Dear Colleague:

A primary objective of research support provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) is to transform the boundaries of scientific understanding. To meet this objective, after the upcoming January 2015 deadlines, new solicitations will be released for programs in the Surface Earth Processes Section within the Division of Earth Sciences. These new solicitations will no longer require that proposals be submitted by a specific deadline. Beginning on April 16th, 2015 investigators will be allowed to submit proposals at any time. Despite this change, programs in the Surface Earth Processes Section will continue to maintain high-quality merit review through the use of panel and ad hoc reviews, as has been the practice in the Division of Earth Sciences for many years.

The number of proposals received by programs in the Surface Earth Processes Section has increased significantly over the last few years. This increase has intensified the workload on reviewers, panelists, and NSF staff in the processing of proposals. To address this issue, we will remove deadlines for proposal submissions to the Geobiology & Low-temperature Geochemistry, Hydrologic Sciences, Geomorphology & Land-use Dynamics, and Sedimentary Geology & Paleobiology Programs. By accepting proposals at any time, we hope to give investigators more time to prepare quality proposals and level administrative workloads associated with proposal review. We feel this change will enhance our potential to support transformative scientific discoveries and will increase the success rates for submitted proposals.

We continue the EAR policy that proposals which were declined are not eligible for resubmission for one year from the original date of submission (https://www.nsf.gov/geo/ear/resubmission_policy.jsp). A proposal that has not been substantially revised will be returned without review as outlined in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide. Programs in the Surface Earth Processes Section will continue evaluating proposals using the highest standards of merit review, including ad-hoc mail and panel reviews.

Only solicitations for the Geobiology & Low-temperature Geochemistry, Hydrologic Sciences, Geomorphology & Land-use Dynamics, and Sedimentary Geology & Paleobiology Programs will be affected by this change. All other submissions will continue to follow deadlines outlined in their respective solicitations.

Sincerely,

Roger Wakimoto