National Science Foundation and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funding
The National Science Foundation has received $3 billion as its share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as stimulus funding. While the NSF plans to use most of its share for highly rated proposals already in-house, the agency expects to fund additional proposals for programs specified in the Recovery Act:
Math and Science Partnership program ($25 million):
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program ($60 million);
Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program ($300 million);
Academic Research Infrastructure (ARI) program ($200 million); and
Science Master's program ($15 million), a new program.
Proposals for the Math and Science Partnership program (09-507) are due in late August. The NSF will post a second competition for the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program this spring, along with new solicitations for the Academic Research Infrastructure (ARI) program and the Science Master's program. No other solicitations are expected in response to the Recovery funds.
While the NSF is moving quickly to distribute Recovery Act funds, it maintains its commitment to the merit-review process. Thus, grants awarded by NSF from Recovery Act funds will emphasize the following:
All grants issued with Recovery Act funds will be standard grants with durations of up to five years. This approach will allow the NSF to structure a sustainable portfolio.
Funding of new Principal Investigators and high-risk, high-return research will be top priorities.
In addition, the NSF will also consider proposals declined on or after October 1, 2008, if the original submission received high marks from reviewers, and the proposal was not funded due to lack of funds. In these cases, the particular program officer will let EMU know that reversal is being considered.
This and more information about NSF's ARRA funding is available by clicking the link below.
