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About the Workshop

The following information has been adapted from the NSF Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program Solicitation. 

In response to the 2017 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) study A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research, the NSF ERC program is placing greater emphasis on research that leads to societal impact, including convergent approaches, engaging stakeholder communities, and strengthening team formation.

Furthermore, the NASEM study further recommended that NSF invest in a deliberate, early-stage process for the development and formation of the best research teams to tackle complex, high-impact societal problems.

Following these recommendations, the ERC program is placing greater emphasis on societal impact, convergence, stakeholder community, and team formation. The ERC program will support planning grants to facilitate the engineering community in forming and enhancing convergent research collaborations.

The ERC planning grant pilot initiative will support planning activities that can lead to convergent research team formation and capacity building and foster and facilitate the engineering community’s conversations about how to form convergent research collaborations.

The 2018 NSF ERC Planning Grant Workshop (Accelerating Engineering Research Center Preparedness Workshop) served as an opportunity for ERC Planning Grant PIs and team leaders to learn, explore, and share ideas to promote convergent research team formation and capacity building in an effort to increase the potential societal impact of ERC grants.

 

Cognizant NSF Program Officers

Please note that the following information is current at the time of publishing. See program website for any updates to the points of contact.

 

Workshop Participants

The participants at this workshop were ERC Planning Grant PIs, co-PIs, and other team leaders. More information on workshop participants coming soon.