Dear Colleagues,
The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Engineering (ENG), in collaboration with its Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Geosciences (GEO) Directorates, aims to encourage convergent research that transforms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic near-surface processes through advances in sensor systems and dynamic models. Soils are the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems that support economic prosperity and provide services that are essential for humanity. Soil is also the foundational material for all structures not supported on rock, and is by orders of magnitude the most widely-used construction material in the world. Soil ecosystems supply most of the antibiotics used to fight human diseases, control the movement of water and chemical substances between the Earth and atmosphere, and act as source and storage media for gases important to life, such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and methane. Thus, as the Earth's population grows to nearly 10 billion by 2050, an improved understanding of soil ecosystems that have a critical role in feeding the world is necessary.
Preliminary proposals for Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) planning grants addressing SitS-themed precompetitive research areas are welcome and will be fully considered. The Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (NSF IUCRC program) strives to develop long-term partnerships among industry, academe, and government to promote convergent research programs of mutual interest, contribute to the nation's research infrastructure base, enhance the intellectual capacity of the engineering or science workforce through the integration of research and education, and facilitate knowledge and technology transfer. The IUCRC program seeks to achieve these goals by: Leveraging NSF funds with industry to support graduate students performing industrially-relevant pre-competitive research; Expanding the innovation capacity of our nation's competitive workforce through partnerships between industries and universities; and Encouraging the nation's research enterprise to remain competitive through active engagement with academic and industrial leaders throughout the world.
Researchers are encouraged to collaborate within their institutions as well as with other institutions to bring together a multi-institution partnership towards planning a prospective center per the requirements of the IUCRC program. The planning grant theme should integrate fundamental science and engineering knowledge in different disciplines with the aim of developing a next generation of sensor systems capable of in situ measurement of dynamic soil biological, physical, and chemical variables over time and space in managed and unmanaged soils. These sensor systems will also require associated advances in ground penetration, data transmission, data analytics, dynamic models, and visualization tools. If successful, these research concepts will enable scientists and engineers to advance basic understanding of dynamic processes in soils and provide the underlying science and engineering to enable others to develop new ways of studying soil properties and managing soils and natural resources. Advances in measurement systems, understanding, and models will provide new capabilities that will enable practitioners to use new sensors, models, and time series data to achieve a better understanding of soil processes and higher efficiencies of resource use; this improved understanding will in turn help meet societal goals such as less contamination of soil and water supplies and greater food security, as well as address the "National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge" of managing the Nitrogen cycle.
If the institutions planning the IUCRC can obtain letters of strong support from industry, each university may submit a planning grant proposal to the NSF IUCRC program solicitation (17-516). Preliminary Proposals are required as a pre-requisite to a full Planning Grant Proposal submission. The award amount for a planning grant seeking to establish a new IUCRC is $15,000 per academic institution with a 12 –month duration. The $15,000 is for all applicable planning expenses including travel to the IUCRC "boot camp” and is inclusive of applicable Indirect Costs. The IUCRC “boot camp” informs planning grant awardees about the planning process, the IUCRC model, member recruitment strategies and Center operations that are consistent with IUCRC requirements.
For information on the appropriate SitS themes, please see the earlier NSF DCL on Signals in the Soil (https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf18047). For submitting a SitS-Themed IUCRC planning grant preliminary proposal, please review the current IUCRC program solicitation (https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf17516). The solicitation describes the NSF requirements for preliminary proposals and subsequent planning grants, as well as the selection process and steps following a successful planning grant award to submit a full IUCRC proposal.
Submitters are strongly encouraged to contact IUCRC Program Officers Prakash Balan (pbalan@nsf.gov) or Andre Marshall (awmarsha@nsf.gov) and relevant SitS Program Officers at SitSquestions@nsf.gov for guidance and topic approval prior to submitting a preliminary proposal for an
Questions concerning this opportunity may be emailed to SitSquestions@nsf.gov.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)