Title: KDI: Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence in the Information Age
Date: November 3, 1998
KDI:
Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence
in the Information Age
_____________________________________________
Revised Proposal Solicitation
NSF 99-29
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN REVISED SINCE IT WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON
NOVEMBER 3, 1998. FASTLANE IS NOW REQUIRED FOR THE SUBMISSION OF BOTH
PREPROPOSALS AND FULL PROPOSALS. PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGES IN THE SECTION
ON PROPOSALS SUBMISSION.
DEADLINES
PREPROPOSALS (REQUIRED): FEBRUARY 1, 1999
FULL PROPOSALS: MAY 17, 1999
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
The National Science Foundation promotes and advances scientific
progress in the United States by competitively awarding grants for
research and education in the sciences, mathematics and engineering.
To get the latest information about program deadlines, to download
copies of NSF publications, and to access abstracts of awards, visit the
NSF Web site at:
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SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
GENERAL INFORMATION
Program Name: KDI: Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence in the
Information Age
Short Description/Synopsis of Program:
Recent advances in computer power and connectivity are reshaping
relationships among people and organizations, and transforming the
processes of discovery, learning, and communication. These advances
create unprecedented opportunities for providing rapid and efficient
access to enormous amounts of knowledge and information; for studying
vastly more complex systems than was hitherto possible; and, for
increasing in fundamental ways our understanding of learning and
intelligence in living and engineered systems. NSF's Knowledge and
Distributed Intelligence (KDI) theme is a Foundation-wide effort to
promote the realization of these opportunities. Proposals are solicited
from individuals or groups for research that is inherently
multidisciplinary or that, while lying within a single discipline, has
clear impact on at least one other discipline. With a budget of
approximately $50 million, KDI anticipates funding 40-50 proposals of
varying size and duration.
Cognizant Program Officer(s): Dr. Richard Hilderbrandt, Program
Officer, Room 1055S, MPS/CHE, telephone (703)306-1844, e-mail:
rhilderb@nsf.gov.
Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Nos.:
47.041 Engineering Grants
47.049 Mathematical and Physical Sciences
47.050 Geosciences
47.070 Computer and Information Science and Engineering
47.074 Biological Sciences
47.075 Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
47.076 Education and Human Resources
47.078 Polar Programs
ELIGIBILITY
* Limitation on the categories of organizations that are eligible to
submit proposals: As described in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG),
NSF 99-2.
* PI eligibility limitations: As described in the GPG.
* Limitation on the number of proposals that may be submitted by an
organization: None
AWARD INFORMATION
* Type of award anticipated: Standard Grant
* Number of awards anticipated in FY 99: 40-50 awards
* Amount of funds available: Approximately $50 million will be available
for this initiative in FY 1999
* Anticipated date of award: September 1999
PROPOSAL PREPARATION & SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
* Proposal Preparation Instructions
* Letter of Intent requirements: None
* Preproposal requirements: Preproposal is required.
* Proposal preparation instructions: Standard NSF Grant Proposal Guide
instructions with exceptions described in announcement
* Supplemental proposal preparation instructions: See instructions in
announcement
* Deviations from standard (GPG) proposal preparation instructions: See
instructions in announcement
* Budgetary Information
* Cost sharing/matching requirements: None
* Indirect cost (F&A) limitations: None
* Other budgetary limitations: Up to $1 million per year for up to 3
years
* FastLane Requirements
* FastLane proposal preparation requirements: FastLane use mandatory for
both preproposals and full proposals
* FastLane point of contact: FastLane Project Officer,
telephone: (703)306-1145, e-mail: fastlane@nsf.gov
* DEADLINE DATES
* Preproposal Deadline 12:00 noon, local time, February 1, 1999
* Full Proposal Deadline 12:00 noon, local time, May 17, 1999
* Note: Local time means time at the submitting institution.
* PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION
* Merit Review Criteria: Standard National Science Board approved
criteria
* AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION
* Grant Award Conditions
* Special grant conditions anticipated: None anticipated
* Special reporting requirements anticipated: None
INTRODUCTION
The recent growth in computer power and connectivity has changed the
face of science and engineering. The future promises continued
acceleration of these changes. The challenge today is to build upon the
fruits of this revolution.
This rise in power, connectivity, content, and flexibility is so
fundamental that it is dramatically reshaping relationships among people
and organizations, and quickly transforming our processes of discovery,
learning, exploration, cooperation, and communication. It permits us to
study vastly more complex systems than was hitherto possible and
provides a foundation for rapid advances in understanding of learning
and intelligent behavior in living and engineered systems. Today's
challenge is to realize the full potential of these new resources and
institutional transformations.
Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence (KDI) is a Foundation-wide effort
designed to catalyze this next step.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The National Science Foundation (NSF) aims to achieve, across the
scientific and engineering communities, the next generation of human
capability to generate, gather, model, and represent more complex and
cross-disciplinary scientific data from new sources and at enormously
varying scales; to transform this information into knowledge by
combining, classifying, and analyzing it in new ways; to deepen our
understanding of the cognitive, ethical, educational, legal, and social
implications of new types of interactivity; and to collaborate in
sharing this knowledge and working together interactively.
The anticipated payoffs of KDI research include:
* Deep, far-reaching scientific discovery
* Increases in scientific productivity, and in the timeliness and
quality of the results
* Increased ability to handle problems of greater complexity, scale, and
structure
* The creation of new scientific and engineering communities to exploit
novel discoveries
* Enhancements in science and engineering education through development
of richer learning tools, technologies, and environments, and more
universal access to richer resources and tools
* Enhanced understanding of the processes and results of learning and
applications thereof
* A more complete understanding of the fundamental processes of
distributed intelligence in natural and artificial systems and their
application
* An understanding of the legal, ethical, and societal implications of
the increased capability to gather and access information
* Enhanced ability to communicate and transfer new understanding and
technological innovations to society
* Advances in statistical data reduction, data visualization, data
mining, and data organization for retrieval so as to utilize vast stores
of data
* Improved methods for expressing, computing with, and evaluating
different types of uncertainties in real-world data
To achieve the aims of KDI, proposals are solicited from individuals or
groups for research that is inherently multidisciplinary or that, while
lying within a single discipline, has clear impact on at least one other
discipline. (Throughout, the term multidisciplinary is intended to
include interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research.)
