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Critical Techniques, Technologies and Methodologies for Advancing Foundations and Applications of Big Data Sciences and Engineering (BIGDATA)

Status: Archived

Archived funding opportunity

This document has been archived.

Important information about NSF’s implementation of the revised 2 CFR

NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website. These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.

Important information for proposers

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Synopsis

The BIGDATA program seeks novel approaches in computer science, statistics, computational science, and mathematics leading towards the further development of the interdisciplinary field of data science. The program also seeks innovative applications in domain science, including social and behavioral sciences, education, physical sciences, and engineering, where data science and the availability of big data are creating new opportunities for research and insights not previously possible.

The solicitation invites two categories of proposals:

  • Foundations (BIGDATA: F): those developing or studying fundamental theories, techniques, methodologies, and technologies of broad applicability to big data problems, motivated by specific data challenges and requirements; and
  • Innovative Applications (BIGDATA: IA): those engaged in translational activities that employ new big data techniques, methodologies, and technologies to address and solve problems in specific application domains. Projects in this category must be collaborative, involving researchers from domain disciplines and one or more methodological disciplines, e.g., computer science, statistics, mathematics, simulation and modeling, etc.

Proposals are expected to be well motivated by specific big data problems in one or more science and engineering research domains. All proposals are expected to clearly articulate the big data aspect(s) that motivate the research. Innovative Applications proposals must provide clear examples of the impacts of the big data techniques, technologies and methodologies on applications in one or more domains.

In FY 2018, the BIGDATA program continues the cloud option that was introduced in FY 2017, in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, IBM, and Microsoft Azure (see Use of Cloud Resources, at the end of Section II, Program Description).

Before preparing a proposal in response to this BIGDATA solicitation, applicants are strongly urged to review other related programs and solicitations and contact the respective NSF program officers to identify whether those solicitations are more appropriate. In particular:

  • Proposals that focus exclusively on areas of biology supported by NSF’s Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) should be submitted to programs such as Advances in Biological Informatics that are managed by the BIO Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI; https://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=DBI);
  • Proposals specific to geosciences that respond to the community needs and requirements expressed by the geosciences community should consider the EarthCube program for Developing a Community-Driven Data and Knowledge Environment for the Geosciences (https://www.nsf.gov/geo/earthcube/);
  • For the development of robust and shared data- or software-centric cyberinfrastructure capabilities, applicants should consider the Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation - Data and Software program(CSSI; https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505505);
  • Proposals that focus on research in mathematics or statistics that is not tied to a specific big data problem should be submitted to the appropriate program within NSF’s Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS); see a list of DMS programs at https://www.nsf.gov/funding/programs.jsp?org=DMS; and

Updates and announcements

Program contacts

General Correspondence email

For general correspondence, please reply to bigdata@nsf.gov.
Chaitanya Baru
Senior Advisor for Data Science
cbaru@nsf.gov (703) 292-4541 TIP/OAD
Sylvia Spengler
Lead Program Director for BIGDATA
sspengle@nsf.gov (703)292-8930 CISE/IIS
John C. Cherniavsky
Program Director
jchernia@nsf.gov (703) 292-5136
Almadena Y. Chtchelkanova
Program Director
achtchel@nsf.gov (703) 292-8910 CISE/CCF
David Corman
Program Director, CISE/CNS
dcorman@nsf.gov (703) 292-8754 CISE/CNS
James C. French
Program Director, CISE/IIS
jfrench@nsf.gov (703) 292-8930
Nandini Kannan
Program Director
nakannan@nsf.gov (703)292-8104
Sara Kiesler
Program Director
skiesler@nsf.gov (703) 292-8643 SBE/SES
Anthony Kuh
Program Director, ENG/ECCS
akuh@nsf.gov (703) 292-2210 ENG/ECCS
Alexis Lewis
Program Director, ENG/CMMI
alewis@nsf.gov (703) 292-2624 ENG/CMMI
Bogdan Mihaila
Science Advisor
bmihaila@nsf.gov (703) 292-8235 MPS/PHY
Christina Payne
Associate Program Director, ENG/CBET
cpayne@nsf.gov (703)-292-2895 ENG/CBET
Rahul T. Shah
Program Director, CISE/CCF
rshah@nsf.gov (703) 292-2709
Ralph Wachter
Program Director, CISE/CNS
rwachter@nsf.gov (703) 292-8950 CISE/CNS
Maria Zemankova
Program Director, CISE/IIS
mzemanko@nsf.gov (703) 292-7348
Aidong Zhang
Program Director, CISE/IIS
azhang@nsf.gov (703) 292-5311

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