Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology Postdoctoral Research Program
Agency: National Science Foundation
Posted: 2023-01-27 | Closing date: 2024-10-04
Estimated total program funding: 2000000
Cost sharing or matching requirement: No

The Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program provides support to enhance the research capabilities of minority-serving institutions (MSIs) through the establishment of centers that effectively integrate education and research. CREST promotes the development of new knowledge, enhancements of the research productivity of individual faculty, and an expanded presence of students who are members of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The CREST Postdoctoral Research Program (CREST-PRP) awards are part of the overarching CREST program and provide two years of support for research experience and training for early career scientists at active CREST Centers. The goal of the CREST-PRP awards isto increase the workforce presence of individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM fields. CREST-PRP awards recognize investigators with significant potential and provide them with research experiences that broaden perspectives, facilitate interdisciplinary interactions, and prepare CREST-PRP scholars for positions of leadership within the scientific community. Postdoctoral scholars conduct research on topics aligned with the research focus of the host CREST Center. The awards are also designed to provide active mentoring to the postdoctoral scholars by thescientific mentorwho, in turn, will benefit from the incorporation of these talented scientists into their research groups. Proposals must be submitted by individual postdoctoral candidates. However, if an award is recommended, the award will be transferred to the host institution where the postdoctoral scholar will be named as the PI. The award will be issued to the host institution as a regular research award, and the award will be administered by the host institution. Women, veterans, persons with disabilities, and members of groups underrepresented in STEM are especially encouraged to apply.

Eligibility: *Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following:   -<p class="Default">CREST Postdoctoral Research Program proposals are submitted directly by the fellowship candidate to NSF. Each fellowship candidate must identify in the proposal one or more scientific mentor(s) and must affiliate with a primary host institution that houses a CREST Center with whom the scientific mentor(s) is affiliated. See the <a href="https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/centers-research-excellence-science-technology-0">CREST program website</a> for a list of active centers.   *Who May Serve as PI:  To be eligible to submit a proposal to the CREST-PRP, an individual must, as of the full proposal deadline date:   <ul>  <li>Be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident;</li>  <li>Have earned the doctoral degree, or expect to have earned the doctoral degree, from an MSI (based on the most recent IPEDS data) prior to the required start date of the award;</li>  <li>Submit a project plan that falls within the purview of the NSF CREST Center host institution's research priorities;</li>  <li>Not have worked for more than a total of 24 full-time-equivalent months in positions that require the doctoral degree; and</li>  <li>Not have previously been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator of an NSF award (other than an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship)</li>  </ul>   For the CREST-PRP,eligible institutionsare MSIs that have undergraduate enrollments of 50% or more students (based on total student enrollment) who are members of minority groups underrepresented among those holding advanced degrees in science and engineering fields.    Eligibility may be determined by reference to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the US Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics (<a title="http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/" href="http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/">http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/</a>).    Proposals that fail to meet eligibility requirements will be returned without review.    By signing and submitting the proposal, the proposer is certifying that they meet the eligibility criteria specified in this program solicitation. Willful provision of false information in this request and its supporting documents or in reports required under an ensuing award is a criminal offense (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001).