In FY 1999, KDI will have three foci: Knowledge Networking (KN);
Learning and Intelligent Systems (LIS); and New Computational Challenges
(NCC). This document describes the three KDI foci, and serves as a
solicitation for proposals in all three areas. We anticipate that
research on many important problems will span the foci of KN, LIS, and
NCC.
KN focuses on attaining new levels of knowledge integration, information
flow, and interactivity among people, organizations, and communities.
LIS emphasizes research that advances basic understanding of learning
and intelligence in natural and artificial systems and supports the
development of tools and environments to test and apply this
understanding in real situations.
NCC emphasizes new computational approaches to frontier science and
engineering problems as well as problems involving data intensive
computations and simulations.
More detailed information about the three foci and their particular
emphases follows.
* Knowledge Networking (KN)
* Learning and Intelligent Systems (LIS)
* New Computational Challenges (NCC)
Knowledge Networking
Introduction
Knowledge Networking research aims to build the scientific bases for
attaining new levels of interactivity and flow of information and
knowledge among people, organizations, and communities. Thus, it will
enable scientists, engineers, and other members of society to act in
concert to address ever more complex scientific and societal problems.
Goals of Knowledge Networking
The goals of Knowledge Networking (KN) are:
* to understand the fundamental processes through which knowledge is
created, communicated, validated, and valued in distributed systems of
information, both natural and engineered, and
* to improve the technical, social, educational, and economic
performance of knowledge generation and use, collaborative computation,
and remote interaction.
KN will support multidisciplinary research on developing and employing
the next generation of communication networks, associated information
repositories, collaborative technologies, and knowledge management
techniques to gather, create, distribute, use, and evaluate knowledge in
new and secure ways. This explicitly includes research on the human,
behavioral, social, and ethical dimensions of knowledge networking.
Anticipated outcomes of Knowledge Networking research include:
* enhanced communication across disciplines, languages, and cultures
* improved processing and integration of knowledge from different
sources, domains, and non-text media types
* increased effectiveness of teams, organizations, classrooms, or
communities that work together across distances or over time
* deeper understanding of the ethical, legal, and social implications of
new developments in connectivity
Research Emphases
KN will emphasize three broad areas of knowledge networking:
foundational research; prototype development and research; and ethical,
social, and behavioral research. These areas are described more fully
below. The examples given below are meant to be illustrative, not
limiting.
Foundational Research
The foundations for KN require basic research on organizing, distilling,
securing, and collectively acting upon information through dynamic
distributed processes; methods for building and linking complex data
structures, computations, and knowledge processes; and tools for
navigating, gathering, and displaying widely scattered and disparate
information. These foundations focus on transforming information into
knowledge and broadly disseminating that knowledge. The usage of these
tools in transforming and disseminating scientific knowledge will depend
critically on the participation of scientists and engineers working in
the specific knowledge domains of their expertise and on the processes
of scientific research in those domains.
Processes and Dynamics of Distributed Intelligence
* Computational aspects of distributed intelligence: dynamic task
allocation, interaction, coordination, process and organization
representation, collective learning, consistency management, protocol,
negotiation
* Cognition by groups, teams, and organizations
* Dynamics, adaptation and evolution of knowledge networks with
particular attention paid to the utilization of domain specific
knowledge and processes
* Pathologies in large-scale distributed knowledge systems, such as
malicious agents, viruses, overload, "knowledge storms"
Managing Heterogeneity and Achieving Interoperability
Computational and organizational foundations for coupling models,
knowledge, functionality, and human activities across scientific
disciplines and within different branches of individual disciplines,
including:
* Managing heterogeneity and interoperability in dimensions such as
syntax, semantics, scale, and structure
* Composition of distributed models and activity
* The use of discipline-specific scientific information and processes in
the design of knowledge interoperability criteria within and between
disciplines
Computational Infrastructure, Tools and Environments
* Secure and efficient network and communications infrastructures for
interactivity, including approaches to resource-limited and real-time
interactivity
* Security, validation, authentication, and credibility of information
* Large-scale remote data acquisition, distributed data analysis,
experiment and sensor control, and simulation; especially interactive
and real-time aspects
* Distributed knowledge: sharable ontologies, processes for distributed
classification and taxonomy, collaborative knowledge construction,
representation and filtering tools, digital libraries and repositories
across disciplines and application domains, and translation of
representations
Prototype Development and Research
KN requires basic research and the accumulation of experience in
creating, using, and understanding the performance of domain-specific
prototype knowledge networks.
* Constructing and using working prototypes of domain-specific,
multidisciplinary knowledge networks and collaboratories. Of specific
interest are prototypes and experiments that are compatible across
networks and disciplines, accessible to outside communities, and
inclusive of disaggregated or virtual teams and members of very
different disciplines
* Studies of the physical, behavioral, and organizational design of
knowledge networks and electronic collaborative work environments,
including organizational and decision-making processes and problems
specific to individual scientific disciplines
* Development of engineering tools and methods for designing,
reproducing, and extending knowledge networks
* Empirical studies of knowledge networks as arenas for scientific
experimentation, data gathering, analysis, and decision making
Ethical, Social and Behavioral Research on Knowledge Networks
Knowledge networks create new patterns of information flow, interaction,
and organization that require basic research into their social,
political, ethical, and economic characteristics. Normative and
empirical research are needed to address complex problems raised by the
new technologies envisioned under KN.
