Funder: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Due Dates: April 2, 2025 | February 4, 2026
Funding Amounts: $6,000,000 to $10,000,000 total per competition; 5 to 9 awards expected; projects up to 3 years duration
Summary: Supports interdisciplinary AI and geosciences collaborations to advance AI methods and achieve breakthroughs in Earth system science.
Key Information: Proposals must address geosciences advancement, AI impact, and interdisciplinary partnerships; limit of two proposals per PI/co-PI per competition.
Description
The Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG) program by NSF aims to foster innovative partnerships between experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and geosciences to accelerate scientific understanding of the Earth system. The program supports projects that either advance AI techniques or apply sophisticated AI methods in novel ways to solve significant geoscience research questions.
Key features of CAIG projects include:
- Addressing important geoscience challenges while simultaneously improving AI methodologies.
- Building interdisciplinary teams of 2-3 lead senior/key personnel from AI, mathematics, statistics, computer science, and geosciences.
- Enabling breakthroughs by overcoming methodological or capacity bottlenecks in geoscience research through AI.
- Developing workforce capacity via educational and broadening participation activities.
The program encourages the use of existing NSF-supported advanced computing and cyberinfrastructure resources, including cloud computing platforms and initiatives like the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot and the National Discovery Cloud for Climate.
Due Dates
- April 2, 2025 (5 p.m. local time)
- February 4, 2026 (5 p.m. local time)
Funding Amount
- Total anticipated funding per competition: $6,000,000 to $10,000,000
- Estimated number of awards per competition: 5 to 9
- Project duration: Up to 3 years
- Awards are standard or continuing grants
Eligibility
- Eligible applicants include:
- U.S.-based Institutions of Higher Education (two- and four-year, including community colleges)
- Non-profit, non-academic organizations directly associated with educational or research activities (e.g., museums, observatories)
- Federally recognized Tribal Nations
- Other Federal Agencies and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) following specific guidelines
- No restrictions on who may serve as Principal Investigator (PI)
- No limit on proposals per organization
- Limit of two proposals per individual as Senior/Key Personnel (PI or co-PI) per competition; excess proposals will be returned without review
Application Process
- Proposals must be submitted via Research.gov or Grants.gov following NSF Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) guidelines.
- Proposal titles must include the prefix "CAIG:" to identify submissions.
- Full proposals must explicitly address three Specific Requirements in the Project Description under clear subheadings:
- Geosciences Advancement: How the project advances geosciences research or education.
- AI Impact: Novel integration or development of AI methods overcoming key bottlenecks.
- Partnerships: Description of interdisciplinary team formation, collaboration mechanisms, and cross-training plans.
- Cloud computing resource requests (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) may be included and should be justified in a supplementary document; if requesting CloudBank support, include the keyword "CloudAccess" in the Project Summary.
- Voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited.
- Collaborative proposals from multiple organizations must be submitted via Research.gov.
Additional Information
- The program strongly encourages broadening participation in STEM, including leadership and involvement of underrepresented groups and diverse institutions such as HBCUs, Tribal Colleges, MSIs, and community colleges.
- Proposals will be reviewed for Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts, as well as how well they meet the program’s Specific Requirements.
- NSF provides standard award conditions and reporting requirements.
- The program does not fund new hardware development or major cyberinfrastructure projects but encourages leveraging existing NSF cyberinfrastructure resources.
External Links
Contact Information