NIST AMTech Program Announces Grants for Industry-led Consortia to Explore Issues Hampering Advanced Manufacturing in U.S.
From NIST Tech Beat: July 24, 2013
Contact: Mark Bello
301-975-3776
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced a competition for grants to support new or existing industry-driven consortia to develop research plans that address high-priority challenges impeding the growth of advanced manufacturing in the United States.
NIST's new Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech) Program anticipates awarding $4 million in two-year planning grants in fiscal year 2013. Grants will range between about $250,000 and $500,000, subject to the availability of funds.
Nonprofit U.S. organizations as well as accredited institutions of higher education and state, tribal and local governments are eligible to apply for the program. Teaming and partnerships that include broad participation by companies of all sizes, universities and government agencies, driven by industry, are encouraged.
Funded by Congress this fiscal year, AMTech will spur consortia-planned and led research on long-term, pre-competitive industrial research needs. The program aims to eliminate barriers to advanced manufacturing and to promote domestic development of an underpinning technology infrastructure.
AMTech is designed to address an economically damaging weakness in the nation's so-called innovation ecosystem, an issue identified by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and other bodies.
According to the NSTC, there is a gap between R&D activities and the deployment of technological innovations in the domestic production of goods, which is contributing significantly, for example, to the growing trade deficit in high-value-added, advanced-technology products.
Once fully implemented, it is envisioned that AMTech will provide funding in two broad areas: planning awards and implementation awards. In FY 2013, NIST will fund planning awards only. In the future, AMTech may provide funding opportunities that help to support activities that advance the research agenda.
Full details of the solicitation, including eligibility requirements, selection criteria, legal requirements and the mechanism for submitting proposals are found in an announcement of Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) posted at Grants.gov under funding opportunity number 2013-NIST-AMTECH-01.
Applications will only be accepted through the Grants.gov website. The deadline for full applications is 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, Oct. 21, 2013.
NIST will host two webinars on the AMTech funding opportunity on August 15, 2013, and on August 20, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. The events will offer guidance on the AMTech program and preparing proposals and will provide an opportunity to answer questions from the public about the program. Participation in the free event is not required to apply, but participants are required to register in advance. Registration forms are available at https://cc.readytalk.com/r/1otmxahw28w3&eom (Aug. 15) and https://cc.readytalk.com/r/v3rvxkfyvcat&eom (Aug. 20). Further details are available at www.nist.gov/ampo.
ICSE 2013 Workshop: 2nd Workshop on User evaluations for Software Engineering Researchers
Date: Sunday May 26, 2013
San Francisco, CA, USA
Full Details: https://sites.google.com/site/user2013workshop/
Contact: user2013@easychair.org
FINAL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: April 24, 2013.
This workshop brings together software engineering researchers and practitioners who have a research project, concept and/or tool they would like to evaluate with users. Attendees will collaboratively design, develop, and pilot plans for conducting user evaluations of their projects. Attendees will gain practical experience with user evaluation methods through scaffolded group exercises, group discussions, and mentoring by a panel of user-focused software engineering researchers. Together, we will establish a community of like-minded researchers and developers to help one another improve our research and practice through user evaluation.
Our workshop is primarily intended for researchers/developers who have never or rarely tested their projects with their intended users and wish to begin learning how to do so. We also encourage more experienced attendees developing a new evaluation to attend.
We invite interested participants to submit a 2 to 4 page proposal describing a research project, concept and/or tool you would like to evaluate with users. The proposal should include a concise description of the research problem, a description and motivation of the intended users, an explanation of why you are interested in conducting a user evaluation, and any specific goals you may have for the workshop. If you have designed or conducted a past user evaluation, you should additionally include a description of how it went, what was learned from the study, and any lessons you personally took away from the experience.
Submissions will be through Easychair (https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=user2013). Papers should be 2-4 pages using the IEEE CS format (http://2013.icse-conferences.org/content/submission-guidelines).
Submit your non-archival proposal by April 24, 2013. If accepted, you may participate in the workshop, however, your proposal will not be published in the ACM Digital Library. Notification of acceptance will arrive within two weeks of your submission.
***Registration is limited to authors with accepted proposals. Please do not register for the workshop prior to receiving notification of acceptance.***
Please see the workshop website https://sites.google.com/site/user2013workshop/ for details.
