CISE Research Initiation Initiative Webinar

The NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) seeks to award grants intended to support research independence among early-career academicians who specifically lack access to adequate organizational or other resources. It is expected that funds obtained through this program will be used to support untenured faculty or research scientists (or equivalent) in their first three years in a primary academic position after the Ph.D., but not more than six years after completion of their Ph.D. for proposals submitted in 2022, and not more than five years after completion of their Ph.D. for proposals submitted after 2022. Applicants for this program may not yet have received any other grants or contracts in the PI role from any department, agency, or institution of the federal government, including from the CAREER program or any other program, post-PhD, regardless of the size of the grant or contract, with certain exceptions as noted below. Serving as co-PI, Senior Personnel, Postdoctoral Fellow, or other Fellow does not count against this eligibility rule.

The major change in this year’s solicitation is the requirement that proposals may only be submitted by (1) institutions of higher education not currently classified as a Doctoral University with "Very High Research Activity (R1 institutions) according to the Carnegie Classification, and (2) by non-profit, non-academic institutions.  The requirements in previous solicitations regarding “essential resources” for student support have been removed, as has been the requirement for minimum level of PI support.