Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2023-15

NSF Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request to Congress

Download the budget overview (PDF, 1.59 MB)

On March 28, 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration released the detailed FY 2024 budget request to Congress, which firmly supports NSF’s mission to advance the frontiers of U.S. science and technology progress. The President’s FY 2024 budget request to Congress includes $11.314 billion for NSF, an increase of 18.6% from the agency’s current budget.

NSF: Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Research Initiation Initiative (CRII); Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI); Nanoscale Interactions; Biophotonics; Computer and Information Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships (CSGrad4US); Centers for Research and Innovation in Science, the Environment and Society (CRISES); Building the Prototype Open Knowledge Network (Proto-OKN); Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-2 (Mid-scale RI-2)

NIH: Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) Research Education Experiences (R25); NIH Director’s Early Independence Awards (DP5); NIDCR Small Research Grants for Analyses of Existing Genomics Data (R03); NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program (DP2); NIH Director’s Transformative Research Awards (R01); NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Program (DP1); Jointly Sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (T32)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: ONR Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) Program; FY24 Young Investigator Program; DOD, Spinal Cord Injury, Investigator-Initiated Research Award; Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Broad Agency Announcement

Department of Energy: DOE Traineeship in Accelerator Science & Technology; Science Foundations for Energy Earthshots

NASA Makes 6 Awards to Help Advance Air and Space Exploration: NASA awarded six researchers up to $600,000 for their innovative concepts to advance air and space exploration, according to an announcement on Thursday. As part of Phase II of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts—or NAIC—program, NASA selected six submissions for continued study under the program for “futuristic concepts designed to shape air and space travel decades in the future.” As noted in the announcement, NAIC funds early-stage technology concept studies. Phase II awards will continue the work of the Phase I awards. Awardees will be able to look at “potential infusion options within and beyond NASA.” The awardees are:

• Darmindra Arumugam at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the project Quantum Rydberg Radar for Surface, Topography and Vegetation which will use “next-generation dynamically tunable quantum radar technology to improve remote sensing studies of Earth and other worlds” by utilizing orbiting spacecrafts’ reflected ground signals to remove the need to deploy large antennas.

• Steven Barrett at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the project Silent, Solid-State Propulsion for Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles which will look to develop almost silent electroaerodynamic thrusters for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft which could be used to transport cargo and passengers over short distances in urban areas.

• Philip Lubin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, California, for the project PI – Planetary Defense which will give Earth the capability to quickly mitigate a disastrous impact from an asteroid or comet by pulverizing the object into small pieces that could burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

• Christopher Morrison at Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation in Seattle, Washington for the project The Nyx Mission to Observe the Universe from Deep Space – Enabled by EmberCore, a High Specific Power Radioisotope Electric Propulsion System which will use the “nuclear decay of radioactive material in a radioisotope electric propulsion system to propel a spacecraft to extremely high speeds” to allow the “intercept and study of distant and fast-moving objects in the solar system on relatively short timeframes.”

• Ronald Polidan at Lunar Resources, Inc. in Houston, Texas for the project FarView Observatory – A Large, In-Situ Manufactured, Lunar Far Side Radio Array which will develop a large radio telescope array on the moon’s far side that would be autonomously constructed using resources from the moon’s regolith—the unconsolidated debris on the moon’s surface—to potentially make unprecedented observations of the early universe.

• Lynn Rothschild at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley for the project A Flexible, Personalized, On-Demand Astropharmacy which will use bacteria to create on-demand medical drugs during extended spaceflight missions. These medications could include a class of drugs that could treat exposure to radiation or help protect astronauts’ bones.

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Energy Looks to Quantum Sensors for Grid Optimization: Quantum sensing research and development is one of the Department of Energy’s priorities, according to an agency official, as the devices show promise for electrical grid efficiency and sustainability efforts. Rima Oueid, a senior commercialization executive in Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions, discussed with Nextgov the agency’s larger goals surrounding implementing quantum information science and technology, or QIST, in existing infrastructure, emphasizing the myriad benefits of quantum sensor application.   “We are looking at quantum sensors that can be utilized for monitoring the grid, for anomaly detection and making the grid more resilient to climate change,” Oueid said.  She specified that quantum sensors––a quantum information technology currently used in Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines and atomic clocks––can report more precise data upon which critical infrastructure relies. Critical infrastructure, including the U.S. electrical grid, uses global positioning technologies to send positioning, navigation and timing information in order to operate. Oueid said that quantum sensors have the power to report PNT data directly from the electrical grid rather than from satellite-based GPS sources. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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NIST Debuts Trustworthy and Responsible AI Resource Center: The new Trustworthy & Responsible Artificial Intelligence Resource Center built by the National Institute of Standards and Technology will now serve as a repository for much of the current federal guidance on AI, featuring easy access to previously issued materials to help public and private entities alike create responsible AI systems. Formally launched on Thursday, the new AI Resource Center builds upon NIST’s AI Resource Management Framework and AI Playbook to support industry best practices in researching and developing socially responsible AI and machine learning systems absent overarching federal law. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

Question:       How do I enter a cost share? For my salary? For other personnel and expenses?

Answer:         Cost Share for personnel other than faculty is very similar to release time –

• add the person under Key personnel
• select the period (start and end dates) that the staff/admin will be devoted to the project
• select percentage.

More FAQs on Streamlyne: Please visit https://research.njit.edu/streamlyne