Global Centers Use-Inspired Research Addressing Global Challenges through the Bioeconomy

Overview

This solicitation launches an ambitious new program to fund international, interdisciplinary collaborative research centers that will apply best practices of broadening participation and community engagement to develop use-inspired research on climate change and clean energy. This program will prioritize research collaborations fostering team science, community-engaged research, and use knowledge-to-action frameworks. The proposed research work should maximize the benefits of international, interdisciplinary collaborations. The topic for the 2024 competition of the Global Centers program is Addressing Global Challenges through the Bioeconomy and may include research from any combination of research disciplines supported by NSF. The Bioeconomy is the share of the economy based on products, services, and processes derived from living systems.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
•    Create physical or virtual international research Centers that advance innovative, interdisciplinary, use-inspired research and education on climate change and/or clean energy to address societal challenges through international collaboration and multi-stakeholder engagement.
•    Promote international collaboration for advantages of scope, scale, flexibility, expertise, facilities, and/or access to specific geographic locations, to enable advances that could not occur otherwise.
•   Expand opportunities for students and early career researchers to gain education and training in world-class research while enhancing the participation of the full spectrum of diverse talent in STEM. Where possible, provide opportunities for workforce training in bioeconomy that does not require advanced degrees but training of a competitive workforce; and 
• Integrate stakeholders and community members into the planning of the research so that centers reflect a codesigned and co-developed work plan that results in co-generation of results likely to be taken up by relevant user groups to solve urgent societal challenges at a regional or global scale to support the communities that they serve.

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS
• The research centers should involve multiple constituencies and institutions. Proposers should be tackling scientific challenges that are larger in scale than can be accomplished by a single institution, a single discipline, or a single country. 

• A center may be focused on a geographic region but should explain how that science is regionally or globally transferable. Proposed centers may involve collaboration with other international research partners beyond the initial bilateral or multilateral collaboration with partner funding agencies. 

• Centers will support use-inspired research directed by an ambitious research agenda to address a societal challenge of regional or global importance related to the bioeconomy that requires international collaboration, multi-stakeholder engagement, and full integration of one or more social science disciplines that ensure results will be of value to constituents. 

• The proposed center must have a clearly defined research focus and demonstrate how international collaboration will produce innovative use-inspired outcomes in research and education. The research should be fundamental, and the proposal should indicate how recipient stakeholders were involved in co-generation of the research plan and how likely outcomes would be used by those groups. 

•Centers must explain how they will fully integrate broadening participation activities into the scientific plan, recognizing that such activities not only help diversify the research workforce, but fundamentally impact how the science is conducted and who is involved and included in the development of scientific ideas. 

• Proposed centers must provide meaningful international research experiences for students from the U.S. and the international partners. Centers must have clear research and educational plans with identified milestones, potential roadblocks, and ways to overcome them, as well as expected deliverables and outcomes with associated timelines within the funding period timeframe. 

• The proposal should describe the expected results that are associated with project milestones and projected growth of the center based on an explicit implementation strategy. Teams proposing research to address societal challenges that disproportionately impact specific groups in the U.S. and/or abroad are strongly encouraged to engage those stakeholders as co-collaborators in designing their role research endeavor and as recipients impacted by the center's outcomes. 

• Each center should identify relevant stakeholders and clearly explain how it will engage them in a manner that will drive the basic science research priorities. Stakeholders may be local communities, government (local, state and/or federal) agencies, nonprofit organizations, private sector businesses, and other entities. Centers may exhibit diverse forms of organization, collaboration, and operation suited to support their priorities, approaches, and practices. 

• Centers must have plans in place for enabling research across disciplines and institutions and should identify and implement a structure that will enable interaction among the various institutions, stakeholders, and communities. The center may be completely virtual, or it may have a physical central location, although the GC program will not fund the building of a new physical infrastructure. 

• It is anticipated that over the lifespan of the center the research pursued and the activities it engages in may evolve. The proposal should explain how its leadership, approach, and structure can evolve to best serve all the participants and the evolving scientific focus. However, during the funding period, any change of scope would have to be justifed and agreed upon by the funding agencies. 

• The proposed center should have a vision and strategy for potential growth, scaling up, and building a relevant community able to carry out the work beyond the funding period.

