The overall goal of the Cyberinfrastructure for Emerging Science and Engineering Research (CESER) program is to foster the development of innovative cyberinfrastructure (CI) technologies and new means of leveraging existing CI resources to catalyze emerging areas of potentially transformative science
and engineering research, including NSF priority areas, national strategic initiatives, and international collaborative research.
The CESER Program replaces the Strategic Technologies for Cyberinfrastructure (STCI) program.
STCI's focus on supporting opportunities to advance technology across the CI ecosystem is incorporated into CESER with a new emphasis on enabling emerging science and engineering research areas.
A key programmatic objective of CESER is to support early-stage efforts by collaborative teams of domain scientists and cyberinfrastructure developers/implementers to identify and address cyberinfrastructure needs in new research areas through the development and deployment of pilot, experimental, and innovative hardware or software systems or other unique cyberinfrastructure activities that enable new pathways to discovery.
Another program objective is to encourage holistic, systematic, and multidisciplinary CI approaches to address new opportunities to enable science and engineering research.
Projects that integrate multiple cyberinfrastructure disciplines – such as computing, data infrastructure, software, workflow systems, and networking - to address an emerging scientific challenge are particularly welcomed.
CESER will also support projects that aim to expand the spectrum of research disciplines that, and users who, engage and contribute to a dynamic and enduring national research cyberinfrastructure ecosystem.
Activities proposed to this program should not be appropriate for funding by any other current programs/solicitations, and should be able to demonstrate the potential to evolve into innovative, scalable, highly useful and usable cyberinfrastructure.
Eligible projects and unique activities should address a clearly identified and described scientific rationale, explain and support the potential for transformative impacts on science or engineering research, research training, education or broader impacts, and provide a convincing explanation of why the project is not suitable for other NSF programs or solicitations.
CESER variously employs existing NSF funding mechanisms to accomplish the program's goals such as support for EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER), Conferences (workshops), Research Coordination Networks (RCNs), and targeted solicitations.
Program interests and funding opportunities will be communicated to the NSF community via Dear Colleague Letters and program solicitations.
Before developing a proposal intended for this program, investigators are strongly encouraged to discuss their ideas with the cognizant program officer associated with the CESER program to ensure that CESER is the appropriate venue for the proposal.
For general information about how to submit such proposals, please see the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (<a href="https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappg17_1/nsf17_ 1. pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappg17_1/nsf17_ 1. pdf</a>) Proposals that have been declined may not be resubmitted on the same topic without substantial revision.
Proposals violating this restriction will be returned without review.