Knowledge Dissemination and Sustainable Use of Knowledge Networks
* Cognitive and social processes of creating, developing, maintaining,
and dismantling knowledge networks
* Intellectual property, privacy, confidentiality and credibility of
information and of participants in knowledge networks
* Adapting knowledge networks to human needs, preferences, and
abilities, including cognitive, cultural, economic, and educational
differences in the access, use, and benefit from knowledge networks
Social Integration and Impacts of Knowledge Networking
* New methodologies, metrics, and investigations of the scientific,
technical, economic, and human performance capabilities and the social,
organizational, and economic impacts of knowledge networks
* Ethical, social, political, legal, and economic processes that
influence the creation, use, ownership, and governance of knowledge
networks
* Creation, distribution, life course, and other characteristics of
"knowledge capital"
Further description of these and other themes appears on the KDI web
page (http://www.nsf.gov/kdi) under KN examples and themes. Address
questions regarding the KN focus to kn@nsf.gov.
LEARNING AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
Introduction
Efforts to understand the nature of learning and intelligence, and the
realization of these capacities in the human mind, are among the most
fundamental activities of science. The goal of LIS is to stimulate
research that will advance and integrate concepts of learning and
intelligence emerging from theoretical and experimental work in a
variety of disciplines, including education, cognitive science, computer
science, neuroscience, engineering, social science, and physical
science. Accordingly, LIS encompasses studies of learning and
intelligence in a wide range of systems, including (but not limited to)
the nervous systems of humans or other animals; networks of computers
performing complex computations; robotic devices that interact with
their environments; social systems of human or non-human species; and,
formal and informal learning situations. LIS also includes research that
promotes the development and use of learning technologies across a broad
range of fields. Development of new scientific knowledge on learning and
intelligent systems, and its creative application to education and
learning technologies, are integral parts of this solicitation.
There are two parallel and compelling reasons for focusing on the
general area of learning and intelligent systems:
First, there has been a convergence of techniques and ideas addressing
questions in cognitive science and behavior of intelligent systems. For
example, there has been a growing use of neural networks, pattern
recognition, visualization, simulation, nonlinear dynamical systems
analysis, and probabilistic and statistical learning theory in these
fields. As another example, researchers in many disciplines -- including
biochemistry, biophysics, neuroscience, and cognitive science -- are
studying how the nervous system changes as a result of experience, at
levels ranging from individual synapses, to neural circuits, to brain
systems subserving complex perceptual and cognitive functions. Although
concepts and methods differ across levels of analysis, a growing
integration across levels is creating fruitful theoretical frameworks
and rich bodies of data for advancing our understanding of learning and
intelligent systems.
Second, as our knowledge and understanding of learning, intelligent
systems, and information technologies grows, so does the need to
integrate and apply this understanding within a broad social context.
Research on associated technologies and systems can and has enabled
better understanding of learning and cognition and has led to better
classroom practice. Integrating research with prototyping in these
critical areas promises rapid advances in both theory and application.
Research Emphases
LIS seeks projects that propose:
1. To identify, investigate, and model the ways natural and artificial systems operate in order to arrive at unifying principles that explain:
* How learning and intelligent behavior occur in humans, in other
natural systems, and in artificial systems
* The types of learning tasks and decision making that are best suited
for each
* The kinds of information and decisions each characteristically
produces or creates
* The impact of interactions among alternative interactive learning
environments, social contexts and experiences
2. To enhance the ability of students and researchers to learn and to
create by developing a comprehensive set of learning and research tools,
methods and technologies that use biological, behavioral, cognitive,
linguistic, social, and educational concepts with interactive,
collaborative, and multisensory technologies, and are accessible to
people with varied abilities, knowledge, and expectations
3. To further basic research designed to develop fundamental knowledge
concerning the nature of learning and intelligence in natural or
artificial systems, and to apply such knowledge in a variety of
situations such as education, learning technologies, design of robotic
devices and smart instrumentation, and networks of computer systems.
Further description of these and other themes appears on the KDI web
page (http://www.nsf.gov/kdi) under LIS examples and themes. Address
questions regarding the LIS theme to lis@nsf.gov .
NEW COMPUTATIONAL CHALLENGES
Introduction
New Computational Challenges (NCC) focuses on research and tools to
discover, model, simulate, display, and understand complex systems or
complicated phenomena; to control resources or deal with massive volumes
of data in real time, particularly distributed resources or data; to
represent, predict, and design complex systems; and to understand their
behaviors. NCC builds on the success, but broadens the scope, of prior
NSF efforts such as the Grand Challenge initiatives.
NCC aims to enable wide scientific collaboration and effective
management of complex systems. This will require significant advances in
hardware and software to handle multiple representations, scales, and
structures; to enable distributed collaboration among disparate
communities; and to facilitate real-time interactions and control.
Many phenomena are too complicated to understand in detail from simple
observation or by reduction to isolated components and often require the
coupling of disciplinary scientists and engineers and those involved in
enabling methods and technologies in order to produce new ways to
approach previously intractable problems. The very structure of the
problem --- its mathematical, logical, or computational form --- may
change as scale, level of resolution, or granularity changes. Many
important problems require multiple data types, qualitative information,
feedback during the computation to steer it, and a variety of numerical
and symbolic computations. Advances in raw computing power have outpaced
the effectiveness of existing tools and the degree to which they will
scale to large numbers of distributed systems. The development of
meaningful simulations that combine disparately structured models into
new types of simulations is critical. While understanding complex
phenomena is obviously important, predicting their behavior and
potentially controlling or changing it, and doing so in real time, alter
the fundamental nature of the problem and introduce enormous challenges
across a broad spectrum of science and engineering research.
