The National Science Foundation (NSF) announces a crosscutting/NSF-wide solicitation for Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE), which is an National Science Foundation (NSF) program that supports international activities across all NSF-supported disciplines. The primary goal of PIRE is to support high quality projects in which advances in research and education could not occur without international collaboration. PIRE seeks to catalyze a higher level of international engagement in the U.S. science and engineering community.
The Division of Polar Programs (PLR), Geosciences Directorate, strongly encourages international collaborations as international partnerships are particularly important for addressing critical science and engineering problems in the polar regions. Accordingly, the polar community should be well poised to submit proposals to the current PIRE competition.
In the global context, U.S. researchers and educators must be able to operate effectively in teams with partners from different national environments and cultural backgrounds. PIRE promotes excellence in science and engineering through international collaboration and facilitates development of a diverse, globally-engaged, U.S. science and engineering workforce.
The PIRE competition is open to all areas of science and engineering research that are supported by the NSF. For detailed information about the competition, please read the solicitation Partnerships for International Research (PIRE), NSF 14-587. Links to the solicitation and a list of Directorate contacts are provided on this page. Polar-specific questions should be directed to a program director in the Antarctic Sciences Section (ANT staff list; 703-292-8033) or Arctic Sciences Section (ARC staff list; 703-292-8029).
Prospective PIRE applicants can attend a webcast that will be held on July 29, 2014 between 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM (Eastern Time). The webcast will present additional NSF PIRE program officers. The PIRE webcast can be accessed at http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/nsf/140729/.
Preliminary proposal deadline: 21 October 2014.
Full proposal deadline: 15 May 2015.
For more information and a list of Directorate contacts, go to: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505038.
To download the full solicitation, please click on the '14-587' link under "Program Guidelines" at: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505038.