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Dear Colleague Letter

The Division of Earth Sciences Realigns the Disciplinary Research Funding Program Portfolio with Four New Programs

Announces the launch of four new programs designed to realign the division’s support for Earth sciences research, expand support for a broader range of award sizes and project scopes and better meet the evolving needs of the research community.
Announces the launch of four new programs designed to realign the division’s support for Earth sciences research, expand support for a broader range of award sizes and project scopes and better meet the evolving needs of the research community.

Dear Colleagues:

The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) is excited to announce four new programs:

  • Chemical Evolution of the Solid Earth and Volcanology (CESEV)
  • Life and Environments through Time (LET)
  • Structure and Physics of the Solid Earth (SPSE)
  • Water, Landscape, and Critical Zone Processes (WaLCZ)

These programs reflect a realignment of the EAR disciplinary science programs to better support the Earth sciences research community. EAR leadership and staff have been working together over the past year to explore different models for how EAR could organize and manage programs, with the goal of better serving the Earth science research community. The Division recognizes that the nature of Earth science is changing, with more diversity in the breadth and scope of questions that may span multiple domains of research. The new programs are broad in scope to make it simpler to find a review home for a research proposal. The programs are designed to more readily support disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary science and provide greater flexibility to support a wider range of award sizes and project scopes. While these changes realign previous disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs, the overall scope of science supported by the Division remains unchanged.

So that prospective proposers may better understand these changes, EAR encourages all interested parties to read the new solicitations, review additional information provided on the EAR website, and attend one or more of the upcoming informational webinars.

The new program solicitations are published and currently accepting proposals. There are no deadlines, so investigators can submit proposals at any time in response to the new solicitations. Thirty days after the posting of these new solicitations, the existing disciplinary programs, Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry (GG), Geomorphology and Land-use Dynamics (GLD), Geophysics (PH), Hydrologic Sciences (HS), Petrology and Geochemistry (CH), Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology (SGP), and Tectonics (TE) will be archived and no longer accept new proposals. The archiving of these programs accompanies the prior archiving of the Critical Zone Network (CZNet), Cooperative Studies of the Earth’s Deep Interior (CSEDI), and Frontier Research in Earth Sciences (FRES). EAR continues to welcome proposals that take bold, interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the Earth.

When the existing programs are archived, proposals in process but not yet submitted will need to be submitted to one of the new programs following the proposal preparation instructions in the respective solicitations. All proposals currently under review or submitted prior to the program archive date will be reviewed and evaluated according to those solicitations. EAR Instrumentation and Facilities (IF), Geoinformatics (GI), and Centers for Innovation and Community Engagement in Solid Earth Geohazards will continue in their current forms.

Sincerely,

Alexandra Isern

Assistant Director

Directorate for Geosciences

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