Funding Opportunity: NSF Releases New Engineering: Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Solicitation

Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – September 17, 2021 

 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering (ENG) has released new topics for the fiscal year (FY) 2022 and FY 2023 Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program: Engineered Living Systems (ELiS), and Brain Inspired Dynamics for Engineering Energy Efficient Circuits and Artificial Intelligence (BRAID).  EFRI provides interdisciplinary/convergent research teams the opportunity to conduct innovative fundamental engineering research in emerging areas.  

 

EFRI proposals should describe plans to significantly transform the breadth of knowledge on fundamental engineering in these topic areas with a lasting impact on national need or a grand challenge.  This is an interagency solicitation, in collaboration with the Department of Defense (Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as with several other NSF Directorates, including Directorates for Biological Sciences; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Geosciences; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. 

 

Information on the two topics for this EFRI solicitation is presented below.

 

Engineered Living Systems (ELiS): seeks to develop the use of living systems to develop sustainable engineering to meet societal needs.  Proposals to this topic must address the foundational research activities of design and/or modeling, fabrication and/or manufacturing, and ethical, legal, and social implications.  The ELiS topic focuses on three application areas: Sustainable built environment; Safe built environment; and the Sustainable recovery and supply of critical minerals, metals, and elements.  ELiS projects will require convergent research teams that must focus on one of the following areas of national/societal needs: 

• Sustainable Built Environment: All structures that provide us with living, working, and recreational spaces are part of the built environment.  Since the built environment utilizes large amounts of materials and energy, the objective of this thread is to support high-risk/high-reward research that creates a more sustainable built environment with living materials.  
• Monitoring and Surveillance for a Safe Built Environment: While many buildings and facilities have sensor networks that monitor multiple physical parameters, most do not detect hazardous pollutants or airborne pathogens early on.   The purpose of this thread is to create sensor systems that will detect and track air pollutants and airborne pathogens inside buildings, as well as in the open spaces surrounding the built environment.  
• Biomining for sustainable Metal Extraction and Resource Recovery: The objective of this thread is to advance microbial biomining practices for sustainable metal extraction and resource recovery to meet the growing need for large-scale renewable energy technologies and practices.

Specific interests for NASA and DTRA for the research threats above are described in the solicitation.

 

Brain Inspired Dynamics for Engineering Energy Efficient Circuits and Artificial Intelligence (BRAID): aims to create a new engineering science of brain-inspired engineered learning systems.  BRAID seeks to build on advanced in neuroscience research to advance engineered learning systems.  Proposals to this topic should demonstrate the translation of biological intelligence to engineered learning systems, in the context of relationships between brain, body, and environment.  Each proposal must address two of the following research threads: 

1. Theoretical Neuroscience: “to explore and integrate spatiotemporal mechanisms of biological learning based on experimental neuroscience, neurotechnologies, theories, and computational models of multi-scale interactions that explain complex observations in neural data;”
2. Brain-Informed Hardware Design: “to create new hardware that can support learning within the energy and data efficiency aspect of biological systems” mentioned in Thread 1;
3. Algorithmic Learning for Resilient Adaptive Technologies: “to engineer learning algorithms based on theories and models of biological learning guided by ideas and findings as elucidated in Thread 1.”  

 

As part of ENG’s priority to promote the work of underrepresented scientists in engineering, EFRI projects must include a Broadening Participation Plan.  All principal investigators (PIs) are required to address the ethical considerations and implications of their research.  Projects should also include an education and workforce development component.

 

The Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities (EFMA) office will hold an informational webinar in October 2021 to answer question about the solicitation.  Registration information will be posted on the EFMA website once a date and time are set.   If you have content- related questions, it is highly suggested that you reach out to an ENG program officer.  A full list of program officer contacts can be found in the full solicitation here or on NSF’s website.  

 

Award Information: NSF anticipates awarding $30 million per fiscal year, to support up to 15 awards.  Individually, awardee teams may receive up to $2 million over four years.  

 

Eligibility:  Institutions of higher education and non-profit, non-academic organizations are eligible to apply, as are all other categories of proposers.  There are no restrictions or limits on the number of proposals per organization, but an individual may only serve as a PI or co-PI on one proposal.  Each proposal must include at least one PI and two co-PIs.  “Either the PI or one of the co-PIs must have a full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty appointment within a College/Department of Engineering.”

 

Due Dates:  For FY 2022 and FY 2023, the submission timeline is as follows:

1. Letters of Intent (LOIs) are due on November 10, 2021, at 5:00 PM for FY 2022 proposals, and September 12, 2022, at 5:00 PM for FY 2023. 
2. Preliminary proposals are due on December 16, 2021, at 5:00 PM for FY 2022 proposals, and on October 13, 2022, at 5:00 PM for FY 2023. 
3. Full proposals are due on March 10, 2022, at 5:00 PM for FY 2022 proposals, and on February 7, 2023, at 5:00 PM for FY 2023.  

Please note that each submission deadline is by the submitter’s local time.  

 

Sources and Additional Information: 

• The NSF EFRI program page is available at https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/emerging-frontiers-research-and-innovation. 
• The EFRI solicitation is available at https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2021/nsf21615/nsf21615.htm.