Title: Information and Data Management (IDM) Date: 10/03/03 Replaced: NSF 01-156 This document has been archived. The deadline dates are no longer valid. Information and Data Management (IDM) Program Solicitation NSF 04-500 Replaces Document NSF 01-156 [NSF Logo] National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering Division of Information and Intelligent Systems Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): January 08, 2004 December 06, 2004 December 6 annually thereafter REVISIONS AND UPDATES The Dear Colleague Letter, "Proposal Submission Deadlines for the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems [IIS]," (NSF 01-156 dated September 6, 2001) established two annual proposal submission deadlines, March 1 and November 16. The Dear Colleague Letter is being replaced by individual IIS program solicitations, each with one annual proposal submission deadline. Please see the IIS Web site (http://www.cise.nsf.gov/iis) for additional information. Effective on the day this program solicitation is posted by NSF, the deadline for Information and Data Management proposals is January 8, 2004 and December 6 annually thereafter. Proposals submitted in anticipation of a November 16, 2003 deadline will be accepted and reviewed with those submitted for the January 8, 2004 deadline. SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS General Information Program Title: Information and Data Management (IDM) Synopsis of Program: The Information and Data Management (IDM) Program supports research and education activities fundamental to the design, implementation, development, management, and use of databases, information retrieval, and knowledge-based systems. Topics include design methodologies, data, metadata, information, knowledge and process/event modeling, information access and interaction, information integration, knowledge discovery and visualization, and systems architecture and implementation. Research areas span web-based systems, novel data types, scientific and engineering databases, and other intelligent information systems, efficient data gathering and storage/archival, information and data organization and management, including security/privacy issues, information flow, dynamic/evolutionary systems, change maintenance, and information life-cycle management, interoperability in heterogeneous systems, highly scalable, data-intensive, and distributed/mobile information systems, and performance and quality of service issues. Cognizant Program Officer(s): * Maria Zemankova, Program Director, Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, 1115 N, telephone: (703) 292-8930, fax: (703) 292-9073, email: mzemanko@nsf.gov Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): * 47.070 --- Computer and Information Science and Engineering Eligibility Information * Organization Limit: None Specified. * PI Eligibility Limit: None Specified. * Limit on Number of Proposals: None Specified. Award Information * Anticipated Type of Award: Standard or Continuing Grant * Estimated Number of Awards: 20 * Anticipated Funding Amount: $5,500,000 Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A. Proposal Preparation Instructions * Full Proposal Preparation Instructions: Standard GPG Guidelines apply. B. Budgetary Information * Cost Sharing Requirements: Cost Sharing is not required. * Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: Not Applicable. * Other Budgetary Limitations: Not Applicable. C. Due Dates * Full Proposal Deadline Date(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): January 08, 2004 December 06, 2004 December 6 annually thereafter Proposal Review Information * Merit Review Criteria: National Science Board approved criteria apply. Award Administration Information * Award Conditions: Standard NSF award conditions apply. * Reporting Requirements: Standard NSF reporting requirements apply. TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary of Program Requirements I. Introduction II. Program Description III. Eligibility Information IV. Award Information V. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A. Proposal Preparation Instructions B. Budgetary Information C. Due Dates D. FastLane Requirements VI. Proposal Review Information A. NSF Proposal Review Process B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard VII. Award Administration Information A. Notification of the Award B. Award Conditions C. Reporting Requirements VIII.Contacts for Additional Information IX. Other Programs of Interest I. INTRODUCTION The Information and Data Management (IDM) Program supports research and education activities that will enable a "new generation" of distributed, interoperable, multi-media, intelligent, secure, dynamic, evolvable information systems capable of sophisticated and efficient data, information and knowledge management. Research pertinent to this goal involves investigating novel concepts or combining and extending conventional concepts and systems. It hinges on research and education advances in databases, information retrieval systems and knowledge-based systems, and includes a wide scope of related areas, ranging from artificial intelligence methodologies to new user interfaces for information access, to techniques that exploit hardware and communications technologies. II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Projects supported by the Information and Data Management Program can be divided into interrelated areas: (1) data, information, knowledge and process modeling; (2) information access and interaction; (3) knowledge discovery and management; (4) system architecture and implementation; and (5) special issues pertaining to the Web and multimedia information systems. In addition, research in new areas is encouraged. 1. Data, Information, Knowledge and Process Modeling This area provides foundations for new, more expressive models of data, information, knowledge and related processes. Topics include: * complex/novel data types, e.g., full text, images, multimedia, multidimensional sequences, streams, temporal, spatial, geographic, tables, graphs, links, structures, or sensor data * special-purpose scientific and engineering databases, including metadata representation * constraint-based systems, active systems * event, process and enterprise modeling, information and knowledge workflows * knowledge-based systems, and warehouses. Issues considered include information systems evolution, integrity and validation, and management of uncertainty arising from imprecision in data or knowledge, or nondeterministic processes. 