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 Focused Research Group activity aims to fund collaborative groups using innovative methods to tackle specific, significant challenges in the mathematical sciences. These challenges should be vital problems whose solutions will broadly impact the mathematical sciences and possibly other areas. The grant supports interdisciplinary and risky projects, welcoming contributions from statisticians, mathematicians, and researchers from other disciplines relevant to the proposed research. Projects are expected to be timely, last up to three years with a possibility of a two-year extension for those showing substantial progress, and be significant in both scope and impact for the mathematical sciences.