Research Emphases
As noted above, many scientific and engineering problems are encompassed
by new challenges in computation. In the first KDI competition, in
Fiscal Year 1998, NCC emphasized the first two of the themes shown
below. For Fiscal Year 1999 NCC welcomes proposals across the entire
spectrum of computational challenges, and five additional themes have
been added:
1. Scientific and engineering problems involving interactions between
phenomena of different scales or structures;
2. Problems requiring a dynamic interplay between computations and data;
3. Effective modeling and simulation of extremely complex phenomena;
4. Development of enabling technologies for large-scale or widely
distributed computing;
5. Effective management and manipulation of data;
6. Amplifying intelligent behavior and dealing with uncertainty;
7. Smart instrumentation.
Several of these research emphases overlap with other areas of KDI.
Problems of scale and structure, and interplay between computations and
data, are discussed briefly below:
* Problems of Scale and Structure
Problems involving multiple scales in space or time occur throughout
engineering and science. Examples include inferring macroscopic
properties of a material from its microstructure; turbulence, which
plays a critical role in fluid flows as varied as mixing of fuel and air
in combustion engines, airflow around an airplane, and blood flow in the
heart; scaling of flow in porous media from the pore level to the field
level, which has important applications to oil recovery and
environmental issues; and fluid circulation in the oceans and the
atmosphere. The brain, a dynamic, highly-connected, multi-level
organization, involves both scale and structure. Overlapping sets of
complex computational problems are those concerning phenomena that arise
from interactions among large numbers of relatively simple objects or
elements. Examples include the complex perceptual and cognitive
phenomena that arise from interactions among neurons in the brain; the
behavior of the immune system in responding to antigens; social
behaviors in animals ranging from insects to humans; human economic and
social activities; and, the operation of distribution networks such as
power grids and communication systems.
* Interplay Between Computations and Data
Better understanding of complex phenomena now requires a dynamic
interplay between computations and data, often in real time. Most
simulations are entirely initial-value in style: guess at a start,
compute, see what happens, then change the guess. Simulations that could
adapt to intermediate results or changing data would greatly reduce the
number of iterations. In addition, some problems require this adaptive
interplay for effective solution. These include command-control problems
such as air traffic control, dispatch systems, radar and sonar
identification, and other recognize-and-respond problems. Resource
management and process control problems, especially with time
constraints, are also of this kind.
Data-mining problems are of a different nature. Here the idea is to
discover "unusual" items in a large dataset. Examples arise in
seismology, high-energy physics, astronomy, credit card fraud, and
management and protection of networked resources such as databases or
computers.
Another kind of problem is combining different kinds of data. There are
difficulties in validating data, assessing the effects of individual
errors and their combinations, and in representing and visualizing data;
practical methods for a multiplicity of large-scale datasets are needed.
Understanding of complex phenomena often depends on mapping different
kinds of data against each other. Examples include tracking any time
evolution or spatial evolution of phenomena against a spatial database
(GIS, satellite and other map data), such as agricultural data, erosion
and floods, epidemics, and other ecological/environmental phenomena; and
mapping measurements of a behavior against measurements of physiological
change, e.g., speech or vision against brain activity.
The examples given in the preceding paragraphs are meant to be
illustrative and not limiting. Further description of these and other
themes appears on the KDI web page (http://www.nsf.gov/kdi) under NCC
examples and themes. Address questions regarding the NCC theme to
ncc@nsf.gov .
ELIGIBILITY
Eligibility requirements are as described in Chapter I, Section D, WHO
MAY SUBMIT PROPOSALS, of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), NSF 99-2.
Multi-institutional arrangements are permitted and partnerships with
industry are encouraged.
AWARD INFORMATION
In the FY 1998 KDI competition, NSF received 697 proposals and made 40
awards for a total of approximately $51 million. Individual awards
ranged from approximately $300,000 to almost $3,000,000 over three
years. A list of the FY 1998 KDI awards is available on the NSF web
site at http://www.nsf.gov/kdi.
For the FY 1999 competition NSF solicits proposals for any funding
amount up to $1.0 million per year for up to three years, and expects to
make grants at a wide variety of award sizes and durations. Based on
the results of the FY 1998 competition, NSF expects to fund
approximately 40-50 three-year KDI awards in FY 1999, depending on the
quality of submissions and the availability of funds. In exceptional
cases of compelling justification and promise, awards for up to five
years may be considered. All awards will be made as grants subject to
specified reporting procedures. Approximately $50 million will be
available for KDI in FY 1999.
PROPOSAL PREPARATION & SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
THE FOLLOWING SECTION ON PREPROPOSAL SUBMISSION HAS BEEN CHANGED SINCE
THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON NOVEMBER 3, 1998
Preproposals
Preproposals are required for KDI in FY 1999. Full proposals will be
accepted only from proposers who submit preproposals.
Although all requested information must be provided, NSF recognizes that
some details may change as proposers develop full proposals. For
example, investigators may be added, tentative budget plans may be
modified, or the scope of the project may be altered. Such changes are
acceptable.
Submission instructions for preproposals (and full proposals) are below
in paragraph B.
A. Preproposal Preparation Instructions
The following section on preproposal submission has been changed since
the announcement was originally posted on November 3, 1998.
Preproposals, submitted through FastLane, must contain the following
information. (All page limits are single-spaced pages prepared in
accordance with the proposal format instructions in the Section II.C of
the NSF Grant Proposal Guide, NSF 99-2.)
* Cover Page. To insure proper handling of KDI preproposals this page
must include:
1. One of the following choices for the data item "For Consideration by
NSF Organization Unit": KDI/KN, KDI/LIS, or KDI/NCC. If the proposed
project encompasses more than one focal area, designate the area most
closely related to the proposal. (This information will be used only to
facilitate assignment of preproposals to review panels.)
