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Prediction of and Resilience against Extreme Events (PREEVENTS) - FAQs

1) What is the PREEVENTS grant opportunity?

PREEVENTS (Prediction of and Resilience against Extreme Events) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity offered through NSF's Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) to support research that strengthens the United States' ability to understand, predict, and ultimately reduce the impacts of natural hazards and extreme events.

2) Which NSF directorate offered this program?

The opportunity was offered by NSF through its Directorate for Geosciences (GEO).

3) What is the main purpose of PREEVENTS?

The main purpose is to fund research that advances fundamental geoscience understanding of natural hazards and extreme events, improves modeling and forecasting, and helps reduce uncertainty so risks can be better anticipated and impacts can be reduced.

4) Why did NSF emphasize this program as urgent?

NSF highlighted that natural disasters kill thousands of people each year and can impose enormous economic losses, citing global losses of more than 130 billion dollars in 2013 alone. The program was positioned as part of NSF's broader mission to advance science that protects and improves public health, prosperity, and welfare.

5) Is PREEVENTS focused on natural hazards only?

Yes. A key boundary is that PREEVENTS is specifically about natural hazards and extreme events. It is not intended for technological accidents or deliberately human-caused hazards.

6) How does PREEVENTS relate to earlier NSF hazards programs?

PREEVENTS was designed as the successor to the earlier Hazards SEES program.

7) How does PREEVENTS fit into NSF's broader activities?

PREEVENTS sits within a larger NSF-wide Risk and Resilience activity. That broader activity emphasizes improving predictability and risk assessment while increasing resilience, with the goal of reducing societal and economic disruption from extreme events.

8) What types of research approaches were welcomed?

The PREEVENTS portfolio was intended to be flexible and to welcome both disciplinary and multidisciplinary projects, across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.

9) What kinds of topics were especially encouraged?

The program particularly sought topics where the science appeared ready for major near-term or medium-term progress, such as areas where new data, new methods, improved models, or cross-disciplinary approaches could plausibly produce meaningful advances in understanding or forecasting capability.

10) What are the two required targets for a project to be considered a true PREEVENTS project?

To be considered a true PREEVENTS project, proposals needed to be primarily centered on two required targets:

• Fundamental processes: Enhance understanding of the fundamental processes that drive natural hazards and extreme events, including how those processes operate across different timeframes and geographic scales, and how inherent variability affects hazard behavior.
• Modeling and forecasting: Improve the ability to model and forecast those hazards or events.

11) Does PREEVENTS fund work focused only on documenting impacts after events occur?

The program emphasis described here is not limited to documenting impacts after the fact. PREEVENTS was framed around building the science needed to anticipate events more effectively and reduce uncertainty in predictions through fundamental-process understanding plus improved modeling and forecasting.

12) Beyond the required targets, what additional outcomes did NSF expect PREEVENTS projects to support?

In addition to the two required targets, NSF highlighted that PREEVENTS projects were expected to improve understanding of the effects of hazards and extreme events and help enable the development of tools that strengthen preparedness and resilience, often with follow-on support from other programs or partner organizations.

13) Does this opportunity directly fund the deployment of preparedness or resilience tools?

The program was positioned as a foundational research driver that could feed downstream applications (for example, improved risk communication, better decision support, or enhanced readiness strategies). The description indicates that direct development and deployment of societal tools might be funded elsewhere, potentially through follow-on support from other programs or partner organizations.

14) What is the Funding Opportunity Number for PREEVENTS?

The Funding Opportunity Number is 16-562.

15) What is the CFDA number associated with this opportunity?

The opportunity is associated with CFDA number 47.050.

16) How is this grant opportunity categorized?

It is categorized under Science and Technology Research and Development.

17) What kind of NSF opportunity was PREEVENTS administratively?

It was described as a discretionary NSF grant opportunity.

18) When was this opportunity posted and created?

The posting date and creation date were both May 6, 2016.

19) What was the application deadline?

The application deadline was September 19, 2016.

20) How many awards did NSF anticipate making under this opportunity?

NSF anticipated making around 20 awards.

21) Who was eligible to apply?

The eligibility field referenced additional guidance in the full announcement text. The information provided here does not list specific eligible applicant categories.

22) What is the big-picture goal of investing in PREEVENTS research?

The overall intent described is to invest in basic and use-inspired geoscience that improves hazard predictability and supports a more resilient society in the face of extreme natural events, ultimately reducing societal and economic disruptions.