International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE)

This International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) seeks to provide supplemental funding to current awardees to support international travel by early-career researchers in the United States to enable them to gain international research experience and perspective, and to enable closer research interaction between U.S. institutions and their foreign counterparts.

This DCL concerns opportunities for international research and education for early-career researchers, i.e., undergraduates and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career faculty members. The National Science Foundation (NSF), through the Divisions in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE), announces the International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) initiative. NSF will entertain proposals for supplemental funding for existing awardees aimed at providing early-career researchers in engineering with international experience in research and education. IREE also seeks to enhance and broaden engineering research and education activities in current engineering awards by initiating closer linkages between awardees and their foreign counterparts. IREE will support medium-duration visits by U.S. early-career researchers to collaborating institutions/laboratories outside of the United States. The visits must be related to the objectives of ongoing work in current projects, augmented by evidence of engagement with the cultural activities in the countries visited.