Atom | Future Manufacturing

Due Dates: June 18, 2025 (Full Proposal)

Funding Amounts: Up to $3,000,000 for 4 years (Research Grants) | Up to $500,000 for 2 years (Seed Grants)

Summary: Supports fundamental research, education, and workforce training to catalyze transformative new manufacturing capabilities in the U.S.

Key Information: Proposals must enable fundamentally new manufacturing, not incremental improvements; cross-disciplinary teams and broadening participation are strongly encouraged.

Description

This opportunity supports fundamental research, education, and workforce development to enable transformative advances in manufacturing. The program aims to overcome scientific, technological, educational, economic, and social barriers to catalyze new manufacturing capabilities that do not exist today. Projects should address urgent societal challenges—such as climate change, health disparities, and environmental sustainability—by developing innovative manufacturing approaches that could seed future industries and invigorate the U.S. manufacturing ecosystem.

Three thrust areas are supported:

Future Cyber Manufacturing Research: Integrating computing, AI, data analytics, and cyber-physical systems to revolutionize manufacturing.
Future Eco Manufacturing Research: Enabling sustainable, lifecycle-aware manufacturing processes and materials.
Future Biomanufacturing Research: Advancing biologically based production and integration of biological knowledge with manufacturing technology.

Proposals must take a convergence approach, involving cross-disciplinary teams (e.g., engineers, scientists, mathematicians, social/behavioral scientists, STEM education researchers, and arts/humanities experts). Projects that include significant participation from minority-serving institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions, community colleges, EPSCoR states, or that incorporate expertise in diversity and inclusion are especially encouraged.

Proposals that are incremental improvements over existing advanced manufacturing technologies will not be competitive.

Due Dates

Full Proposal Deadline: June 18, 2025 (by 5:00 p.m. local time of submitting organization)

Funding Amount

Future Manufacturing Research Grants (FMRG): Up to $3,000,000 total for up to 4 years.
Future Manufacturing Seed Grants (FMSG): Up to $500,000 total for up to 2 years.
Estimated total program funding: $28,000,000 per year (subject to availability).
Approximately 8 awards in each track per year.

Eligibility

Eligible Applicants:
- U.S.-based institutions of higher education (2- and 4-year, including community colleges)
- Non-profit, non-academic organizations (e.g., museums, research labs, professional societies)
- For-profit U.S. commercial organizations (including small businesses) with strong research/education capabilities
- State and local governments
- Federally recognized Tribal Nations
PI/Co-PI Limits: An investigator may participate as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel in at most one proposal per track (FMRG and FMSG) per submission year.
No citizenship restrictions for PIs, but the lead institution must be U.S.-based.

Application Process

Submission Platforms: Research.gov or Grants.gov
Letters of Intent/Preliminary Proposals: Not required.
Full Proposal: Must follow the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and solicitation-specific instructions.
Proposal Structure:
- Project Description must include:
  - "Enabling Future Manufacturing" section (required)
  - For FMRG: "Scope and Scale" and "Project Management and Collaboration Plan" sections
  - Education and Workforce Development Plan (as a supplementary document for FMRG; integrated for FMSG)
  - Optional: "Future of Work Research Component" (if addressing human-technology interaction)
Collaborative Proposals: Only single submission with subawards (no separately submitted collaborative proposals).
Cost Sharing: Not allowed.

Additional Information

Webinars: Informational webinars will be held on February 28, 2025. Details and recordings will be posted on the program page.
Kickoff and Annual Meetings: Awardees are required to attend a kickoff meeting and annual grantees' conferences (budget accordingly).
Review Criteria: Proposals are evaluated on intellectual merit and broader impacts, with additional criteria specific to this solicitation (e.g., transformative potential, workforce development, team integration).
Broadening Participation: Strongly encouraged; see solicitation for details.

External Links

Contact Information

Name	Directorate/Division	Phone	Email
Andrew Wells	ENG/CMMI	703-292-7225	awells@nsf.gov
Vamsi Yadavalli	ENG/CBET	703-292-4271	vyadaval@nsf.gov
Jordan Berg	ENG/CMMI	703-292-5365	jberg@nsf.gov
Jose Colom-Ustariz	OIA	703-292-7088	jcolom@nsf.gov
Dana Denick	ENG/EEC	703-292-8866	ddenick@nsf.gov
Bianca Garner	BIO/MCB	703-292-2100	bgarner@nsf.gov
Yulia Gel	MPS/DMS	703-292-7888	ygel@nsf.gov
Bruce Kramer	ENG/CMMI	703-292-5348	bkramer@nsf.gov
Rosa (Ale) Lukaszew	ENG/ECCS	703-292-8103	rlukasze@nsf.gov
Debasis Majumdar	MPS/DMR	703-292-4709	dmajumda@nsf.gov
Daniel McAdams	ENG/CMMI	703-292-4654	dmcadams@nsf.gov
Alexandra Medina-Borja	ENG/CMMI	703-292-7557	amedinab@nsf.gov
Elizabeth Mirowski	TIP/TI	703-292-2936	emirowsk@nsf.gov
William Olbricht	ENG/CBET	703-292-4842	wolbrich@nsf.gov
Erik Pierstorff	TIP/TI	703-292-2165	epiersto@nsf.gov
Carole Read	ENG/CBET	703-292-2418	cread@nsf.gov
George Richter-Addo	MPS/CHE	703-292-7528	grichter@nsf.gov
Lulu Sun	EDU/DUE	703-292-7260	lsun@nsf.gov
Sirin Tekinay	OISE	703-292-5370	stekinay@nsf.gov
Ralph Wachter	CISE/CNS	703-292-8950	rwachter@nsf.gov
Lee Walker	SBE/SES	703-292-7174	lwalker@nsf.gov

General inquiries: futuremanufacturing@nsf.gov
NSF Information Center: 703-292-5111