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NSF 22-040

Dear Colleague Letter: Supplemental Funding Requests to Conduct US-India Collaborative Research

February 7, 2022

Dear Colleague:

With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Directorate for Engineering (ENG) wish to notify the community of their intention to support supplemental funding requests for active research awards to conduct United States - India (US-India) Collaborative Research. These supplemental funding requests are anticipated to be up to $100,000 but may not exceed 20% of the original award amount. Funded supplements will provide support for periods of up to one year, but may not exceed the existing award periods.

This collaborative research is coupled with the Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) supported by the Indian Department of Science and Technology under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems. In particular, this DCL is coupled with the following hubs:

Each of the participating TIHs has a corresponding call for proposals to inform its respective research community of its intention to pursue US-India collaborative research, and these documents are posted at https://usiai.iusstf.org/building-collaborations. Each of the Indian calls for proposals defines eligibility, proposal formats, topical areas, selection criteria and mechanisms for funding the joint work.

For additional guidance on the scope, please email the NSF-India program team at india-collaboration@nsf.gov. There will be a virtual workshop on March 15 and 22, 2022, with presentations from the participating TIHs and opportunities for networking. NSF-funded researchers are encouraged to utilize the information provided at https://usiai.iusstf.org/building-collaborations to learn about specific topics, workshops, and networking opportunities.

ELIGIBILITY

Active NSF-funded researchers within NSF's Computer and Network Systems Core; Human-Centered Computing (HCC); Information Integration and Informatics (III); Robust Intelligence (RI); Cyber-Physical Systems; Foundational Research in Robotics; Smart and Connected Communities; Energy, Power, Control, and Networks; and Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems programs may propose, as part of their supplemental funding requests, collaborative projects with their Indian counterparts, where the Indian counterparts apply to one of the six TIH calls for proposals. NSF-funded researchers can identify a potential Indian counterpart via information posted at https://usiai.iusstf.org/building-collaborations. Supplemental funding awarded pursuant to this DCL may be used by the project team to support the time of the NSF principal investigator (PI), co-PIs, other senior personnel, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and/or undergraduate students or for their travel to conduct collaborative research with Indian researchers. Note that NSF funding can apply only to NSF researchers and their travel, not to Indian collaborators.

HOW TO APPLY

All supplemental funding requests will be subject to NSF's merit review process, as described in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). There are two parts to the application: on the NSF side, the US PIs submit a request for supplemental funding to an existing project; on the Indian side, the PIs apply to a TIH for funding for a new project or a supplement to an existing TIH-funded project. Each NSF supplemental funding request must follow the guidance specified in PAPPG Chapter VI.E.5 which includes the following sections: 1) a summary of the proposed work, and 2) justification of the need for supplemental funds. The proposed work must be in the same scope as the proposal submitted in response to a call from a participating TIH, and those sections should be the same for both the US and Indian submissions. The content in the supplemental funding request should be organized by addressing the following items:

  • Summary of the active research award, including original research vision, goals, activities, and accomplishments, spanning Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts and how this award is related to the proposed work (about a page);
  • A summary of the proposed work (this should be the same as submitted to the collaborating TIH);
  • Bio-sketch of the Indian lead partner (one page, uploaded as a Supplementary Document); and
  • Justification of the need for the supplemental funds (as described in the PAPPG)

PIs interested in submitting supplemental funding requests (or with other questions pertaining to this DCL) are strongly encouraged to email the NSF-India program team at india-collaboration@nsf.gov with a one-paragraph summary of the request. In that email, please identity the award which this funding would supplement.

WHEN TO APPLY

The deadline for submission of supplemental funding requests for consideration is within a week of submission of a proposal to the collaborating TIH. NSF-funded PIs are encouraged to submit by the target date of April 25, 2022, though supplemental funding requests will still be considered beyond that date.

COGNIZANT PROGRAM OFFICERS

To contact any of the program officers listed below on matters relating to this solicitation, it is highly preferable to send an email to the NSF-India program team at india-collaboration@nsf.gov. This will ensure consistent and quick responses to your queries.

  • Alex Jones (CISE/CNS) (703) 292-8950
  • Erik Brunvand (CISE/CNS) (703) 292-2767
  • Balakrishnan Prabhakaran (CISE/IIS) (703) 292-4847
  • Erion Plaku (CISE/IIS) (703) 292-8695
  • Donald Wunsch (ENG/ECCS) (703) 292-7102
  • Zhengdao Wang (ENG/ECCS) (703) 292-7823
  • Irina Dolinskaya (ENG/CMMI) (703) 292-7078

PIs with questions on the workshop or general topics on international collaboration are encouraged to contact Bridget Turaga (OD/OISE) at (703) 292-7320 and india-collaboration@nsf.gov.

Sincerely,

Margaret Martonosi
Assistant Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)

Susan Margulies
Assistant Director, Engineering (ENG)

Kendra Sharp
Head, Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE)