Funder: National Science Foundation
Due Dates: July 15, 2025 (CAREER) | Rolling (Other proposals)
Funding Amounts: Typical awards: up to 3 years for unsolicited proposals; 5 years for CAREER; single-PI budgets usually support one grad student and up to one month PI time/year; larger for multi-PI projects.
Summary: Supports fundamental research on fluid dynamics phenomena, including turbulence, bio-fluid physics, AI/machine learning in fluid dynamics, and related experimental, theoretical, and computational studies.
Key Information: Proposals accepted anytime except for CAREER (annual July deadline); proposals must comply with NSF PAPPG or will be returned without review.
Description
The National Science Foundation's Fluid Dynamics program funds fundamental research to advance understanding of the physics of fluid flow phenomena. The program is part of the Transport Phenomena cluster and supports projects that use experimental, theoretical, and/or computational approaches. Research should contribute to basic scientific knowledge and may address:
- Turbulence and transition (including high Reynolds number and high-speed flows)
- Bio-fluid physics and bio-inspired flows
- Non-Newtonian fluid mechanics
- Bubble dynamics (e.g., cavitation, drag reduction, acoustofluidics)
- Microfluidics and nanofluidics
- Wind and ocean energy harvesting (including joint NSF-DOE topics)
- Fluid-structure interactions (including joint NSF-AFOSR topics)
- Canonical configurations for validation and database development
- Artificial intelligence/machine learning for modeling and control of fluid flows
- Instrumentation and flow diagnostics
Proposals that use fluid flows only as boundary conditions or driving forces, or that focus primarily on particulates, materials processing, sensors/controls, or biological systems, may be more appropriate for other NSF programs.
Due Dates
- Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) proposals: July 15, 2025 (annual July deadline)
- All other unsolicited proposals: Accepted anytime (rolling submission)
- RAPID, EAGER, and GOALI proposals: Accepted anytime, but must be discussed with the program director before submission
Funding Amount
- Unsolicited proposals: Awards generally up to 3 years
- CAREER awards: 5 years
- Typical single-investigator budgets: Support for one graduate student (or equivalent) and up to one month of PI time per year
- Multi-investigator projects: Larger budgets possible
- Larger budgets: Must be discussed with the program director prior to submission
Recent award amounts and abstracts can be viewed on the NSF program page.
Eligibility
- Open to U.S.-based researchers and institutions eligible for NSF funding, including universities, colleges, and certain non-profit and for-profit organizations.
- No cost-sharing or matching required.
- Proposals must comply with the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG).
Application Process
- Submission: Proposals must be submitted via NSF FastLane, Research.gov, or Grants.gov.
- Compliance: All proposals must strictly follow the requirements in the current NSF PAPPG. Non-compliant proposals will be returned without review.
- Proposal types: Unsolicited research, CAREER, RAPID, EAGER, GOALI, and proposals for conferences/workshops/supplements (discuss with program director before submission for special types).
- Review: Proposals are evaluated for intellectual merit and broader impacts.
Additional Information
- Proposals should clearly articulate the novelty and/or potentially transformative nature of the work, its importance to engineering science, and potential societal or industrial impact.
- For proposals with budgets much larger than typical, prior discussion with the program director is required.
- Joint funding areas exist with the Department of Energy (DOE) and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for specific topics.
- Proposals focused on other aspects (e.g., particulates, materials, sensors, biological systems) may be redirected to more appropriate NSF programs.
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Contact Information