Workshop Organizers:
Andrew Begel, Microsoft Research
Caitlin Sadowski, Google
Expert Panel:
Marcelo Cataldo – Bosch Corporate Research
Andy Ko – University of Washington
Emerson Murphy-Hill – North Carolina State University
Chris Parnin, Georgia Tech
Peter Rigby – Concordia University
Anita Sarma – University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Kathryn Stolee – University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Eleni Stroulia – University of Alberta
Laurie Williams - North Carolina State University
Solar program funding opportunities provided by the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE), Department of Energy (DOE) can be found at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId3db7eaa1-1e51-4a6f-bfdd-0b2963443484.
Solicitation: DE-FOA-0000856
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Broad Agency announcement (BAA) soliciting proposals that address Exploratory Advanced Research topics. The Broad Agency Announcement (number DTFH61-13-R-00011) is open through March 15, 2013. See http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/resources/new_ear_proposal_request.cfm. The announcement includes the following topics
- Topic 1A, High Performance Vehicle Streams;
- Topic 1B, New Approaches for Testing Connected Highway and Vehicle Systems;
- Topic 1C, Innovative Applications for Emerging Real‐Time Data;
- Topic 1D, Partial Automation for Truck Platooning;
- Topic 2A, Automated Feature Extraction; and
- Topic 2B, Automated Identity Masking.
For a full description of the topics and proposal requirements, please see the announcement posted at https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=792b797bee5d98c165b9271b9855b152&tab=core&_cview=0.
CRITICAL INFORMATION FOR SUBMITTING FY 2013 CPS PROPOSALS:
There are important changes that you will encounter as you submit your FY 2013 CPS proposal. It is very important that you pay careful attention to submit correctly, so as not to have yur proposal disqualified. We stronlgy advize that you submit your proposal early, so that if you do have problems, there will be time to recover.
Changes in merit review at NSF:
An overview is found at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/merit_review/overview/pdf
Comprehensive information is found at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/merit_review/resources.jsp
New proposal and award guidance, which includes the changes in proposal preparation.
Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PaPPG) (NSF 1301).
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PROGRAMS WITH DEADLINE DATES OF JANUARY 14, 2013 OR LATER:
- If the program you are submitting to has a deadline date of January 14, 2013 or later, and you submit your proposal prior to this date, you must prepare your proposal in accordance with the newly revised Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 13-1), which requires that the one-page Project Summary include 1) an overview; 2) a statement on intellectual merit of the proposed activity; and 3) a statement on the broader impacts of the proposed activity. (See GPG, Chapter II.C.2b)
- If you prepare your proposal prior to January 14, 2013, with the intention of submitting it on or after January 14, 2013, the information that you included in the Project Summary in FastLane will be inserted into the overview text box of the Project Summary. Per PAPPG guidelines, you will need to include this information in the three text boxes (overview; statement on intellectual merit; statement on broader impacts) or FastLane will not accept your proposal. (See GPG, Chapter II.C.2b)
By posting this additional guidance, we hope to alleviate potential last minute submission problems. A related advisory is also posted on the FastLane webpage.
NSF ANNOUNCES UPDATED SOLICITATION (Solicitation 13-502)
Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from and depend upon the synergy of computational and physical components. Emerging CPS will be coordinated, distributed, and connected, and must be robust and responsive. The CPS of tomorrow will need to far exceed the systems of today in capability, adaptability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability. Examples of the many CPS application areas include the smart electric grid, smart transportation, smart buildings, smart medical technologies, next-generation air traffic management, and advanced manufacturing. CPS will transform the way people interact with engineered systems, just as the Internet transformed the way people interact with information. However, these goals cannot be achieved without rigorous systems engineering.
The December 2010 report of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology calls for continued investment in CPS research because of its scientific and technological importance as well as its potential impact on grand challenges in a number of sectors critical to U.S. security and competitiveness, including aerospace, automotive, chemical production, civil infrastructure, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, materials and transportation.