FUNDING TRACK

FY2024 Global-Center program will only fund Center Implementation awards this competition, subject to availability of appropriated funds. No Design awards will be funded in fiscal year 2024. Implementation proposals will include research Partnerships with Canada, Finland, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom. 

This track will support proposals to advance use-inspired research in the bioeconomy that involve U.S. teams supported by NSF, in collaboration with the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and with foreign teams supported by funding partner agencies based in the FY2024-round partner countries, (i.e., Canada, Finland, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom). Proposals must be aligned with topics identified by NSF and the international funding partners. 

NSF anticipates making awards of up to $5 million each, for up to 4 or 5 years with international funding agencies expected to support in parallel roughly comparable e ort by their own researchers. Refer to Section II.D.2 for details on the specific documentation that needs to be submitted to the partner agencies to assess award eligibility.

For the FY2024 competition, the funding partner agencies are NEH, NSERC, SSHRC, RCF, BF, JST, MSIT, NRF, and UKRI. Proposals must include at least one institution in the U.S. partnering with at least one institution or researcher eligible to receive funding from one of the above partner countries (refer to Section II.D.2) but may include as many as five of the partner countries. Proposals may also involve partnership with stakeholders in other non-partner countries but researchers from those countries must secure their own sources of funding. The official partner countries and number of funding partner agencies involved in future Global Centers competitions may change. 

D. SUPPORTED RESEARCH THEMES AND COLLABORATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL FUNDING PARTNER AGENCIES

Proposals are accepted in any field or combination of fields of science, engineering, or education research supported by NSF, or convergent fields that cut across NSF-supported disciplines (also known as transdisciplinary research; see the NSF definition of convergence). Proposals must focus on a clear research area within Bioeconomy, relating to either leveraging biodiversity across the tree of life to power the bioeconomy and/or research related to biofoundries (see Section "Synopsis of Program" and below). 

Proposals may include one or both of the Subtopics, but must include elements that fulfill both Crosscutting themes.

D.1 Supported Research Themes 
Within the general theme of Bioeconomy, the two identified subtopics, and the two crosscutting themes, proposals may address a wide range of research projects that may lead to novel directions, including but not limited to those mentioned in this solicitation. These research topics should remain broad enough in scope to allow for potential intersections with the priorities and interests of partnering funding agencies, and to maximize the potential for mutual interests to emerge. Please see the "Additional Solicitation Specific Review Criteria" (Section VI.A) for further guidance. 

D.1.a Subtopic 1: Leveraging Biodiversity Across the Tree of Life to Power the Bioeconomy

Unleashing the promise of the bioeconomy relies on using the diverse capabilities found in living organisms to produce new products and processes with the potential to diagnose and treat disease, develop resilient crops, create clean forms of energy, inspire novel materials and more. For example, many of the antibiotics and anticancer drugs we use today were found by exploring the chemicals produced by different microbes and plants. Many enzymes found in laundry detergents come from organisms that live at high temperatures. We are discovering how to make strong glues and even stronger fibers by mimicking processes in barnacles and spiders. We are identifying organisms capable of capturing greenhouse gases and leveraging the power of biotechnology to develop bio-based processes for fossil fuel replacements in the manufacture of textiles. These innovations and others like them have sprung out of knowledge of only a tiny fraction of the ways that life on Earth has evolved. Imagine what more could be revealed from the estimated millions of species of plants, animals, fungi, and potentially one trillion species of microbes on the planet.

Tapping into this huge reservoir of undiscovered and uncharacterized species will provide knowledge of new genes and how those genes create different physical and physiological traits, a connection known as genotype-to-phenotype. Moreover, research on all manner of organisms and how they interact — from microbes to plants to animals — and application of comparative genomics to identify similarities and differences can be harnessed in novel biotechnologies and biomanufacturing processes. Achieving the bold goals of characterizing diverse species and learning the functions of their genes will rely on new tools and methods of understanding gene function to accelerate the process, while accounting for a broad range of inherent uncertainties. Storing and analyzing huge amounts of genome and phenotype data will require innovations in computing, including artificial intelligence (AI) and mathematical foundations behind these AI approaches. Using those data to create new products for the bioeconomy will require innovations in bioengineering and bio-design as well as sustained support for needed infrastructure. Areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to, the following: 

