Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics
Agency: National Science Foundation
Posted: 2024-04-29 | Closing date: 2025-01-16
Estimated total program funding: 9500000
Expected number of awards: 6
Cost sharing or matching requirement: No

The Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics program (MFS-SPEED) is a cross-directorate funding call in response to The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. It is supported by the NSF Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), and five industry partners: Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, BASF, Dow, and IBM. The goal of MFS-SPEED is to support fundamental research enabling the accelerated discovery and ultimate manufacturing of sustainable polymers using state-of-the-art data science, and to enhance development of a cross-disciplinary workforce skilled in this area. In particular, through this solicitation the research community is encouraged to address the discovery and elaboration of new sustainable polymers or sustainable pathways to existing polymers by the creation and use of a data-centric environment where research projects are: (1) focused on new approaches to predicting structure and properties of polymers and advanced soft materials, (2) with insights enabled by data analytics including Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning; (3) This includes more efficient, scalable preparation of monomers and polymers using existing or new synthetic routes (4) and this call aims to train a technical workforce that leverages data analytics to create sustainable polymers and soft materials. Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics (MFS-SPEED,) research grants – Awards will be supported in FY24/25 up to $2M per award for up to a three-year grant period, commensurate with the scope and team size. This program seeks to fund collaborative team research that transcends the traditional boundaries of individual disciplines to achieve the program goals.

Eligibility: *Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following:   -Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities.   -Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting      on behalf of their faculty members.Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an      international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain      the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.   -Tribal Nations: An American Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges as a federally recognized tribe pursuant to the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994, 25 U.S.C. §§ 5130-5131.