NSF Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering BRITE
 22-559   https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22559/nsf22559.htm
NSF Directorate for Engineering  Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation CMMI

All BRITE proposals are expected to address fundamental research that creates new knowledge in one or more CMMI program areas. The solicitation includes four funding tracks: Synergy, Pivot, Relaunch, and Fellow in support of experienced scientists and engineers (tenured or equivalent).

• The BRITE Synergy Track is intended to support synthesis research borne out of a disaggregated and accumulated body of prior research outcomes that remain unstudied and unprobed to forge or conceptualize a novel direction, methodology, paradigm, or outcome that is more than the sum of the parts.
• The BRITE Pivot Track is intended to enable researchers to quickly adapt to the fast-moving pace of research and create new knowledge and research products in their field by infusing new concepts from a different discipline or sub-field.
• The BRITE Relaunch Track is intended to support tenured or equivalent faculty, who have had a pause in research activity, to relaunch back into active research, and to diversify the experiences of the nation’s STEM researchers.
• The BRITE Fellow Track is intended to support established tenured or equivalent researchers who have demonstrated impact beyond scientific output to request extended time and freedom to use their intellectual creativity to explore divergent, bold, and ambitious research ideas where the expected scientific outcomes are highly uncertain and, therefore, high-risk.

PIs interested in submitting to the Synergy, Pivot, or Fellow track are strongly encouraged to assess the suitability of their proposal topic prior to submission. All funded projects will form an NSF BRITE cohort and investigators will participate in NSF-organized convenings in the form of an annual review.