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News Release 17-030

156 early career engineering researchers to journey to frontiers of their fields, chart new paths

NSF provides $78 million for researchers who are outstanding teachers and scholars to drive research forward and mentor future engineers

Map of the U.S. displaying grantee locations.

Visit an interactive map to see the grantees' locations.


April 5, 2017

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Today, 156 early career engineering faculty begin a five-year journey that will take them to the frontiers of fundamental engineering research.

Supported by grants from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering Directorate, each researcher will set out with at least a $500,000 award and a plan to make advances in engineering. Their work will cover fields ranging from smart materials and advanced robotics to secure communications.

"Resilient infrastructure, abundant food and water, affordable medical treatments, smart communities -- these are engineering marvels that we all want to experience," said Barry Johnson, acting NSF assistant director for Engineering. "For each one of us, throughout our great nation, to reach the America of our dreams requires investment today in new generations of engineering researchers across the country."

The NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, which extends across all of the agency's science and engineering directorates, allows promising junior faculty to pursue outstanding research and excellence in education while integrating both. Awardees have the flexibility to explore unexpected new terrain uncovered in the course of their research.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Engineering Directorate-supported CAREER awards total about $78 million, out of an estimated $229 million in total CAREER grants across all of NSF.

This year's awardees hail from 88 institutions across 34 U.S. states. They bring a diverse range of engineering expertise and thinking, essential components for innovation and the development of new technologies, Johnson said.

At least 32 percent of awardees are women and 10 percent are from underrepresented groups, according to self-reported proposal data. These percentages are higher than those of U.S. engineering faculty overall. In addition, more than 17 percent of awards go to grantees in Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) states, which are working with federal support to build sustainable increases in research and education capacity. NSF awarded at least 52 percent of the Engineering CAREER awards to new principal investigators.

"The impacts of NSF early career awards extend well beyond the five years of the grant," Johnson said. "CAREER grantees have thought about their research objectives, the knowledge they want to gather and the innovations they want to create over the long term. CAREER awards set in motion lifetime journeys of research for the investigators, and often for their students, too."

Visit the NSF award database for the list of FY 2017 NSF Engineering CAREER grantees and see a map of where they are located.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Sarah Bates, NSF, (703) 292-7738, email: sabates@nsf.gov

Program Contacts
Elliot Douglas, NSF ENG/EEC, (703) 292-7051, email: edouglas@nsf.gov
Dominique M. Dagenais, NSF ENG/ECCS, (703) 292-2980, email: ddagenai@nsf.gov
Nora F. Savage, NSF ENG/CBET, (703) 292-7949, email: nosavage@nsf.gov
Mary M. Toney, NSF ENG/CMMI, (703) 292-7008, email: mtoney@nsf.gov

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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