We do not yet have a mature science to support systems engineering of high confidence CPS, and the consequences are profound. Traditional analysis tools are unable to cope with the full complexity of CPS or adequately predict system behavior. The present electric power grid, an ad hoc system, experiences blackouts over large regions, tripped by minor events that escalate with surprising speed into widespread power failures. This illustrates the limitations of the current science and technology, which do not enable us to conceptualize and design for the deep interdependencies among engineered systems and the natural world. At the same time, pressure to develop technologies such as renewable energy, wireless health, advanced manufacturing, smart materials, and electrified ground and air vehicles creates an unprecedented opportunity to rethink many important classes of systems.
The goal of the CPS program is to develop the core system science needed to engineer complex cyber-physical systems upon which people can depend with high confidence. The program aims to foster a research community committed to advancing research and education in CPS and to transitioning CPS science and technology into engineering practice. By abstracting from the particulars of specific systems and application domains, the CPS program aims to reveal cross-cutting fundamental scientific and engineering principles that underpin the integration of cyber and physical elements across all application sectors. To expedite and accelerate the realization of cyber-physical systems in a wide range of applications, the CPS program also supports the development of methods, tools, and hardware and software components based upon these cross-cutting principles, along with validation of the principles via prototypes and test beds.
Three types of research and education projects will be considered, which differ in scope and goals:
- Breakthrough projects must offer a significant advance in fundamental CPS science, engineering and/or technology that has the potential to change the field. This category focuses on new approaches to bridge computing, communication, and control. Funding for Breakthrough projects may be requested for a total of up to $500,000 for a period of up to 3 years.
- Synergy projects must demonstrate innovation at the intersection of multiple disciplines, to accomplish a clear goal that requires an integrated perspective spanning the disciplines. Funding for Synergy projects may be requested for a total of $500,001 to $1,000,000 for a period of 3 to 4 years.
- Frontiers projects must address clearly identified critical CPS challenges that cannot be achieved by a set of smaller projects. Funding may be requested for a total of $1,000,001 to $7,000,000 for a period of 4 to 5 years.
The CPS program is cooperating with other government agencies to support cyber-physical systems research that is relevant to their missions. Dear Colleague Letters will announce these opportunities as they arise.
A more complete description of the CPS program is provided in Section II, Program Description, of this solicitation.
CONTACTS
| Name | Phone | Room | |
| Radhakisan Baheti | rbaheti@nsf.gov | (703) 292-8339 | 525 |
| Theodore P. Baker | tbaker@nsf.gov | (703) 292-8608 | 1175 |
| Helen Gill | hgill@nsf.gov | (703) 292-7834 | 1175 |
| Bruce Kramer | bkramer@nsf.gov | (703) 292-5348 | 545S |
| Ralph Wachter | rwachter@nsf.gov | (703) 292-8950 | 1175 |
PROGRAM GUIDELINES
Solicitation 13-502
DUE DATES
Full Proposal Window: January 14, 2013 - January 29, 2013
January 14 - January 29, Annually Thereafter
THIS PROGRAM IS RELATED TO
Additional Funding Opportunities for the CCF Community
Additional Funding Opportunities for the CNS Community
Additional Funding Opportunities for the IIS Community
What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)
Submitted by 1 1 on August 14th, 2012
To address the challenges imposed by the rapidly evolving global energy market, ARPA-E seeks to support transformational research in all areas of energy R&D, including resource identification, extraction, transportation and use, and energy generation, storage, transmission and use in both the transportation and stationary power sectors. Areas of research responsive to this FOA include (but are not limited to) electricity generation by both renewable and non-renewable means, electricity transmission, storage, and distribution; energy efficiency for buildings, manufacturing and commerce, and personal use; and all aspects of transportation, including the production and distribution of both renewable and non-renewable fuels, electrification, and energy efficiency in transportation.
- Letter of Intent Submission Deadline: 3/30/2012 5:00 PM ET
- Concept Paper Submission Deadline: 4/12/2012 5:00 PM ET
- Full Application Submission Deadline: 7/13/2012 5:00 PM ET
Detailed information available on the ARPA-E Site.
The far-reaching impact and rate of innovation in the computing and information disciplines has been remarkable, generating economic prosperity and enhancing the quality of life for people throughout the world. But the best is yet to come!
The Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) has created the Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) program to provide the CISE research and education community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, fundamental research agendas that promise to define the future of computing and information. In planning Expeditions, investigators are encouraged to come together within or across departments or institutions to combine their creative talents in the identification of compelling, transformative research agendas that promise disruptive innovations in computing and information for many years to come.
Funded at levels up to $2,000,000 per year for five years, Expeditions represent some of the largest single investments currently made by the directorate. Together with the Science and Technology Centers CISE supports, Expeditions form the centerpiece of the directorate’s award portfolio. With awards funded at levels that promote the formation of research teams, CISE recognizes that concurrent research advances in multiple fields or sub-fields are often necessary to stimulate deep and enduring outcomes.
The awards made in this program will complement projects supported by other CISE programs, which target particular computing or information disciplines or fields.
Important Dates:
Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):
- March 10, 2012
- September 10, 2012
Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):
- December 10, 2012
- May 10, 2014
Cognizant Program Officer(s):
Mitra Basu
P: 703.292.8910
E: mbasu@nsf.gov
PROGRAM SOLICITATION: NSF 10-564
REPLACES DOCUMENT(S): NSF 08-568
See the full Solicitation.
Synopsis:
The goal of the High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems (HACMS) program is to create technology for the construction of high-assurance, cyber-physical systems, where high assurance is defined to mean functionally correct and satisfying appropriate safety and security properties. Achieving this goal requires a fundamentally different approach from what the software community has taken to date. HACMS will adopt a clean-slate, formal methods–based approach that enables semi-automated code synthesis from executable, formal specifications.
Important Dates:
Posting Date: February 23, 2012
Response Date: July 10, 2012
Solicitation Number: DARPA-BAA-12-21
Notice Type: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
Agency: Other Defense Agencies
Office: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Location: Contracts Management Office
See the full DARPA-BAA-12-21solicitation.
Submitted by Katie Dey on February 28th, 2012
Synopsis:
DARPA's Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) portfolio of programs is aimed at compressing at least five-fold the development timelines for new complex cyber-electro-mechanical systems such as military vehicles. Under AVM, DARPA is pursuing the development of several elements of enabling infrastructure aimed at radically transforming the systems engineering/design/verification (META /META-II ), manufacturing (iFAB ), and innovation (vehicleforge.mil ) elements of the overall "make" process for delivering new defense systems or variants. Each of these infrastructure capabilities is largely generic, i.e., applicable to any cyber-electro-mechanical system.
In order to exercise these capabilities in the context of a relevant military system, DARPA intends to build FANG -the Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle-a new heavy infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). FANG's functional requirements will mirror those for the Marine Corps' Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV). A series of three design challenges focused on subsystems of increasing complexity will ultimately result in the FANG vehicle being built in the iFAB Foundry.
The present Component, Context, and Manufacturing Model Library 2 (C2M2L-2, pronounced "camel 2") solicitation is for the second round of domain-specific models needed to enable the design, verification, and fabrication of the chassis and survivability subsystems of the FANG vehicle using the META, iFAB, and vehicleforge.mil infrastructure. (The first of these challenges is focused on the mobility and drivetrain subsystems, and is supported by the C2M2L-1 effort.) A subsequent C2M2L solicitation is expected to address all of the remaining subsystem domains needed to construct and verify a complete infantry fighting vehicle.
Important Dates:
Posting Date: February 24, 2012
Response Date: April 24, 2012
Solicitation Number: DARPA-BAA-12-30
Notice Type: Presolicitation
Agency: Other Defense Agencies
Office: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Location: Contracts Management Office
See the full DARPA-BAA-12-30 solicitation.
Submitted by Katie Dey on February 28th, 2012
Synopsis:
The goal of the Power Efficiency Revolution for Embedded Computing Technologies (PERFECT) program is to provide the technologies and techniques to overcome the power efficiency barriers that currently constrain embedded computing systems capabilities and limit the potential of future embedded systems.
Important Dates:
Posting Date: February 3, 2012
Abstract Due Date: February 23, 2012
Proposal Due Date: April 16, 2012
Solicitation Number: DARPA-BAA-12-24
Notice Type: Presolicitation
Agency: Other Defense Agencies
Office: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Location: Contracts Management Office
See the full DARPA-BAA-12-24 solicitation.
Submitted by Katie Dey on February 28th, 2012