2. The Program Announcement, NSF 99-29.
3. The Closing Date for preproposals, 02/01/99.
4. A check in the box marked "If this is a preproposal check here"
5. In addition to the Principal Investigator (PI) NSF allows up to 4
individuals to be listed as Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) on a
proposal. Many KDI preproposals will involve more than 5 researchers,
however. In this case the additional researchers can be listed in the
Senior Personnel category. (On the FastLane FORM SELECTOR screen, click
on 'Add/Modify Non Co-PI Senior Personnel')
* Project Summary Provide a brief description of the project,
identifying the scientific research problems to be addressed, and the
methodologies to be used, and the potential outcomes.
* Project Description Goals and Objectives (Maximum 5 pages): Discuss
the goals, objectives, and anticipated impact of the proposed project.
Make clear that the proposed project is a research project, that it is
multidisciplinary, and that it fits within the themes contained within
this announcement. Note that multidisciplinary, in the KDI sense,
implies that research advances will be made in two or more fields, or
that cutting-edge research within one discipline will have significant
positive impacts on other fields. It is the nature of the work, not the
number of investigators or their departmental affiliations that makes a
project multidisciplinary.
* Budget Outline: Prepare a one-page cumulative budget for the full
duration of the project. The budget need not be detailed, but should
be sufficient for reviewers to grasp the intended scale of the proposed
project. To create a cumulative budget use the following steps: 1) On
the "Budget Selector" screen click on "New", then "1", and then
"Create"; 2) Enter the cumulative budget on the screen provided.
FastLane will print the budget data on a Budget Year 1 page, and a
cumulative page. The Year 1 page will be ignored by the reviewers.
* Biographical Sketches: For all senior personnel (PI, Co-PI, other
senior personnel; see Appendix C of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG),
NSF 99-2, for a definition of senior personnel) provide a brief
curriculum vitae including educational background, relevant experience,
and up to 5 publications most closely related to the research. DO NOT
INCLUDE CONFLICT OF INTEREST INFORMATION.
B. Preproposal Submission & Due Date
Preproposals must be submitted to FastLane via the submitting
institution's Sponsored Research Office. They must be received at NSF
by noon, local time on February 1, 1999. Local time means time at the
submitting institution. Upon submission, the Sponsored Research Office
may get warning messages about missing forms. These messages can be
ignored if the above forms are included in the proposal. It is not
necessary to send in a signed Cover Sheet (Form 1207) for preproposals.
C. Conflicts of Interest.
Ensuring that reviewers do not have conflicts of interest can be
difficult when, as for KDI, many proposals involve multiple
investigators and multiple institutions. To assist NSF in identifying
conflicts of interest, the following information should be sent to
kdi-conflicts@nsf.gov with your proposal number included in the
following subject line: KDI Conflict Information for 99#####
1. Project Personnel. List all project personnel in alphabetical order,
in the form last name, first name, role (e.g., Smith, Jane, consultant).
2. Institutions. List in alphabetical order all institutions involved in
the project.
3. Potential Reviewers with Conflicts of Interest. List in alphabetical
order all persons who have a conflict of interest with any of the
project's senior personnel (PI, Co-PI, other senior personnel). In
particular, list all persons falling into the conflict of interest
categories specified in Section II.D.6.c-e of the GPG. Provide this
information in the following format: last name, first name, institution,
nature of conflict, project personnel the conflict is with. For example,
if Thomas Jones of the University of Michigan recently co-authored an
article with Peter Brown, a Co-PI on the proposed project, the
corresponding list entry would read as follows: Jones, Thomas,
University of Michigan, co-author on article, Brown.
You can obtain the number of your proposal from FastLane as soon as
your proposal has been submitted by your Sponsored Projects Office.
This e-mail information should be sent immediately after FastLane
submission or the processing of your proposal may be delayed.
D. Preproposal Review
Preproposals will be evaluated through external peer review by
multidisciplinary panels. Reviewers will evaluate the potential of the
project to be developed into a strong full proposal, in light of the NSF
merit review criteria described in the Proposal Review section of this
announcement.
On the basis of the review the proposer will receive feedback either
encouraging or discouraging submission of a full proposal. The
reviewers' written comments and a summary of the panel discussion will
also be provided. It is strongly suggested that proposers follow the
preproposal review advice.
Full Proposals
A. Proposal Preparation Instructions
GPG Guidelines
Full proposals submitted in response to this program announcement should
be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines
contained in the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), NSF 99-2, except as
described below. The complete text of the GPG is available
electronically on the NSF Web site at: . Paper
copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications
Clearinghouse, telephone 301.947.2722 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.
Please note carefully the page limits for the various parts of the
proposal, as well as the margin and font size limits.
FastLane Submission Required
KDI proposals must be submitted through the NSF FastLane system for
electronic proposal preparation and submission. (See FastLane
Requirements below.)
Identifying Program Announcement Number on Cover Sheet
Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement number
(nsf99-29) in the program announcement/solicitation block on the NSF
Form 1207, "Cover Sheet for Proposal to the National Science
Foundation." Compliance with this requirement is critical to
determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to
submit this information may delay processing.
Project Personnel
In addition to the Principal Investigator (PI) NSF allows up to 4
individuals to be listed as Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) on a
proposal. Many KDI proposals will involve more than 5 researchers,
however. In this case the additional researchers can be listed in the
Senior Personnel category. (On the FastLane FORM SELECTOR screen, click
on 'Add/Modify Non Co-PI Senior Personnel')
Additions and Exceptions to GPG Guidelines
* The Conflicts of Interest lists that are required as part of the
preproposal (see Preproposal Preparation Instructions) must be revised
to reflect any changes occurring since the time of preproposal
submission. The revised lists must be submitted via email to
kdi@nsf.gov by noon, local time, May 10, 1999.
