NSF 26-525: Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions)

Program Solicitation NSF 26-525

U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering

Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. submitting organization's local time):

     December 02, 2026

     First Wednesday in December, Every Other Year Thereafter

Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitting organization's local time):

     July 27, 2027

     Fourth Tuesday in July, Every Other Year Thereafter

Important Information and Revision Notes

• Additional special award conditions have been updated; and
• The Innovation Transition (InTrans) funding opportunity for Expeditions removed.

Any proposal submitted in response to this solicitation should be submitted in accordance with the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. The NSF PAPPG is regularly revised and it is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets the requirements specified in this solicitation and the applicable version of the PAPPG. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Summary of Program Requirements

General Information

Program Title:

Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions)

Synopsis of Program:

The far-reaching impact and rate of innovation in the computer and information science and engineering fields has been remarkable, generating economic prosperity, and enhancing the quality of life for people.

More than a decade ago, the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (NSF CISE) established the NSF Expeditions program to provide the NSF CISE research community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, foundational research agendas that promise to define the future of computing and information.

Investigators are strongly encouraged to come together within or across departments or institutions to identify compelling, transformative research agendas that look ahead by at least a decade and promise disruptive innovations in computer and information science and engineering for the years ahead. Expeditions may advance a range of areas including, but not limited to, fundamentally new architectures for intelligence and the hardware and compute substrates that make them possible; rigorous physical and mathematical theories of how systems learn, generalize, and can be interpreted; neuroscience-inspired approaches to learning, memory, reasoning, and behavioral steering; intelligence embodied in the physical world through general physical intelligence, advanced robotics hardware, and novel architectures and learning paradigms for embodied systems; transformative approaches to next generation communication and networking; and high-risk, high-reward areas that no single discipline could pursue alone.

Now funded at levels up to $15,000,000 over seven years, NSF Expeditions projects represent some of the largest single investments made by the CISE Directorate. These awards are designed to promote the formation of large, multidisciplinary research teams to address transformative foundational computing research problems. This reflects CISE's recognition that achieving deep and lasting breakthroughs often require advances in multiple fields or sub-fields. Awards made through this program will complement research areas supported by other CISE programs. The program responds to core recommendations in the Administration's Fiscal Year 2028 Research and Development Budget Priorities Memorandum that calls for foundational research in the physical sciences and engineering, including computer science. NSF Expeditions also supports longer grant durations for transformative research, giving scientists the time and autonomy to pursue bold, ambitious projects whose most important results may take years to emerge.

NSF Priorities

NSF welcomes submissions from all researchers, particularly those earlier in their careers and those working in research areas aligned with agency and administration priorities. NSF also expects the highest standards of scientific rigor, integrity, and adherence to tenets of Gold Standard Science in proposals, as appropriate for the field of science and research modality.

Cognizant Program Officer(s):

Please note that the following information is current at the time of publishing. See program website for any updates to the points of contact.

• Expeditions Program Officers, email: cise-expeditions@nsf.gov

Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):

• 47.070 - Computer and Information Science and Engineering

Award Information

Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 2 to 4

awards in each competition.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $60,000,000

Up to $60,000,000 total for each competition, subject to the availability of funds. Expeditions projects with total budgets of up to $15,000,000 for a duration of seven years will be supported.

Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

• Letters of Intent: Not required
• Preliminary Proposals: Submission of Preliminary Proposals is required. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.
• Full Proposals:
  • Full Proposals submitted via Research.gov: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) guidelines apply. The complete text of the PAPPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=pappg.
  • Full Proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide).

B. Budgetary Information

• Cost Sharing Requirements:

  Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited.

• Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations:

  Not Applicable

• Other Budgetary Limitations:

  Not Applicable

C. Due Dates

• Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. submitting organization's local time):

       December 02, 2026

       First Wednesday in December, Every Other Year Thereafter

• Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitting organization's local time):

       July 27, 2027

       Fourth Tuesday in July, Every Other Year Thereafter

Proposal Review Information Criteria

Merit Review Criteria:

National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review criteria apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Award Administration Information

Award Conditions:

Additional award conditions apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Reporting Requirements:

Additional reporting requirements apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

I. Introduction

The computer and information science and engineering community has made significant contributions to society over the past 75 years, generating research outcomes that have fueled economic growth, improved national security, and resulted in products and services that have transformed the everyday lives of people across the nation and around the world. Many of these advances began as foundational research into problems whose eventual technological applications and economic impact could not yet be fully anticipated.

The NSF Expeditions in Computing program is designed to tap the great pool of opportunities that foundational research advances in computer and information science and engineering promise for the future. The program is designed to inspire CISE research communities to be as creative and imaginative as possible in the design of bold Expeditions projects that explore new scientific frontiers. Investigators in the computer and information science and engineering fields and beyond are strongly encouraged to come together within and/or across departments or institutions in the development of compelling, transformational research agendas that promise disruptive innovations at the frontiers of computer and information science and engineering.

Past Expeditions awards demonstrate the value of this approach. For example, the 2008 Open Programmable Mobile Internet award helped advance programmable networking, contributing to computing technologies and approaches that now underpin modern cloud computing, data centers, and telecommunications infrastructure. Research advances of this project helped make the networks behind everyday services – from streaming video and online banking to cloud storage and mobile communications – faster, more flexible and easier to manage. They also helped advance software defined network, or SDN, a technology that serves as the standard baseline for modern data centers and cloud environments area and has generated billions of dollars in revenue worldwide.

The 2009 RoboBees award pursued the exceptionally difficult challenge of creating insect-scale autonomous robots, producing advances in microfabrication, sensing, and control that have since generated patents and lead to discoveries that are being translated into applications including miniature and minimally invasive surgical robotics. The project developed a novel pop-up manufacturing technique that enabled researchers to build increasingly capable microrobots, including the first controlled flight of an insect-scale robot, robots capable to move through complex environments and, ultimately, what was then the lightest vehicle to achieve sustained untethered flight. The versatile, miniature RoboBee platform enables critical tasks like crop pollination, disaster response, and environmental monitoring for hazardous leaks.

The 2012 Making Sense at Scale with Algorithms, Machines and People award advanced new approaches to large-scale data processing and helped develop technologies for analyzing large amount of information quickly and efficiently. These capabilities are now central to many of the digital services Americans use every day, including online recommendations, financial services, healthcare analytics, etc. The research helped establish new capabilities for large-scale data analytics and computing and supported a broader innovation ecosystem that included corporate partners and several startups. This included at least one company that has grown from a university research ecosystem into a valuable U.S. private technology company.

These examples illustrate the distinctive role of Expeditions: supporting researchers with investments and the multidisciplinary environment needed to tackle foundational computing problems that enable new technological capabilities, industries, and research directions.

II. Program Description

The NSF Expedition program has three goals:

• To catalyze far-reaching research;
• To inspire current and future generations of Americans to pursue ambitious, transformative foundational research in computing; and
• To stimulate significant use-inspired foundational research outcomes that will lay the foundation for future translation to practice.

NSF Expeditions projects should be ambitious and potentially transformative. They should exploit advances in computer and information science and engineering and/or use-driven research that may accelerate discovery and innovation across science and engineering, while advancing the frontiers of what is believed to be possible.

Projects supported by the NSF Expeditions program have the following characteristics:

• They foster research environments that encourage creativity, informed risk-taking, and integration of multidisciplinary research contributions, ensuring that the overall project is larger than the sum of its parts.
• They bring together well-integrated, collaborative teams of investigators from computer and information science and engineering fields and, as appropriate, other science and engineering disciplines;
• They advance the frontiers of knowledge and technology in computer and information science and engineering fields;
• They accelerate use-inspired foundational research; and
• They demonstrate experimental systems and support shared experimental facilities (including instruments, platforms and/or testbeds) to accelerate discovery.

NSF Expeditions proposals should articulate a long-term vision with objectives that cannot be achieved through a collection of smaller proposals provided with similar resources. The project descriptions must be comprehensive and its components well-integrated, making a convincing case that the collaborative contributions of the project team will be greater than the sum of the individual contributions. Proposals must also provide a clear rationale for why a budget of this scale is necessary, and how the budget will be allocated among the participating team members and institutions. Since the success of collaborative research efforts are known to depend on thoughtful coordination mechanisms that regularly bring together the various participants of the project, these must be articulated in the proposal.

The NSF Expeditions program funds projects for up to seven years, reflecting CISE's commitment to addressing the evolving nature of large-scale research challenges. This extended time-frame enables researchers to produce meaningful outcomes and build a foundation for longer-term sustainability. Principal investigators (PIs) are strongly encouraged to take full advantage of longer duration in project planning, especially by utilizing the first two years of the project term to ramp up project planning and recruitment and using the final two years of the project term to explore stretch goals identified during the project as well as next steps for the NSF Expedition effort.

