Engineering (ENG): Electrical, Communications, and Computing Systems (ECCS)

The U.S. National Science Foundation, through its Directorate for Engineering and Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems, administers the Engineering: Electrical, Communications, and Computing Systems opportunity. The program supports foundational engineering research that can advance next-generation devices, circuits, networks, and system architectures. The solicitation covers three programs: Electronic, Photonic, Magnetic, and Quantum Devices; Circuits and Systems for Communications and Sensing; and Energy, Power, Control, and Learning. Research fitting within one program as well as multidisciplinary research spanning more than one program is welcomed. NSF emphasizes foundational research and states that proposals do not need to promise a near-term product, deployment, commercial outcome, or later-stage development to be competitive. The opportunity seeks intellectually ambitious and potentially transformative research, including both systematic advances on prior scholarship and bold, high-risk inquiries that could reshape fields. Relevant work may challenge prevailing paradigms, develop new theories or methods, create research tools or datasets, or open new lines of inquiry. Areas described in the solicitation include semiconductors, artificial intelligence, computing, communications, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, quantum information science and engineering, communications and sensing, signal processing, control, optimization, learning, networked multi-agent systems, and power and energy systems. Proposed budgets and project durations must be commensurate with the scope of the work. The estimated program budget is 110000000, with an estimated 245 to 300 awards, subject to the availability of funds. Awards may be standard grants or continuing grants. The solicitation identifies measures of success that proposals should advance, including research publications or other scholarly outputs, establishment or expansion of datasets, development of patents, establishment of new technologies or techniques, support for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, and training of undergraduate and graduate students in specific critical areas. Voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. The solicitation states that indirect cost limitations and other budgetary limitations are not applicable. NSF also encourages investigators to consider mechanisms described in the applicable Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide for preliminary or time-sensitive work and notes that investigators may consider longer awards, including requests for up to five years of support where appropriate. Eligible proposer categories are those identified in Chapter I.E of the applicable NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide. The solicitation specifically states that unaffiliated individuals are not eligible to submit proposals. There are no restrictions or limits on who may serve as principal investigator, the number of proposals an organization may submit, or the number of proposals a principal investigator or co-principal investigator may submit. Proposers are strongly encouraged to email a one-page project summary to the appropriate cognizant Program Director before submitting a full proposal and to discuss the proposed idea and program fit well in advance. This communication is for guidance on scope and does not constitute review or influence funding decisions. Full proposals may be submitted through Research.gov or Grants.gov and must follow the applicable NSF preparation requirements. Research.gov submissions follow the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, while Grants.gov submissions follow the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide. Collaborative proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations must use Research.gov. Letters of intent and preliminary proposals are not required. Proposals are accepted anytime, with no fixed final application deadline stated. NSF evaluates proposals using the National Science Board approved Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria. Review may involve ad hoc review, panel review, internal NSF review, or a combination. After an initial compliance check, an NSF Program Officer reviews the proposal, and in most cases three or more external experts also participate in review. Program inquiries should be directed according to the research area. The EPMQD Program Team can be reached at eccs-epmqd@nsf.gov, the CSCS Program Team at eccs-cscs@nsf.gov, and the EPCL Program Team at eccs-epcl@nsf.gov. For Research.gov system questions, the NSF IT Service Desk is available at rgov@nsf.gov or 1-800-381-1532, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday except federal holidays. Grants.gov support is available at support@grants.gov or 1-800-518-4726. Award notifications are made to the submitting organization by an NSF Grants and Agreements Officer. Standard NSF award conditions and reporting requirements apply, including annual project reports and a project outcomes report for the general public unless the award notice provides otherwise. Because proposals are accepted anytime, this opportunity is treated as continuously open rather than as a recurring fixed-deadline competition.

Align the project clearly with EPMQD, CSCS, or EPCL scope; emphasize foundational, intellectually ambitious, potentially transformative research; address Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts; make the budget and duration commensurate with the work; discuss fit with a Program Director well before submission.