Funding Opportunity Number: 15-569
Opportunity Category: Discretionary
Funding Instrument Type: Grant
Category of Funding Activity: Science and Technology and other Research and Development
Eligible Applicants: Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Agency Name: NSF
Closing Date: 2016-09-28
Award Ceiling: $175,000
Expected Number of Awards: 40

Description: With the goal of encouraging research independence immediately upon obtaining one's first academic position after receipt of the PhD, the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) will award grants to initiate the course of one's independent research.  Understanding the critical role of establishing that independence early in one's career, it is expected that funds will be used to support untenured faculty or research scientists (or equivalent) in their first two years in a primary academic position after the PhD, but not more than a total of five years after completion of their PhD.  One may not yet have received any other grants or contracts in the Principal Investigator (PI) role from any department, agency, or institution of the federal government, including from the CAREER program or any other program, post-PhD, regardless of the size of the grant or contract, with certain exceptions noted below.  Serving as co-PI, Senior Personnel, Postdoctoral Fellow, or other Fellow does not count against this eligibility rule.  Grants, contracts, or gifts from private companies or foundations; state, local, or tribal governments; or universities do not count against this eligibility rule.  It is expected that these funds will allow the new CISE Research Initiation Initiative PI to support one or more graduate students for up to two years.  Faculty at undergraduate and two-year institutions may use funds to support undergraduate students, and may use the additional RUI designation (which requires inclusion of a RUI Impact Statement) — see
Link: www.grants.gov/view-opportunity.html?opp…

Funding Opportunity Number: NEAAC-ACSYRIA-15-006
Opportunity Category: Discretionary
Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative Agreement
Category of Funding Activity: Other (see text field entitled "Explanation of Other Category of Funding Activity" for clarification)
Eligible Applicants: Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Agency Name: DOS-NEA-AC
Closing Date: 2015-12-11
Award Ceiling: $24,000,000
Expected Number of Awards: 1

Description: Since 2012, the Department of State has assisted the development and strengthening of independent Syrian-led media by providing ongoing financial, technical, and material support to independent radio and TV broadcasters with the capacity to collectively reach nearly 80% of Syria's pre-war population.  To date, independent media support has focused largely on a core group of ten media outlets, particularly radio broadcasters, supporting their development into organizations offering varied programming to address the information needs of the Syrian people, promote dialogue between citizens and local governance bodies, offer non-regime-controlled news and coverage of current events, and provide a moderate counter-weight to extremist narratives.  Support has taken many forms, including the provision of transmission, production, and office equipment; broadcast subscriptions; training and mentoring in editorial, journalistic, and technical skills; stipends for operations and programming; and monitoring and evaluation.
Link: www.grants.gov/view-opportunity.html?opp…