Current Funding Opportunities

From SIResearchInnovationOffice

Revision as of 07:44, 21 April 2008

Thinking of applying to one of these opportunities? Please email si-ori@umich.edu.

Internal Competitions at the University of Michigan

April 28: NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers Program (I/UCRC):

Deadline: April 28, 2008 at 5pm EST to DRDA.

The Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs) program develops long-term partnerships among industry, academe, and government. The centers are catalyzed by a small investment from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and are primarily supported by industry center members, with NSF taking a supporting role in their development and evolution. Each center is established to conduct research that is of interest to both the industry and the center. An I/UCRC contributes to the Nation's research infrastructure base and enhances the intellectual capacity of the engineering and science workforce through the integration of research and education.

For more information regarding the NSF call please go to NSF 07-537 For information regarding requirements for the internal submission please go to UM Internal Competition Requirements

NSF - Computer Systems Research - Deadline: April 23, 2008

Computer systems are being applied to increasingly demanding applications. The environments in which they function and the resources they manage are increasingly diverse, distributed and dynamic. While the time scales for control decisions are shrinking, the scale and complexity of the systems are increasing. Further, many of the assumptions behind today’s most common computer systems no longer hold. As a result, these systems often fail in unpredictable ways, become compromised or perform poorly. Accordingly, the frontiers of computer systems research must be moved forward, and new bold research directions must be established to draw upon interdisciplinary research capabilities across science and engineering.

The FY 2008 competition invites innovative, forward-looking research projects in the following three areas:

• Distributed and Mobile Systems and Services (DMSS);
• Parallel Systems, Computing and Execution (PSCE); and
• Embedded, Hybrid, and Critical Systems (EHCS).

Proposals may be submitted in one of the following three categories:

• Small - projects with total budgets up to $450K and durations of up to 3 years
• Team - projects with total budgets up to $2.0M, and durations of up to 4 years
• Other- including planning grants, workshops, Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER), and other community building activities.

For more information please go to NSF 08-538

NSF - Advanced Learning Technologies - Deadline: April 25, 2008

Through the Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT) program, the CISE and EHR Directorates of NSF support research that (1) enables radical improvements in learning through innovative computer and information technologies, and (2) advances research in computer science, information technology, learning, and cognitive science through the unique challenges posed by learning environments and learning technology platforms. Integrative research approaches that build across disciplines and establish tight linkages among theory, experiment, and design are strongly encouraged. Technology goals may include systems for tutoring or assessment, modeling and sensing of cognitive or emotional states, context awareness, natural language interfaces, collaboration, knowledge management, and non-traditional goals that redefine the roles of technology in learning. Educational foci for ALT projects must include an area of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM), or general cross-cutting skills directly relevant to STEM.

For more information please go to NSF 06-535

Corporation for National and Community Service - Learn and Serve America Higher Ed - Deadline: May 7, 2008

2008 College Student Social Media Initiative: Approximately $2.3 million is available to facilitate better engagement of college students in service through the use of social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Ning, podcasts, blogs and other social media tools. Successful applicants must demonstrate how their program can use these tools to engage increased numbers of college students, especially in partnership with other nonprofit or for-profit entities. An estimated 12 grants will be made for a project period of up to three years. Applications are due at 5 p.m. eastern time, May 7

For more information please go to Notice of Funding Opportunity

NSF - Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems - Deadline: June 2, 2008

A virtual organization is a group of individuals whose members and resources may be dispersed geographically, but who function as a coherent unit through the use of cyberinfrastructure. Virtual organizations are increasingly central to the science and engineering projects funded by the National Science Foundation. Focused investments in sociotechnical analyses of virtual organizations are necessary to harness their full potential and the promise they offer for discovery and learning.

The Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems (VOSS) program supports scientific research directed at advancing the understanding of what constitutes effective virtual organizations and under what conditions virtual organizations can enable and enhance scientific, engineering, and education production and innovation. Levels of analysis may include (but are not limited to) individuals, groups, organizations, and institutional arrangements. Disciplinary perspectives may include (but are not limited to) anthropology, complexity sciences, computer and information sciences, decision and management sciences, economics, engineering, organization theory, organizational behavior, social and industrial psychology, public administration, and sociology. Research methods may span a broad variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, including (but not limited to): ethnographies, surveys, simulation studies, experiments, comparative case studies, and network analyses.

VOSS funded research must be grounded in theory and rooted in empirical methods. It must produce broadly applicable and transferable results that augment knowledge and practice of virtual organizations as a modality. VOSS does not support proposals that aim to implement or evaluate individual virtual organizations.

For more information please go to NSF 08-550

HP Labs Innovation Research Program - Deadline: June 18, 2008 5PM EST

The HP Labs Innovation Research Program is designed to create opportunities -- at colleges, universities and research institutes around the world -- for breakthrough collaborative research with HP. Through this open and competitive Call for Proposals, we are soliciting your best ideas on a range of topics with the goal of establishing new research collaborations. The 2008 HP Labs Innovation Research program is seeking proposals for breakthrough research within five broad research themes:

• Information explosion: Acquiring, analyzing and delivering the right information to individuals and businesses so they can act on it
• Dynamic cloud services: Developing web platforms and cloud services that are dynamically personalized based on your location, preferences, calendar and communities
• Content transformation : Enabling the fluid transformation of content from analog to digital, from device to device, and from digital content to physical products
• Intelligent infrastructure: Designing smarter, more secure computing devices, networks and architectures that work together to connect individuals and businesses to rich, dynamic content and services
• Sustainability: Creating technologies, IT infrastructure, and new business models for the low-carbon economy that save money and leave a lighter footprint on the world

Within these broad themes, a number of compelling research topics are being proposed for 2008, and will be announced on 7 May 2008. Proposals will be solicited in line with these topics on a geographic basis.