•Put biodiversity to use in new applications for the bioeconomy. Use biodiversity with the express purpose of finding ways it can advance bioeconomy research in reconstructing pathways, regulation, and scale-up. Create new and improved technologies to move genes from one organism to another. Use outcomes of functional discovery to expand the number of organisms that can be used as hosts (chassis) in engineered biological systems. Combine innovations from chemistry and materials science with outcomes of sequencing and functional analyses to expand the repository of "parts" for so-called "plug-and-play" design-build capabilities that incorporate biotic-abiotic interfaces as control elements. Leverage biodiversity to develop holistic approaches using clean technology to mitigate pathogens and diseases and provide more integrated solutions to promote greater biodiversity. Leverage learnings from biodiversity studies for bio-inspired design of new materials, devices, and products for the bioeconomy using novel mathematical and AI tools. Tailoring of biomass to biorefining pathways, developing catalytic, thermo-chemical, and biochemical conversion processes. Promote the use of natural products in the food, biotechnology, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. 

•Research to enhance discovery of novel function from diverse organisms across the tree of life. Accelerate development of computational and experimental tools to enhance comparative discovery of sequence and functional elements (e.g., regulatory networks, metabolic pathways, and traits) that de ne genotype-to-phenotype relationships. Connect genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics data gathering capabilities with new and existing capacity to accelerate the transformation of data into knowledge, as well as reduce time and costs. Enable 11a robust ecosystem of secured data infrastructure for the bioeconomy. Collaborate to enhance capacity for data handling and analysis, including cyberinfrastructure and bioinformatics, to enable equitable, wide-spread access to data from biodiversity studies and to ensure reproducibility of the proposed research approaches. Applicants should align their e orts in this area with existing open initiatives (e.g., Building the Prototype Open Knowledge Network (Proto-OKN)) to ensure biological data (and biological parts) are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR), and to ensure sustained support for the data infrastructure. This alignment will also ensure that the proposed data infrastructure complies with current Data/AI ethics, standards, and guidelines. Moreover, it will support synthesis activities through substantial center-scale investments, enabling community-driven utilization and analysis of data, thereby catalyzing innovations in discovery across the tree of life. Proposals should balance the need for open data with respect for intellectual property rights to maintain innovation incentives and appropriate data protection and security measures for sensitive data and should follow CARE principles as described by the Global Indigenous data alliance (https://www.gida-global.org/ ) when applicable. Proposals should address ethics of data infrastructure and management as pertains to bioeconomy and biodiversity, particularly relating to genomic data. Projects should sustain and enhance living and digitized collections to ensure they remain a resource for diverse downstream applications, and support synthesis activities that enable community-driven use and analysis of data. 

•Prepare for the bioeconomy's next digital leap in which data provides added value (e.g., as part of services or modeling tools. Produce open data that respects the ownership of data, based on which new products and services can be designed based on digital modeling. Develop digital platforms suitable for bioeconomy cooperation networks to improve efficiency. Strengthen the connection to development programs and experiments in the digitalization of the circular economy. Build an operating method for linking data on carbon footprint and other sustainability aspects of food products and raw materials, which already have highly transparent monitoring. Need for digitalization of the bioeconomy at different levels. Systematically integrate bioinformatics with other data types, including multi-modal and multi-resolution information sources, to improve modeling. and predictive capabilities under uncertainties to increase the robustness of the developed digital solutions with respect to threats, missing/irregular data records, and latent biases, and to increase productivity in the agriculture and other sectors.