NSF Expeditions projects represent some of the largest single investments made by CISE. At steady state, CISE supports six to eight Expedition projects at any given time. This portfolio of active projects demonstrates the tremendous potential of use-inspired foundational research in computer and information science and engineering that lay the foundation for future innovations.

New proposals from current/past NSF Expeditions recipients:

New proposals from current or past NSF Expeditions recipients will be evaluated in open competition with all other proposals. All NSF Expeditions proposals must introduce substantially new research topics and undertake ambitious, transformative research, which will be evaluated through NSF's two review criteria: intellectual merit and broader impacts; in addition to the NSF Expeditions review criteria. In addition, proposals are expected to describe prior research outcomes of project staff, which are also part of the review. New proposals submitted by current or past NSF Expeditions recipients are expected to demonstrate excellence, significant achievements, noteworthy impacts, outreach success, and—where appropriate—collaborations with industry and/or other partners, based on results from their previous NSF Expeditions projects.

Measure of Success:

Proposers should advance one or more of the following measures of success:

Discovery and Innovation

• Publications from research or other scholarly outputs
• Data sets established or expanded
• New technologies or techniques established

STEM Education and Workforce

• Undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral fellows supported
• Undergraduate and graduate students trained in a specific critical area

III. Award Information

Estimated program budget is up to $60,000,000 for each competition, subject to the availability of funds. Two to four new awards will be made in each competition. Expeditions projects with total budgets of up to $15,000,000 for a duration of seven years will be supported.

IV. Eligibility Information

Who May Submit Proposals:

Proposals may only be submitted by the following:

• 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 sub-awards 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.
• Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) that accredited in, and have a campus located in the United States, with undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs in computer and information science and engineering fields may submit proposals as lead or collaborative institutions. Subawardees may include two-year and four-year U.S. IHEs, as well as U.S.-based nonprofit, non-academic organizations—such as independent museums, institutes, observatories, professional societies, and similar entities—provided they are directly associated with education or research activities in CISE fields. Other organizations such as national laboratories, for-profit organizations and organizations in other countries may participate in the proposed activities only if they have independent sources of support. These organizations will not be supported by NSF

Who May Serve as PI:

There are no restrictions or limits.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

There are no restrictions or limits.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or co-PI: 1

• An individual may participate in no more than one preliminary and, if invited, one full NSF Expeditions proposal per competition, as PI, co-PI, or senior/key personnel.
• If an individual exceeds this limit for a given deadline, preliminary proposals will be accepted based on earliest date and time of preliminary proposal submission, i.e., the first preliminary proposal will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review. A full proposal that does not correspond to a preliminary proposal reviewed in this program in the current competition will be returned without review.

V. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

Preliminary Proposals (required): Preliminary proposals are required and must be submitted via Research.gov.

Preliminary Proposal Preparation Instructions: When preparing a preliminary proposal, proposers are advised to review the Program Description, the Proposal Review Information and the preliminary proposal preparation instructions described below. A preliminary proposal will consist only of the following:

