This page features a list of mid-scale research projects supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
NSF supports the design and implementation of research infrastructure — including equipment, cyberinfrastructure, large-scale datasets and personnel — whose total project costs are under $100 million.
If you have questions or comments about this list, please email arockwel@nsf.gov.
Page last updated: Oct. 1, 2024
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Mid-scale Research Infrastructure - Track 1 projects
| Facility/Project | Acronym | Associated Major Facility | Location | Stage | Awardee | DIR/DIV1 | Program Officer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope Design | ngEHT | n/a | Distributed | Design | Smithsonian Institution Astrophysics Observatory | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| Next Generation Wyoming King Air Atmospheric Research Aircraft | UWKA | NCAR | Laramie, WY | Implementation | University of Wyoming | GEO/AGS | Subhashree (Shree) Mishra |
| 1.2 GHz NMR Spectrometer for National Gateway Ultrahigh Field NMR Center | -- | n/a | Columbus, OH | Implementation | Ohio State University | BIO/DBI | Robert Fleischmann |
| Consortium Proposal for CMB-S4 Design Development | CMB-S4 | CMB-S4 | Distributed | Development | University of Chicago | GEO/OPP | Vladimir O. Papitashvili |
| Compact X-ray Free-Electron Laser Project | CXFEL | n/a | Tempe, AZ | Design | Arizona State University | BIO/DBI | Robert Fleischmann |
| A world-class Neutron Spin Echo Spectrometer for the Nation: UD-NIST-UMD Consortium | -- | n/a | Gaithersburg, MD | Implementation | University of Delaware | MPS/DMR | Guebre X. Tessema |
| FABRIC: Adaptive programmaBle networked Research Infrastructure for Computer science and science Applications | FABRIC | n/a | Distributed | Implementation | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | CISE/CNS | Deepankar Medhi |
| Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System | ZEUS | n/a | Ann Arbor, MI | Implementation | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MPS/PHY | Vyacheslav (Slava) Lukin |
| National Extreme Ultrafast Science Facility | NEXUS | n/a | Columbus, OH | Implementation | Ohio State University | MPS/CHE | Kelsey D. Cook |
| SAGE: A Software-Defined Sensor Network | SAGE | n/a | Distributed | Implementation | Northwestern University | CISE/OAC | Kevin Thompson |
| Community Seafloor Geodetic Infrastructure for the Measurement of Deformation | CSGIMD | n/a | La Jolla, CA | Implementation | University of California at San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography | GEO/OCE | Gail Christeson |
| Observatory for Online Human and Platform Behavior | OOHPB | n/a | Boston, MA | Implementation | Northeastern University | SBE/SES | Joseph Whitmeyer |
| Next Generation Radar Designs | ngRD | n/a | Washington, DC | Design | Associated Universities, Inc. | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| Facility for Open Research in a Compressed Environment | FORCE | n/a | Tempe, AZ | Implementation | Arizona State University | GEO/EAR | David Lambert |
| Preliminary & Final Design of the 40T All Superconducting Magnet | 40T SCM | NHMFL | Tallahassee, FL | Design | Florida State University | MPS/DMR | Souleymane Omar Diallo |
| A Deep Soil Ecotron facility to explore belowground communities and ecosystem proces | DSE | n/a | Moscow, ID | Implementation | University of Idaho | BIO/DBI | Robert Fleischmann |
| EduceLab: Infrastructure for Next-Generation Heritage Science | EduceLab | n/a | Lexington, KY | Implementation | University of Kentucky | CISE/IIS | Sylvia Spengler |
| Designing a global measurement infrastructure to improve Internet security | GMI3S | n/a | La Jolla, CA | Design | University of California-San Diego | CISE/OAC | Kevin Thompson |
| National Silicon Carbide Research Fabrication Facility | MUSiC | n/a | Fayetteville, AR | Implementation | University of Arkansas | ENG/ECCS | Rosa Lukaszew |
| Design and Construction of a New Generation of Ocean-Bottom Seismographs for the U.S. Academic Community | ngOBS | n/a | Woods Hole, MA | Implementation | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution | GEO/OCE | Gail Christeson |
| Atmospheric Science and Chemistry mEasurement NeTwork | ASCENT | NCAR | Atlanta, GA (Distributed) | Implementation | Georgia Tech | GEO/AGS | Nicholas Anderson |
| OMEGA-EP-Pumped Optical Parametric Amplifier Line (EP-OPAL) Facility Design | NSF OPAL | n/a | Rochester, NY | Design | University of Rochester | MPS/PHY | Vyacheslav (Slava) Lukin |
| SPHERE - Security and Privacy Heterogeneous Environment for Reproducible Experimentation | SPHERE | n/a | Los Angeles, CA | Implementation | University of Southern California | CISE/OAC | Robert Beverly |
| National Testing Facility for Enhancing Wind Resiliency of Infrastructure in Tornado-Downburst-Gust Front Events | NEWRITE | NHERI | Ames, IA | Design | Iowa State University | ENG/CMMI | Joy M. Pauschke |
