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CRISP (NSF) Grant Opportunity FAQs

What is the CRISP funding opportunity?

CRISP stands for Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes. It is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funding opportunity focused on improving how the United States understands, designs, and operates critical infrastructure when multiple infrastructure systems are tightly linked to one another and to human behavior.

What is the main idea behind CRISP?

The program is based on the premise that infrastructure is not a set of isolated assets. Instead, it is a web of services and processes that depend on each other in ways that can trigger cascading failures. CRISP supports research that treats infrastructure as interconnected service-delivery processes rather than just physical components.

What does "interdependent critical infrastructures" mean in this solicitation?

It refers to critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) that rely on each other to function. A common example described in the solicitation is the mutual dependence between electric power, fuel production, and transportation, where each system depends on the others for inputs and operations.

Why does CRISP consider human behavior and institutions as part of infrastructure resilience?

Because infrastructure dependencies are shaped by social networks, policies, institutional decision-making, and community needs. The solicitation treats resilience as both a technical problem and a human systems problem, meaning social, behavioral, economic, and institutional factors can determine how disruptions unfold and how resilience improvements are adopted.

What types of research does CRISP aim to fund?

CRISP aims to fund genuinely interdisciplinary research that blends engineering with computer, information, and computational sciences, along with the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. It is explicitly interested in new approaches and engineering solutions that address infrastructures as interdependent service systems.

What are the overall goals of the CRISP program?

The solicitation describes goals that include: strengthening an interdisciplinary research community able to tackle interdependent infrastructure problems; deepening understanding of how interdependent critical infrastructure systems behave under stress; supporting innovations that expand what infrastructure systems can safely and securely provide; and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of existing infrastructure services.

What kinds of disruptions is CRISP focused on?

CRISP research is expected to address how interdependent infrastructures perform under disruptions such as natural hazards, technological failures, and malicious attacks, with an emphasis on improving resilience, performance, and readiness.

Does CRISP require proposals to address more than one infrastructure sector?

Yes. Proposals are expected to address multiple infrastructures and study them as interdependent service systems, rather than presenting a single-sector case study.

What kinds of models or tools does CRISP encourage?

The solicitation emphasizes integrative, predictive modeling that can be validated with data and ultimately incorporated into decision-making. It also mentions multidisciplinary modeling frameworks that can predict complex system behavior and anticipate responses to system modifications and policy changes.

What layers of interdependency are highlighted in CRISP?

CRISP highlights interdependencies among: the physical layer (built infrastructure), the cyber layer (computing, sensing, communications, and information systems), and the social and economic layer (human behavior, organizational incentives, markets, and community impacts).

What kinds of technical research topics are explicitly mentioned?

The solicitation includes examples such as modeling and simulation software using advanced cyberinfrastructure, approaches for monitoring and real-time control, management systems for interdependent networks, and software engineering methods tailored to complex infrastructure operations.

Does CRISP address non-technical barriers to resilience?

Yes. A stated research objective is to address non-technical barriers that affect whether resilience improvements can be implemented, including socioeconomic constraints, legal and regulatory issues, political incentives, and psychological or behavioral factors affecting adoption and response.

What does CRISP mean by treating infrastructure as "service-delivery processes"?

It means focusing on the services and processes infrastructure provides (and how those services depend on other systems) rather than focusing only on individual physical assets. The program is interested in engineering solutions and research approaches aligned with how services are delivered, maintained, and restored across interdependent systems.

How important is interdisciplinarity in CRISP?

Interdisciplinarity is a strict requirement. Proposals must broadly integrate engineering, computing and information sciences, and social/behavioral/economic sciences. The solicitation states that submissions not meeting this integration requirement are returned without review.

What is the expected relationship between data and modeling in CRISP projects?

Projects may collect new data or rely on curated existing datasets, depending on the project type. However, the expectation is that data and modeling are tied together to support analytical prediction and practical application, with an emphasis on validation.

What kinds of outcomes is CRISP trying to produce?

CRISP is designed to fund projects that produce new, usable knowledge to make infrastructure services more dependable, adaptable, resilient, safe, and secure, while recognizing that these systems operate within real communities and institutions.

Who is the funding agency for this opportunity?

The funding agency is the National Science Foundation (NSF).

What is the Funding Opportunity Number for CRISP?

The Funding Opportunity Number listed is 16-519.

What is the grant type and category indicated in the administrative details?

The opportunity is described as an NSF discretionary grant in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category.

What CFDA numbers are associated with this solicitation?

The solicitation is associated with CFDA numbers 47.041, 47.070, and 47.075.

What was the closing date listed for this opportunity?

The closing date listed is March 9, 2016.

How many awards were anticipated?

The solicitation anticipated approximately 25 awards.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is described as "Others," with further clarification referenced in the solicitation text.

What is CRISP trying to change about how infrastructure research is done?

The solicitation signals an intent to push the field toward a research paradigm where technical design, cyber-physical performance, and human and institutional realities are treated as one connected system, supported by integrative and predictive approaches.