nsf

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced the recipients of 37 Design and Development Launch Pilots as part of its INCLUDES initiative. NSF INCLUDES invests in alliances and partnerships that seek to broaden STEM participation among underrepresented groups, including women, Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, persons with disabilities, people from rural areas and people of low socioeconomic status. The program was originally developed as a response to a 2013 report by the congressionally mandated NSF Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE), which recommended a new initiative focused on broadening participation of underrepresented groups in STEM. 

U.S. companies continue to emphasize innovation, as private performance of R&D increased for the fourth consecutive year, according to recently released data from the National Science Foundation. In total, U.S. businesses performed 6.7 percent more R&D in 2013 than in 2012, according to the data, and nearly 19 percent more R&D from 2010 to 2013.  Combined, the top 10 states performed approximately two-thirds (65.3 percent) of all private research and development in the United States, led by California, whose $89.4 billion in corporate R&D performance accounted for 27.7 percent of the national total.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), announced the winners of the Community College Innovation Challenge – a competition that challenged teams of community college students to propose innovative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based solutions to real-world problems. A team from Forsyth Technical Community College in North Carolina placed first in the challenge with its Energy Efficient Nanotech Solar Greenhouse idea. Minnesota’s Normandale Community College placed second with its proposals to install and implement hydrokinetic turbines in wastewater treatment plants to generate renewable energy. The top-ranked teams were decided after 10 finalists attended a four-day innovation boot camp. Other finalists proposed projects on innovative, research-based solutions to challenges at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems such as autonomous technology lake algae, junk-yard generators, water conservation technologies, and improvements to wind towers. Read the announcement…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced approximately $10 million in new funding through its Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) program. The PFI program offers NSF-funded researchers at institutions of higher education opportunities to connect new knowledge to societal benefit through translational research efforts and/or partnerships that encourage, enhance, and accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship. Via the new announcement, Accelerating Innovation Research- Technology Translation (AIR-TT), NSF intends to make up to 50 awards to institutions of higher education (including community colleges) to move previously NSF-funded research results with promising commercial potential along the path toward commercialization. Eligible proposers are required to submit a letter of intent to NSF by September 8. Read the FFO...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released its Strategic Framework for Investments in Graduate Education for FY 2016-FY 2020 that addresses NSF’s goals in supporting graduate education and formulates a set of strategic objectives to meet those goals by 2020. The three goals outlined by NSF include:

As the National Science Foundation (NSF) celebrates its 66_th birthday, NSF’s Director France Córdova unveiled a nine-point research agenda to shape the federal agency’s future for the next several decades. These nine big ideas are intended to “illustrate how increased support for the type of basic research that NSF funds could help answer pressing societal problems,” according to an article from sciencemag.org. NSF’s leadership also hopes to build public and subsequent federal government support for significant federal investments in its agenda as well as spark the interest of industry and foundations to invest alongside the federal government. In addition to NSF’s release of a proposed long-term research agenda, two reports focused on Big Data and advanced computing infrastructures were also released by the federal government in May.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it would commit up to $12.5 million in pilot grants to test novel ways of broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). NSF INCLUDES will make up to 40 two-year, pilot awards to support STEM efforts that improve the preparation, increase the participation, and ensure the contributions of individuals from groups that traditionally have been underserved and/or underrepresented in the STEM including women, blacks, Hispanics, and people with disabilities. In the FY17 budget proposal, NSF has requested $16 million for larger, five-year alliance awards according to Sciencemag.org. The new initiative was originally proposed in Broadening Participation in America’s STEM Workforce – a 2012 report from an outside committee that advises NSF on diversity issues. Interested parties must submit their pre-proposals by April 15, 2016. More information is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16544/nsf16544.htm?org=NSF. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a solicitation to establish and sustain Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Nodes as part of I-Corps’ National Innovation Network that builds upon fundamental research to guide the output of scientific discoveries closer to the development of technologies, products, processes and services that benefit society. NSF will commit up to $8.5 million to support seven I-Corps Nodes to foster understanding on how to:

As a part of the Obama administration’s Big Data Research and Development Initiative, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced four awards this week, totaling more than $5 million, to establish four Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs). The four BD Hubs divide the U.S. into regional collaborations, each focused on different Big Data challenges:

On National Manufacturing Day, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced they will commit $5.8 million over the next three years to establish and sustain a consortium focused on the identification of new, emerging areas of advanced manufacturing. Led by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the Alliance for Manufacturing Foresight (MForesight) will provide a channel for rapid input from industrial, academic and other private sectors on future manufacturing technologies. It also will work to help align advanced manufacturing research with national priorities and challenges to ensure efficient use of federal and private funding and increased returns on investments for both parties. MForesight already has established partnerships with more than 30 thought leader/organizations from industry, professional associations and academia to help build an inclusive community focused on advanced manufacturing research and development, education, and training. Read the announcement…