Science and Technology Centers Integrative Partnerships | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Centers (STC) Integrative Partnerships program is a large-scale center funding opportunity designed to support ambitious, long-term research and education efforts that are too complex to be handled through typical single-investigator or small-team awards. The central idea is to create “centers” that can pursue potentially transformative science and engineering by bringing together multiple disciplines, institutions, and sectors. These centers are expected to tackle major questions at the frontiers of knowledge, often working at the interfaces between fields or by introducing fresh approaches within a discipline. STCs can be proposed in any area of science and engineering that NSF supports, spanning fields covered across NSF directorates such as engineering, mathematical and physical sciences, geosciences, computer and information science, biology, social and behavioral sciences, education, polar programs, cyberinfrastructure, international activities, and EPSCoR-related interests.

A defining feature of the STC program is its partnership model. While proposals must be led by a U.S. academic institution with research and degree-granting programs in NSF-supported areas, the lead organization is expected to build substantial collaborations to achieve the center’s strategic goals. Partnerships can include other universities and colleges, national laboratories, research museums, private-sector research laboratories, and state or local government laboratories, with international collaborations included when appropriate. The intent is that the center’s structure and scale enable world-class research and broader impact activities that are sustained over time, supported by a network of complementary expertise, facilities, and pathways to real-world use.

Education is not treated as an add-on in this program; it is woven into the core mission of the center. NSF emphasizes that STCs should integrate research and education in a way that strengthens both, creating an environment where learning is tied directly to inquiry, discovery, and creativity. Centers are meant to serve as training grounds where students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career faculty can develop in a setting that encourages intellectual risk-taking and supports the development of the next generation of scientists, engineers, and educators. The program frames this as part of NSF’s broader vision: advancing discovery and innovation beyond current frontiers while empowering future generations in science and engineering.

The opportunity also places strong expectations on broadening participation. NSF states that STCs should demonstrate leadership in involving groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in science and engineering across all levels of center activity, including faculty, students, and postdoctoral researchers. Proposals are expected to describe either proven or innovative mechanisms to address recruitment, retention, and mentorship, and to show that inclusion is being treated as a strategic priority rather than a compliance exercise. In practical terms, competitive centers typically build intentional pathways into the center, supportive mentoring structures, and measurable plans for sustaining participation and advancement.

Another required theme is knowledge transfer, meaning the deliberate exchange and dissemination of scientific and technical information so that the center’s work is used broadly across multiple sectors. NSF describes knowledge transfer broadly, which can include technology transfer aimed at supporting innovation, providing relevant scientific information to public policy makers, or enabling the movement of ideas and methods from one scientific field to another. The expectation is that an STC will not only generate high-impact research results, but will also actively design ways for those results, tools, and insights to reach communities that can apply them, whether that is industry, government, education, or other research domains.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this is a discretionary grant program with cost sharing or matching required. NSF anticipated making about six awards under this solicitation, with an estimated total funding amount of $30,000,000. Individual awards were expected to fall between $1,500,000 (award floor) and $5,000,000 (award ceiling). The funding opportunity number is 11-522, and it was posted on January 20, 2011. The process used a two-stage submission structure: a required preliminary proposal due May 30, 2011 (by 5 p.m. local time), followed by invited full proposals with a deadline of February 3, 2012.

Eligibility is limited to U.S. academic institutions with research and degree-granting education programs in areas supported by NSF, submitting as the lead institution. The solicitation anticipates that the lead will formally assemble a multi-institution, multi-sector partnership to meet the center’s goals, which is central to the program’s “integrative partnerships” model. For applicants needing help accessing the full announcement electronically, the notice directs them to NSF Grants.gov support at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov, and references NSF Publication 11-522 as the primary announcement document.

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