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Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events (IMEE) Grant Opportunity - FAQs

What is the Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events (IMEE) program?

IMEE was a National Science Foundation (NSF) research program focused on improving how communities understand, plan for, and recover from large-scale hazard events that disrupt civil infrastructure and everyday life.

What problem was IMEE trying to address?

The program was built on the idea that disasters are not only engineering problems. IMEE emphasized that extreme events create social, economic, political, and behavioral challenges, especially when critical infrastructure systems fail or interact in unexpected ways.

What types of infrastructure systems were central to IMEE?

The opportunity highlighted critical systems such as transportation networks, water and wastewater systems, power, communications, and other public works, particularly when these systems fail or create cascading impacts across one another.

What was the main research approach encouraged by IMEE?

IMEE emphasized research that treats infrastructure and society as tightly linked, interdependent systems rather than separate topics, reflecting how real-world infrastructure performance depends on governance, institutions, human behavior, and resource decisions.

What kinds of research did IMEE support?

IMEE supported fundamental, science-and-technology-oriented research across themes that included preparedness and response before and during extreme events, mitigation strategies to reduce damage and speed restoration, and recovery processes that help systems and communities return to function or rebuild more resiliently.

How did IMEE define or emphasize preparedness and response research?

Preparedness and response research under IMEE related to understanding and improving actions and decisions taken before and during extreme events that affect infrastructure and community function.

What did IMEE mean by mitigation in the context of extreme events?

Mitigation in IMEE referred to strategies that reduce damage from hazard events and speed restoration of infrastructure and services.

What did IMEE focus on regarding recovery?

Recovery research under IMEE focused on processes that help systems and communities return to function after disruptions or rebuild in ways that improve resilience.

What is meant by infrastructure vulnerability and risk reduction in IMEE?

IMEE placed strong emphasis on understanding infrastructure vulnerability and reducing risk, including how failures and risks can cascade across interconnected systems.

What are cascading risks or cascading failures as described in the IMEE listing?

Cascading risks refer to chain reactions across systems, such as when loss of electric power disables pumping stations, traffic control, communications, and emergency response, creating broader disruption than the initial failure alone.

Did IMEE address interdependent infrastructure networks?

Yes. The program specifically called out the importance of studying interdependent networks and how disruptions can propagate across connected infrastructure systems.

What did IMEE mean by sustainable infrastructure?

IMEE highlighted sustainable infrastructure as work that improves long-term performance and resilience while considering economic and societal constraints.

Was IMEE limited to engineering research only?

No. A defining feature of IMEE was its expectation of integration across disciplines, bridging engineering with social, behavioral, political, and economic sciences.

Why did IMEE require cross-disciplinary integration?

The program reflected the reality that infrastructure decisions and outcomes are influenced by governance, human behavior, institutional coordination, resource allocation, and public policy, not just technical design and analysis.

What kinds of non-engineering topics could be part of an IMEE research project?

The listing indicated projects could involve decision-making under uncertainty, risk communication and public behavior, organizational and governmental response structures, economic impacts of disruptions, and strategies to reduce systemic vulnerability.

What kinds of analytical or modeling work were relevant to IMEE?

The opportunity referenced modeling and analysis of interdependent networks, as well as research related to uncertainty, cascading impacts, and systemic vulnerability reduction.

What was the funding agency and grant type for IMEE?

IMEE was an NSF discretionary grant opportunity categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

What CFDA number was associated with IMEE?

The listing associated IMEE with CFDA 47.041 (Engineering Grants).

Who was eligible to apply for IMEE based on the listing?

Eligibility was described as broadly unrestricted (open to any entity type), subject to any clarifications in the full program text.

Was cost sharing or matching required for IMEE?

No cost sharing or matching requirement was stated in the listing.

When was the IMEE opportunity originally posted?

The original posting date shown was March 23, 2009.

What were the proposal submission windows for IMEE?

The listing described annual full proposal windows, including September 1 to October 1 (starting in 2009) and January 15 to February 15 (starting in 2010).

Is the IMEE opportunity still open?

No. The record indicates the opportunity was archived on August 4, 2010 and replaced by a subsequent listing noted as "10 1638".

What does it mean that the opportunity was archived and replaced?

Based on the listing, "archived" indicates the original IMEE entry was no longer active as of August 4, 2010, and applicants were directed to a newer replacement listing referenced as "10 1638".

The archived entry shows expected awards and estimated total funding as 0. What does that mean?

The listing notes that "expected awards" and "estimated total funding" were shown as 0 in the archived entry, which commonly appears in older listings or archived records and does not necessarily reflect the historical level of support. The authoritative details would have been in the NSF program description linked in the announcement.

Where were applicants directed to find full requirements and official guidance?

The announcement referenced an NSF program description document (PD 08-1638) as the primary source for full requirements, scope details, and submission guidance.

Who should applicants contact for Grants.gov access or technical issues related to submission?

The listing pointed applicants to NSF's Grants.gov support channel for access issues at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov.

What types of impacts was IMEE interested in beyond physical infrastructure damage?

IMEE emphasized that disruptions affect everyday life and involve social, economic, political, and behavioral dimensions, including economic impacts of disruptions and how public behavior and institutions respond.

What does the IMEE listing suggest about uncertainty in disaster-related decisions?

The opportunity explicitly mentioned decision-making under uncertainty as a relevant research area, consistent with the complex, evolving conditions that occur during extreme events.

How did IMEE connect infrastructure research to governance and policy?

The program description emphasized that infrastructure decisions are influenced by governance, institutional coordination, resource allocation, and public policy, and encouraged proposals that reflect those influences through integrated research.