1. The National Science Foundation: Funding Opportunities and Trends August 28, 2015 IANR University of Nebraska-Lincoln Regina Werum Professor Department of Sociology ScienceInsider: World food supply at growing risk from severe weather 8/13/2015 http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2015/08/world-food-supply-growing-risk-severe- weather?utm_campaign=email-news-weekly&utm_src=email

2. INTRODUCTION Who are you? Who am I? Why are we here today?

3. What is the National Science Foundation? Independent Agency of the Federal Government Established in 1950 to promote & advance scientific progress FY14, NSF got 48k submissions, 11k were funded (23%) NSF provides the lion share of federal support for basic scientific research (e.g. 60% of all social science research) Divided into 7 Directorates: Geosciences (GEO) Biological Sciences (BIO) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Engineering (ENG) Computer and Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Education and Human Resources (EHR)

4. Example: Programs in the SBE and BIO Directorates SBE Divisions and Programs Division of Social & Econ. Sciences (SES) Economics Political Science Sociology Interdisciplinary Programs: Decision, Risk & Management Science/DRMS Law & Social Sciences/LSS; Methodology, Measurement, & Stats/MMS; Science of Organizations/SoO; Science Technology, & Society/STS Division of Behav. & Cogn. Sciences (BCS) Archaeology Cultural Anthropology Physical Anthropology Geography & Spatial Sciences Cognitive Neuroscience Endangered Languages Linguistics Interdisciplinary Programs: Developmental & Learning Sciences/DLS; Perception, Action, & Cognition/PAC; Social Psychology BIO’s Interdisciplinary Divisions/Clusters Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) Environmental Biology (DEB) plus Biological Infrastructure (DBI) (Emerging Frontiers (EF) ) Funding opportunities in BIO often exist across fields and divisions – look for specific solicitations. For more info visit http://www.nsf.gov/bio/about.jsphttp://www.nsf.gov/bio/about.jsp and http://www.nsf.gov/bio/about.jsp#orgchart http://www.nsf.gov/bio/about.jsp#orgchart

5. What does the National Science Foundation fund? Supports theoretically-grounded research Supports research using a range of methodologies Supports scientific innovation – not interested in replication or incremental addition to existing knowledge What is a “Project Summary”? 3 sections and 2 key evaluation criteria: Overview Intellectual Merit Broader Impacts

6. What does the National Science Foundation fund? Regular Proposals (faculty PIs) Theoretically motivated & methodological sound study that significantly advances the discipline/field Deadlines: usually once or twice a year Supports: Data collection & analysis survey costs, participant fees graduate & undergrad assistants summer salary travel for data collection Budget and Duration: Funding varies based on project; typically 1-2 years of support

7. What ELSE does the National Science Foundation fund? Dissertation Projects (not all programs) A theoretically motivated & methodological sound dissertation project that seeks support to facilitate the actual conduct of the research. Not a fellowship. Deadlines: usually once or twice/year Supports: data collection & analysis: including but not limited to: payments to subjects, survey expenses, data transcription travel to specialized facilities & sites project-specific software & equipment training Budget and Duration: varies by program (e.g., $12k maximum for 1 year in Sociology) -- faculty PI!

8. What other NSF programs exist specifically for junior scholars? CAREER awards – start planning your portfolio now Graduate Research Fellowship Program/GRFP Research Experiences for Undergraduates/REU

9. Where are the Funding Opportunities?

10. F-Words, P-Words, C-Words*: Funding Opportunity Examples Crosscutting (MPS/BIO): Cracking the Olfactory Code http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?WT.z_pims_id=504773&ods_key=nsf15547 BIO: Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development (BREAD) http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15538/nsf15538.pdf http://www.agri-pulse.com/NSF-grants-advance-agricultural-research-developing-world-02102012.asp BIO: Plant Genome Research Program (PFRP) http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?WT.z_pims_id=5338&ods_key=nsf15548 BIO: Genealogy of Life/GoLife http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?WT.z_pims_id=5129&ods_key=nsf15520 GEO: Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=11699&org=AGS&from=home MPS: Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP) http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503417&org=CHE&sel_org=CHE&from=fund EHR: Discovery Research (DRK-12) http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf15592 * Food, Plants, and Cattle

