Engineering Research Centers

The summary for the Engineering Research Centers Federal Grant is detailed below. It contains information such as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number, who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, important deadlines, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed in the Grant Announcement Contact section. If these sections are incomplete, please visit the website of the government agency that is offering this grant.


	Federal Grant Title:	Engineering Research Centers
	CFDA Number:	47.041
	CFDA Description:	Engineering Grants
	Federal Agency Name:	National Science Foundation
	Category of Funding Activity:	Science and Technology
	Category Explanation:	Information not provided
	Opportunity Category:	Discretionary
	Funding Opportunity Number:	11-537
	Document Type:	Grants Notice
	Funding Instrument Type:	Cooperative Agreement
	Posted Date:	Apr 05, 2011
	Creation Date:	Apr 05, 2011
	Original Closing Date for Applications:	Sep 16, 2011 Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): July 15, 2011 Full Proposal Deadline(s): September 16, 2011
	Current Closing Date for Applications:	Sep 16, 2011 Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): July 15, 2011 Full Proposal Deadline(s): September 16, 2011
	Archive Date:	Information not provided
	Expected Number of Awards:	3
	Estimated Total Program Funding:	9,750,000
	Federal Grant Award Ceiling:	Information not provided
	Federal Grant Award Floor:	Information not provided
	Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:	Yes

Applicants Eligible for this Grant: Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Additional Information on Eligibility: See full proposal solicitation for details
Grant Description: The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a federal interagency research and development venture, was launched in FY 2001. Over the last decade, there has been considerable investment in fundamental research - from nanostructured materials to devices and manufacturing processes - that has revealed new phenomena and resulted in a plethora of important advances. At NSF the funding vehicles included individual grants (unsolicited and Nanoscale Exploratory Research - NERs), small teams (Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams - NIRTs), user networks such as National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN), and centers (Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers - NSECs). In addition, there were other NSF programs that supported research and education activities in nanotechnology. More information can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/nano/.At this time, some discoveries are at the phase to explore their integration into nanosystems, thus leading to adoption in applications critical for their commercial use. To enable this integration, the Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program is launching this new competition targeting the Transformational Nanotechnology of Engineered Systems Centers or NanoSystems ERCs (NERCs). These new centers will adopt and follow all the features of Generation-3 (Gen-3) ERCs.The goal of the Generation Three (Gen-3) Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program is to create a culture in engineering research and education that links discovery to technological innovation through transformational fundamental and engineered systems research in order to advance technology and produce engineering graduates who will be creative U.S. innovators in a globally competitive economy. These ERCs will be at the forefront as the U.S. competes in the 21st century global economy where R&D resources and engineering talent are internationally distributed. Recognizing that optimizing efficiency and product quality are no longer sufficient for U.S. industry to remain competitive, these ERCs will optimize academic engineering research and education to stimulate increased U.S. innovation in a global context. They will develop this culture that joins discovery and innovation, i.e., an innovation ecosystem. An innovation ecosystem includes the people, institutions, policies, and resources that promote the translation of new ideas into products and processes and services. The innovation ecosystem of Gen-3 ERCs is achieved through a symbiotic relationship between the ERC's researchers, small businesses, larger industrial and practitioner partners, and partner organizations devoted to stimulating entrepreneurship and innovation. In essence this solicitation requires that the efforts be devoted to creating, developing, and enhancing capacities in ERCs from transformational fundamental research to technology commercialization and creating a continuous pipeline in engineering education from middle school to graduate studies.In order to achieve this, Gen-3 ERCs will:Advance discovery and build bridges from science-based discovery to technological innovation to realize transformational engineered systems; Develop a culture in academe that joins research, education, and innovation to create and sustain an innovation ecosystem to enable the ERC's vision; Provide international opportunities for research and education collaboration that will prepare U.S. engineering graduates for leadership in innovation in a global economy; Form teams of diverse and talented faculty who will prepare diverse and talented domestic and international graduates to function effectively in a global world where research, design and production efforts cross national borders; Function with transformational engineering education programs that rest on partnerships with pre-college institutions to attract students to engineering and university departments to strategically impart in engineering graduates the capacity to create and exploit knowledge for technological innovation; andBuild and sustain a culture that links discovery to innovation, the ERC innovation ecosystem, which will include partnerships with members firms/practitioners to strengthen the ERC and streamline technology transfer; translational research partnerships with small firms to accelerate commercialization of high risk ERC advancements; and innovation partnerships with local level organizations to stimulate entrepreneurship and job creation and enable technological innovation.
Link to Full Grant Announcement: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf11537
Grant Announcement Contact: NSF grants.gov supportgrantsgovsupport@nsf.gov
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