•Socio-Economic Impact Assessment, Indigenous Knowledge, Historical and Cultural Ecology. Social scientists and humanities scholars can conduct research into the bioeconomy. For example, social scientists can conduct studies to assess the socio-economic impacts of leveraging biodiversity for the bioeconomy, and examine factors such as job creation, economic inequalities, and community well-being to support societal bene t of the research. Projects that collaborate with indigenous communities to document and understand traditional knowledge related to biodiversity will contribute to developing a bioeconomy that respects and incorporates local practices. When research analyzes the effectiveness of existing policies and governance frameworks, it will contribute to regulating the sustainable use of biodiversity in the bioeconomy. Social scientists can study the impact of changing cultural attitudes toward biodiversity on contemporary bio-economic practices, informing sustainable approaches. Humanities scholars can, for example, contribute by exploring historical and cultural perspectives on the use of biodiversity in economic activities, and providing context for contemporary practices. They can explore the cultural narratives and values associated with biodiversity, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between human societies and the diverse life forms they utilize. In addition, projects that examine ethical and cultural considerations have a greater chance to inform policy decisions related to biodiversity for fostering a holistic and inclusive approach to governance. These examples are non-exhaustive and demonstrate the broad range of possibilities and opportunities of projects to be submitted. 

D.1.b Subtopic 2: Biofoundries, using the Design-Build-Test-Learn process in biology

Biofoundries play a crucial role in advancing biomanufacturing processes by promoting and enabling the beneficial use of automation and high-throughput equipment. This includes process scale-up, computer-aided design software, methods of optimal experimental design, and other innovative work flows and tools. Operating within the 'design-build-test-learn' cycle, biofoundries facilitate iterative biological engineering, allowing researchers to test large-scale genetic designs and incorporate the state-of-the-art approaches at the interface of artificial intelligence/machine learning, and statistical sciences to enhance the design process. Recognized as a critical emerging technology, synthetic biology is driving 12innovation in biomanufacturing. The bio-foundry ecosystem involves translating engineered biological systems from conceptualization to reality, constructing systems from parts, and testing their performance. The challenge lies in the substantial bottleneck in testing, given the rapid pace of designing and building new systems. Addressing this bottleneck requires integrating advances from various fields to develop platforms for manipulating and assembling novel systems, ensuring both designed functions and efficient performance testing. Examples include expediting the rate of building and testing and creating engineered organisms like synthetic plant chassis for various applications in food, feedstock, chemicals, or pharmaceutical production. Areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to, the following: 

•Expand capabilities for building novel forms and functions. 
Develop advanced technologies for precisely manipulating genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, and metabolomes of organisms — from microbes to animals and plants — to enable highly predictable, spatial, and temporal control of complex phenotypes. This area could also include expanding biomaterial design by developing and deploying multi-faceted capabilities, including nonnatural biopolymers and their building blocks, chemical functionality across the periodic table, living materials (e.g., combined biotic-abiotic systems) that can sense and respond to the environment, and bio-compatible materials for biomedical components. Build platforms for precise high-throughput chemical modification of biomolecules and cells by leveraging knowledge of diverse regulatory pathways and on-o controllers. Develop novel modalities for precise assembly of cells into organs, organisms, or ecosystems that incorporate abiotic components as key control or sensing elements. 

•Expand capabilities for measuring, sensing, actuating, and controlling biological systems. 
Develop biological and non-biological sensors and transducers that do not interfere with cellular function and that take advantage of quantum, optical, magnetic, chemical and other sensing modalities which can receive exogenous signals and interface with biological systems. Develop platform technologies to read the expressed genome, proteome, and metabolome fully and rapidly, enabling high-throughput precision phenotyping of any organism. Develop platforms and tools for rapid, multimodal measurement of complex signals from cellular and multicellular systems in the context of their interconnected natural and in silico environments. Develop sensor/transducer systems which can both measure and transmit signals that actuate a calculated response, thus enabling open or closed loop control of biological systems. Develop new sensors for feedstock characterization, bio-process monitoring and control, using AI, machine learning and mathematical approaches to integrate characterization and process data into adaptive control strategies. Examples include the conversion of undifferentiated cells into mature, functional cells or organoids, assembly of natural or synthetic communities of cells for environmental remediation, and engineering of whole organisms to signal and control a change in nutrient conditions at multiple scales.

