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 Infrastructure Capacity for Biological Research (Capacity) Program aims to support the creation, expansion, or significant enhancement of research tools, products, and services to advance biological research in areas backed by the Directorate for Biological Sciences at NSF. This program focuses on three key programmatic areas: Cyberinfrastructure, Biological Collections, and Biological Field Stations and Marine Laboratories, aiming to build research infrastructure that benefits a wide range of researchers. Additionally, the program is open to proposals for planning activities or workshops that help in coordinating the development of infrastructure to meet the broader research community's needs. It emphasizes producing quality outputs that foster significant scientific outcomes, ensuring open access to a diverse scientific and educational community, and serving a broad range of researchers beyond single teams. Projects related to specific instrumentation or infrastructure for individual projects, laboratories, or institutions are not covered under this program.