NSF Strengthening the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals Ecosystem (SCIPE)

Below is a summary assembled by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO). Please see the full solicitation for complete information about the funding opportunity.

Program Summary

The overarching goal of this solicitation is to democratize access to NSF’s advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) ecosystem and ensure fair and equitable access to resources, services, and expertise by strengthening how Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIP) function in this ecosystem. It aims to achieve this by (1) deepening the integration of CIPs into the research enterprise, and (2) fostering innovative and scalable education, training, and development of instructional materials, to address emerging needs and unresolved bottlenecks in CIP workforce development. Specifically, this solicitation seeks to nurture, grow and recognize the national CIP [1] workforce that is essential for creating, utilizing and supporting advanced CI to enable and potentially transform fundamental science and engineering (S&E) research and education and contribute to the Nation's overall economic competitiveness and security. Together, the principal investigators (PIs), technology platforms, tools, and expert CIP workforce supported by this solicitation operate as an interdependent ecosystem wherein S&E research and education thrive. This solicitation will support NSF’s advanced CI ecosystem with a scalable, agile, diverse, and sustainable network of CIPs that can ensure broad adoption of advanced CI resources and expert services including platforms, tools, methods, software, data, and networks for research communities, to catalyze major research advances, and to enhance researchers' abilities to lead the development of new CI.

All projects are expected to clearly articulate how they address essential community needs, will provide resources that will be widely available to and usable by the research community, and will broaden participation from underrepresented groups. Prospective PIs are strongly encouraged to contact the Cognizant Program Officers in CISE/OAC and in the participating directorate/division relevant to the proposal to ascertain whether the focus and budget of their proposed activities are appropriate for this solicitation. Such consultations should be completed at least one month before the submission deadline. PIs should include the names of the Cognizant Program Officers consulted in a Single Copy Document as described in Section V.A. Proposal Preparation Instructions. The intent of the SCIPE program is to encourage collaboration between CI and S&E domain disciplines. (For this purpose, units of CISE other than OAC are considered domain disciplines.) To ensure relevance to community needs and to facilitate adoption, those proposals of interest to one or more domain divisions must include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise relevant to the targeted research discipline. All proposals shall include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise pertinent to OAC.

Deadlines

CU Internal Deadline: 11:59pm MST December 11, 2023

Sponsor Application Deadline: 5:00pm MST January 18, 2024

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

  • Project Description (3 pages maximum): The project description should explicitly address the following items with emphasis suitable to the overall proposed work and goal(s) of the solicitation:
    1. Broadening Adoption of Advanced CI infrastructure and methods;
    2. Integration with the Computational Science Support Network (CSSN);
    3. Challenges recognizing and democratizing research CIP workforce development;
    4. Building scalable and sustainable communities of CIP;
    5. Recruitment and evaluation; and
    6. “Collective Impact" Strategy: Coordination network and Backbone organization (or an alternative strategy).
  • PI Curriculum Vitae
  • Budget Overview (1 page maximum): A basic budget outlining project costs is sufficient; detailed OCG budgets are not required.

To access the online application, visit: https://cuboulderovcr.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/6928/home

Eligibility

An individual may serve as PI, co-PI, or other senior personnel on only one SCIPE proposal per competition. In the event that an individual exceeds this limit, proposals will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal submission, i.e., the first proposal will be accepted, and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made.

To ensure relevance to community needs and to facilitate adoption, those proposals of interest to one or more domain divisions must include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise relevant to the targeted research discipline. All proposals shall include at least one PI/co-PI with expertise relevant to OAC.

Limited Submission Guidelines

Institutions are limited to one SCIPE proposal per competition.

Award Information

Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds.

Expected Number of Awards: 4

Review Criteria

SCIPE proposals should explicitly address the following additional items with emphasis suitable to the proposed work and goals of the solicitation, through well-identified proposal elements:

  1. Broadening Adoption of Advanced CI infrastructure and methods;
  2. Integration with the Computational Science Support Network (CSSN);
  3. Challenges recognizing and democratizing research CIP workforce development;
  4. Building scalable and sustainable communities of CIP;
  5. Recruitment and evaluation; and
  6. "Collective Impact" Strategy: Coordination network and Backbone organization (or an alternative strategy).