•Ethical Considerations, Governance, and Social Impact. 
Social scientists and humanities scholars can explore the ethical, cultural, and philosophical impacts of Biofoundries. For example, social scientists and humanities scholars can study the ethical implications of using Biofoundries, such as the potential for unintended consequences, environmental impact, and societal concerns. They can study the development of policies and governance frameworks surrounding Biofoundries, assessing their effectiveness and addressing potential gaps. The dynamics of interdisciplinary collaboration within Biofoundries can also be studied, exploring how teams with diverse expertise can effectively work together. Humanities scholars can investigate the cultural and philosophical aspects of synthetic biology, examining how perceptions of nature, life, and design influence public attitudes. They can also contribute by analyzing how narratives, storytelling, and media representation shape public understanding and attitudes toward synthetic biology. Finally, they can contribute by exploring the historical and philosophical foundations of bioengineering regulations, shedding light on the cultural and societal dimensions of policy decisions. These examples are non-exhaustive. 

D.1.c Crosscutting Theme A: Public engagement and co-generation of research activities to strengthen the global science and technology enterprise

New discoveries from across the tree of life and advancements throughout the design-build-test-learn cycle, will provide a wealth of foundational, technical, and practical know-how for advancing biotechnology and biomanufacturing. The promise of these advances to impact the bioeconomy positively will depend on public willingness to adopt and use these new innovations. Research suggests that many people and nations doubt the safety of genetically modified foods. To help ensure that biotechnology advances that emerge from this program will be embraced and will reach under-served communities we must engage stakeholders and end users early and often as the technology is designed, implemented, and deployed. To engage the public in the Bioeconomy from the beginning will require adopting evidence-based, collaborative approaches and innovative engagement methods. Changes across the product lifecycle — from discovery, through design, to use and disposal — will need to be based on the science of team science, social and behavioral research, and economics. This integration can then inform best practices, ensuring the ethical, safe, and equitable translation of biotechnology products. Areas of particular interest include (but are not limited to): 

•Develop social, behavioral and economic drivers of a strong, sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy sector. 
Understand and address drivers of biodiversity decline through insights from psychology, anthropology, and behavioral economics. Utilize knowledge to expand protected areas, incorporating traditional and Indigenous knowledge. Explore multi-directional human-ecology interactions, communicate the importance of biodiversity, and mainstream sustainable practices to support ecosystems. Enhance public awareness and engagement on issues like invasion of alien species through initiatives such as citizen science and circular economy innovation. Interconnect biodiversity research with policies supporting the bioeconomy, considering transition management and societally driven transitions. Improve territorial governance, explore tailored policy responses to place-based needs, and address economic, environmental, and social risks. Evaluate the economic impacts and financial models of ecosystem services. Develop biodiversity-friendly practices in agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture, integrating environmental, economic, and social outcomes. Promote social innovation for eco-friendly consumer products; enhance industrial sustainability, competitiveness, and resource independence. Develop innovative and sustainable value-chains in the bio-based sectors. Develop biotechnology foci within the social sciences. Develop new research within the social sciences with a focus on biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Advance the science of public engagement and public participation, as applied to biotechnology and biomanufacturing, to develop an evidentiary basis for meaningful public involvement in considerations of biotechnology. Invest in programs and efforts that incorporate social scientists within research teams working in fields related to biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Conduct research on ethical issues related to biotechnology and biomanufacturing to develop new understanding of how ethical concerns can inform public policies around biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Develop new methods and processes to incorporate ethical, societal, behavioral, decision making, and economic research into decisions at all phases of biotechnology development. 

•Enhance the evidentiary basis of ensuring the safety of products and processes of the bioeconomy. Develop new capabilities, including novel risk analytics tools, to assess the health and environmental risks of products and processes of the bioeconomy. Expand investments in research to enable science-based regulation of products and processes. 

D.1.d Crosscutting Theme B: Workforce Development and Education

The Bioeconomy represents an enormous sector of opportunity for well-paid employment. It will be important to develop a skilled workforce to support the scale-up of biomanufacturing processes. Global Centers should provide training for this workforce, both for those requiring formal education and those needing specialized training. Successful Global Center proposals will include a well-developed research and education plan to build a diverse and inclusive workforce, increase capacity to perform STEM research and development, enhance innovation, and create new technologies that benefit a competitive society. Areas of interest include (but are not limited to): 

•Broaden participation in research and engage stakeholders in innovative and meaningful ways that benefit individuals, communities, society, and STEM disciplines by fostering participation of the full spectrum of diverse talent in STEM. Successful proposals will embrace both broadening participation and stakeholder engagement as key values that are integrated into the design of the centers and the choice of science priorities to explore. Broadening participation, in this context, includes rethinking how one identifies, approaches, and prioritizes scientific questions to involve a diversity of individuals in the scientific enterprise. Diversifying the research workforce through a variety of approaches that support sustainable inclusion and retention in the workplace is an important component of broadening participation. It acknowledges that diversity is key to unleashing creativity and building a fully joined-up system where problems can rapidly solutions and solutions can rapidly market and inform the goal of advancing team science. 

