Deadline for NASA STMD Early Career Faculty Opportunity

Notice of Intent Due: March 16 at 4 p.m. CT

Proposal Due: April 13 at 4 p.m. CT

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has released a solicitation, titled Early Career Faculty (ECF), as an appendix to the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) umbrella NASA Research Announcement (NRA) titled “Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2023 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2023). The solicitation is available on NSPIRES (tinyurl.com/NASA-ECF23).

The Space Technology Research Grants (STRG) Program within STMD seeks proposals from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of their outstanding new faculty members who intend to develop academic careers related to space technology.

The following topics are included in the appendix:

• Topic 1 – Novel Fluids for Spacecraft Thermal Control
• Topic 2 – Hypersonic Transition and Turbulence Modellling for NASA Entry, Descent and Landing Applications
• Topic 3 – Non-Traditional Orbital Debris Remediation

The PI must be an untenured Assistant Professor on the tenure track at the sponsoring U.S. university at the time of award (October 2023). The PI must be a U.S. citizen or have lawful status of permanent residency at the time of proposal submission. The PI must be the primary researcher on the effort; Co-Investigators are not permitted. Collaborators (other than NASA civil servants/JPL) are permitted.

A PI may submit only one proposal in response to this appendix.

Awards are planned to start in early October 2023. NASA plans to make approximately 6 awards as a result of this ECF solicitation, subject to the receipt of meritorious proposals and the availability of funds. The actual number of awards will depend on the quality of the proposals received; NASA reserves the right to make no awards under this solicitation.

All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES or through Grants.gov (www.grants.gov) by an authorized organizational representative. Notices of Intent are strongly encouraged by March 16, 2023. Proposals are due on or before April 13, 2023. Detailed submission instructions are provided in the solicitation.

Technical and programmatic comments and questions may be addressed by e-mail to the Space Technology Research Grants Program Executive, Matthew Deans, at hq-ecf-call@mail.nasa.gov. Responses to inquiries will be answered by e-mail and may also be included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents located on the NSPIRES page associated with the solicitation; anonymity of persons/institutions who submit questions will be preserved.

For further information, contact:

Edward F. Duke, Director South Dakota NASA EPSCoR: Edward.Duke@sdsmt.edu