Geotechnical Engineering and Materials | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Geotechnical Engineering and Materials (GEM) Program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity that supports fundamental research at the intersection of geotechnical engineering, geomechanics, and geomaterials, with a clear focus on improving and sustaining physical civil infrastructure. It consolidates and replaces two earlier NSF programs, the Geotechnical Engineering Program and the Geomechanics and Geomaterials Program, into a single home for core research on soil and rock behavior. The central idea is to fund work that advances the scientific understanding of how geologic materials behave (mechanically and dynamically) and how those behaviors affect civil infrastructure systems that depend on the ground for support, containment, and stability.

A major theme of GEM is foundational science in soil and rock mechanics and dynamics, including how these materials respond under different loading conditions and over time. Alongside that, the program explicitly supports research aimed at improving the engineering properties of geologic materials through a wide range of processes: mechanical methods, biological approaches (often associated with biogeotechnical or bio-geoengineering), and thermal, chemical, or electrical techniques. This includes concepts like ground improvement, stabilization, or property enhancement where the objective is to achieve better performance, durability, resilience, or sustainability in the geosystem that supports infrastructure.

In terms of application areas, the program covers both traditional and emerging parts of civil geotechnical engineering. Traditional areas highlighted include foundation engineering, earth structures (such as embankments and retaining systems), underground construction and tunneling, geoenvironmental engineering, and site characterization. At the same time, GEM emphasizes emerging bio-geoengineering approaches with an emphasis on sustainable geosystems, signaling interest in nature-based or biologically mediated solutions and in methods that reduce environmental impacts while maintaining or improving performance. The program also supports research related to geotechnical aspects of geothermal energy and geothermal heat pump systems, which typically involves coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical behavior of soils and rocks, and how subsurface energy systems interact with the ground and built assets.

GEM also places value on knowledge dissemination and technology transfer, encouraging investigators to incorporate activities that help move research results into broader use. The underlying expectation is that strong fundamental advances can be paired with communication, data sharing, tool development, or practitioner-facing outputs that increase the chance of real-world uptake and measurable societal benefit, especially in the context of infrastructure provision and improvement.

The solicitation frames its priorities in relation to broader national engineering needs, particularly research directions aligned with emerging geotechnical engineering areas and the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges, including goals such as restoring and improving urban infrastructure and providing access to clean water. In practice, this points toward research that not only advances theory and experimentation but also supports long-term infrastructure performance, reliability, and sustainability, including systems tied to water resources, urban redevelopment, and resilient public works.

There are important boundaries on what should be submitted to GEM. Proposals primarily focused on natural hazards (earthquakes, windstorms, tsunamis, landslides) are generally directed to NSF's Engineering for Natural Hazards (ENH) Program, unless the work is specifically aimed at fundamental soil or rock behavior rather than the behavior of systems such as foundations, levees, and similar infrastructure components. In other words, if the hazard is mainly the context but the core contribution is a deeper understanding of geologic material behavior, GEM may still be appropriate; if the emphasis is on system performance under hazard loading, ENH is the intended home. The program also explicitly does not support research on natural resource exploration or recovery, which excludes topics centered on extraction or prospecting rather than civil infrastructure and geosystems.

From an administrative standpoint, this is an NSF discretionary grant opportunity in the research and development category under CFDA 47.041 (Engineering Grants). The opportunity lists no cost-sharing or matching requirement. Eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any type of entity), subject to any additional clarifications that might appear in the full program text. The opportunity information provided includes the funding opportunity number PD 15 1636, with historical proposal windows listed in February 2015 and September 2015, and an archive date extending to October 15, 2028, indicating that the listing is maintained for reference even though the specific windows shown are in the past.

For applicants, the practical takeaway is that GEM is aimed at rigorous, fundamental geotechnical and geomaterials research with a clear line of sight to civil infrastructure needs, including sustainable ground systems, advanced ground improvement methods (including biological and multi-physics techniques), underground and foundation applications, and geotechnical dimensions of geothermal technologies. Proposals should be positioned around advancing core understanding and capability in soil/rock behavior and engineered geosystems, while being careful to route hazard-system studies to the ENH program and to avoid topics related to resource exploration or recovery.

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