Infrastructure Systems and People

The Infrastructure Systems and People (ISP) program is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), a federal agency tasked with promoting the progress of science and engineering in the United States. The NSF operates under the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), specifically through the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (ENG/CMMI). The ISP program supports fundamental research on infrastructure systems that integrates physical components, organizational structures, and operational strategies to ensure that critical services meet the needs of communities at various scales under both normal and extreme conditions. The program’s objective is to advance knowledge related to the design, optimization, resilience, and sustainability of infrastructure systems. These systems are critical to societal functions such as public health, safety, economic prosperity, and national security. The ISP program encourages research that addresses the complex interactions and cascading impacts that arise from disruptions due to natural disasters, crises, and technological innovation. It also welcomes studies that explore the functionality of infrastructure during sudden environmental or societal shifts and under stress from converging technologies or demand changes. Key areas of support include interdisciplinary approaches to infrastructure innovation, especially those that address systems integration, user-centered design, socio-technical research, and data analytics. Proposals that enhance understanding of how infrastructure systems perform under a variety of conditions—including extreme events—are prioritized. The program also values efforts to develop and share comprehensive datasets that reflect real-world operations and interactions between people and infrastructure. Research supported by the ISP program contributes to national efforts such as the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP). Proposers are encouraged to make use of NSF’s Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) resources, including experimental facilities, modeling, and simulation tools hosted on platforms such as DesignSafe. While ISP encourages the use of physics-based and technical methodologies, it does not fund proposals that narrowly focus on individual infrastructure components or those that are solely within geotechnical or structural engineering, material sciences, architectural engineering, wireless communication, human factors, or environmental engineering—unless the proposal integrates these areas within a systems-level perspective. Applications to the ISP program are accepted on a rolling basis, with no fixed submission deadlines. Proposers are advised to consult the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) applicable to their submission date. Submissions may be made via Research.gov or Grants.gov following the respective guidelines. While there are no pre-application requirements, researchers are strongly encouraged to email a one-page summary to the program officers for feedback on alignment with ISP priorities, especially for interdisciplinary or cross-agency proposals. For further information, the main program contact is Daan Liang, who can be reached via ISP@nsf.gov or at (703) 292-2441. This opportunity remains active with ongoing review cycles and no posted closing date.

Applicants are encouraged to submit a one-page summary to program officers to confirm fit prior to proposal submission.