NSF General Programs and Due Dates
Program | Description | Proposal Guidelines | Program Contacts | Proposal Due Dates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Accountable Institutions and Behavior | The Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) program supports research of attitudes, behavior, and institutions connected to public policy and the provision of public services. Project proposals may focus on (but are not limited to) topics such as individual and group decision-making, political institutions (appointed and elected), attitude and preference formation and expression, electoral processes and voting, public administration, and public policy. Research may focus on a single case study or can examine multiple comparative contexts. This program does not fund applied research. | Jan E. Leighley- Program Director, jleighle@nsf.gov | January and August | |
Archaeology and Archaeometry | The Archaeology and Archaeometry program funds research that furthers archaeological research relevant to the anthropological field. Successful proposals will work to provide fundamental scientific insight in general, archaeometric, or high-risk archaeological research. This program sets no priorities based on time period, geographic research, or specific research topics. | John E. Yellen- Program Director, jyellen@nsf.gov | Full Proposal Accepted Anytime | |
Biological Anthropology | The Biology Anthropology program supports basic research of human evolution and contemporary human biological variation. Research proposals can focus on topics related to bioarchaeology, biocultural adaptation, human genetic variation, human and nonhuman primate ecology and adaptability, human osteology and bone biology, human and nonhuman primate paleontology, functional anatomy, and primate socioecology. | Rebecca Ferrell- Program Director, rferrell@nsf.gov | January and July | |
Decision, Risk and Management Sciences | The Decision, Risk and Management Sciences (DRMS) program supports research examining decision-making by individuals, groups, organizations, and society. Research proposals may focus on areas of judgment and decision making; decision analysis and decision aids; risk analysis, perception and communication; societal and public policy decision making; management science and organizational design. Applicants whose projects address immediate concerns of availability and access to data, facilities, and specialized equipment during natural or anthropogenic disasters should consider applying for RAPID grants. This program also supports proof-of-concept, high-risk projects through its EAGER grants. | Robert E. O' Connor- Program Director, roconnor@nsf.gov | January and August | |
Designing Accountable Software Systems | The Designing Accountable Software Systems (DASS) Program funds research designed to unpack the bi-directional relationship between software systems and the complex social and legal context within which software systems are designed and operate. This program supports collaborations between computer, engineering, and information scientists and researchers in law and social, behavior and economic sciences. These partnerships should develop reproducible methodologies for understanding the drivers of social goals for software and designing, implementing, and validating accountable software systems. | Nina Amla- Program Director, dass@nsf.gov | January 28 | |
Developmental Sciences | The Developmental Sciences (DS) program supports research that examines cognitive, linguistic, social, cultural, and biological processes related to human development across the lifespan. Proposed projects should address developmental processes within cognitive, social, emotional, and motor development across the lifespan by working infants, children, adolescents, adults, and non-human animals. Funding priorities include research that works incorporates multidisciplinary research, develops new methodologies and theories for studying development, and examines participants from diverse demographic backgrounds. | Peter M. Vishton- Program Director, pvishton@nsf.gov | January and July | |
Economics | The Economics program supports research designed to improve the understanding of the processes and institutions of the U.S. economy and of the world system of which it is a part. This program also strengthens both empirical and theoretical economic analysis as well as the methods for rigorous research on economic behavior. It supports research in almost every area of economics, including econometrics, economic history, environmental economics, finance, industrial organization, international economics, labor economics, macroeconomics, mathematical economics, and public finance. | Eric Bahel- Program Director, ebahel@nsf.gov | January and August | |
Human-Environment and Geographical Science | The Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS) program supports basic scientific research about the nature, causes, and/or consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity and/or environmental processes across a range of scales. Projects about a broad range of topics may be appropriate for support if they enhance fundamental geographical knowledge, concepts, theories, methods, and their application to societal problems and concerns. | Scott M. Freundschuh- Program Director, sfreunds@nsf.gov | January and August | |
Law and Science | The Law and Science (LS) program funds projects that address social scientific studies of law and law-like systems of rules, as well as studies of how science and technology are applied in legal contexts. The program is inherently interdisciplinary and multi-methodological. Successful proposals describe research that advances scientific theory and understanding of the connections between human behavior and law, legal institutions, or legal processes; or the interactions of law and basic sciences, including biology, computer and information sciences, STEM education, engineering, geosciences, and math and physical sciences. Scientific studies of law often approach law as dynamic, interacting with multiple arenas, and with the participation of multiple actors. | Reginald S. Sheehan- Program Director, rsheehan@nsf.gov | January and August | |
Linguistics | The Linguistics program supports research that examines the grammatical properties of individual human languages and natural language in general. Proposed projects can address topics ranging from the neurobiological and psychological processes involved in language production, perception, and comprehension to the ways that acoustic and physiological properties of speech inform theories of natural language and language processing. This program does not fund research that improves clinical practice or applied policy. It also does not support the development or assessment of pedagogical methods or tools for language instruction. | Tyler S. Kendall- Program Director, tkendall@nsf.gov | January and July | |
Methodology, Measurement, Statistics | Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics (MMS) is an interdisciplinary program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences that supports the development of innovative, analytical, and statistical methods and models for those sciences. MMS seeks proposals that are methodologically innovative, grounded in theory, and have potential utility for multiple fields within the social and behavioral sciences. As part of its larger portfolio, the MMS Program partners with a consortium of federal statistical agencies to support research proposals that further the development of new and innovative approaches to surveys and to the analysis of survey data. | Cheryl L. Eavey, ceavey@nsf.gov | January and August | |
Research Experience for Undergraduates | The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program supports projects and programs designed to include undergraduate students in any areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. This program used two mechanisms to support student engaged research: (1) REU Sites, which offer students the opportunity to engage with single or inter-disciplinary research with a coherent intellectual theme, or (2) REU supplements, which allow researchers to request supplemental funds to create an undergraduate research component for a new, ongoing, or renewed NSF grant or cooperative agreement. Undergraduate student participants must be U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents. | August | ||
Research Traineeship Program | The Research Traineeship Program supports projects that examine the ways that graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies to pursue STEM careers. Projects that address workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity-building needs in graduate education, will be given priority. | Daniel Denecke, ddenecke@nsf.gov | September | |
Security and Preparedness | The Security and Preparedness (SAP) program supports research relating to global and national security. Proposed projects can examine international relations, global and national security, human security, political violence, state stability, conflict processes, regime transition, international and comparative political economy, and peace science. This program does not fund applied research. | Paul Huth- Program Director, phuth@nsf.gov | January and August | |
Science and Technological Studies | Science and Technology Studies (STS) supports research that uses historical, philosophical, and social scientific methods to investigate the intellectual, material, and social facets of the scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) disciplines. It encompasses a broad spectrum of STS topics including interdisciplinary studies of ethics, equity, governance, and policy issues that are closely related to STEM disciplines, including medical science | Frederick M. Kronz- Program Director, fkronz@nsf.gov | February and August | |
Science of Learning and Augmented Intelligence | The Science of Learning and Augmented Intelligence program supports research that focuses on the principles, processes, and mechanisms of learning, and about augmented intelligence. Augmented intelligence, or the ways that human cognitive function can be augmented through interactions with others, contextual variations, and technological advances, can address learning in individuals and groups. Projects that work to develop collaborative and collective models of learning and intelligence that are supported by the unprecedented speed and scale of technological connectivity will be given special preference. | Soo-Siang Lim- Program Director, slim@nsf.gov | January and July | |
Social Psychology | The Social Psychology program supports research that advances basic knowledge in social psychology by examining topics covering national health, prosperity, and welfare. Research projects can focus on issues such as social cogitation, attitudes, social and cultural influence, stereotypes, motivation, decision making, group dynamics, aggression, close relationships, social and affective neuroscience, social psychophysiology, emotions, and personality and individual differences. Research samples should represent demographically diverse populations. | Steven Breckler- Program Director, sbreckle@nsf.gov | January and July | |
Sociology | The Sociology program supports research of all forms of human social organization and processes of individual and institutional change. Projects can focus on issues such as organizations and organizational behavior, population dynamics, social movements, social groups, labor force participation, stratification and mobility, family, social networks, socialization, gender, race, and technology. This program supports original data collection and secondary data analysis using any number of quantitative and/or qualitative methodological tools. | Joseph Whitmeyer- Program Director, jwhitmey@nsf.gov | January and August |