Geoinformatics | 19 561

Opportunity Information: Apply for 19 561

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Division of Earth Sciences (EAR), offered a grant opportunity titled "Geoinformatics" (Funding Opportunity Number 19-561) focused on building and strengthening cyberinfrastructure for Earth science research. The core purpose is to support data- and software-driven resources that help Earth scientists collect, manage, share, integrate, analyze, and preserve Earth-related information in ways that meaningfully advance research. The program is structured around the idea that geoinformatics resources have a lifecycle: they often begin as exploratory pilots, mature into widely used community services, and eventually require plans for long-term maintenance or responsible sunsetting. This opportunity is meant to fund different stages of that lifecycle, rather than treating all cyberinfrastructure efforts as the same type of project.

The opportunity is organized into three tracks. The Catalytic Track is designed for pilot efforts and early-stage development. These projects are typically about testing new ideas, building prototypes, demonstrating feasibility, and showing clear potential to serve Earth science research communities. The emphasis is on catalyzing innovation, reducing technical or adoption risk, and generating evidence that a concept could scale or become a dependable resource if further supported. In practice, a Catalytic project might create a new workflow, data service, community standard, or software capability that addresses a specific bottleneck in Earth science research, with an eye toward future growth.

The Facility Track targets larger, more established efforts where the need for the resource is already demonstrated and the aim is broad implementation and ongoing operations. This track supports the implementation and operation of a cyberinfrastructure resource that one or more Earth science communities actively rely on to answer scientific questions. In other words, it is geared toward services that function like research infrastructure: stable, accessible, and maintained so the community can depend on it. This can include operational support, scaling, reliability, user support, and the kinds of improvements required for a system to be a trustworthy backbone for research rather than a short-lived prototype.

The Sustainability Track addresses a common challenge in data- and software-intensive science: preserving valuable products after initial development funding ends. This track supports the development and implementation of sustainable funding models and long-term plans to keep data and software products available and usable for Earth science research. The focus is not just technical preservation, but also practical sustainability such as governance, partnerships, cost models, and strategies for long-term stewardship. This could involve planning for continued hosting, maintenance, updates, community engagement, and ensuring that critical datasets and tools do not disappear when a grant period ends.

Administratively, this is a discretionary NSF grant opportunity in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category, listed under CFDA number 47.050. The agency anticipated making around 10 awards. The award ceiling is listed as 0, which typically signals that a fixed maximum was not specified in the summary data and that budgets would be evaluated based on project scope and program expectations. The opportunity was created on February 26, 2019, with an original closing date of August 15, 2019. Eligibility is labeled broadly as "Others," with details intended to be clarified in the full solicitation under the eligibility section.

Overall, the Geoinformatics opportunity is essentially about strengthening the digital foundation of Earth science by funding projects that range from new pilot ideas, to established community cyberinfrastructure services, to the long-term sustainability mechanisms that keep important Earth science data and software alive, accessible, and useful over time.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Geoinformatics" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.050.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 26, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 15, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 19 561

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