1. Cover Sheet. For planning purposes, enter a start date that is approximately 19 months after the preliminary proposal due date. Titles must begin with "NSF Expeditions", followed by a colon, then the title of the project.
2. Project Summary (1 page). Provide a rationale for the NSF Expeditions project, describing the unique foundational research opportunities to be pursued, and indicating its potential impact to strategic technologies. The summary should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and, insofar as possible, understandable to a scientifically or technically literate reader. Provide a clear description of the proposed NSF Expeditions project, its overarching goals, its distinguishing features and foci. The names of the collaborative institutions involved and the major contribution of each to the project must be included in the description.
3. Project Description. In addition to the requirements in the PAPPG, the Project Description must address Sections (3.a) and (3.b) below. Section (3.c) should be addressed, where appropriate. The Project Description is limited to 11 pages including tables and illustrations, regardless of the number of research groups or themes.
   1. Describe the overarching vision and goal(s) of the proposed NSF Expeditions project. Describe the contributing research, emphasizing how "the whole" NSF Expeditions project is greater than the sum of the individual theme or component parts. Describe how the project will help realize the Expeditions program goals (address all three as described in the II. Program Description section of this solicitation) and demonstrate the NSF Expeditions characteristics (addressing all five as described in the II. Program Description section of this solicitation). Provide sufficient detail to allow assessment of the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts of the project and the necessity for support at the requested investment level.
   2. Leadership and collaboration. Describe the organizational structure of the Expeditions project, including plans for integrating and managing all organizations and individuals involved in all components of the Expeditions project to ensure the project goals are met. Explain how collaboration across individuals and organizations will be assured. Describe how effective collaboration will lead to enhanced project outcomes. Note that the leadership team should consist of an individual whose assigned function is to provide coordination for the project.
   3. Experimental systems or shared experimental facilities (where appropriate). Describe the experimental system to be demonstrated and/or shared experimental facilities (e.g., instruments, platforms, and testbeds) to be used or established and describe how these activities add value to the project.
4. Budget (see NSF PAPPG). Provide a one-page budget summary for the full seven-year period. This should be entered in Budget Year 1. (Research.gov will automatically generate a cumulative budget that is identical to the full seven-year budget you entered in Year 1.) The proposed budget should be consistent with the needs and complexity of the proposed activity. The budget justification should provide some information for each year of the full seven-year period, showing how funds will be allocated to the project components during the various phases [see Full Proposal Preparation Instructions, (5) Budget], and shared facilities that will be required (where necessary). Allocate funds for Research for Undergraduates (REU) as appropriate for the project. Post-award REU supplements will not be funded for an Expeditions award.
5. Special Information and Required Supplementary Documents (required information to be entered in the Other Supplementary Documents section except for collaborative proposals, where only the lead institution should provide the information described below).
   1. Lists of Partner Institutions and Project Personnel. Provide current, accurate information for the two required lists described below. This information provides NSF and reviewers with a comprehensive list of personnel and institutions involved in the NSF Expeditions project and will be used in the merit review process to manage reviewer selection.
      • Partner Institutions. List all institutions and organizations for which there are corresponding project personnel. List all partner organizations at the time of submission of the preliminary proposal. Organize the list of institutions involved in the Expeditions project into the following categories, as applicable: Academic Institutions (colleges, universities), National Laboratories, Federal Government, Industry, Non-Governmental Organizations, State and Local Government, International, and Other. For each category, list the partner institutions for that category in alphabetical order.
      • Project Personnel. List all project personnel who have a role in the management, research, education, outreach, and knowledge transfer components of the Expeditions project. Use the following format:

        first name, last name, institution/organization.

6. Required information to be submitted in the Single Copy Documents Section as a PDF file/document, except for collaborative proposals, where only the lead institution should provide the information described below.

   The accuracy of this section is very important to the integrity of the Expeditions review process. Please be accurate and complete with the entries.

   Note the distinction to the first item under Other Supplementary Documents above: the listing of all project participants is collected by the project lead and entered as a Supplementary Document, which is then automatically included with all proposals in a project. The Collaborators and Other Affiliations are entered for each individual identified as Senior/Key Personnel within each proposal and, as Single Copy Documents, are available only to NSF staff.

   No other items or appendices are to be included. Information pertaining to "Current and Pending (Other) Support", "Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources" and "Data Management and Sharing Plan" are not required for preliminary proposals and should not be included. Preliminary proposals containing items other than those required above will not be reviewed or considered for NSF funding.

Information to be submitted to NSF via email:

Lead Proposers are encouraged to contact the Expeditions program via email to cise-expeditions@nsf.gov one week prior to submission with a list of prospective project personnel.

Immediately after submission of their proposal and receipt of the proposal number from Research.gov, send an email to: cise-expeditions@nsf.gov with the below document. The subject heading of the email should note the proposal number and the lead institution.

A single Microsoft PowerPoint slide summarizing the vision of your Expeditions proposal.

This slide will be used during review panel discussions. Remember to email this PowerPoint slide to: cise-expeditions@nsf.gov.

Full Proposal Preparation Instructions: Proposers may opt to submit proposals in response to this Program Solicitation via Research.gov or Grants.gov.

