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Dear CISE community,
I would like to dedicate this newsletter to an important topic that is on the minds of many junior faculty: the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (NSF CAREER). Many of you may be asking: Should I submit an NSF CAREER proposal this July?
The short answer is yes. If you have a compelling idea that is ready and the time to put together a strong proposal, you should move forward. This is the same advice we would have given a year ago, and it remains sound today.
The longer answer involves civics, reasoning under uncertainty and the intrinsic value of proposal writing.
First, the civics piece. As you may know, the President's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request includes a steep proposed reduction to NSF's funding. If enacted, this would affect many programs, including CAREER. However, the budget request represents one of multiple possible scenarios and the President's Budget Request is not the only or last step in the federal budget process.
In addition, while CAREER is listed on page 27 of the President's Budget Request under "Emphasis Programs," with a "0%" and a dash in the FY 2026 request column, this does not mean that the CAREER program is being eliminated. It has to do with reductions in funds for broadening participation, and some portion of the CAREER budget counts in that category.
Second, the reasoning under the uncertainty aspect. You might be wondering if it makes sense to save your limited CAREER tickets for a better budget year. Unfortunately, just as we can't predict the outcome of the FY 2026 budget, future budgets are also uncertain. This reinforces our suggestion to submit when you are ready.
Third, even in tight budget times, there are compelling reasons to submit proposals. Writing a CAREER or Small Core proposal, for example, helps clarify your research ideas and long-term goals. The number of proposals submitted is one indication of the research community's ideas and capacity to receive funding. For junior researchers — and many of the rest of us — proposals often need a couple of iterations with feedback from reviewers to be successful. Receiving feedback from a review panel is a valuable step toward refining your research agenda and sharpening your grant writing skills.
The bottom line is that we remain eager to fund impactful research through CAREER awards in FY 2026, and we look forward to receiving your exciting proposals.
To learn more about the President's Budget Request for NSF, please visit: https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2026
To learn more about the federal budget cycle, please visit: https://presidentialtransition.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/12/R2G-Budget-Cycle-Graphics_Online-Resource_FINAL-12.12.22.pdf
Looking ahead, we also want to share an update on the CISE Core solicitation. In anticipation of a revised solicitation, CISE has removed the submission deadlines for the Medium class of proposals in the CISE Core solicitation. The new solicitation will welcome a variety of award sizes. More information will be shared soon, so stay tuned.
Finally, feel free to reach out to me with your comments, concerns and ideas. You can reach me at elzegura@nsf.gov.
Ellen Zegura
NSF Acting Assistant Director NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
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