•Enhance diversity and equity within biotechnology and biomanufacturing R&D. 
Conduct research to advance equitable outcomes domestically and globally. Develop educational and training pathways to leverage the full spectrum of diverse talents that society has to offer and include the participation of groups underrepresented in STEM to ensure that diverse perspectives are included in future biotechnology and biomanufacturing R&D. Research accessibility to enable all individuals to participate in the bioeconomy and bene t from biotechnology and the bioeconomy regardless of disability. Stakeholder engagement through citizen science, partnerships, community engagement, and many more types of activities that help drive research priorities will also support and facilitate broadening participation in STEM. 

•Developing educational and training materials and curricula. 
Developing a range of training methodologies and techniques to develop appropriate bioeconomy education and training programs to support a transition towards a circular bioeconomy. Investigating effective methods of communicating complex biological concepts to diverse audiences, including policymakers, students, and the public.

D.2. Funding Partner-Agency Requirements and Specificities

FY2024 counterpart international funding organizations – Canada (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)); Finland (Research Council of Finland (RCF), Business Finland (BF)); Japan (Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)); Republic of Korea (Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (MSIT), National Research Foundation (NRF)); United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI)) – are partnering with NSF and NEH to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities between U.S.-based investigators and their collaborators abroad. NSF will coordinate and manage the review of proposals in consultation with NEH and the participating international funding organizations, according to the respective arrangements with NSF. Relevant information about proposals and unattributed reviews of proposals may be shared between the participating organizations as appropriate, according to the respective arrangements with NSF (see Funding partner-agency specificities below). 

For proposals that are reviewed as highly meritorious and ranked high among the proposals submitted to this funding opportunity, NSF will coordinate and manage the final decision of awards in consultation with the participating funding partner organizations, according to the respective arrangements with NSF. 

NSF is committed to safeguarding the research enterprise while maintaining a research environment that is as open as possible and operates with the highest standards of integrity. To achieve these goals, proposals submitted to NSF in response to this solicitation are reviewed, apart from the merit review process, for possible research security concerns. If research security concerns are identified, partner agencies will work with the submitting organization to address them. Global Centers may require special measures be taken (e.g., additional training for the principal and co-principal investigators, a project research security point of contact) to ensure the research is adequately protected. 

For more information as to what is required of the international collaborators to qualify and apply for funding from their respective funding agency to support their participation in the center, refer to Section II.D.2.a to e below. U.S. PIs must be in close communication with their international collaborators and ensure that all necessary eligibility requirements are satisfied. Prior to final NSF recommendations, PIs whose proposals are considered for Global Centers awards may be asked to submit additional information to NSF; their foreign collaborators may be asked to submit additional information to their respective funding partner organizations. It is important to note that, because this program is designed as being truly collaborative between NSF and the funding partner agencies listed above, NSF will consult with the relevant partner agencies according to their respective arrangements with NSF before making final award or decline decisions.

Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.

NSF anticipates making awards of up to $5 million each, for up to 4 or 5 years with international funding agencies expected to support in parallel roughly comparable effort by their own researchers. Refer to Section II.D.2 for details on the specific documentation that needs to be submitted to the partner agencies to assess award eligibility.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This section applies to NSF awards to U.S. organizations only. Please see Section II.D.2 for international funding partner agency award information and requirements. 

Anticipated Type of Awards: Standard and Continuing Grants Estimated Number of Awards: 5 to 7 pending the availability of funds.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $25,000,000 Award size is expected to be up to $5 million in total over 4 or 5 years. The estimated number of awards and anticipated funding level are subject to the availability of funds.