A Message from the NSF Assistant Director for Engineering

Dear Engineering Community,

As we expand our communication with the research community about current and new opportunities at NSF, I’m pleased to share NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) updates with you through a new newsletter. Our newsletters, the latest updates and more are available on our website, and you can also sign up for NSF Update emails like this one. Our goal is to increase access to and transparency about exciting opportunities, and we encourage you to contact us to learn about them.  

First, I’d like to highlight NSF opportunities for engineering research and education to advance emerging industries and net-zero climate goals. ENG core programs seek proposals to expand what’s possible in seven areas:

• Advanced manufacturing
• Advanced wireless
• Artificial intelligence
• Biotechnology
• Quantum information science and engineering
• Semiconductors and microelectronics
• Net-zero climate goals

Second, NSF recently released new solicitations for large cross-NSF investments:  

• Future Manufacturing supports planning grants and research grants (up to $3M each) to catalyze new manufacturing capabilities that do not exist today. Topic areas are bio, cyber, and eco manufacturing, with an optional component on the Future of Work to study the human worker interaction with technological advances in manufacturing. Proposals are due April 11, 2024.
• Future of Semiconductors cultivates holistic co-design efforts that enable rapid progress in new semiconductor technologies. Topics are domain-specific computing, heterogenous integration, and new materials for semiconductor-based systems. This opportunity is co-funded by industry partners Ericsson, Intel, Micron, and Samsung. Proposals are due March 14, 2024.

Third, the Engineering Directorate and The Lemelson Foundation have partnered to support environmental and social sustainability in engineering education. The partnership will co-fund projects for sustainability that, for example, address societal challenges; develop case studies and course content; explore engineering identities and sustainability beliefs; and/or integrate sustainability with engineering design.

For all of these opportunities, I encourage engineering researchers from every state and territory and from any eligible institution to send us their exciting ideas – together we can make our future more sustainable and prosperous. Extending beyond our Broadening Participation in Engineering program, creating opportunities everywhere is a theme that permeates Engineering Directorate activities...

Best wishes in the new year,

Susan Margulies, Ph.D.
NSF Assistant Director for Engineering

Did You Know?

Most ENG awards are for unsolicited ideas that come to our core programs, rather than specific solicitations.

• You can submit proposals to ENG core programs at any time.
• You can find potential programs that fit your research ideas by reading the program descriptions.
• You can email program directors a brief description of your project idea to see if it fits their program.
• You can volunteer to review proposals to learn about what makes a strong one.

News and Events

NSF and NIST collaborate on $7M disaster resilience investment Innovations from 18 new research projects will reduce the impacts of natural hazards.

Autonomous lab discovers best-in-class quantum dot in hours Discovery would have taken humans years

ENG Distinguished Lecture: How Advanced Packaging Will Shape the Semiconductor Industry Presented by Intel Fellow Dr. Ravi Mahajan on February 13

Get more Engineering News

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