance holds the potential for further economic impact and public health improvements.

Informed by visioning activities in the scientific community as well as a previous round of development grant activities (PIPP Phase I), the program invites proposals for Centers that have a principal focus in one of the following multidisciplinary themes:

Theme 1: Pre-emergence - Predicting and detecting rare events in complex, dynamical systems

Theme 2: Data, AI/ML and Design - Computing, manufacturing and technology innovation for pandemics

Theme 3: The Host as the Universe - Identifying host-pathogen tipping points that dictate control or spread of an infection

Theme 4: Human Systems - The role of human behavior, activities and environments in disease emergence, transmission, and response or mitigation

These components directly support the NSF's strategic goals by funding cutting edge science aimed at societal challenges and opportunities that face the Nation, while concurrently working to develop a globally competitive and diverse science, engineering and technology-adept workforce.

The Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO), Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), and Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) are jointly collaborating to support the PIPP Phase II activities. Involvement of and collaboration with other research communities with significant effort in related spaces, including use-inspired research is highly encouraged.