Date

Funding Opportunity Available
Computer and Information Science and Engineering
National Science Foundation

Submission Deadline: Thursday, 15 April 2010

For additional information, please go to:
http://www.nsf.gov/cise/news/2010_microsoft.jsp


The National Science Foundation's (NSF) division of Computer and
Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Office of
Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) announce a new opportunity for the science and
engineering communities to conduct research and education activities in
cloud computing and data-intensive computing, and their applications.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Microsoft
Corporation and NSF, Microsoft will provide NSF-supported researchers
access to Microsoft's Azure services platform, complementing the
computational platforms that NSF has made available to the research
community to date.

CISE and OCI will offer funding for researchers to explore the use of
the Microsoft Azure services platform via three mechanisms:

- Supplemental funding to existing awards;
- Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER); and
- A forthcoming new program solicitation.

All of these mechanisms will be used to support any kind of computing
research and software development for any type of application associated
with the Azure services platform, perhaps in combination with the use of
other platforms.

Researchers may immediately submit a request for supplemental funding to
any existing NSF award to the Computing and Communication Foundations
(CCF) division or to OCI, prefixing the title with "ASP: Supplement: ."
Supplemental funding requests may request extension of an existing NSF
award for an additional year. Supplemental funding requests should be
submitted via FastLane no later than Thursday, 15 April 2010 to ensure
consideration in the current fiscal year. Awards that have concluded
before the supplement is awarded will not be reopened. Additional
information about requesting supplemental support is contained in Part
II of the NSF Proposal and Award Policy and Procedures Guide (PAPPG)
available at: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=papp.

Researchers may also immediately submit EAGER proposals to the CCF
division or to OCI and prefix the title with "ASP: EAGER: ." Proposals
must conform to the guidelines for preparation of EAGER proposals as
specified in Part I of the PAPPG. Please note that an EAGER submission
should satisfy the EAGER submission guidelines and is limited to a total
budget of $300K for a maximum of two years. Such proposals should be
submitted no later than Thursday, 15 April 2010 to ensure consideration
in the current fiscal year.

CISE and OCI (and possibly other NSF Directorates and Offices) also
anticipate releasing a new program solicitation to support larger,
longer duration projects that will exploit the Azure services platform.
NSF is hopeful that this solicitation will be released shortly and
posted on NSF's web site. PIs will have 90 days to respond.

Submission Deadline: Thursday, 15 April 2010.

For additional information, please go to:
http://www.nsf.gov/cise/news/2010_microsoft.jsp.