October 17, 2022

Dear Colleagues:

The upcoming Great American Solar Eclipses, on October 14, 2023 and April 8, 2024, provide unique opportunities for science, education and outreach that various National Science Foundation (NSF) programs seek to support through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL). The annular eclipse in 2023 will cover the western United States from Oregon to Texas while the total eclipse in 2024 will be visible from Texas to Maine with a partial solar eclipse viewable over most of the continental United States. The ease of observing these eclipses provides tremendous educational and outreach potential for the Americas. In addition, scientific advances enabled by observations of the eclipse include, understanding of the solar corona and magnetospheric, ionospheric, and atmospheric responses to changes in solar flux. The eclipses provide opportunity for ground-based observations of the solar corona to test new diagnostics enabled by instrumentation development.

The DCL welcomes proposals and supplemental funding requests to (i) the Solar-Terrestrial Research, Aeronomy, and Magnetospheric Physics programs within the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, and (ii) the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants (AAG) and Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI) programs within the Division of Astronomical Sciences. Where a proposal is not directly appropriate for a solicitation or program, please contact the cognizant program officer in the appropriate division.

Successful projects will focus on science and outreach surrounding the 2023 and 2024 Solar Eclipses. This DCL encourages projects that broaden participation of high school and undergraduate students with particular emphasis on those who are in groups that have been traditionally underrepresented and under-served in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) enterprise, such as members of racial and ethnic groups (including Blacks and African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, Native Americans including Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Native Pacific Islanders), persons with disabilities, those identifying as LGBTQ+, persons with low socio-economic status, first generation college students, and women.

Full proposals submitted in response to this DCL should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the requirements and guidance contained in the relevant program solicitation or program description and the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG). Principal Investigators (PIs) with active NSF awards under the participating programs may submit supplemental funding requests after consulting with their cognizant NSF Program Officer. Supplemental funding requests may be submitted at any time following the guidance specified in Chapter VI.E.5 of the PAPPG and this DCL.

Points of Contact:

Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences:
Lisa Winter lwinter@nsf.gov

Astronomy and Astrophysics Grants:
Carrie Black cblack@nsf.gov
Hans Krimm hkrimm@nsf.gov

Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation:
Zoran Ninkov zninkov@nsf.gov

Sincerely,

Alexandra R. Isern
Assistant Director for Geosciences

Sean L. Jones
Assistant Director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences