Opportunity Information: Apply for 17 602
The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity "Leading Engineering for America's Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure" (LEAP HI; Funding Opportunity Number 17-602) is designed to push the engineering research community into a clear leadership role on large, urgent national challenges tied to economic prosperity, public health, and the resilience and performance of essential infrastructure. The program is aimed at fundamental research, not incremental development work, and it is explicitly focused on problems that are too complex for a single investigator or a loosely connected set of short projects. In practice, NSF is looking for proposals that tackle a demanding, high-impact research problem with the kind of depth and coordination that only a sustained interdisciplinary team can deliver.
A central theme of LEAP HI is that the research must be both intellectually compelling and societally consequential. Proposals are expected to define a fundamental engineering research question with a strong intellectual challenge and a credible path to major downstream impact. The solicitation emphasizes outcomes such as enabling disruptive technologies and methods, laying groundwork for new or strengthened industries, driving notable improvements in quality of life, and rethinking or revitalizing aspects of the built environment. The intended impacts are framed in terms of national priorities, especially U.S. economic competitiveness, health outcomes, and critical infrastructure performance and reliability.
The program sits within NSF's engineering portfolio and requires a clear connection to CMMI (Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation) core topics. At least one CMMI core topic must be central to the proposed work, meaning the core technical thrust should align with the kinds of engineering science and systems challenges typically associated with CMMI. At the same time, LEAP HI strongly encourages bringing in expertise that is not commonly represented in CMMI-funded projects, as long as that additional expertise strengthens the team and is genuinely integrated into the research. This signals that NSF wants interdisciplinary breadth, but with engineering research clearly steering the effort rather than serving as a supporting component.
LEAP HI is structured for larger, longer-horizon collaborations than standard awards. Projects can run up to five years, with total budgets expected to fall between $1 million and $2 million (with an award ceiling of $2,000,000). The solicitation anticipated around seven awards. This size and duration reflect NSF's expectation that the proposed goals cannot realistically be achieved through smaller, short-term grants or independent parallel efforts. Reviewers will therefore be looking for a convincing argument for why the problem requires sustained collaboration, along with evidence that the team has a plan to execute effectively over multiple years.
Because coordination is a major evaluation focus, proposals are expected to include a research integration plan and an activity timeline that lays out how the different investigators and disciplines will work together over time. The solicitation specifically calls for credible mechanisms for frequent and effective communication, which implies that NSF wants more than a list of co-PIs and loosely connected tasks. Competitive proposals will typically show how ideas, methods, data, models, and experimental or analytical workflows will be shared across the team, how decisions will be made, and how integration will be maintained as the project evolves.
Administratively, LEAP HI is a discretionary grant program under the NSF (Agency Name: National Science Foundation), categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development (CFDA 47.041). The opportunity was created on Sep 29, 2017, with an original closing date of Feb 20, 2018, indicating it was a specific competition tied to that cycle. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional clarification typically provided in the official eligibility section of the full announcement, which is common for NSF solicitations that may include universities, non-profits, or other research-performing organizations depending on the specific terms.
Overall, LEAP HI is best understood as an NSF mechanism for ambitious, engineering-led, team-based fundamental research that is designed to produce transformational advances with strong national relevance. The core message to applicants is that NSF is not just funding good engineering science; it is funding engineering science that can credibly anchor an integrated interdisciplinary effort aimed at solving hard, high-stakes problems affecting prosperity, health, and infrastructure, and doing so at a scale that demands long-term coordination and leadership.Apply for 17 602
- The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Leading Engineering for America's Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041.
- This funding opportunity was created on Sep 29, 2017.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 20, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): NSF LEAP HI (Funding Opportunity Number 17-602)
What is the NSF LEAP HI grant opportunity?
Leading Engineering for America's Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure (LEAP HI) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity intended to push the engineering research community into a clear leadership role on large, urgent national challenges tied to economic prosperity, public health, and the resilience and performance of essential infrastructure.
What kinds of problems is LEAP HI meant to address?
LEAP HI targets demanding, high-impact national challenges affecting U.S. prosperity, health, and infrastructure. The solicitation emphasizes problems that are too complex for a single investigator, and not well-suited to a loosely connected set of short projects. NSF is looking for work that requires sustained, coordinated, interdisciplinary effort.
