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 grant program aims to support innovative research that enhances the understanding of the deep-time sedimentary crust, alongside investigating environmental changes and the evolution of the biosphere through the pre-Holocene geologic record. It focuses on projects that study the evolution of life, ecology, environments, and biogeography through fossils, sediments, and geochemical proxies; geological processes that form the Earth's sedimentary lithosphere; new geochronological projects to understand the timing and sequence of pre-Holocene sedimentary and biological processes; and the production, transportation, and deposition of sediments in the geologic record. Proposals focused on modern and/or Holocene subjects must clearly demonstrate their relevance to understanding pre-Holocene processes.