| Creating an Offshore Subduction Zone Observatory in Cascadia with the Ocean Observatories Initiative Regional Cabled Array | COSZO | (OOI*) | Seattle, WA | Implementation | University of Washington | GEO/OCE | Gail Christeson |
| X-rays for Life Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Agriculture, and Plant sciences | XLEAP | n/a | Ithaca, NY | Implementation | Cornell University | BIO/DBI | Steve Ellis |
| The National Quantum Nanofab | NQN | n/a | Boulder, CO | Implementation | University of Colorado | ENG/ECCS | Dominique Dagenais |
Mid-scale Research Infrastructure - Track 2 projects
| Facility/Project | Acronym | Associated Major Facilty | Location | Stage | Awardee | DIR/DIV1 | Program Officer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Magnetic Field X-Ray Beamline | HMF | n/a | Ithaca, NY | Implementation | Cornell University | MPS/DMR | Guebre X. Tessema |
| Distributed Energy Resource Connect | DERConnect | n/a | San Diego, CA | Implementation | University of California at San Diego | ENG/ECCS | Usha Varshney |
| Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array | GO-BGC | n/a | Distributed | Implementation | Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute | GEO/OCE | Kandace S. Binkley |
| Consortium: Network for Advanced NMR | NAN | n/a | Distributed | Implementation | University of Connecticut Health Center | BIO/DBI | Steve Ellis |
| Research Data Ecosystem | RDE | n/a | Ann Arbor, MI | Implementation | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | SBE/SMA | Cheryl Eavey |
| Compact X-ray Free Electron Laser | CXFEL | n/a | Tempe, AZ | Implementation | Arizona State University | BIO/DBI | Steve Ellis |
| Advanced Milimeter Survey Instrumentation in Chile | ASO | n/a | Chile | Implementation | University of Pennsylvania | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| Airborne Phased Array Radar | APAR | NCAR | Boulder, CO | Implementation | National Center for Atmospheric Research / University Corporation for Atmospheric Research | GEO/AGS | Maria Womack |
| SafeInsights: A National Research Infrastructure for Large-Scale Learning Science and Engineering (original SEER) | SafeInsights (SEER) | n/a | Houston, TX | Implementation | Rice University | EDU/DUE | Andrea Nixon, Jill Nelson, Lee Zia |
Mid-scale Research Infrastructure - Other
Divisional, including solicited and unsolicited
| Facility/Project | Mid-scale Program | Acronym | Associated Major Facilty | Location | Stage | Awardee | DIR/DIV1 | Program Officer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IceCube Upgrade, Phase 1 | I-IRP (PHY) | ICNO | ICNO | Antarctica | Implementation | University of Wisconsin | MPS/PHY GEO/PLR | William Wester, Vladimir O. Papitashvili |
| Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar | n/a | AMISR | n/a | Fairbanks, AK | Operations | SRI International | MPS/AST GEO/AGS | Roman Makarevich |
| Center for High Energy X-ray Science (NSF-CHEXS) | n/a | CHEXS | n/a | New York | Operations | Cornell University | MPS/DMR | Guebre X. Tessema |
| National Deep Submergence Facility | OFES | NDSF | n/a | Mobile | Operations | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution | GEO/OCE | Brian P. Midson |
| Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure | n/a | NHERI | n/a | Distributed | Operations | 11 Individual Awards to Various Universities | ENG/CMMI | Joy M. Pauschke |
| -- National Full-scale Testing Infrastructure for Community Hardening in Extreme Wind, Surge, and Wave Events | Track 1 | NICHE | NHERI | Miami, FL | Design | Florida International University | ENG/CMMI | Joy M. Pauschke |
| National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure | n/a | NNCI | n/a | Distributed | Operations | 16 member university consortium | ENG/ECCS | Richard Nash |
| The Keck Planet Finder | MSIP (AST) | KPF | n/a | Hawaii | Implementation | California Institute of Technology | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| Design Development of Innovative High Throughput CMB Telescope for the South Pole | MSIP (AST) | SPTMA | n/a | Antarctica | Design | University of Chicago | GEO/OPP | Vladimir Papitashvili |
| Exploring & Exploiting the Dynamic Optical Sky | MSIP (AST) | ZTF-II | n/a | Palomar Mountain, CA | Operations | California Institute of Technology | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| Large Angular Scale Polarization Survey of the Cosmic Microwave Background - Phase Two | MSIP (AST) | CLASS | n/a | Chile | Implementation | Johns Hopkins University | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| U.S. Community Access to Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network - A Time-Domain Follow-up System | MSIP (AST) | AccessLCOGTN | n/a | Distributed | Operations | Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| US Community Access to the Large Millimeter Telescope | MSIP (AST) | n/a | Mexico | Operations | University of Massachusetts Amherst | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp | |
| The Event Horizon Telescope: Resolving Black Holes in Time and Space | MSIP (AST) | RBHiTS | n/a | Distributed | Operations | Northeast Radio Observatory Corp | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| SDSS 2020: Delivering Innovative Science to the Community, Incubating the Community’s Scientific Innovators | MSIP (AST) | SDSS-V | n/a | New Mexico | Implementation | Astrophysical Research Consortium | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| The Deep Sky Every Minute: Developing the Argus Array | MSIP (AST) | n/a | Mount Laguna, CA | Design | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp | |
| BL3 Neutron Lifetime Apparatus | I-IRP (PHY) | BL3 | n/a | Knoxville, Tennessee | Implementation | Tulane University | MPS/AST | Allena Opper |
| DarkSide-20k | I-IRP (PHY) | DarkSide | n/a | Italy | Implementation | Princeton University | MPS/PHY | Darren Grant |
| Collaborative Research: Apparatus for Normalization and Systematic Control of the MOLLER Experiment | I-IRP (PHY) | MOLLER | n/a | Jefferson Lab, Newport News, VA | Implementation | 9 Individual Awards to Various Universities | MPS/AST | Allena Opper |
| Consortium Proposal for CMB-S4 Continuing Design | MSIP (AST) | CMB-S4 | CMB-S4 | Distributed | Development | University of Chicago | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| ngVLA Antenna Prototyping and Early Science | MSIP (AST) | ngVLA | ngVLA | New Mexico | Implementation | Associated Unviersities, Inc. | MPS/AST | Nigel Sharp |
| Arecibo Site | n/a | AO | n/a | Puerto Rico | Operations | GENCO | MPS/AST | Donna O'Malley |
| FABRIC Operations - Accelerating Innovation and Research | n/a | FABRIC | n/a | Distributed | Operations | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | CISE/CNS | Deepankar Medhi |
| National Extreme Ultrafast Science Facility | n/a | NEXUS | n/a | Columbus, OH | Operations | Ohio State University | MPS/CHE | Kelsey D. Cook |
| Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System (ZEUS) Multi-Petawatt Laser Facility | n/a | ZEUS | n/a | Ann Arbor, MI | Operations | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MPS/PHY | Vyacheslav (Slava) Lukin |
| Equipment: Cosmic Explorer Beamtube Experiment | I-IRP (PHY) | CEBEX | n/a | Richland, WA | Implementation | California Institute of Technology | MPS/PHY | Pedro Marronetti |
| A Synchotron X-ray National User Facility for Molecular Scinence at the Advanced Photon Source | n/a | ChemMatCARS | n/a | Argonne National Lab, Lemont, IL | Operations | University of Chicago | MPS/CHE | John Papanikolas |
| Center for High Energy X-ray Science (NSF-CHEXS) | n/a | CHEXS | n/a | Ithaca, NY | Operations | Cornell University | MPS/DMR | Guebre X. Tessema |
| Collaborative Research: The DarkSide Dark Matter Search Using Liquid Argon | I-IRP (PHY) | DarkSide | n/a | Distributed | Development | 11 Individual Awards to Various Universities | MPS/PHY | James Shank |
Biological Sciences (BIO)
- Division of Biological Infrastructure (BIO/DBI)
- Division of Environmental Biology (BIO/DEB)
- Division of Integrative Organismal Systems(BIO/IOS)
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (BIO/MCB)
- Emerging Frontiers Office (BIO/EF)
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
- Division of Computer and Network Systems (CISE/CNS)
- Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CISE/CCF)
- Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (CISE/IIS)
- Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (CISE/OAC)
Engineering (ENG)
- Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (ENG/CBET)
- Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (ENG/CMMI)
- Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ENG/ECCS)
- Division of Engineering Education and Centers (ENG/EEC)
- Office of Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities (ENG/EFMA)
Geosciences (GEO)
- Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (GEO/AGS)
- Division of Earth Sciences (GEO/EAR)
- Division of Ocean Sciences (GEO/OCE)
- Office of Polar Programs (GEO/OPP)
- Division of Research, Innovation, Synergies and Education (GEO/RISE)
Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS)
- Division of Astronomical Sciences (MPS/AST)
- Division of Chemistry (MPS/CHE)
- Division of Materials Research (MPS/DMR)
- Division of Mathematical Sciences (MPS/DMS)
- Division of Physics (MPS/PHY)
- Office of Strategic Initiatives (MPS/OSI)
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)
- Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (SBE/BCS)
- Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SBE/SES)
- National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (SBE/NCSES)
- SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SBE/SMA)
STEM Education (EDU)
- Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EDU/EES)
- Division of Graduate Education (EDU/DGE)
- Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (EDU/DRL)
- Division of Undergraduate Education (EDU/DUE)
Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP)