Fostering environments where a multitude of ideas converge to tackle challenges and drive progress while leading strategic programs that define the leading edge.
The U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities (NSF OIA) takes a strategic, agency-wide perspective to ensure a highly functioning organizational structure that benefits both NSF and its external communities. NSF OIA's strategic activities include:
- Enabling future innovations through cross-disciplinary science and engineering.
- Advancing the science, technology, education and mathematics ecosystem by creating new institutional and geographic opportunities.
- Investing in cutting-edge research infrastructure and instrumentation.
- Ensuring NSF's capacity for data- and evidence-driven insights for decision-making.
- Catalyzing knowledge-sharing and integration.
These activities are crosscutting by design and have significant impact across multiple priority areas for NSF.
OIA catalyzes initiatives that capitalize on interdisciplinary scientific and engineering concepts and generates technology-based solutions that benefit society and the economy. OIA strengthens the nation as a knowledge-based society by fostering the development of a broadly representative and enthusiastic cadre of research leaders. Additionally, OIA administers prestigious honorary award programs and professional internships for aspiring scientists and engineers, including the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellows. OIA provides policy and programmatic analytical support to the NSF director and deputy director and working in partnership with NSF directorates and offices, plays a leadership role in shaping agency-wide policies and new strategic directions that promote cross-directorate, programmatic and operational unity and alignment.
On this page
Integrative Activities
OIA's Integrative Activities (IA) section provides sustained strategic investments and coordination for programs that support research across NSF, including academic research infrastructure and instrumentation programs (NSF Major Research Instrumentation and NSF Mid-scale Research Infrasturcture-1) and crosscutting, collaborative research programs (NSF Growing Convergence Research and NSF Science and Technology Centers). The IA section also provides support for other important NSF-wide functions, such as knowledge-sharing among stewards of awards made to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and fosters other agency activities, such as supporting and expanding NSF's Alan T. Waterman and National Medal of Science honorary award programs.
IA supports the agency through policy analysis and special projects that address agency priorities, and plays a leadership role, in close partnership with other NSF directorates and offices, in improving the agency's management practices and promoting unity and alignment in support of its mission.
Research Capacity and Competitiveness
OIA's Research Capacity and Competitiveness (RCC) section supports the development and enhancement of STEM research capacity by helping individuals, teams, institutions and states develop the ability to perform research effectively, efficiently and in a sustainable manner. RCC provides a pathway for exploring ideas that are intellectually risky and potentially transformative in scientific and societal impact, while also developing capacity for an integrated and engaged research enterprise. RCC is home to NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Excellence in Research program.
Evaluation and Assessment Capability
OIA's Evaluation and Assessment Capability (EAC) section studies how NSF programs and activities benefit and impact participants, aiding in decision-making about future NSF investments. EAC also provides centralized resources and guidance for data collection, analysis, evaluation design, surveys and enterprise analytics. EAC engages stakeholders in identifying learning priorities which drive a broad portfolio of projects that use qualitative and quantitative methods, from simple descriptive analysis to advances in modeling, network analysis and machine learning.
Knowledge management
OIA's knowledge management team analyzes frameworks within NSF to suggest enhancements that will ultimately lead to a culture of knowledge-sharing that endures through the passage of time and employee turnover. The team initiates various strategies such as managing internal policies, conducting "lunch-and-learn" sessions, organizing listening sessions and carrying out interviews with departing staff to extract valuable insights. Their primary objective is to foster a mindset within the agency that values continuous knowledge-sharing, ensures easy access to information and encourages collaboration among all NSF staff.
Who we are
Since 1998, OIA staff have helped to generate solutions for economic and societal benefit, ensured that NSF programs are open and accessible to broad stakeholders, honored hundreds of scientists and engineers and helped to develop the next generation of STEM talent.
Leadership
Dr. Alicia Knoedler
Office Head