11. Funding Sustainability Research, broadly defined Research Coordination Network/RCN (3 tracks: general, SEES, UBE) http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15527/nsf15527.pdf GEO/MPS Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models (EaSM) http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13607/nsf13607.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13607/nsf13607.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click GEO Earthscope http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf15578http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf15578 ENG/CBET Energy for Sustainability; Environmental Sustainability http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501027 MPS/CHE and ENG Sustainable Chemistry, Engineering, and Materials/SusChEM http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf15085 GEO: Paleo Perspectives on Climate Change (P2C2) http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5750&org=AGS&from=home BIO, GEO, SBE Dynamics of Coupled Natural & Human Systems/CNH (3 tiers) http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2014/nsf14601/nsf14601.pdf SEES, crosscutting: Interactions of Food Systems with Water and Energy Systems http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15040/nsf15040.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=clickhttp://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15040/nsf15040.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click.

12. Capacity-Building and Collaborative Funding Opportunities Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research/EAGER http://www.nsf.gov/about/transformative_research/submit.jsp Research Coordination Networks/RCN http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15527/nsf15527.pdf Industry & University Cooperative Research Program/I/URC; cross- directorate (ENG, CISE, GEO): http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/iucrc/http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/iucrc/ and http://174.143.170.127/iucrc/publicCenterListServlet http://174.143.170.127/iucrc/publicCenterListServlet GEO Belmont Forum DCL issued April 2015 http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15074/nsf15074.jsp Topic: “Mountains as Sentinels of Change” Research Experiences for Undergraduates/REU Site proposals: http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp vs.http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp Projects/Supplements: integrate undergraduate research experience into regular research proposals Dissertation Improvement Grants (DDIG) http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5234

13. Final Food for Thought Make strategic decisions on where to apply: Can’t be all things to all people – consider the learning curve Consider carving your work into different types of grants: research vs. training vs. capacity or institution-building Start small to improve odds of success – pays off in the long run Over time, scale up to team-based projects –promising and feasible Identify and pursue capacity-building and collaborative funding opportunities that will help you and your unit position itself – not advisable for junior/new PIs

14. How can I help you? Q&A

15. ©2009 The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved. Thank you. Please contact me at rwerum2@unl.edurwerum2@unl.edu.

16. Sample NSF Project Summary

18. Current NSF Grants Portfolio Directorate Funding Request, FY 2016 (in $m) Funding Estimate, FY 2015 (in $m) Funding Actual, FY 2014 (in $m) CISE954.41921.73892.60 GEO1,365.411,304.391,321.32 BIO747.92731.01720.84 MPS1,366.231,336.721,267.86 SBE291.46272.20256.84 EHR962.57866.00832.02 ENG949.22892.31833.12 IA459.15425.34433.12

19. NSF Funding Distribution http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2014/03/how-much-nsf-funding-goes-to-social-science/

20. Clear NSF-Wide Signals for FY16 STEM education programs $1.2 billion  Graduate Research Fellowship (NGRFP) $338m Clean Energy $377m Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems $75m Disaster Resilience $58m Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) & Advanced Manufacturing $80m Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21 st -Century Science, Engineering and Education (CIF21) $143m Physics/Astronomy telescope research $100m Brain Initiative $144m BioMaPS $33m Cyber-enabled Materials, Manufacturing, and Smart Systems (CEMMSS) $257m Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) $124m NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) $30m¹ Pink elephants in the room: Big Data, Interdisciplinarity, Collaboration, predictive modelling ¹priorities overlap and cannot be added together; $ based on FY16 budget request

21. Clear Signals from NSF Directorates MPS - clean energy, materials research GEO – all things SEES: ocean/polar, atm./geospace, earth sciences BIO - biodiversity/adaptation, clean energy, food/energy/water systems, “sustainable/resilient food systems” EHR - shift towards student/workforce training, all levels SBE - cog neuro, SEES, Big Data CISE - big data, cyberSEES, nanotech ENG - innovation/commercialization, robotics EPSCoR – “innovation economy”, public/private partnerships