2. Information Access and Interaction The aim in this area is to design more intelligent, efficient, and usable information access methods. Topics include: * browsing and navigation, information source discovery, information organization * information integration, resolution of incompleteness and inconsistency in heterogeneous systems * query language design, enhanced query processing, knowledge-based query optimization * user-centered information retrieval and dissemination, user modeling * visualization and natural-language interfaces for data, information and knowledge retrieval, evaluation of interfaces for information access * the use of linguistic resources and techniques for information access including word sense disambiguation, text categorization, discourse analysis, question-answering, and summarization * dialog management, cross-lingual information retrieval, and collaborative filtering/recommender systems. 3. Knowledge Discovery and Management The objective of this area is the building and assessment of tools for making sense of and discovering new information or knowledge from large collections of data. Topics include: * automated and user-aided data analysis tools * algorithms for information and knowledge discovery, including clustering information visualization techniques and evaluation * text data mining * discovering structures/relationships in semi- or unstructured data * data cleaning and warehousing * unification of data mining with queries and search * database architectures for data mining, distributed architectures for data mining * privacy issues * human interaction and the knowledge discovery process, interactive exploration, interfaces for exploratory data analysis * visualization of large, high-dimensional datasets * cognitive foundations and evaluation of visualization systems * evaluation of discovery algorithms * validation and re-use of data mining results. 4. System Architecture and Implementation The objective of this area is building high performance systems by addressing issues in algorithms, reliable storage, access, and manipulation of actual data, ranging from petabyte data warehouses to personal wearable information appliances by developing methodologies for design, implementation, verification, optimization, maintenance and management of information systems. Topics include: * evolvable and extensible information systems/support for the information lifecycle, including information archiving, migration, and survivability * distributed and heterogeneous systems, including support for mobile environments and ubiquitous computing * fault-tolerant systems, backup and recovery * security and privacy issues * workflows, and problem solving application-aware environments * unifying program logic and database systems * persistent object storage, main-memory systems, associative memory, cache-memory, utilization of optical storage, tertiary storage management (terabyte mass storage) * real-time or constrained-time/space query processing, parallel query processing, concurrency control, long duration transaction processing * indexing and hashing algorithms. 5. Web and Multimedia Information Systems Web and multimedia areas are interwoven throughout the IDM topics. Web issues include: * web site design methods and evaluation * semantic web, ontologies * web searching, hyperlink analysis and web graph structure * personalization of web search and structure * web persistence * wireless and peer-to-peer web * web-based databases and web services. Multimedia issues include: * content-based image, video, and audio access and retrieval * cross-media and mixed-media retrieval and indexing * multimedia database architectures and query optimization. The goal is to unify the methods for structured, semi-structured and unstructured data and to provide a "plug and play" environment for ubiquitous access to a rich variety on information. Novel Ideas Innovative, revolutionary, risky research ideas with a potential for great impact are especially encouraged. The IDM Program can support such research efforts through the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program. You are encouraged to contact the program director to discuss your ideas. Proposals for planning workshops intended to stimulate innovative/interdisciplinary research are welcome. You are encouraged to contact the program director to discuss your ideas. Interdisciplinary proposals are welcome. You are encouraged to contact prospective program directors to discuss your research and specify all relevant programs when submitting the proposal. The IDM Program will continue supporting new research ideas and will play an active role in fostering collaboration with other NSF programs, other agencies and industry in order to achieve the goal of building widely accessible intelligent information systems to augment human intelligence in a broad spectrum of endeavors. Additional Information The proposers are requested to carefully follow the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). In particular, clearly describe the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts of the proposed research, provide an evaluation plan (success metrics) for the proposed research, a mile-stone-based plan for each year of the project, and outline expected results, their potential applications and dissemination plans. Projects that involve human subjects (e.g., to evaluate the relevance of retrieved images, validity of discovered knowledge, usefulness of an interface, etc.) or potentially sensitive personal data (e.g., Web logs, medical images, etc.) will require the IRB Approval or Exemption, and HUMAN SUBJECTS need to be indicated on the Proposal Cover Sheet. For details, see Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), Proposals Involving Human Subjects. Failure to address Human Subjects issues in the proposal may result in critical reviews, and/or delay/terminate award processing, as NSF must comply with the Federal government's "Common Rule" for the protection of human subjects. In addition to supporting regular proposals submitted under this program solicitation, the IDM program also supports proposals submitted to special programs such as Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER), Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) , Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) and Research Opportunity Awards (ROA) , Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) or workshop proposals, and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) or Research Experience for Teachers (RET) supplements. See the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), and specific program solicitations for information and deadlines that apply to them. Please note that GOALI and RUI/ROA proposals have the same deadline as regular proposals submitted under this solicitation. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION The categories of proposers identified in the Grant Proposal Guide are eligible to submit proposals under this program announcement/solicitation. IV. AWARD INFORMATION In Fiscal Year 2004, the anticipated funding amount is $5,500,000. The estimated number of awards in the program will be 20. The estimated average duration of these awards is three years. V. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS A. Proposal Preparation Instructions Full Proposal Instructions: Proposals submitted in response to this program announcement/solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF Website at: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov. Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement/solicitation number (04-500) in the program announcement/solicitation block on the NSF Cover Sheet For Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing. B. Budgetary Information Cost Sharing: Cost sharing is not required in proposals submitted under this Program Announcement. C. Due Dates Proposals must be submitted by the following date(s): Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): January 08, 2004 December 06, 2004 December 6 annually thereafter D. FastLane Requirements Proposers are required to prepare and submit all proposals for this announcement/solicitation through the FastLane system. Detailed instructions for proposal preparation and submission via FastLane are available at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm. For FastLane user support, call the FastLane Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 or e-mail fastlane@nsf.gov. The FastLane Help Desk answers general technical questions related to the use of the FastLane system. Specific questions related to this program announcement/solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this announcement/solicitation. Submission of Electronically Signed Cover Sheets. The Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must electronically sign the proposal Cover Sheet to submit the required proposal certifications (see Chapter II, Section C of the Grant Proposal Guide for a listing of the certifications). The AOR must provide the required electronic certifications within five working days following the electronic submission of the proposal. Proposers are no longer required to provide a paper copy of the signed Proposal Cover Sheet to NSF. Further instructions regarding this process are available on the FastLane Website at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov VI. PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION A. NSF Proposal Review Process Reviews of proposals submitted to NSF are solicited from peers with expertise in the substantive area of the proposed research or education project. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with the oversight of the review process. NSF invites the proposer to suggest, at the time of submission, the names of appropriate or inappropriate reviewers. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts with the proposer. Special efforts are made to recruit reviewers from non-academic institutions, minority-serving institutions, or adjacent disciplines to that principally addressed in the proposal. The National Science Board approved revised criteria for evaluating proposals at its meeting on March 28, 1997 (NSB 97-72). All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two merit review criteria. In some instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities. On July 8, 2002, the NSF Director issued Important Notice 127, Implementation of new Grant Proposal Guide Requirements Related to the Broader Impacts Criterion. This Important Notice reinforces the importance of addressing both criteria in the preparation and review of all proposals submitted to NSF. NSF continues to strengthen its internal processes to ensure that both of the merit review criteria are addressed when making funding decisions. In an effort to increase compliance with these requirements, the January 2002 issuance of the GPG incorporated revised proposal preparation guidelines relating to the development of the Project Summary and Project Description. Chapter II of the GPG specifies that Principal Investigators (PIs) must address both merit review criteria in separate statements within the one-page Project Summary. This chapter also reiterates that broader impacts resulting from the proposed project must be addressed in the Project Description and described as an integral part of the narrative. Effective October 1, 2002, NSF will return without review proposals that do not separately address both merit review criteria within the Project Summary. It is believed that these changes to NSF proposal preparation and processing guidelines will more clearly articulate the importance of broader impacts to NSF-funded projects. The two National Science Board approved merit review criteria are listed below (see the Grant Proposal Guide Chapter III.A for further information). The criteria include considerations that help define them. These considerations are suggestions and not all will apply to any given proposal. While proposers must address both merit review criteria, reviewers will be asked to address only those considerations that are relevant to the proposal being considered and for which he/she is qualified to make judgments. What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity? How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of the prior work.) To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to resources? What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society? NSF staff will give careful consideration to the following in making funding decisions: Integration of Research and Education One of the principal strategies in support of NSF's goals is to foster integration of research and education through the programs, projects, and activities it supports at academic and research institutions. These institutions provide abundant opportunities where individuals may concurrently assume responsibilities as researchers, educators, and students and where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse education with the excitement of discovery and enrich research through the diversity of learning perspectives. Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of all citizens -- women and men, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities -- is essential to the health and vitality of science and engineering. NSF is committed to this principle of diversity and deems it central to the programs, projects, and activities it considers and supports. B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard All proposals are carefully reviewed by at least three other persons outside NSF who are experts in the particular field represented by the proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement/solicitation will be reviewed by Ad Hoc and/or panel review. Reviewers will be asked to formulate a recommendation to either support or decline each proposal. The Program Officer assigned to manage the proposal's review will consider the advice of reviewers and will formulate a recommendation. A summary rating and accompanying narrative will be completed and submitted by each reviewer. In all cases, reviews are treated as confidential documents. Verbatim copies of reviews, excluding the names of the reviewers, are sent to the Principal Investigator/Project Director by the Program Director. In addition, the proposer will receive an explanation of the decision to award or decline funding. NSF is striving to be able to tell applicants whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months. The time interval begins on the date of receipt. The interval ends when the Division Director accepts the Program Officer's recommendation. In all cases, after programmatic approval has been obtained, the proposals recommended for funding will be forwarded to the Division of Grants and Agreements for review of business, financial, and policy implications and the processing and issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are cautioned that only a Grants and Agreements Officer may make commitments, obligations or awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of funds. No commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical or budgetary discussions with a NSF Program Officer. A Principal Investigator or organization that makes financial or personnel commitments in the absence of a grant or cooperative agreement signed by the NSF Grants and Agreements Officer does so at their own risk. VII. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION A. Notification of the Award Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements. Organizations whose proposals are declined will be advised as promptly as possible by the cognizant NSF Program Division administering the program. Verbatim copies of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, will be provided automatically to the Principal Investigator. (See section VI.A. for additional information on the review process.) B. Award Conditions An NSF award consists of: (1) the award letter, which includes any special provisions applicable to the award and any numbered amendments thereto; (2) the budget, which indicates the amounts, by categories of expense, on which NSF has based its support (or otherwise communicates any specific approvals or disapprovals of proposed expenditures); (3) the proposal referenced in the award letter; (4) the applicable award conditions, such as Grant General Conditions (NSF-GC-1); * or Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Terms and Conditions * and (5) any announcement or other NSF issuance that may be incorporated by reference in the award letter. Cooperative agreement awards also are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions (CA-1). Electronic mail notification is the preferred way to transmit NSF awards to organizations that have electronic mail capabilities and have requested such notification from the Division of Grants and Agreements. *These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Website at http://www.nsf.gov/home/grants/grants_gac.htm. Paper copies may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov. More comprehensive information on NSF Award Conditions is contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, available electronically on the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gpm. The GPM is also for sale through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402. The telephone number at GPO for subscription information is (202) 512-1800. The GPM may be ordered through the GPO Website at http://www.gpo.gov. C. Reporting Requirements For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing grants), the PI must submit an annual project report to the cognizant Program Officer at least 90 days before the end of the current budget period. Within 90 days after the expiration of an award, the PI also is required to submit a final project report. Failure to provide final technical reports delays NSF review and processing of pending proposals for the PI and all Co-PIs. PIs should examine the formats of the required reports in advance to assure availability of required data. PIs are required to use NSF's electronic project reporting system, available through FastLane, for preparation and submission of annual and final project reports. This system permits electronic submission and updating of project reports, including information on project participants (individual and organizational), activities and findings, publications, and other specific products and contributions. PIs will not be required to re-enter information previously provided, either with a proposal or in earlier updates using the electronic system. VIII. CONTACTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION General inquiries regarding this program should be made to: * Maria Zemankova, Program Director, Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, 1115 N, telephone: (703) 292-8930, fax: (703) 292-9073, email: mzemanko@nsf.gov For questions related to the use of FastLane, contact: * Michele R. Johnson, Program and Technology Specialist, Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, 1115 N, telephone: (703) 292-8930, fax: (703) 292-9073, email: mrjohnso@nsf.gov IX. OTHER PROGRAMS OF INTEREST The NSF Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding for research and education in science, mathematics, and engineering. The NSF Guide to Programs is available electronically at http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gp. General descriptions of NSF programs, research areas, and eligibility information for proposal submission are provided in each chapter. Many NSF programs offer announcements or solicitations concerning specific proposal requirements. To obtain additional information about these requirements, contact the appropriate NSF program offices. Any changes in NSF's fiscal year programs occurring after press time for the Guide to Programs will be announced in the NSF E-Bulletin, which is updated daily on the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin, and in individual program announcements/solicitations. Subscribers