CFDA#
47.041; 47.049; 47.050; 47.070; 47.075; 47.076
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Funder Type
Federal Government
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IT Classification
B - Readily funds technology as part of an award
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Authority
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Summary
The Training-based Workforce Development for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (CyberTraining) program seeks to prepare, nurture, and grow the scientific research workforce in advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) to transform science and engineering research and contribute to the Nation's overall economic competitiveness and security. The goals of this program are to (i) ensure broad adoption of CI tools, methods, and resources by the research community in order to catalyze major research advances and to enhance researchers' abilities to lead the development of new CI; and (ii) integrate core literacy and discipline-appropriate advanced skills in advanced CI as well as computational and data-driven methods for advancing fundamental research, into the Nation's undergraduate and graduate educational curriculum/instructional materials. Advanced CI is broadly defined as the set of resources, tools, methods, and services for advanced computation, large-scale data handling and analytics, and networking and security for large-scale systems that collectively enable potentially transformative fundamental S&E research and education.
For projects targeting the first goal of the solicitation, potentially eligible activities range from training (e.g., workshops, summer schools) for researchers on the role of CI in addressing fundamental knowledge gaps and enabling CI tools and concepts; training and education that give students the foundation to understand the key research challenges in a given field and how they would use CI to effectively advance new knowledge; or training and education for CI professionals on the role of CI in advancing fundamental research and how to facilitate effective collaborations between researchers and CI experts.
For projects targeting the second goal of the solicitation, key challenges to be addressed include how to design or update relevant curriculum/instructional materials so that they will receive buy-in from a broad community of stakeholders, ensuring that the materials are of high quality and widely adoptable, and being informed by best practices for producing institutional and disciplinary curriculum/instructional materials.
Applicants should submit their proposal under one of the following project classes:
- PILOT projects- Exploratory projects and activities that can lead to an implementation project
- IMPLEMENTATION projects- Implementation projects (small or medium) make CI training and educational activities or curriculum/instructional materials broadly accessible to a significant portion of a community for one or more disciplines. These projects collaborate with other CyberTraining awards and with other appropriate NSF-funded projects. Medium Implementation projects also foster a community to catalyze the adoption of advanced CI methods or incorporate training resources and materials into the curriculum. In addition, each Implementation project must have a board of expert advisors or a network of funded/unfunded collaborators that is representative of the stakeholder communities.
This program calls for innovative, scalable training, education, and curriculum/instructional materials—targeting one or more of the solicitation goals—to address emerging needs and unresolved bottlenecks in the S&E research workforce development, from the postsecondary level to active researchers to CI professionals.
History of Funding
Approximately $21,500,000 was available in FY 2022. Funded programs can be found at https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/advancedSearchResult?ProgEleCode=044Y&BooleanElement=Any&BooleanRef=Any&ActiveAwards=true&#results.
Additional Information
The CyberTraining program focuses on three overlapping scientific communities, CI Professionals, CI Contributors and CI Users. Projects should target one or more of these communities.
NSF anticipates proposals for informal/formal training and education, including retraining and cross-training, or for curricular activities, on topics related to the use of methods and resources for advanced CI as well as discipline-appropriate computational and data-driven S&E. Proposals are anticipated to span all levels, from basic literacy to advanced, and focus on addressing the emerging needs of fundamental research communities and resolving outstanding bottlenecks.
Programmatic Areas of Interest
The CyberTraining program includes the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC—lead for the program), Divisions of Computer and Network Systems (CNS), Computing and Communication Foundation (CCF) and Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) within the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE); Divisions of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) and Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) within the Directorate for Engineering (ENG); Division of Graduate Education (DGE) within the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU); Directorate for Geosciences (GEO); Divisions of Astronomical Sciences (AST), Chemistry (CHE), Materials Research (DMR), and Physics (PHY) within the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS); and Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES) within the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). All projects must advance CI training and education goals for CI-enabled fundamental research, in addition to addressing specific domain needs. Not all directorates/divisions/programs are participating at the same level, and some have specific research and education priorities, please refer to the application guide for more details.