National Science Foundation (NSF)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 'to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…' NSF is vital because it supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future. It plays a critical role in supporting fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…"​ With an annual budget of more than $8 billion, NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s colleges and universities. In many fields, such as mathematics, computer science, and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing. 

NSF awards about 11,000 new awards per year, with an average duration of three years -- to fund specific research proposals that have been judged the most promising by a rigorous and objective merit-review system. In the past few decades, NSF-funded researchers have won more than 200 Nobel Prizes as well as other honors too numerous to list. NSF funds equipment that is needed by scientists and engineers but is often too expensive for any one group or researcher to afford. Another essential element in NSF's mission is support for science and engineering education, from pre-K through graduate school and beyond. 

There are many exciting careers at NSF, not only in science, technology, education and mathematics (STEM), but also in business and operations. For more information, please visit us at http://nsf.gov/careers/.

NSF welcomes opportunities to engage with you on our LinkedIn page. Please see our Comment Policy [http://www.nsf.gov/social/policies.jsp ] for more information.

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Stabilitas

#ICYMI✨🔭  Last week, the 3,200-megapixel Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera arrived at the U.S. National Science Foundation-U.S. Department of Energy Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. 

This groundbreaking camera will revolutionize our understanding of the universe, providing insights into dark matter, dark energy and much more. This state-of-the-art camera will fuel advances in our understanding of the cosmos, mapping the Milky Way, surveying our solar system, and more. 

The Rubin Observatory is funded by NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. The LSST Camera, the largest digital camera in the world, was built at DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

"Transporting such a delicate piece of equipment across the world involves a lot of risk. With ten long years of assembly work on the camera, culminating in a ten-hour flight and a winding dirt road up a mountain, it was important to get it right," said Margaux Lopez, a mechanical engineer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, who led the planning for the camera shipment. "But because we had the experience and the data from the test shipment, we were extremely confident that we could keep the camera safe."

To learn more, please visit https://bit.ly/3X01xdy


 #CaptureTheCosmos #NSFfunded

🚀 Join the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering team as a supervisory data and analytics officer. 

Key responsibilities include:
✨ Managing data assets and enabling data-driven decision-making.
👥 Supervising the data and analytics team.
🔍 Developing and implementing data governance and architecture.
📈 Creating a comprehensive data analytic strategic plan.

📊 Apply at: https://bit.ly/3yMleLI

Applications are open until June 4, 2024.

"Jack-of-all-trades and master of none" is a saying often used by biologists to describe a dominant theory attributed to the "generalists" of the animal kingdom: species evolved to live across a wide range of ecological niches. Generalists are believed to be outperformed by their more dominant counterparts, "specialists," which are species adapted to a particular niche. 

In yeasts — an ancient group of unicellular fungi that include the well-known species used in baking, brewing, and winemaking, as well as those that can cause yeast infections, diaper rash and thrush — generalists typically consume a variety of carbon sources, demonstrating higher metabolic versatility, while specialists demonstrate lower metabolic versatility and more restrictive diets.

In a landmark study, an international team led by #NSFfunded researchers from Vanderbilt University and University of Wisconsin–Madison mapped the genomes, diets, and environments of over 1,000 species of yeasts and classified them as specialists or generalists using a machine learning algorithm. They then looked at which group utilized their carbon sources more efficiently, helping us better understand how these single-celled organisms evolved into separate groups over the past 400 million years.

Their investigations revealed that the major differences in yeasts' diets were primarily driven by differences in the presence or absence of genes encoding specific metabolic pathways. To their surprise, the researchers found no indication that metabolic versatility, or the ability to eat different foods, comes with any significant trade-offs, meaning that some yeasts are jacks-of-all-trades and masters of each.

These findings underscore the notion that intrinsic factors are the primary drivers in the variation of diet and environmental niches found among yeasts. These insights are key to understanding how to develop treatments for yeast strains that are pathogens to humans and will be critical to guiding the biotechnological use of yeasts in fields like agriculture and biomanufacturing.

To learn more, visit: https://bit.ly/3wVZX1J

📷: University of Wisconsin–Madison

From testifying in front of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing to celebrating new graduates entering the STEM enterprise, this week NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan reinforced the significance of the agency's ongoing commitment to promote the progress of science, advance national prosperity and secure national defense.

The House Artificial Intelligence Caucus and Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus welcomed NSF to Capitol Hill, co-hosting the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot demo day. Panchanathan, alongside House AI Caucus co-chair Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), gave remarks underscoring the existing possibilities and the potential for even greater advancements through the fully realized NAIRR. NSF is proud to lead this effort in collaboration with its federal agency and industry partners. Other Members of Congress in attendance were Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Jim Baird (R-IN) and Sean Casten (D-IL).

The director, accompanied by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator Bill Nelson, testified at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget requests for NSF and NASA. The president's budget request of $10.18 billion is an essential investment in critical areas of research, education, discovery and innovation. NSF continues to build on the "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022" and more through supporting our economic and national security, and foster opportunities everywhere so that innovation can happen everywhere.

Panchanathan also delivered the commencement address at the University of Maryland Baltimore County graduation ceremony, celebrating the 2024 graduating undergraduate classes of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, College of Engineering and Information Technology and the Individualized Study Program. The director framed his remarks around his "10 C's to success," urging the graduating class to commit themselves to find ways to make an impact on their lives, their communities and society. Watch the commencement: https://bit.ly/3yAnuWz.

📸: Charlotte Geary/NSF; University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Could the solution to Earth's plastic problem come from the ocean? 🌊

California startup Sway is developing a bio-based, home-compostable replacement for single-use plastics with seaweed. Thermoplastic Seaweed resin, or TPSea, is made from a regenerative ocean crop that can decompose into soil after use and replenish ecosystems. 🌿

Sway’s products serve a wide range of applications for flexible packaging, including poly bags, retail boxes, food wrappers and films for consumer brands. The company recently raised $5 million and won first place in the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize in 2023.  🥇

To learn more, visit https://bit.ly/3WSo38j 

#NSFSBIR #sustainability #greentech #greensolutions

📷: Sway

NSF is investing $1.2 million in a pilot effort to catalyze diverse partnerships among U.S. institutions of higher education and industry innovators.

The 18-month effort will be led by Halo, an artificial intelligence-powered technology platform that helps corporate research and development teams more efficiently connect with scientific partners and bring new innovations to market faster. Halo will initially focus on matching industry researchers with academic scientists in materials science and engineering at emerging research institutions, institutions of higher learning that receives less than $50 million in federal research expenditures.

“Academic-industry partnerships fuel innovation in key technology areas, leading to more opportunities for the U.S. to be globally competitive in science, technology and engineering on the global stage,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. “To foster these partnerships that lead to innovation, it is imperative that researchers across a wide range of universities and companies connect with industry through a centralized platform that makes it easy to identify areas of mutual interest.”

Learn more here: https://bit.ly/4au0dTj 

📷: Nathaniel Su, The University of Akron 

#higherlearning #NSFfunded

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