can also sign up for NSF's Custom News Service (http://www.nsf.gov/home/cns/start.htm) to be notified of new funding opportunities that become available. Related Programs: The Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) Division supports highly interdisciplinary research. Many IIS programs are relevant to the IDM Program and often co-review and co-fund proposals with the IDM Program, e.g.: Basic research in formal models of knowledge and information, machine learning and management of uncertainty is supported in the Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science Program. Research principles for building multi-user collaborative information systems, including agent-based systems or cooperating robotics systems are covered in the IIS Programs: Digital Society and Technologies, Digital Government, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, and Robotics. Research related to information retrieval, interaction and visualization is supported in the Human Language and Communications Program, Human-Computer Interaction Program, Universal Access Program, and Special Projects Program. The Computer Vision Program supports research relevant to image or video understanding, indexing, retrieval or mining, pattern recognition, motion detection, etc. Research in bioinformatics and other scientific or engineering information systems is supported in the IIS Division in the Science and Engineering Informatics Program, and in cooperation with the domain programs, e.g., Biological Databases and Informatics in the Division of Biological Infrastructure. Research in related areas of operating systems, programming languages, software engineering, signal processing and data compression, communications and networking is supported in various programs in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate. Proposers are encouraged to examine their eligibility to submit a proposal to a special program, e.g., Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER), Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) and Research Opportunity Awards (ROA), Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and other NSF Cross-cutting Programs that provide an opportunity for the development of a diverse, internationally competitive, and globally engaged workforce of scientists, engineers, and well-prepared citizens. Collaborative efforts with industrial partners can be supported via the Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) or the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. Office of International Science and Engineering (INT) provides support for international collaboration. ABOUT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering. Awardees are wholly responsible for conducting their project activities and preparing the results for publication. Thus, the Foundation does not assume responsibility for such findings or their interpretation. NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists, engineers and educators. The Foundation strongly encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to compete fully in its programs. In accordance with Federal statutes, regulations and NSF policies, no person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin or disability shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial assistance from NSF, although some programs may have special requirements that limit eligibility. Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities (FASED) provide funding for special assistance or equipment to enable persons with disabilities (investigators and other staff, including student research assistants) to work on NSF-supported projects. See the GPG Chapter II, Section D.2 for instructions regarding preparation of these types of proposals. The National Science Foundation promotes and advances scientific progress in the United States by competitively awarding grants and cooperative agreements for research and education in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. To get the latest information about program deadlines, to download copies of NSF publications, and to access abstracts of awards, visit the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov * Location: 4201 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA 22230 * For General Information (703) 292-5111 (NSF Information Center): * TDD (for the hearing-impaired): (703) 292-5090 * To Order Publications or Forms: Send an e-mail to: pubs@nsf.gov or telephone: (703) 292-7827 * To Locate NSF Employees: (703) 292-5111 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. The information on proposal forms will be used in connection with the selection of qualified proposals; project reports submitted by awardees will be used for program evaluation and reporting within the Executive Branch and to Congress. The information requested may be disclosed to qualified reviewers and staff assistants as part of the proposal review process; to applicant institutions/grantees to provide or obtain data regarding the proposal review process, award decisions, or the administration of awards; to government contractors, experts, volunteers and researchers and educators as necessary to complete assigned work; to other government agencies needing information as part of the review process or in order to coordinate programs; and to another Federal agency, court or party in a court or Federal administrative proceeding if the government is a party. Information about Principal Investigators may be added to the Reviewer file and used to select potential candidates to serve as peer reviewers or advisory committee members. See Systems of Records, NSF-50, "Principal Investigator/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 267 (January 5, 1998), and NSF-51, "Reviewer/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 268 (January 5, 1998). Submission of the information is voluntary. Failure to provide full and complete information, however, may reduce the possibility of receiving an award. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 3145-0058. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 120 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions. Send comments regarding this burden estimate and any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, Division of Administrative Services, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230. OMB control number: 3145-0058. nsf.gov | About NSF | Funding | Publications | News & Media | Search | Site Map | Help [NSF Celebrating 50 Years]The National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22230, USA Policies Tel: 703-292-5111, FIRS: 800-877-8339 Contact NSF | TDD: 703-292-5090 Customize