NSF - Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) solicitation 21-568
Posted June 2, 2021
Disciplines: All
BRITE is designed to enable and create opportunities for experienced researchers (tenured or equivalent) to forge new directions or to enter new fields by capitalizing or branching out of their established knowledge domains or to revitalize research after a hiatus or to explore ambitious, bold, and expansive research ideas that cover wide intellectual spaces. There are four distinct funding tracks: Synergy, Pivot, Relaunch, and Fellow. Each track provides dedicated time and resources to the PI.
The guiding rationale of the CMMI BRITE solicitation is that leveraging prior science and engineering outcomes, harnessing talent from the broad scientific research community, enabling time for reflection and deliberation, including learning new skills and scientific immersion in new areas, are valuable and essential paths leading to scientific and technological innovation.
BRITE focuses on a career stage when constraints on time (increased service and teaching and other constraints) can diminish research productivity and when institutional resources are typically lower. We also know that the attrition and retention of women and underrepresented minorities occurs largely at this stage. BRITE seeks to promote innovation and discoveries by leveraging the experienced researcher cohort (who possess deep technical knowledge) and a diverse talent pool (by being broadly inclusive) at a career stage where they can take risks. BRITE seeks to invest in the STEM workforce so they are best equipped to keep up with the fast acceleration of research methods, analytical tools, and big data. BRITE seeks to enable researchers to tackle complex problems where one needs to cross disciplinary boundaries to develop a common language, and provides time and resources when one has research freedom.
BRITE seeks to broaden participation by focusing on a career stage where the ‘leaky pipeline’ can be supported to counter the lack of representation in research and leadership at the highest ranks in the academe.
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