NSF/FDA Scholar-In-Residence at FDA | 18 556

Opportunity Information: Apply for 18 556

The NSF/FDA Scholar-In-Residence at FDA opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 18-556) is a joint program run by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, specifically FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). It is set up as an interagency partnership focused on scientific and engineering questions tied to emerging and fast-changing medical device technologies. In practical terms, the program is meant to place external researchers into FDA's intramural research environment so they can work side-by-side with FDA staff, build collaborations, and tackle technical problems that matter for device evaluation, performance, safety, and innovation.

NSF is supporting this effort through multiple parts of the agency, including the Directorate for Engineering, the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (Division of Computer and Network Systems), and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Division of Materials Research). That mix signals a broad technical scope: projects can sit at the intersection of engineering design, computing and networking, data-intensive methods, and materials research, as long as the work is relevant to medical devices and the kinds of scientific and engineering challenges FDA faces as new technologies reach the market.

The solicitation is structured around three flexible ways to support research conducted at FDA. The first mechanism supports Principal Investigators working at FDA, enabling established investigators to collaborate directly in the FDA setting. The second mechanism supports Postdoctoral Researchers at FDA, providing a pathway for early-career scientists and engineers to conduct research in the FDA environment while contributing specialized expertise. The third mechanism supports Graduate Students at FDA, creating an opportunity for graduate researchers to gain hands-on experience and contribute to applied, high-impact work connected to medical device science. Across all three mechanisms, the unifying idea is residence and collaboration within FDA's internal research ecosystem rather than a purely external, campus-based project model.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity under the broad category of science and technology and other research and development, using the grant funding instrument. It is associated with CFDA numbers 47.041, 47.049, and 47.070, reflecting NSF's standard research support channels. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning it is generally open to a wide range of applicant types, subject to any specific clarifications that may appear in the detailed eligibility text within the full solicitation. The opportunity was created on May 2, 2018, and proposals are accepted on a rolling basis ("accepted anytime"), which is helpful for teams that need flexibility to align submissions with collaboration planning, personnel availability, or project timing.

In terms of scale, NSF anticipates making about 10 awards. The listed award ceiling is shown as 0, which typically indicates that a fixed maximum is not specified in the summary field and that applicants should rely on the full solicitation for budgeting expectations, constraints, and appropriate award sizes for each participation mechanism. Overall, the program is best understood as a collaboration-driven residency model that connects NSF-supported researchers in engineering, computing, and materials science with FDA/CDRH priorities, with the goal of advancing the scientific foundation needed to understand and evaluate next-generation medical device technologies.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NSF/FDA Scholar-In-Residence at FDA" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.049, 47.070.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 02, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Proposals accepted anytime. (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: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for 18 556

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