How to Use This Guide

The Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding opportunities offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research and education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The Guide includes broad, general descriptions of programs and activities for each NSF Directorate, as well as sources for more information. It also offers links to other information sources, including NSF Directorate home pages; to related publications such as program announcements and solicitations that contain additional proposal or eligibility information; and to the E-Bulletin for deadline and target date information.

E-Bulletin

The NSF E-Bulletin is a web-based document that announces current deadline and target dates for the submission of proposals to the Foundation. The E-Bulletin is updated daily on the NSF web site. Subscribers to NSF's Custom News Service (CNS) can receive, via email, a monthly edition of the E-Bulletin (see information on CNS below). Each edition covers a 4-month period that includes the current month and the following 3 months. A search form in the E-Bulletin lets you find deadlines and target dates for a selected period of time for each research area. For individuals who do not have web access, a print-on-demand monthly edition is available. The E-Bulletin can be accessed at http://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin/.

How to Obtain NSF Publications

NSF strongly encourages electronic dissemination of its documents and offers several ways of obtaining publications electronically.

• Online Document System (ODS)—Includes all forms and publications available electronically from NSF. The ODS lets you browse through NSF's electronic publications catalogue and offers a search capability that lets you search by document type, publication title, publication number, and keyword. The ODS home page is located at http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/. For a list of all current NSF documents available in electronic format, visit the ODS Index at http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/index.htm.
• Custom News Service (CNS)—An e-mail and web-based alert service designed to allow quick and easy access to NSF news, publications, and information. CNS lets users create a personal profile in which they choose the types of information they are interested in, and notifies them via e-mail when new documents matching their profile are added to NSF’s Online Document System. E-mails include links to the electronic location of each document and/or full text of short documents. A weekly e-mail alert listing all documents added the previous week is available under "Notification Preferences" when you set up or modify your profile.
  To sign up for NSF's Custom News Service, visit http://www.nsf.gov/home/cns/. (Note: You must have an e-mail address to use CNS.)
• Other Methods—NSF also makes its publications available to users without web access. For information on other methods of obtaining NSF publications, see http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/start.htm, or call the NSF Information Center at 703-292-5111 (TDD: 703-292-5090; e-mail: info@nsf.gov).