Please see the full solicitation for complete information about the funding opportunity. Below is a summary assembled by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO).

Program SummaryÌý

Society's reliance on information, communication, computing and cyberinfrastructure in all aspects of daily life increases more and more each day. Innovations in these areas are now central to how we work, live, learn, communicate, shop, travel, socialize and conduct scientific research – a testament to the tremendous progress in computer and information science and engineering in the last 50 years fueled by strong research breakthroughs in all areas including artificial intelligence, hardware, networking, robotics, software, systems, and theory. The unprecedented growth and reach of information, communication, computing and cyberinfrastructure, and the constantly increasing demand for innovations and novel applications presents new fundamental and translational research challenges that need to be addressed. The information, communication, computing and cyberinfrastructure research community needs to stay ahead of the curve in this constantly evolving landscape.

The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) seeks to fund a community-driven organization that will identify ambitious new fundamental and translational research directions that align with national and societal priorities and thereby catalyze the computing research community's pursuit of innovative, high-impact research. Specifically, CISE calls on the information, communication, computing and cyberinfrastructure research community to establish a CISE Research Visioning activity (CISE-RV) to facilitate the articulation of compelling long-term research visions and establish multi-directional communication pathways for stakeholders with interest in information, communication, computing and cyberinfrastructure research, including those in academia, industry, government, professional societies, virtual organizations, international entities, and the general public. It is anticipated that through its activities the CISE-RV will strengthen connectivity and increase coordination across these diverse stakeholders and enable rapid and efficient community response to emerging opportunities and areas of national need.

The CISE-RV should have representation from academia, industry, professional societies, and other stakeholders in the CISE fields, and should be inclusive of all disciplines including computer science, computer engineering, information sciences, cyberinfrastructure, and related fields. Through its proposed activities, the CISE-RV should provide the information, communication, computing and cyberinfrastructure research community with a sustainable process for identifying future research challenges and enabling the CISE research community to speak with a unified voice.

NSF anticipates funding a single award for up to five years, with the funding for each year of the award in the range of $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 per year. The CISE-RV in the steady state phase is expected to have a four-year time frame. Proposers that need a startup phase to develop and setup the organizational structure, in addition to the four-year steady state phase, may request up to one year of additional support, thereby requesting up to five years of support. Proposers are encouraged to take into consideration, when developing their proposed budgets, the effort required to start up and maintain steady state, varying annual budget requests accordingly.

Deadlines

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØInternal Deadline: 11:59pm MST March 28, 2022

Sponsor Letter of Intent Deadline: 5:00pm MST May 10, 2022

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: 5:00pm MST October 5, 2022

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

  • Project Description (3 pages maximum): Please address the following and reference NSF Section V.A. for full details about components to include:
    • Organizational Structure and Project Staffing
    • Visioning Strategy
    • Communication and Engagement Strategy
    • Evaluation Plan
  • Project Team (1 page maximum): Please provide: (1) The name and departmental affiliation of the Principal Investigator (PI). (2) The name(s) and departmental affiliation(s) of the Co-PI(s) and all senior personnel. (3) The names(s) of any additional participating institutions or organizations, including all sub-awardees.
  • Budget Overview (up to 1 page maximum): A basic budget outlining project costs is sufficient; detailed OCG budgets are not required.

To access the online application, visit:

Eligibility

The PI must have experience leading and managing an organization involving and/or representing diverse constituents from the broad computer science, information science and engineering community.

Limited Submission Guidelines

An organization may submit only one CISE-RV proposal in which it is the lead institution. This limit has been set to ensure that a single organization submits a strong and focused proposal that leverages all the resources available to that organization. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, proposals will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal submission, i.e., the first proposal from that organization will be accepted, and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made.

Award Information

Award Amount: $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 per year, not to exceed $2,000,000 in any one year and not to exceed $9,000,000 in total over 5 years.

Award Duration: 5 years

Estimated Number of Awards: 1

Review Criteria

Reviewers will be asked to comment explicitly on the issues discussed below for each proposal:

Organizational Structure

  • Is the organization and management structure sufficient to meet the project goals? Does the organizational structure involve the necessary stakeholder range? Does the submitting organization have experience with similar types of projects? How qualified are the PIs and other named personnel to meet the project goals? Are appropriate milestones and associated activities included?
  • Does the submitting organization have access to appropriate physical space, resources, and infrastructure to achieve the goals of the CISE-RV?
  • Does the proposal have a viable plan to engage thought leaders from relevant (1) academia; (2) government entities; and (3) industry?

Visioning Strategy

  • How well does the submitting organization represent the broad information, communication computing and cyberinfrastructure research community, particularly academic and industry communities including the communities supported by the CISE Directorate? Is the proposed organization sufficiently broad to play a community proxy role?
  • Does the proposing team have the appropriate perspective on current CISE research activities and priorities?
  • Are the proposed visioning approaches/activities well-positioned to catalyze the identification of bold and high-impact (fundamental and translational) research directions?
  • Does the proposal include effective and timely mechanisms for gathering from the CISE research community and other stakeholders critical information and insights on future research directions?

Communication and Engagement Strategy

  • Does the proposal include a clear and compelling plan for communicating future research visions to all relevant stakeholders?

Evaluation Framework

  • Does the proposal include a credible evaluation plan with appropriate metrics?