The Launching of Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) supports the launch of the careers of pre-tenure faculty whose research is in Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) fields at institutions that do not traditionally receive significant amounts of MPS funding, such as Carnegie Research 2 (R2) universities, minority-serving institutions (MSIs), predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs).
The LEAPS awards enable PIs from these institutions to initiate productive research programs and generate results useful for preparing subsequent competitive proposals to "traditional" NSF funding opportunities, such as a core program or a CAREER solicitation. A critical goal of the LEAPS-MPS Program is to develop the 21st-century STEM workforce representative of society's full spectrum of talent by increasing the participation in STEM research of members of communities underrepresented and/or under-served in STEM and the number of members of these communities who can serve as role models.
Awards are for 24 months with budgets of up to $250,000 total costs (direct plus indirect).
Proposals in response to this solicitation must be submitted for consideration to the appropriate program in one of the five MPS Divisions.