Awards under the HP Labs Innovation Research Program will consist of cash support for one year in the USD $50,000 to $75,000 range, including any overhead. A key element of each award will be on-campus support for one graduate-student researcher.

Important Dates

• Wednesday, 7 May 2008: Research topics announced and submission tool opens
• Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 5:00 PM Pacific Time: Deadline for submissions
• Friday, 1 August 2008: Notification of decisions

Full program guidelines are detailed in the Innovation Research Program Request for Proposals, along with other important program documents:

NSF - National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Digital Library - Deadline: June 27, 2008

This program aims to establish a national network of learning environments and resources for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels. The program has four tracks: Pathways projects are expected to provide stewardship for the content and services needed by major communities of learners. Services projects are expected to develop services that support users and resource collection providers that enhance the impact, efficiency, and value of the NSDL network. Targeted Research projects are expected to explore specific topics that have immediate applicability to collections, services, and other aspects of the development of the NSDL network. The NSDL Resource Center will provide collaboration assistance across all projects; undertake strategic partnership development on behalf of projects particularly with respect to non-academic entities; coordinate and, in some cases, perform thematic research and evaluation studies related to the program; synthesize findings across the portfolio; and disseminate findings of the accomplishments of the NSDL program. In FY2008, within the first three tracks the program will accept proposals for large grants in 1) the Pathways track, 2) a new sub-track: Pathways - Stage II, and 3) specific sub-tracks of Services - including a single Technical network services project to provide technical infrastructure support across the NSDL network. In all tracks, except for the NSDL Resource Center, the program will also accept proposals for small grants that extend or enhance results from existing services, collections, or targeted research activity so as to enlarge the user audience for the NSDL network or improve capabilities for the user.

For more information please go to NSF 08-554

NSF - Biological Databases and Informatics - Deadline: July 14, 2008

The Biological Databases and Informatics (BD&I) program seeks to encourage new approaches to the management, analysis, and dissemination of biological knowledge for the benefit of both the scientific community and the broader public. The BD&I program is especially interested in the development of informatics tools and resources that have the potential to advance all fields of biology under the purview of the Directorate for Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation.

For more information please go to NSF 05-577

ALISE - Research Grant Competition - Deadline: July 15, 2008

The Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) is now accepting proposals for its 2009 Research Grant Program Competition. An award of one or more grants totaling $5,000 may be made to support research broadly related to education for library and information science. The Research Grant Award cannot be used to support a doctoral dissertation. At least one applicant in a group submitting a proposal must be a personal member of ALISE as of the deadline date.

For more information please go to ALISE Research Grant Guidelines

NSF - CAREER: Faculty Early Career Development - Deadline: July 22-24, 2008

CAREER: The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply.

For more information please go to NSF 08-557

NSF - Science, Technology and Society - Deadline: August 1, 2008

STS considers proposals that examine historical, philosophical, and sociological questions that arise in connection with science, engineering, and technology, and their respective interactions with society. STS has four components:

• Ethics and Values in Science, Engineering and Technology (EVS),
• History and Philosophy of Science, Engineering and Technology (HPS),
• Social Studies of Science, Engineering and Technology (SSS),
• Studies of Policy, Science, Engineering and Technology (SPS).

The components overlap, but are distinguished by the different scientific and scholarly orientations they take to the subject matter, as well as by different focuses within the subject area. STS encourages the submission of hybrid proposals that strive to integrate research involving two or more of these core areas.

STS provides the following modes of support:

• Scholars Awards,
• Standard Research Grants and Grants for Collaborative Research,
• Postdoctoral Fellowships,
• Professional Development Fellowships,
• Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants,
• Small Grants for Training and Research,
• Conference and Workshop Awards,
• Other Funding Opportunities.

Air Force Office of Scientific Research FY08 BAA - Deadline: Open through FY08

Some specific areas of interest to the school of information are found in section c of the BAA - Mathematics, Information and Life Sciences. See specifically section 2) Complex Networks, 4) Distributed Intelligence and Information Fusion, 6) Mathematical Modeling of Cognition and Decision, 9) Sensory Information Systems, and 10) Collective Behavior and Socio-Cultural Modeling.

For more information please go to AFOSR FY08 General BAA

New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan - Deadline: Open

New Economy Initiative grants support the efforts of nonprofit organizations, charities, and government agencies to transform the economy of southeast Michigan and return prosperity to the region. Grants are available for a variety of activities, but proposed activities must be focused on helping to achieve the goal of the New Economy Initiative and its objectives focused on talent, innovation and culture change.

For more information please go to New Economy Initiative Program Description

ALISE/OCLC - Library and Information Science Research Grant Program - Deadline: Sept 17, 2008

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated, and OCLC Research in collaboration with the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) announce the Library and Information Science Research Grant (LISRG) program for 2009 and invite research proposals. In recognition of the importance of research to the advancement of librarianship and information science, OCLC and ALISE promote independent research that helps librarians integrate new technologies into areas of traditional competence and contributes to a better understanding of the library environment. To aid new researchers, priority will be given when possible to proposals from junior faculty and applicants who have not previously received LISRG fund.

For more information please go to ALISE/OCLC/LISRG Guidelines