U.S. National Science Foundation · United States

Community Infrastructure for Research in Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CIRC)

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U.S. National Science Foundation expects to make 25 awards of $50,000 – $5 million each, from a total budget of $24 million. Applications close on 10 Sep 2027. Eligible applicant types include others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification).

Deadline: 10 Sep 2027 (in 299 days)
Grant amount: $50,000 – $5 million per project
Total budget: $24 million
Funding rate: No mandatory cost sharing stated; funding percentage not stated
Total budget: $24 million
Expected awards: 25
Cost sharing: Not required
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation
Reference: 23-589
Assistance listing: 47.075 Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Last checked: 13 Nov 2026

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About this call

The Community Infrastructure for Research in Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CIRC) program drives discovery and learning in the core disciplines of the three participating CISE divisions [Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF), Computer and Network Systems (CNS), and Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS)] of the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) by funding the creation and enhancement of world-class research infrastructure. This research infrastructure will specifically support diverse communities of CISE researchers pursuing focused research agendas in computer and information science and engineering . This support involves developing the accompanying user services and engagement needed to attract, nurture, and grow a robust research community that is actively involved in determining directions for the infrastructure, as well as management of the infrastructure. This should lead to research infrastructure that can be sustained through community involvement and community leadership, and that will enable advances not possible with existing research infrastructure. Further, through the CIRC program, CISE seeks to ensure that researchers from a diverse range of institutions of higher education (IHEs), including minority-serving and predominantly undergraduate institutions, as well as researchers from non-profit, non-academic organizations, have access to such infrastructure.

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The CIRC program supports four classes of awards:

• Planning Community Infrastructure (Planning) awards support planning efforts to engage research communities to develop new CISE community research infrastructures. Such an infrastructure could be eventually funded through the CIRC program (Planning-C) or the NSF Mid-scale Research Infrastructure (MsRI) program (Planning-M) . For the scope of Mid-scale RI proposals, see the Mid-scale RI-1 and Mid-scale RI-2 program pages.

• Exploratory Development (Dev) awards support activities that involve the validation of one or more unproven infrastructure designs and/or technologies, which, if validated, could enable transformative community research infrastructure in the future. Successful projects are expected to provide the technical foundations necessary to pursue subsequent CIRC ( New or Grand ), Mid-scale RI-1 , or Mid-scale RI-2 projects.

• Medium Community Infrastructure (Medium) awards support the creation of new CISE community research infrastructure or the enhancement of existing CISE community research infrastructure with integrated tools, resources, user services, and research community outreach to enable innovative CISE research opportunities to advance the frontiers of the CISE core research areas. The Medium award class includes New (New) and Enhance/Sustain (ENS) awards.

• Grand Community Infrastructure (Grand) awards support projects involving significant efforts to develop new CISE community research infrastructure or to enhance and sustain an existing CISE community research infrastructure to enable world-class CISE research opportunities for broad-based communities of CISE researchers that extend well beyond the awardee organization(s).

Each CIRC Medium or Grand award may include support for operation of the infrastructure, ensuring that the awardee organization(s) is (are) well positioned to provide a high quality of service to CISE community researchers expected to use the infrastructure to realize their research goals.

Who can apply

Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

*Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following:

-Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities.

-Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of sub-awards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.

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*Who May Serve as PI:

By the submission deadline, any PI, co-PI, or other senior/key project personnel must hold either a tenured or tenure-track position, or a primary appointment in a research position at a US-based campus of an organization eligible to submit to this solicitation (see above), with exceptions granted for family or medical leave, as determined by the submitting organization.

Individuals with primary appointments at for-profit, non-academic organizations or at overseas branch campuses of US IHEs are not eligible.

Applicant categories are a starting point. The official call decides eligibility.

Topics

Science and Technology and other Research and Development

How to apply

Apply through the funder’s official page (link below); it states the procedure, documents and deadline.

From the call text

Who can apply: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Company stage: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Single applicant or consortium: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Where applicants must be based: *Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: -Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities. -Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members.
Where to apply: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Contact

U.S. National Science Foundation · grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov · 703-292-4203

Where these facts come from

Fact	Value	How we know	Taken from the source
Deadline	10 September 2027	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Amount per applicant	$50,000 – $5 million	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Total budget	$24 million	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Funding rate	No mandatory cost sharing stated; funding percentage not stated	read from the official text	15 Nov 2026
Who can apply	Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Where to apply	Unknown — not stated in the source we hold	unknown	—

Official sources

Official call page · Funder's programme page

Facts on this page come from the funder’s official data, taken on 13 Nov 2026. The funder's own documents, including later amendments, always take precedence.