The U.S. National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and U.S. territories. NSF was established in 1950 by Congress to promote the progress of science, advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, and secure the national defense.
The ACED program aims to leverage computing technology to expedite scientific discoveries and push forward new computing advancements. It fosters a symbiotic relationship between computational and scientific advancements, benefiting various scientific disciplines through new computational technologies and, conversely, driving novel computing technologies applicable beyond their initial use cases. The program emphasizes continuous collaboration between computing researchers and researchers from other scientific or engineering disciplines. It introduces two tracks: Track I (Emerging Ideas Proposals) focuses on exploratory multidisciplinary projects to achieve preliminary results and refine research plans, with a funding limit of $500,000 for 18-24 months. Track II (Discovery Proposals) supports transformative research that significantly advances both computing and the chosen scientific discipline(s), with proposals up to $3,000,000 for a 4-year duration.