Strengthening the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals Ecosystem (SCIPE)

The Strengthening the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals Ecosystem (SCIPE) program is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), led by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) within the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). The SCIPE program is designed to enhance and support the community of Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIPs), who are essential to the effective use and development of advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) for science and engineering research. The program responds to national calls for improving access to high-performance computing resources, expanding technical training, and developing a resilient research infrastructure workforce. SCIPE aims to integrate CI professionals more deeply into the research enterprise and create sustainable, scalable education and training solutions that address skill gaps and institutional challenges. The program encourages proposals that recognize the technical and strategic contributions of CIPs, while advancing CI-enabled research through collaborative engagement across disciplines and institutions. Projects are expected to contribute both short- and long-term impacts, such as enabling transformative research, supporting underserved institutions, and formalizing career paths for CIPs. Funding supports initiatives including the establishment of regional or discipline-based alliances, the development of instructional materials, mentorship programs, and best practice dissemination. Each award may support up to four full-time equivalent (FTE) CI professionals annually over a five-year period. Importantly, at least 20% of each funded CIP’s time must be committed to supporting the broader national research community through the NSF-funded ACCESS program’s Computational Science Support Network (CSSN). Proposals must include at least one principal investigator (PI) or co-PI with relevant expertise in both the OAC and in any targeted scientific domain. Institutions are limited to one proposal submission per competition, and individuals may only participate in one proposal. All proposals must clearly describe their integration plans with CSSN, outline mechanisms for professional development and career advancement of CIPs, and present long-term sustainability plans for institutional support after the NSF funding ends. Eligible applicants include organizations that meet NSF’s standard eligibility criteria, such as higher education institutions and certain nonprofit and governmental entities. Proposals must be submitted through either Research.gov or Grants.gov, and must adhere to NSF's Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide. No letters of intent or preliminary proposals are required. The next submission deadline is January 16, 2025, with recurring deadlines set for the third Thursday in January each year thereafter. For more information, prospective applicants are encouraged to contact any of the program directors listed in the solicitation. These include Andrey Kanaev (akanaev@nsf.gov, 703-292-2841), Sharon Geva (sgeva@nsf.gov, 703-292-7058), and others from the participating directorates. Proposers are advised to consult with relevant program officers at least one month before submission and include those consultations in the application documentation.

Funding success increases with early consultation with program officers and careful attention to PAPPG requirements.