* The Biographical Sketches submitted with the full proposal need not
include the conflict of interest information requested in Section
II.D.6.c-e of the GPG.
* On the proposal cover page KDI/KN, KDI/LIS or KDI/NCC must be selected
as the NSF organization to consider the proposal.
* The Project Description file uploaded to FastLane must contain the
following parts in the specified order (all page limits are
single-spaced pages). The Project Description file uploaded to FastLane
will be longer than 15 pages. This is acceptable, as long as part (1),
the Project Description narrative, does not exceed 15 pages.
1. Project Description (maximum 15 pages). Follow the GPG
instructions about what to include, with the following exception:
Results from Prior NSF Support should not be placed here, and should not
be counted toward the page limit. Note that KDI does not allow the group
proposal format in which the Project Description may exceed 15 pages.
2. Appropriateness for KDI & Roles of Project Personnel (maximum 1
page). Justify the appropriateness of the proposed project for KDI,
making clear that it is a research project, and that it would make
substantive contributions to at least two disciplines. Identify the
scientific fields encompassed by the project, and explain how the
project personnel provide the necessary expertise in these fields. Make
sure that the roles of all Senior Personnel (PI, Co-PIs, and Other
Senior Personnel) are clearly described.
3. Results from Prior NSF Support (maximum 2 pages for each PI and
Co-PI). See the GPG for instructions.
4. Dissemination of Results, and Institutional Commitment (maximum
2 pages). Describe the plans for dissemination of the results, and the
institutional commitment as to space and equipment. The discussion of
institutional commitment should include the information provided in
standard proposals on the Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources
form (Proposal Section H; see the GPG), as well as a description of any
cost-sharing or other special institutional commitments. The Facilities,
Equipment, and Other Resources form should not be completed.
5. Performance Goals (maximum 1 page). Describe realistic
performance goals for each year.
6. Management Plan (maximum 1 page). Explain how the project will
be managed, including arrangements for collaboration across institutions
or departments.
7. Letters of Cooperation/Commitment (if any; no page limit)
Letters of cooperation from consultants, and letters from participating
organizations describing cost-sharing commitments. These letters must be
included in the electronic FastLane proposal; hard copies will not be
accepted. (Proposers should request letters in electronic form, or scan
hard copies to generate an electronic version.)
* The Conflicts of Interest lists that are required as part of the
preproposal (see Preproposal Preparation Instructions) must be revised
to reflect any changes occurring since the time of preproposal
submission. These lists, whether they have been revised or not, must be
submitted via email as simple ASCII Text Files to kdi-conflicts@nsf.gov
by May 19, 1999. The e-mail message should contain the proposal number
obtained from FastLane embedded in the following subject line: KDI
Conflict Information for 99#####
B. Budgetary Information
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is optional for proposals submitted in response to this
announcement.
Any proposed cost sharing must be shown on line M on the proposal budget
(NSF Form 1030). The amount of cost sharing must be shown in the
proposal in enough detail to allow NSF to determine its impact on the
proposed project. Documentation of availability of cost sharing must be
included in the proposal.
Only items that would be allowable under the applicable cost principles,
if charged to the project, may be included as the grantee's contribution
to cost sharing. Contributions may be made from any non-Federal source,
including non-Federal grants or contracts, and may be cash or in-kind
(see OMB Circular A-110, Section 23). It should be noted that
contributions counted as cost-sharing toward projects of another Federal
agency may not be counted towards meeting the specific cost-sharing
requirements of the NSF grant.
All cost-sharing amounts are subject to audit. Failure to provide the
level of cost-sharing reflected in the approved grant budget may result
in termination of the NSF grant, disallowance of grant costs and/or
refund of grant funds to NSF.
C. Full Proposal Due Dates
Full proposals MUST be submitted by 12:00 noon, local time, May 17,
1999. Copies of the signed proposal cover sheet must be submitted in
accordance with the instructions identified below.
Revised Conflict of Interest lists reflecting changes since the time of
preproposal submission must be submitted by email to
kdi-conflicts@nsf.gov by May 19, 1999.
Submission of Signed Cover Sheets. The signed proposal Cover Sheet (NSF
Form 1207) must be forwarded to the following address and received by
NSF by June 1, 1998:
KDI
National Science Foundation
KDI - FastLane Cover Sheet
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
A proposal may not be processed until the complete proposal (including
signed Cover Sheet) has been received by NSF.
D. FastLane Requirements.
KDI proposals must be submitted electronically using the NSF FastLane
system for electronic proposal preparation and submission. The FastLane
system is available through the Web at the FastLane Web site at
http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov. The Sponsored Research Office (SRO or
equivalent) must provide a FastLane Personal Identification Number (PIN)
to each Principal Investigator (PI) to gain access to the FastLane
"Proposal Preparation" application. PIs that have not submitted a
proposal to NSF in the past must contact their SRO to be added to the
NSF PI database. This should be done as soon as the decision to prepare
a proposal is made.
In order to use NSF FastLane to prepare and submit a proposal, the
following are required:
Browser (must support multiple buttons and file upload)
* Netscape 3.0 or greater
* Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or greater
PDF Reader (needed to view/print forms)
* Adobe Reader 3.0 or greater
PDF Generator (needed to create project description)
* Adobe Acrobat 3.01 or greater
* Aladdin Ghostscript 5.10 or greater
A list of registered institutions and the FastLane registration form are
located on the FastLane Web page.
Proposers are strongly advised to ensure that the required registrations
have been completed, and the necessary software is available, well
before the proposal submission deadline. The FastLane instructions
specify how to obtain help if needed.
PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION
All proposals will undergo external peer review by multidisciplinary
panels. Proposals will be assigned to review panels on the basis of the
issues addressed in the project. Proposals will not be separated by
focal area (KN, LIS, NCC) for review (or funding decisions).
A. Merit Review Criteria.
Review of proposals submitted to NSF are solicited from peers with
expertise in the substantive area of the proposed research or education
project. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with
the oversight of the review process. NSF invites the proposer to
suggest at the time of submission, the names of appropriate or
inappropriate reviewers. Special care is taken to ensure that reviewers
have no immediate and obvious conflicts with the proposer. Special
efforts are made to recruit reviewers from non-academic institutions,
minority serving institutions, adjacent disciplines to that principally
addressed in the proposal, etc.
Proposals will be reviewed against the following general merit review
criteria established by the National Science Board. Following each
criterion are potential considerations that the reviewer may employ in
the evaluation. These are suggestions and not all will apply to any
given proposal. Each reviewer will be asked to address only those that
are relevant to the proposal and for which he/she is qualified to make
judgments.
What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and
understanding within its own field or across different fields? How well
qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project?
(If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of prior
work.) To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore
creative and original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the
proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to resources?
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while
promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed
activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g.,
gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will
it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as
facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the
results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological
understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to
society?
Integration of research and education
One of the principal strategies in support of NSF's goals is to foster
integration of research and education through the programs, projects and
activities it supports at academic and research institutions. These
institutions provide abundant opportunities where individuals may
concurrently assume responsibilities as researchers, educators, and
students and where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse education
with the excitement of discovery and enrich research through the
diversity of learner perspectives. PIs should address this issue in
their proposal to provide reviewers with the information necessary to
respond fully to both NSF merit review criteria. NSF staff will give it
careful consideration in making funding decisions.
Integrating diversity into NSF programs, projects, and activities
Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of all citizens
-- women and men, underrepresented minorities, and persons with
disabilities -- is essential to the health and vitality of science and
engineering. NSF is committed to this principle of diversity and deems
it central to the programs, projects, and activities it considers and
supports. PIs should address this issue in their proposal to provide
reviewers with the information necessary to respond fully to both NSF
merit review criteria. NSF staff will give it careful consideration in
making funding decisions.
B. Merit Review Process and Associated Customer Service Standard.
Most of the proposals submitted to NSF are reviewed by mail review,
panel review, or some combination of mail and panel review. All
proposals are carefully reviewed by at least three other persons outside
NSF who are experts in the particular field represented by the proposal.
Reviewers will be asked to formulate a recommendation to either support
or decline each proposal. A program officer assigned to manage the
proposal's review will consider the advice of reviewers and will
formulate a recommendation. In most cases, proposers will be contacted
by the program officer after his or her recommendation to award or
decline funding has been approved by his or her supervisor, the division
director. This informal notification is not a guarantee of an eventual
award. NSF will be able to tell applicants whether their proposals have
been declined or recommended for funding within six months for 95
percent of proposals in this category. In those cases where a proposal
is being considered for joint funding by separate divisions,
directorates, or agencies, NSF will be able to notify applicants within
nine months in 95 percent of proposals. The time interval begins on the
proposal deadline or target date or from the date of receipt, if
deadlines or target dates are not used by the program. The interval
ends when the division director accepts the program officer's
recommendation.
In all cases, after final programmatic approval has been obtained, the
award recommendation then goes to the Division of Grants and Agreements
for review of business, financial and policy implications and the
processing and issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are
cautioned that only a Grants Officer may make commitments, obligations
or awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of funds. No
commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical or
budgetary discussions with an NSF program officer. A principal
investigator or organization that makes financial or personnel
commitments in the absence of a grant or cooperative agreement signed by
the NSF Grants Officer does so at its own risk.
AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION
A. Notification of the Award.
Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a
Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements. Organizations
whose proposals are declined will be advised as promptly as possible by
the cognizant NSF Program Division administering the program. Verbatim
copies of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, will be
provided automatically to the Principal Investigator.
B. Grant Award Conditions.
An NSF grant consists of: (1) the award letter, which includes any
special provisions applicable to the grant and any numbered amendments
thereto; (2) the budget, which indicates the amounts, by categories of
expense, on which NSF has based its support (or otherwise communicates
any specific approvals or disapprovals of proposed expenditures); (3)
the proposal referenced in the award letter; (4) the applicable grant
conditions, such as Grant General Conditions (NSF GC-1)* or Federal
Demonstration Partnership Phase III (FDP) Terms and Conditions* and (5)
any NSF brochure, program guide, announcement or other NSF issuance that
may be incorporated by reference in the award letter. Electronic mail
notification is the preferred way to transmit NSF grants to
organizations that have electronic mail capabilities and have requested
such notification from the Division of Grants and Agreements.
* These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Web site
at: . Paper copies may be obtained from the NSF
Publications Clearinghouse, telephone 301.947.2722 or by e-mail from
pubs@nsf.gov.
Cooperative agreement awards also are administered in accordance with
NSF Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions (CA-1). More
comprehensive information on NSF Award Conditions is contained in the
NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, (NSF 95-26) available
electronically on the NSF Web site. The GPM also is available in paper
copy by subscription from the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The GPM may be ordered through
the GPO Web site at: .
C. Reporting Requirements.
For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing
grants), the PI must submit an annual project report to the cognizant
Program Officer at least 90 days before the end of the current budget
period.
Within 90 days after expiration of a grant, the PI also is required to
submit a final project report. Approximately 30 days before expiration,
NSF will send a notice to remind the PI of the requirement to file the
final project report. Failure to provide final technical reports delays
NSF review and processing of pending proposals for that PI. PIs should
examine the formats of the required reports in advance to assure
availability of required data.
