Program Development

No Applicants /// Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 0

There won't be a submission for this program during the June deadline. 

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

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

PROGRAM TRACKS

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

Track 1: ExpandAI Capacity Building Pilots

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

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

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

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

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

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

Track 2: ExpandAI Partnerships

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

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

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

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

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

Submit ticket request  // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The NSF ADVANCE program goal is to broaden the implementation of evidence-based systemic change strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession. The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces. Systemic (or organizational) inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in organizational culture and climate. UArizona is only elegible for the Partnership Track.

• Partnership projects are expected to result in national or regional transformation in STEM academic workplaces and the academic profession and demonstrate significant reach. Partnership projects can focus on the transformation of institutions and organizations and/or the transformation within one or more STEM disciplines.

Submit ticket request  // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The intent of this solicitation is to request proposals from organizations who are willing to serve as resource providers within the NSF Advanced Computing Systems and Services (ACSS) program. Resource providers would (1) provide advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources in production operations to support the full range of computational- and data-intensive research across all of science and engineering (S&E), and (2) ensure democratized and equitable access to the proposed resources. The current solicitation is intended to complement previous NSF investments in advanced computational infrastructure by provisioning resources, broadly defined in this solicitation to include systems and/or services.

• Category I, Capacity Resources: production computational resources maximizing the capacity provided to support the broad range of computation and data analytics needs in S&E research.

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

Only one proposal will be considered by ECA from each applicant organization.

The IDEAS grant competition annually awards approximately 20 grants of up to $35,000 each to accredited U.S. colleges and universities physically based in the United States or its territories. The grants support institutions with a broad range of capacity to create, expand, and/or diversify their study abroad programs, including institutions that currently have limited or no experience administering study abroad programs as well as those with established programs.

Program Goals

• Create or expand U.S. colleges and universities’ capacity to administer study abroad programs that are primarily for U.S. undergraduate students and align with U.S. foreign policy goals;
• Increase the number of U.S. undergraduate students studying or interning abroad for academic credit, with an emphasis on diversifying both the students and institutions taking part in study abroad and the destinations to which they travel; and
• Collect, develop, and share best practices for increasing and diversifying study abroad opportunities for U.S. students with the broader U.S. higher education community through trainings and other capacity-building initiatives. 

The IDEAS grant competition is open to U.S. accredited U.S. colleges and universities physically based in the United States or its territories with a broad range of capacity to administer study abroad programs, including institutions that currently have limited or no experience administering study abroad programs as well as those with established programs. Minority-serving institutions are encouraged to apply.

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

Duplicate, essentially duplicate, or predominantly overlapping applications submitted simultaneously to both OREI and another NIFA program, such as ORG, in the same fiscal year will not be reviewed.

The Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), under assistance listing 10.307, seeks to solve critical organic agricultural issues, priorities, or problems through the integration of research,education, and extension activities. The purpose of this program is to fund high priority integrated projects that will enhance the ability of producers and processors who have already adopted organic standards to grow and market high quality organic agricultural products, mitigate and adapt to climate change, build resilience of the organic farming system, and protect water and other resources. Priority concerns include biological, physical, and social sciences, including economics.

Limit: 1 //D. Sanyal (Environmental Science)

Duplicate, essentially duplicate or predominantly overlapping applications submitted simultaneously to both ORG and another NIFA program, such as OREI, in the same fiscal year is not allowed and will not be reviewed. NIFA will disqualify both applications if an applicant submits duplicate or multiple submissions.

NIFA requests applications for the Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program – ORG for FY 2024 and 2025 funding cycles, to solve critical organic agriculture issues, priorities, or problems.

The overall goal of the ORG program is to support the development and implementation of research, extension, and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of U.S. organic livestock and crop producers, as well as those who are adopting organic practices.

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

Duplicate or multiple submissions are not allowed.

The Rural Health and Safety Education Program seeks to foster quality of life in rural communities by providing the essential knowledge necessary for successful programs of rural development, improving coordination among Federal agencies, other levels of government, and institutions and private organizations in rural areas, and developing and disseminating information about rural conditions.

Per the authorizing legislation described in Part I (A) of this RFA, the RHSE program addresses the health and well-being of rural America through supporting the development and/or implementation of projects focused on:
1. Individual and family health education programs with specified contents;
2. Rural health leadership development education programs to assist rural communities in developing health care services and facilities and assist community leaders and public officials in understanding their roles and responsibilities; and
3. Farm safety education programs to provide information and training to farm workers, timber harvesters, and farm families.

In FY 2024, NIFA is soliciting applications for RHSE in the area of Individual and Family Health Education.

Limit: 1 // L. Clark (Veterinary Medicine)

For RPE, duplicate or multiple submissions are not allowed. NIFA will disqualify both applications if an RPE applicant submits duplicate or multiple submissions. For EET, multiple submissions are allowed by different departments of eligible institutions.

Veterinarians play significant roles in assuring food and fiber animal health and wellbeing, food safety and security, public health, and producer profitability, especially in rural areas of the United States where mostlivestock production occurs. The VSGP, Assistance Listing 10.336 and its companion Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), authorized by the National Veterinary Medical Services Act (NVMSA), were born out of concerns that long-term maldistributions in the veterinary workforce have left some rural communities with insufficient access to food/large animal veterinary services. The objective of the VSGP is to develop, implement, and sustain food animal veterinary services and relieve veterinarian shortage situations in the United States, which includes Insular Areas.

The purpose of VSGP is to complement the VMLRP to address this veterinary shortage problem through two types of grants.
1. Education, extension, and training (EET) grants are initiatives that will enable veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary technicians, and veterinary technician students to gain specialized skills through formal coursework, clinical training, and practice enhancement to mitigate veterinary service shortages more effectively in the United States and Insular Areas.
2. Rural practice enhancement (RPE) grants ultimately bolster the capacity of a private clinic (with or without a veterinarian’s student loan repayment obligation) that can provide food/large animal veterinary services for a designated veterinarian shortage area.

Limit:1 // A. Mostafa (Maricopa County)

Beginning farmer education for adult and young audiences in the United States can generally be traced back to the advent of the 1862 and 1890 Morrill Land-Grant Acts. But, for the first time, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub .L. No. 110-234, Section 7410) appropriated $75 million for FY 2009 to FY 2012 to develop and offer education, training, outreach and mentoring programs to enhance the sustainability of the next generation of farmers.

The Agriculture Act of 2014 provided an additional $20 million per year for 2014 through 2018. The reasons for the renewed interest in beginning farmer and rancher programs are as follows: the rising average age of U.S. farmers; the 8% projected decrease in the number of farmers and ranchers between 2008 and 2018; and the growing recognition that new programs are needed to address the needs of the next generation of beginning farmers and ranchers.

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (aka the 2018 Farm Bill) reauthorized the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and provides mandatory funds for which supports education, mentoring, and technical assistance initiatives for beginning farmers and ranchers.

The technical assistance webinar related to this FY 2024 funding opportunity will be scheduled soon. Please visit again for more information.

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

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

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

PROGRAM TRACKS

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

Track 1: ExpandAI Capacity Building Pilots

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

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

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

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

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

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

Track 2: ExpandAI Partnerships

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

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

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

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

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