Is LEAP HI focused on fundamental research or applied development?
The program is aimed at fundamental research rather than incremental development work. Proposals are expected to define a fundamental engineering research question with a strong intellectual challenge and a credible path to major downstream impact.
What does NSF mean by research that is both "intellectually compelling" and "societally consequential"?
In LEAP HI, proposals are expected to combine deep engineering intellectual merit (a fundamental research question with substantial technical challenge) with clear national relevance (credible pathways to significant downstream impacts aligned with prosperity, health outcomes, and infrastructure resilience and performance).
What types of impacts does the solicitation highlight?
The solicitation emphasizes outcomes such as enabling disruptive technologies and methods, laying the groundwork for new or strengthened industries, driving notable improvements in quality of life, and rethinking or revitalizing aspects of the built environment. These impacts are framed around national priorities including U.S. economic competitiveness, public health, and critical infrastructure performance and reliability.
How is LEAP HI connected to NSF CMMI?
LEAP HI sits within NSF's engineering portfolio and requires a clear connection to CMMI (Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation) core topics. At least one CMMI core topic must be central to the proposed work, meaning the core technical thrust should align with engineering science and systems challenges typically associated with CMMI.
Do proposals need to be interdisciplinary?
Yes. LEAP HI is designed for sustained interdisciplinary teams. The solicitation strongly encourages bringing in expertise not commonly represented in CMMI-funded projects, as long as that expertise strengthens the team and is genuinely integrated into the research.
Does engineering need to lead the project, or can it be a supporting role?
The opportunity signals that engineering research should steer the effort rather than serve as a supporting component. While interdisciplinary breadth is encouraged, the core thrust must remain clearly aligned with CMMI-relevant engineering research.
How large are LEAP HI awards?
Projects are expected to have total budgets between $1 million and $2 million, with an award ceiling of $2,000,000.
How long can projects run?
Projects can run up to five years, reflecting NSF's expectation that the goals cannot realistically be achieved through smaller, short-term grants or independent parallel efforts.
About how many awards were anticipated?
The solicitation anticipated around seven awards.
Why does NSF emphasize team-based, sustained collaboration for this program?
LEAP HI is explicitly focused on problems that are too complex for a single investigator or loosely connected short projects. Reviewers are therefore likely to look for a convincing argument that the proposed challenge requires sustained collaboration, along with evidence that the team can execute effectively over multiple years.
What is a research integration plan, and why is it required?
Because coordination is a major evaluation focus, proposals are expected to include a research integration plan describing how investigators and disciplines will work together over time. The plan is meant to demonstrate that the collaboration is real and operational, not just a collection of parallel tasks.
What should an activity timeline cover?
The activity timeline should lay out how the project will unfold across multiple years, including how different investigators and disciplines will coordinate and integrate their work over time. The solicitation highlights the importance of communication and integration as the project evolves.
What kinds of coordination mechanisms does NSF expect to see?
The solicitation calls for credible mechanisms for frequent and effective communication. Competitive proposals typically go beyond listing co-PIs and instead show how ideas, methods, data, models, and experimental or analytical workflows will be shared across the team, how decisions will be made, and how integration will be maintained over the full project duration.
Who is the funding agency?
The funding agency is the National Science Foundation (NSF).
What is the program classification or category for this opportunity?
The opportunity is categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and is identified as CFDA 47.041.
What is the Funding Opportunity Number?
The Funding Opportunity Number is 17-602.
When was the opportunity created and when did it close?
The opportunity was created on Sep 29, 2017, with an original closing date of Feb 20, 2018, indicating it was tied to a specific competition cycle.
What is known about eligibility based on the information provided?
Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with the note that additional clarification is typically provided in the official eligibility section of the full announcement. This is common for NSF solicitations that may include universities, non-profits, or other research-performing organizations depending on the specific terms.
How should applicants think about "national relevance" in this solicitation?
National relevance is framed around U.S. economic competitiveness, health outcomes, and critical infrastructure performance and reliability. Proposals are expected to show credible pathways from fundamental engineering advances to meaningful downstream impact in one or more of these areas.
What is the overall intent of LEAP HI in one sentence?
LEAP HI is an NSF mechanism for ambitious, engineering-led, team-based fundamental research designed to produce transformational advances with strong national relevance in prosperity, health, and infrastructure.
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