The new National Science Foundation (NSF) solicitation for the Engineering Technologies to Advance Underwater Sciences (ETAUS) Ideas Lab has recently been released.

An Ideas Lab is an intensive meeting that brings together multiple diverse perspectives to focus on finding innovative cross-disciplinary solutions to a grand challenge problem. The aim of this Ideas Lab is to bring together experts from diverse scientific and engineering backgrounds to develop innovative engineering technologies and solutions that will enable real-time and reliable sensing, communications, localization, navigation, and mapping of aquatic environments, including glaciers, rivers, lakes, and oceans, for scientific research and economic development in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner.

This Ideas Lab will seek and prioritize proposals which will measurably increase the diversity and participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM.

The workshop is planned to take place in November 2022, with a tentative in-person event scheduled for November 8-10, 2022.

The solicitation can be found at https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22617/nsf22617.pdf

Important Deadlines:
Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s): September 19, 2022
Full Proposal Deadline(s): March 01, 2023

Award Information:
Anticipated Type of Award: Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 5 to 8
An award is expected to be according to the scope and extent of the research at the level of $750,000-$1,500,000 for up to 3 years. Five to eight awards are expected depending upon availability of funds and the type, scale, and variety of project ideas developed at the Ideas Lab.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $8,200,000
The total funding available for this Ideas Lab is $8,200,000 over 3 years to 5 to 8 selected awards. Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds and compelling proposals.

Eligibility Information
Who May Submit Proposals:
The categories of proposers eligible to submit proposals to the National Science Foundation are identified in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Chapter I.E. Unaffiliated individuals are not eligible to submit proposals in response to this solicitation.

Who May Serve as PI:
There are no restrictions or limits.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:
There are no restrictions or limits.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or co-PI:
There are no restrictions or limits.