NSF has implemented a new electronic project reporting system, available
through FastLane, which permits electronic submission and updating of
project reports, including information on: project participants
(individual and organizational); activities and findings; publications;
and, other specific products and contributions. Reports will continue
to be required annually and after the expiration of the grant, but PIs
will not need to re-enter information previously provided, either with
the proposal or in earlier updates using the electronic system.
Effective October 1, 1998, PIs are required to use the new reporting
format for annual and final project reports. PIs are strongly
encouraged to submit reports electronically via FastLane. For those PIs
who cannot access FastLane, paper copies of the new report formats may
be obtained from the NSF Clearinghouse as specified above. NSF expects
to require electronic submission of all annual and final project reports
via FastLane beginning in October, 1999.
D. New Awardee Information.
If the submitting organization has never received an NSF award, it is
recommended that the organization's appropriate administrative officials
become familiar with the policies and procedures in the NSF Grant Policy
Manual which are applicable to most NSF awards. The "Prospective New
Awardee Guide" (NSF 97-100) includes information on: Administration and
Management Information; Accounting System Requirements and Auditing
Information; and Payments to Organizations with Awards. This
information will assist an organization in preparing documents that NSF
requires to conduct administrative and financial reviews of an
organization. The guide also serves as a means of highlighting the
accountability requirements associated with Federal awards. This
document is available electronically on NSF's Web site at:
.
CONTACTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
General inquiries should be made to kdi@nsf.gov. For questions related
to use of FastLane, contact FastLane Project Officer, (703)306-1145,
e-mail: fastlane@nsf.gov.
OTHER PROGRAMS OF INTEREST
The NSF Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding opportunities for
research and education in science, mathematics, and engineering.
General descriptions of NSF programs, research areas, and eligibility
information for proposal submission are provided in each chapter.
Beginning in fiscal year 1999, the NSF Guide to Programs only will be
available electronically. Many NSF programs offer announcements
concerning specific proposal requirements. To obtain additional
information about these requirements, contact the appropriate NSF
program offices listed in Appendix A of the GPG.
Any changes in NSF's fiscal year programs occurring after press time for
the Guide to Programs will be announced in the NSF E-Bulletin, available
electronically on the NSF Web site at: . The direct
URL for the E-Bulletin is http://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin.
Subscribers can also sign up for NSF's Custom News Service to find out
what funding opportunities are available.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and education in
most fields of science and engineering. Grantees are wholly responsible
for conducting their project activities and preparing the results for
publication. Thus, the Foundation does not assume responsibility for
such findings or their interpretation.
NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists, engineers and
educators. The Foundation strongly encourages women, minorities, and
persons with disabilities to compete fully in its programs. In
accordance with federal statutes, regulations, and NSF policies, no
person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin, or
disability shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the
benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or
activity receiving financial assistance from NSF (unless otherwise
specified in the eligibility requirements for a particular program).
Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities
(FASED) provide funding for special assistance or equipment to enable
persons with disabilities (investigators and other staff, including
student research assistants) to work on NSF-supported projects. See the
program announcement or contact the program coordinator at (703)
306-1636.
The National Science Foundation has Telephonic Device for the Deaf (TDD)
and Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) capabilities that enable
individuals with hearing impairments to communicate with the Foundation
regarding NSF programs, employment, or general information. TDD may be
accessed at (703) 306-0090 or through FIRS on 1-800-877-8339.
PRIVACY ACT AND PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENTS
The information requested on proposal forms and project reports is
solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of
1950, as amended. The information on proposal forms will be used in
connection with the selection of qualified proposals; project reports
submitted by awardees will be used for program evaluation and reporting
within the Executive Branch and to Congress. The information requested
may be disclosed to qualified reviewers and staff assistants as part of
the review process; to applicant institutions/grantees to provide or
obtain data regarding the proposal review process, award decisions, or
the administration of awards; to government contractors, experts,
volunteers and researchers and educators as necessary to complete
assigned work; to other government agencies needing information as part
of the review process or in order to coordinate programs; and to another
Federal agency, court or party in a court or Federal administrative
proceeding if the government is a party. Information about Principal
Investigators may be added to the Reviewer file and used to select
potential candidates to serve as peer reviewers or advisory committee
members. See Systems of Records, NSF-50, "Principal
Investigator/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal Register
267 (January 5, 1998), and NSF-51, "Reviewer/Proposal File and
Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 268 (January 5, 1998).
Submission of the information is voluntary. Failure to provide full and
complete information, however, may reduce the possibility of receiving
an award.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated
to average 120 hours per response, including the time for reviewing
instructions. Send comments regarding this burden estimate and any
other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions
for reducing this burden, to: Reports Clearance Officer; Information
Dissemination Branch, DAS; National Science Foundation; Arlington, VA
22230.
YEAR 2000 REMINDER
In accordance with Important Notice No. 120 dated June 27, 1997,
Subject: Year 2000 Computer Problem, NSF awardees are reminded of their
responsibility to take appropriate actions to ensure that the NSF
activity being supported is not adversely affected by the Year 2000
problem. Potentially affected items include: computer systems,
databases, and equipment. The National Science Foundation should be
notified if an awardee concludes that the Year 2000 will have a
significant impact on its ability to carry out an NSF funded activity.
Information concerning Year 2000 activities can be found on the NSF web
site at http://www.nsf.gov/oirm/y2k/start.htm.
CFDA:CFDA#47.041, 47.049, 47.050, 47.070, 47.074, 47.075, 47.076, 47.078
OMB: 3145-0058
P.T.: 04, 18, 35, 36, 38
KW.: 0414007, 0503000, 0607004, 0607070, 0706000, 0710015, 404000,
410000, 414000,
1002030, 1004000, 1010000, 1016000
NSF 99-29 (Replaces NSF 98-55)
Electronic dissemination only