Decision, Risk and Management Sciences (DRMS)

The Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Program (DRMS) supports scientific research directed at increasing understanding and effectiveness of decision making by individuals, groups, organizations and society. DRMS supports research with solid foundations in theories and methods of the social and behavioral sciences. This social and behavioral science research should advance knowledge, address fundamental scientific and societal issues and have strong broader impacts. DRMS funds disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, doctoral dissertation research improvement grants (DDRIGs) and conferences in the following areas: judgment and decision making; decision analysis and decision aids; risk analysis, perception and communication; societal and public-policy decision making; management science and organizational design. The program supports the use of the RAPID funding mechanism for research that involves ephemeral data, typically tied to disasters or other unanticipated events. Much less frequently, the program also supports highly unusual, proof-of-concept, high-risk projects that are potentially transformational (Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research – EAGER). For detailed information concerning RAPID and EAGER grants, please review Chapter II.E of the NSF PAPPG. All research must be grounded in theory and generalizable. Purely algorithmic management-science proposals should be submitted to the Operations Engineering (OE) Program rather than to DRMS.

General guidance concerning the DRMS Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DDRIGs) funding opportunity includes the following:

• To assure that the proposal is appropriate for DRMS, the advisor of the doctoral student is strongly encouraged to contact one of the DRMS program directors by email prior to the preparation of the DDRIG proposal.
• DRMS DDRIG awards have a maximum duration of 12 months.
• The proposal title should start with “DDRIG in DRMS:”.
• On the cover sheet, the advisor should be listed as the principal investigator (PI) and the doctoral dissertation student as the Co-PI.
• Allowable expenses include travel to the research site, special equipment and participation fees.
• Stipends, tuition and cost-of-living support are not allowable.
• The proposal's project description should be essentially a research design (statement of the research problem, literature review, hypotheses, research site, data to be collected, methods of analysis and schedule).
• Outstanding DDRIG proposals specify how the knowledge to be created advances theoretical understanding of the subject.