The following is a letter to the community from Margaret Martonosi (Assistant Director) and Erwin Gianchandani (Deputy Assistant Director) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE).
Dear Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Community:
With this most out-of-the-ordinary summer coming to a close, we at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) CISE directorate wanted to reach out to inform you about a few specific news items.
CISE Dear Colleague Letter on CAREER/CRII: In NSF Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) 20-092, CISE offered clarification on CISE Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) program as well as the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awards in CISE topic areas. In a nutshell, we encourage proposers to submit to CAREER earlier in their career timelines, informed by a desire to truly catalyze early-career research, and also by long-term trends showing that faculty who submit their first CAREER proposals in the first three years post-PhD fare comparably with those who submit their first CAREER proposals later in their careers. The second attribute of this DCL is a clarification of the CRII program’s goals and approach. In particular, CRII seeks to level the playing field for different early-career researchers by offering resources to those who do not already possess a stated threshold of support to pursue their early-career research. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ; 20-113) for CRII expands on this goal in detail, and we encourage participation in an upcoming Sept 10, 2020 webinar.
CISE Moves to “No-Deadlines” for Core Small Programs: In NSF DCL 20-087, CISE announced its intent to shift to a no-deadlines approach for proposals responding to our core programs solicitation in the Small size class. This shift represents the outcome from extensive discussions with the CISE research community, and offers our community the chance for even greater technical nimbleness through year-round proposal submissions. The newest core programs solicitation (NSF 20-591) establishes the no-deadlines approach, and a companion FAQ (NSF 20-109) expands on details related to this shift.
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP): CISE-relevant topic areas offer absolutely profound research opportunities with deep potential for sweeping scientific, economic, and societal impact. Therefore, it is deeply important to ensure that CISE research pathways continue to attract a broad and growing cohort of graduate students into our research programs. NSF’s GRFP program has long represented an important pillar in the support of early-career research pathways; this is true now more than ever. As we encouraged a year ago in a similar message to you all, we ask once again for your help: please reach out to eligible students to encourage their application for GRFP this year. We recognize that the wording of this year’s GRFP solicitation has prompted discussion regarding the program’s balance of generality across topics, versus prioritization of stated priority areas. NSF will continue to encourage and accept applications in all eligible topic areas, and the review process will as always have a foundation based on individual merit. This year’s GRFP deadline is October 20, 2020, for CISE topic areas, and we very much hope to see many of your students represented!
As always, we are mindful of the challenges CISE research community members are currently navigating. Likewise, we are deeply grateful to the community members and NSF staff whose time and energy have helped our community, our Nation, and the world as a whole in its responses to the global challenges we face. Now more than ever, we are committed to working together to support the vibrancy of our scientific research and education community.
Best,
Margaret and Erwin
Margaret Martonosi, NSF Assistant Director (AD) for CISE
Erwin Gianchandani, NSF Deputy AD for CISE
