Rob Ochsendorf & Eric Knuth (EHR)

NSF Funding Opportunities

for Research in Numerical Cognition

NUMBERS Workshop

Kent State

May 25, 2022

NSF Overall Mission and Approach

1. NSF supports basic science with high scientific merit
2. Two primary review criteria: 1) intellectual merit and 2) broader impacts
3. Panels change membership and are often interdisciplinary
4. Panelists and external reviewers are ADVISORY to the Program Officers (many factors taken into consideration)
5. Interactive: co-review and co-funding within NSF
6. Each submission is considered independent (so keep trying)

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How to Start

• Make friends with NSF.gov, Research.gov, and FastLane
• Try to find the best fitting program(s)
• Sign up for “Get NSF funding information”
• Stirring the alphabet soup
• EHR SBE CISE ENG
• Who funds your colleagues?
• Mechanisms
• “Regular” Programs – ECR, PAC, CogNeuro, SL, etc.
• Cross-cutting Programs – Cyberlearning, Neural and Cognitive Systems
• Dear Colleague Letters – Computational Cognition

Who has been funded?

Contacting a Program Officer

• Identify the appropriate program (e.g., ECR) and/or program officer with relevant expertise
• Introduce yourself via e-mail
• What’s your training, your expertise?
• What level of appointment do you have? Where?
• Summarize your proposed research in one page
• What is your research question?
• How you will try to answer it?
• Why would anyone care about this question?

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Education Research in STEM Disciplines

• EHR (Education and Human Resources) Directorate
• http://www.nsf.gov/dir/index.jsp?org=EHR
• Funds research related to education in the STEM disciplines, STEM workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM.
• Four Divisions of EHR
• Division of Research on Learning (DRL)
• Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
• Division of Graduate Education (DGE)
• Division of Human Resource Development (HRD)

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EHR Core Research (ECR) Program �NSF 21-588

• Fundamental research program (basic or use-inspired basic)
• STEM Learning and Learning Environments, Broadening Participation in STEM fields, and STEM Workforce Development
• Theory-based, methodologically rigorous.
• Any age group, any setting
• Within the STEM Learning and Learning Environments area
• Neural, cognitive, behavioral, social, and affective aspects of learning

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Upcoming Deadline: October 6, 2022

ECR: Examples of Funded Projects

• Susan Goldin-Meadow & Marc Berman (DRL-2055420). The neurobiological mechanisms underlying gesture’s role in mathematical learning
• Gavin Price (DRL-1750213). CAREER: Longitudinal Development of Numerical Processing Brain Networks in Developmental Dyscalculia: A Neuroimaging Study from Kindergarten to Second Grade
• Nicole McNeil (DRL-2100214). Characterizing and assessing number sense in third through eighth grade students
• Steven Piantadosi (DRL- 2201843). Algorithmic foundations of mathematical knowledge
• Hilary Barth (DRL-1920445). Digit Dependence in Numerical Magnitude Judgments

ECR: Examples of Funded Projects

• Colleen Ganley (DRL – 2201832). Examining the Mechanisms of the Math Anxiety-Math Achievement Link through a School-Based Grades 2-3 Intervention
• Perla Myers (DRL – 1920821). Fostering Elementary School Students' Visuospatial Skills and Mathematical Competencies through an Origami-based Program
• David Barner (DRL – 2000827). Development of symbolic and non-symbolic representations of exact equality
• Allyson Mackey (DRL – 2045095). CAREER: Leveraging neuroscience to predict and improve science learning in early elementary school

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Hints for Proposal Preparation

• Send a 1-page summary to a program officer (or to a program)
• Give yourself plenty of TIME
• Coordinate with your sponsored programs office in advance
• Target date vs. deadline
• Print the solicitation and keep it handy!
• Volunteer to be an external reviewer and agree to ad hoc review requests
• Ask successful PIs for copies of their funded proposals
• Ask colleagues to comment on proposal drafts

Contact Information

Rob Ochsendorf; rochsend@nsf.gov

Eric Knuth; eknuth@nsf.gov

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Q&A

NSF Directorates

Interdisciplinary Opportunities

• Integrative Systems in Neural and Cognitive Sciences
• Multiple PIs who cross disciplinary boundaries
• Transformative; Integrative; High-risk, high payoff
• Themes
• Neuroengineering and Brain-Inspired Concepts and Designs
• Individuality and Variation
• Cognitive and Neural Processes in Realistic, Complex Environments
• Data-Intensive Neuroscience and Cogntive Science
• Webinar on the new solicitation Monday Nov. 23
• http://www.nsf.gov/ncs/

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International Opportunities

• Office of International Science & Engineering (OISE)
• Partnerships for International Research and Education
• Science Across Virtual Institutes
• Research Coordination Networks
• SBE/RCUK (Lead Agency Agreement)
• AccelNet (NSF 19-501)
• BSF (United States – Israel Binational Science Foundation)
• Science Learning + (with Wellcome Trust, UK)

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ECR (Core Research) Program

• Relatively larger grants, e.g., maximum grants to $2.5 million
• Often involves interdisciplinary collaborations, e.g., cognitive science + education research
• Typically includes advisory board
• Even for basic research, learning in a STEM discipline must be intrinsic to project
• Should include plan to disseminate to education research community
• More applied research programs: DRK-12, AISL, ITEST, IUSE

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Special Programs of Interest: CAREER

• Five-year research grant for assistant professors (or equivalent)
• “Build a firm foundation for a lifetime of contributions to research and education”
• Integration of research and education
• Apply to CAREER as well as specific program at NSF
• Can apply up to three times

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http://www.nsf.gov/career