Computing in the Cloud | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity titled "Computing in the Cloud" (NSF Publication 10-550; Funding Opportunity Number 10-550) is designed to accelerate research and education that take advantage of large-scale cloud computing. The program is grounded in the idea that cloud services are becoming a dominant way to access computing, data storage, and software capabilities on demand, with users provisioning virtual resources as needed and paying based on usage. NSF frames cloud computing as being enabled by consolidated, virtualized data centers that host many users at once through virtual machine (VM) containers, and it emphasizes that this model is expected to have broad impact across academia, government, and industry.

A central purpose of the solicitation is to give the science and engineering community a practical pathway to use highly scalable cloud platforms for both cloud-focused research (basic and applied) and for data-intensive computing applications in other disciplines. The solicitation specifically highlights Microsoft Windows Azure as the target platform, positioning Azure as a complement to other computational resources NSF had already made available to researchers at the time. While the program is explicitly meant to stimulate advances in cloud computing itself using Azure, NSF also signals that it welcomes proposals where cloud capabilities enable meaningful progress in other areas of science and engineering, recognizing that the same infrastructure can support new approaches to research problems that are difficult to address with traditional computing environments.

The funding mechanism is a discretionary grant program within the broader category of science and technology and other research and development. NSF anticipated making about 15 awards under this solicitation, with an estimated total funding amount of $5,000,000. The award floor is listed as $500,000, and there is no cost sharing or matching requirement, which means applicants are not required to contribute their own funds to be eligible or competitive under the stated rules.

In terms of how proposals can be submitted, the opportunity allows several pathways: standard proposals submitted in direct response to the solicitation, supplements to existing NSF awards, and EAGER proposals (a mechanism NSF uses for early-concept, exploratory research). This structure indicates NSF was aiming to support both new projects and rapid extensions of ongoing NSF-funded work where access to Azure-based cloud computing could unlock new research directions or enable testing of emerging ideas.

Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based organizations tied to education or research activities. Eligible applicants include accredited U.S. universities and colleges (including two- and four-year institutions and community colleges) applying on behalf of their faculty, as well as certain non-profit, non-academic organizations such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies, and similar U.S. entities associated with educational or research activities. In other words, the solicitation targets institutional applicants rather than individuals, and it emphasizes a formal connection to research and education.

The key dates reflect a structured submission process with a required letter of intent followed by a full proposal. The posting and creation date is March 16, 2010. The letter of intent was required by April 30, 2010 (due by 5 p.m. local time for the proposer), and the full proposal deadline was June 15, 2010 (also shown as the closing date). Programmatically, the solicitation spans multiple NSF disciplinary areas, as reflected in the CFDA numbers listed, including Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Geosciences, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Biological Sciences, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, Education and Human Resources, and the Office of Cyberinfrastructure. That breadth reinforces the program message that cloud computing is both a research topic in its own right and a cross-cutting enabler for many fields.

For access and administrative support, NSF points applicants to the official announcement (NSF Publication 10-550) and notes that technical issues obtaining the announcement through Grants.gov should be directed to NSF Grants.gov support at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov.

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