Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is the NSF's flagship early-career award for junior faculty and other eligible early-career academic professionals who are building their long-term research and education agendas. The program is designed for people who clearly fit the "teacher-scholar" model, meaning they are expected to propose a strong, forward-looking research plan, an equally strong education plan, and, most importantly, a convincing strategy for integrating the two in ways that align with the mission and context of their home organization. The overall intent is not just to fund a single project, but to help launch a sustained career trajectory and establish a foundation for long-term leadership in research, education, and the connection between them.

This opportunity is a discretionary grant program in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category, with an estimated total funding level of about $220,000,000 and an expectation of roughly 600 awards. Individual awards have an award floor listed at $400,000, and the solicitation indicates there is no cost sharing or matching requirement. CAREER is "Foundation-wide," meaning proposals may be routed to many different NSF directorates and offices depending on the topic area, including Engineering; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Geosciences; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Biological Sciences; Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences; Education and Human Resources; Polar Programs; International Science and Engineering; Cyberinfrastructure; and EPSCoR, among others (as reflected by the CFDA numbers provided in the announcement).

A central emphasis of the CAREER Program is the integration of research and education. Competitive proposals typically do more than place a research project next to a set of teaching or outreach activities; they explain how the research creates new educational opportunities (for example, new course content, undergraduate research pathways, training modules, or community engagement tied to the science) and how the educational components strengthen the research enterprise (for example, by developing a pipeline of trained students, broadening perspectives that inform the research questions, or creating partnerships that expand data collection or impacts). NSF also highlights its interest in broad participation, explicitly encouraging submissions from women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities.

Eligibility is primarily organizational and position-based. Proposals may be submitted by accredited, U.S.-based academic institutions (including U.S. territories and possessions and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) that award degrees in NSF-supported fields. In addition, certain nonprofit, non-degree-granting organizations (such as museums, observatories, or research laboratories) may be eligible as submitting organizations, as long as the principal investigator's position meets the CAREER eligibility requirements described in the full program solicitation. On the investigator side, there are strict limits: a principal investigator may submit only one CAREER proposal per annual competition, and may not participate in more than three CAREER competitions total. If a proposal is withdrawn before review or returned without review, it does not count toward the three-competition limit.

The solicitation lists deadlines that vary by NSF directorate/program. In the cited cycle, deadlines were spread across late July and aligned by directorate groupings (for example, BIO/CISE/EHR/OCI on one date, ENG on another, and GEO/MPS/SBE/OPP on another). The posting date provided is March 4, 2011, with the opportunity identified as NSF Publication/Funding Opportunity Number 11-690, and subsequent deadline dates shown for later cycles as well. Applicants are expected to follow the directorate-specific deadline associated with where their proposal will be reviewed.

The announcement also describes a related but separate federal honor: the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Individuals do not apply directly for PECASE. Instead, each year NSF selects a small number of nominees (up to twenty) from among the most outstanding recent CAREER awardees who are eligible for PECASE consideration. PECASE selection is based on two main criteria: (1) innovative, frontier research that is relevant to the mission of the sponsoring agency, and (2) community service and broader leadership demonstrated through activities like scientific leadership, education, or community outreach. Final selections and announcements are made by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In practical terms, this means the CAREER award can serve as a pipeline to PECASE recognition for a subset of top-performing awardees, but there is no separate PECASE application process for individuals.

For official details, the announcement points applicants to NSF Publication 11-690 and provides support contacts for access and linking issues, including NSF Grants.gov support (grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov).

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