This document has been archived and replaced by NSF 14-100.

Date: July 23, 2013

Dear Colleagues:

This letter is to notify the community of status changes for three programs in the NSF Division of Materials Research in fiscal year 2014. The three programs are The International Materials Institutes (IMI), The Materials World Network (MWN) and Computational and Data-Driven Materials Research (CDMR). Please know that all of these programs are valued at NSF and the work accomplished through them is laudable.

The Materials World Network program (NSF 12-593) has been in effect since 2004, enabling fully funded collaborations between US researchers and those abroad through coordinated review at the national agency level. DMR is proud of the many international collaborations and successful global research it has nucleated over these nine years. DMR is changing the frequency of this competition from annual to biennial. Thus, there will be no competition in fiscal year 2014, and the biennial competition will commence with a solicitation in fiscal year 2015. DMR remains committed to enabling international collaborations through the usual routes of supplements to existing grants, and through the NSF International Science and Engineering efforts at https://www.nsf.gov/od/iia/ise/index.jsp.

Eight International Materials Institutes have been supported by DMR and the final five are completing their awards in fiscal year 2014. These efforts have enabled an actively internationally-engaged materials research workforce. DMR has decided to sunset this program and no further competitions will be run.

The Computational and Data-Driven Materials Research (CDMR) program was announced one year ago through a Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 12-122). The response to this was good and some outstanding proposals that complement DMR’s other programs are being awarded this summer. For the upcoming window (fiscal year 2014), CDMR will not be a separate program. Interested Principal Investigators should consult with the Program Directors of DMR’s Condensed Matter and Materials Theory program (CMMT).

Sincerely,

Mary Galvin
Division Director
Division of Materials Research