Design for Environmental Sustainability in Computing

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Description

The Design for Environmental Sustainability in Computing (DESC) program by NSF targets the substantial environmental impacts of computing throughout its entire lifecycle—from design and manufacturing, through deployment and operation, to reuse, recycling, and disposal. Unlike traditional focuses on run-time energy consumption, DESC emphasizes a broader set of sustainability metrics including greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), depletion of scarce resources (e.g., rare earth elements), toxic byproducts, embodied energy, heat, wastewater, recyclability, and longevity.

The program seeks transformative, interdisciplinary research that elevates environmental sustainability to a first-order system objective alongside performance, energy efficiency, and security. It encourages novel approaches spanning hardware architectures, algorithms, software design, data management, and lifecycle decision-making. Proposals should push beyond energy efficiency alone and avoid focusing solely on economic or social pillars of sustainability.

Key challenges include:

• Applying sustainable and lifecycle science principles to computing.
• Defining and optimizing sustainability metrics beyond energy efficiency.
• Achieving simultaneous improvements in sustainability and other system metrics.
• Promoting sustainability as a top-tier design goal across the computing stack.
• Leveraging opportunities across hardware, software, and networking layers.
• Avoiding planned obsolescence through design for longevity, reuse, and graceful degradation.

Potential research topics include sustainability-aware algorithms, modular and reusable hardware/software design, green architectures, sustainable cyber-physical and cloud technologies, and tools for measuring and optimizing sustainability metrics.

Project Types

• Type I Small Projects: Up to $600,000 for up to 3 years; typically 1-2 PIs; standalone research or preliminary work for Type II.
• Type II Large Projects: Up to $2,000,000 for up to 4 years; interdisciplinary, cross-layer teams; may build on Type I projects but not required.
• Type III Workshop Projects: Up to $100,000 for up to 1 year; support workshops to catalyze research and community building.

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Due Dates

• Type I and Type II Projects: September 12, 2025 (next deadline; previous deadlines were March 17, 2023, and September 13, 2024)
• Type III Workshop Projects: Proposals accepted anytime

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Funding Amount

• Type I Small Projects: Up to $600,000 total for up to 3 years
• Type II Large Projects: Up to $2,000,000 total for up to 4 years
• Type III Workshop Projects: Up to $100,000 total for up to 1 year

Estimated 12 to 18 awards annually across all project types, subject to availability of funds and proposal quality.

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Eligibility

• Who May Submit:

  • U.S.-based Institutions of Higher Education (two- and four-year, including community colleges) accredited and with a U.S. campus.
  • U.S.-based non-profit, non-academic organizations associated with educational or research activities (e.g., museums, research labs, professional societies).
  • Proposals involving international branch campuses must justify the benefit and why work cannot be done at the U.S. campus.

• Who May Serve as PI:

  • Must hold a tenured or tenure-track position, or a primary, full-time, paid research or teaching appointment at an eligible U.S. institution by the submission deadline.
  • Individuals primarily appointed at for-profit organizations or overseas branch campuses of U.S. IHEs are not eligible.

• Proposal Limits:

  • No limit on proposals per organization.
  • Investigators may participate in no more than two Type I proposals, one Type II proposal, or one Type I and one Type II proposal per deadline.
  • Lifetime limit: PI/co-PI/Senior personnel may not exceed two Type I awards and one Type II award from FY 2023 to FY 2026.
  • No limits on Type III proposals.
  • Proposals exceeding limits will be returned without review.

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Application Process

• Submit full proposals via Research.gov or Grants.gov following NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG).

• Proposal titles must begin with "DESC:" followed by project type (Type I, II, or III) and project title.

• Type I and II proposals select "Research" proposal type; Type III select "Conference" proposal type.

• Include a Project Summary with intellectual merit and broader impacts statements, plus 2-6 keywords.

• Project Description page limits: 15 pages (Type I), 20 pages (Type II), 8 pages (Type III).

• Required supplementary documents:

  • List of project personnel and partner institutions.
  • Management and Coordination Plan (Type II only, up to 3 pages).
  • Data Management and Sharing Plan (all types, up to 2 pages).
  • Documentation of significant collaborations.
  • RUI Impact Statement and Certification if applicable.

• Budgets must include travel funds for annual DESC PI meetings; Type II projects must budget for a kickoff meeting.

• Voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited.

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Additional Information

• Proposals must address environmental sustainability beyond energy efficiency; proposals focused solely on energy efficiency, performance, or using computing to advance sustainability in other sectors are out of scope.
• The program encourages broadening participation in STEM, especially from underrepresented and underserved groups and institutions.
• Awards are subject to standard NSF terms and conditions, including compliance with Build America, Buy America Act.
• Annual and final project reports are required via Research.gov.

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External Links

• Program Solicitation and Details (NSF)
• NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG)
• NSF Grants.gov Application Guide
• NSF Broadening Participation in STEM
• NSF Merit Review Process
• Build America, Buy America - NSF

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Contact Information

For technical support:

• NSF Help Desk: 1-800-673-6188
• Research.gov Help Desk: rgov@nsf.gov
• Grants.gov Contact Center: 1-800-518-4726 | support@grants.gov