• Full Proposals submitted via Research.gov: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). The complete text of the PAPPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=pappg. Paper copies of the PAPPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-8134 or by e-mail from nsfpubs@nsf.gov. The Prepare New Proposal setup will prompt you for the program solicitation number.
• Full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation via Grants.gov should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov. The complete text of the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: (https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide). To obtain copies of the Application Guide and Application Forms Package, click on the Apply tab on the Grants.gov site, then click on the Apply Step 1: Download a Grant Application Package and Application Instructions link and enter the funding opportunity number, (the program solicitation number without the NSF prefix) and press the Download Package button. Paper copies of the Grants.gov Application Guide also may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-8134 or by e-mail from nsfpubs@nsf.gov.

In determining which method to utilize in the electronic preparation and submission of the proposal, please note the following:

Collaborative Proposals. All collaborative proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations must be submitted via Research.gov. PAPPG Chapter II.E.3 provides additional information on collaborative proposals.

See PAPPG Chapter II.D.2 for guidance on the required sections of a full research proposal submitted to NSF. Please note that the proposal preparation instructions provided in this program solicitation may deviate from the PAPPG instructions.

For Expeditions Full Proposals:

A full proposal may be submitted by invitation only, based on the evaluation of the preliminary proposal. Full proposals will be accepted ONLY IF INVITED by NSF. Full proposals not invited will be returned without review.

When preparing a full proposal for this competition, proposers are advised to review the Program Description and the Proposal Review Information found in this solicitation for general information pertinent to this program. Proposers are encouraged to review the most current NSF PAPPG or NSF Grants.gov Application Guide.

Every effort should be made to update information that was provided in the preliminary proposal and to fully address issues raised in the merit review of the preliminary proposal.

The following solicitation-specific exceptions and additions to the PAPPG apply to proposals submitted to this solicitation.

1. Cover Sheet. For planning purposes, enter a start date that is approximately 11 months after the full proposal deadline. For Expeditions proposals: titles must begin with "Expeditions", followed by a colon, then the title of the project.
2. Project Summary (1 page). Provide a rationale for the Expeditions project, describing the unique foundational research opportunities to be pursued, and indicating the potential impact of the project. The summary should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and, insofar as possible, understandable to a scientifically or technically literate lay reader. Provide a clear description of the proposed Expeditions project, its overarching goals, its distinguishing features and foci. The names of the collaborative institutions involved and the major contribution of each to the project must be included in the description.
3. Project Description. In addition to the requirements in the PAPPG, the Project Description must address Sections (3.a) through (3.c) below. Section (3.d) should be addressed where appropriate. The Project Description is limited to 25 pages including tables and illustrations, regardless of the number of research groups or themes.
   1. Describe the overarching vision and goal(s) of the proposed Expeditions project. Describe the contributing research, emphasizing how "the whole" Expeditions project is greater than the sum of the individual theme or component parts. Describe how the project will contribute to realization of the Expeditions program goals (address all three as described in the II. Program Description section of this solicitation) and demonstrate the Expeditions characteristics (address all five as described in the II. Program Description section of this solicitation). Provide sufficient detail to allow assessment of the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts of the project and the necessity for support at the requested investment level.
   2. Leadership and collaboration. Describe the organizational structure of the Expeditions project, including plans for integrating and managing all organizations and individuals involved in all components of the Expeditions project to ensure the project goals are met. Explain how collaboration across individuals and organizations will be assured. Describe how effective collaboration will lead to enhanced project outcomes. Note that the leadership team should consist of an individual whose assigned function is to provide coordination for the project.
   3. Intellectual property and ethics (up to 1 page). Provide a clear statement of the Expeditions project's policies on intellectual property and ethics. Discuss the nature of the research, methodologies used, ownership and ideas, and roles and responsibilities with respect to intellectual property. Describe the program of ethics to be implemented (required), which should include all project and subawardee staff (including faculty, visiting faculty, industrial fellows, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students).
   4. Experimental systems or shared experimental facilities (where appropriate). Describe the experimental system to be demonstrated and/or shared experimental facilities (e.g., instruments, platforms, and testbeds) to be used or established and describe how these activities add value to the project.
4. Budget (see NSF PAPPG or Grants.gov Application Guide). Provide a detailed budget for each of the seven years, grouped into three phases: Phase 1: The Acceleration Phase – up to $3 million total across Years 1 and 2; Phase 2: The Steady-State Phase – up to $3 million per year for Years 3, 4 and 5, for a total of $9 million across Years 3-5; and Phase 3: The Wrap-Up Phase – up to $3 million total across Years 6 and 7. Note that funding for Phase 3 (Years 6 and 7) is contingent upon a successful site visit during Year 5 (see Special Award Conditions). The budget and budget justification should account for start-up time at the commencement of the Expeditions project. The budget should include funds for travel to the Washington, DC, area of the essential members of the PI team and key students for one meeting of recipients. Identify items of equipment costing more than $10,000, full justification of these items is required. Allocate funds for Research for Undergraduates (REU) as appropriate for the project. Post-award REU supplements will not be funded for an Expedition award.
5. Special Information and Required Supplementary Documents
   1. Lists of Partner Institutions and Project Personnel. Provide current, accurate information for the two required lists described below. This information provides NSF and reviewers with a comprehensive list of personnel and institutions involved in the Expeditions project and will be used in the merit review process to manage reviewer selection.
      • Partner Institutions. List all institutions and organizations for which there are corresponding project personnel. List all partner organizations at the time of submission of the full proposal. Organize the list of institutions involved in the Expeditions project into the following categories, as applicable: Academic Institutions (colleges, universities), National Laboratories, Federal Government, Industry, Non-Governmental Organizations, State and Local Government, International, and Other. For each category, list the partner institutions for that category in alphabetical order.
      • Project Personnel. List all project personnel who have a role in the management, research, education, outreach, and knowledge transfer components of the Expeditions project. Use the following format:

        first name, last name, institution/organization.

6. Single Copy Documents. (Required information submitted to NSF via the Single Copy Documents Section) as a PDF file/document, except for collaborative proposals, where only the lead institution should provide the information described below.

   The accuracy of this section is very important to the integrity of the Expeditions review process. Please be accurate and complete with the entries.

Information to be submitted to NSF via email:

Lead Proposers are encouraged to contact the cognizant Program Director via email to cise-expeditions@nsf.gov one week prior to submission with a list of prospective project personnel.

Immediately after submission of their proposal and receipt of the proposal number from Research.gov, send an email to: cise-expeditions@nsf.gov with the below document. The subject heading of the email should note the proposal number and the lead institution.

A single Microsoft PowerPoint slide summarizing the vision of your Expeditions proposal.

This slide will be used during review panel discussions. Remember to email this PowerPoint slide.

B. Budgetary Information

Cost Sharing:

Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited.

C. Research.gov/Grants.gov Requirements

You can submit proposals in response to this solicitation through Research.gov or Grants.gov, unless otherwise noted.

Information on how to prepare and submit proposals is available on the Submitting Your Proposal page on NSF.gov.

VI. NSF Proposal Processing and Review Procedures

Information on NSF's proposal processing and review procedures is available on the Overview of the NSF Proposal and Award Process page on NSF.gov.

A. Merit Review Principles and Criteria

All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two National Science Board-approved merit review criteria:

• Intellectual Merit, which encompasses the potential to advance knowledge.
• Broader Impacts, which encompass the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes.

Information on NSF's merit review principles and process can be found on the How We Make Funding Decisions page on NSF.gov.

Additional Solicitation Specific Review Criteria

Value-added by funding the activity as an Expeditions project:

• Are the identified research goals of sufficient import, scale, and/or complexity to justify this type of investment?
• Will the proposed activity contribute to realization of the Expeditions in Computing program goals and is it likely to demonstrate the characteristics described in the solicitation? Note, the three program goals are to (1) catalyze far-reaching research explorations motivated by deep scientific questions or hard problems in the computer and information science and engineering fields; (2) inspire current and future generations of Americans to pursue ambitious, foundational research in computing; and (3) stimulate significant use-inspired foundational research outcomes that, through later translation, promise scientific, economic, and/or other societal benefits.
• Does the timeline and research activities proposed in the project reflect clearly a plan that corresponds with the necessity of a 7-year project? Is it well-grounded?
• As appropriate, comment on the value of the experimental systems or shared experimental facilities proposed.

Leadership and Collaboration Plan:

• Does the leadership team convincingly demonstrate the goals, experience, and capacity to manage a complex, multi-faceted, and innovative research, education, and knowledge transfer enterprise?
• Does the leadership team include a project coordinator with a clear description of the role and responsibilities of the individual?
• What is the likely effectiveness of the proposed leadership and collaboration plan?
• Is there documentation of institutional and other commitments to the proposed activity?
• Is the requested budget appropriate for the scope and complexity of the research, education and knowledge transfer projects proposed?
• Does the proposed collaboration approach promise significant value added?

New proposals from current/past Expeditions recipients will be evaluated in an open competition with all other proposals. All Expeditions proposals must introduce substantially new research topics and undertake innovative research, which will be evaluated through NSF's two review criteria and additional Expeditions review criteria. All Expeditions proposals are expected to articulate prior research outcomes for project staff, which are also part of the review. It is expected that new proposals from current Expeditions recipients will demonstrate research excellence, significant achievements, noteworthy impacts, outreach success, and collaborations with industry and/or other partners, as appropriate, based on the corresponding current Expeditions projects.

B. Review and Selection Process

Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation will be reviewed by Ad hoc Review and/or Panel Review, or Reverse Site Review.

After a proposal passes an initial compliance check, it will be reviewed by an NSF Program Officer. In most cases, three or more external experts will also review it (either as ad hoc reviewers, panelists or both).

Visit the Overview of the NSF Proposal and Award Process page for more information on the proposal review and selection process.

In alignment with Executive Order 14332 (Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking), all else being equal after merit review, NSF may give preference to institutions with lower indirect cost rates.

VII. Award Administration Information

A. Notification of the Award

Notification of an award is made to the submitting organization by an NSF Grants and Agreements Officer.

B. Award Conditions

Information on NSF award conditions can be found on the Award Terms and Conditions page on NSF.gov and Chapter VII of the PAPPG.

Administrative and National Policy Requirements:

Information on administrative and national policy requirements can be found on the National Policy Requirements for Recipients of NSF Awards page on NSF.gov.

Consistent with the requirements specified in 2 CFR § 200.332, recipients of NSF awards must adhere to the requirements for pass-through entities in establishing and managing subawards issued ensuring alignment with Administration and NSF policies and priorities.

In alignment with Executive Order 14332 (Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking), proposers should be aware that NSF awards offered under this funding opportunity may include termination for convenience provisions.

Special Award Conditions:

It is anticipated that each Expeditions project will be merit reviewed in two site visits conducted during Year 2 and Year 5 respectively. The site visit during Year 2 will assess project progress and determine if the project warrants continued support in Years 3 through 5. The site visit during Year 5 will assess the project progress and determine if the project warrants support for Years 6 and 7.

In addition to the site visits during Years 2 and 5, an Expeditions project may be reviewed through a site-visit during Years 4 and 6 as deemed necessary by NSF. Release of future funding for the project is subject to satisfactory review of the project during each site visit noted above.

C. Reporting Requirements

Unless your award notice says otherwise, NSF requires the principal investigator of every grant to submit annual project reports and a project outcomes report for the general public. For complete reporting requirements, see Chapter VII of the PAPPG.

In addition, Expeditions recipients must:

1. Produce one project outcome "highlights" annually for Years 4 through 7 that is prepared for a lay audience; these highlights will be used in NSF reporting and outreach;
2. Create and maintain an active project website that shares information about the project;
3. Attend one PI meeting to share information about the project (please make provisions for travel for at least two PIs and one student to attend one PI meeting during the life of the project).

VIII. Agency Contacts

For questions related to the use of NSF systems contact:

• NSF Help Desk: 1-800-673-6188
• Research.gov Help Desk e-mail: rgov@nsf.gov

IX. Other Information

For information on NSF directorates, programs and funding opportunities, go to NSF.gov.

The Expeditions program provides CISE investigators with access to a diverse set of CISE funding opportunities. CISE core programs provide funding for projects ranging from modest single-investigator activities through larger multi-investigator efforts funded at levels of approximately $1,000,000 per year. Expeditions complement these investments, supporting ambitious, multi-investigator projects requiring investments of up to $15,000,000 over seven years. For research and education projects with scopes that require even larger funding levels, PIs are encouraged to consider the opportunities provided by NSF's Engineering Research Center (ERC) and Science and Technology Center (STC) programs.

About the National Science Foundation

The U.S. National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by the "National Science Foundation Act of 1950." More information about NSF can be found on NSF.gov.

Location: Randolph Building, 401 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 General Information (703) 292-5111 TDD (for the hearing-impaired): (703) 292-5090

Privacy Act and Public Burden Statements

The information requested on proposal forms and project reports is solicited under the authority of the "National Science Foundation Act of 1950," as amended. More information can be found on the Privacy Act and Public Burden Statements page on NSF.gov.