Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms (CSDM-A)

CONTACTS

PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Apply to PD 12-9101 as follows:

For full proposals submitted via FastLane: standard Grant Proposal Guidelines apply.
For full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide; A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide)

Important Notice to Proposers

A revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), NSF 13-1, was issued on October 4, 2012 and is effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 14, 2013. Please be advised that, depending on the specified due date, the guidelines contained in NSF 13-1 may apply to proposals submitted in response to this funding opportunity.

Please be aware that significant changes have been made to the PAPPG to implement revised merit review criteria based on the National Science Board (NSB) report, National Science Foundation's Merit Review Criteria: Review and Revisions. While the two merit review criteria remain unchanged (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts), guidance has been provided to clarify and improve the function of the criteria. Changes will affect the project summary and project description sections of proposals. Annual and final reports also will be affected.

A by-chapter summary of this and other significant changes is provided at the beginning of both the Grant Proposal Guide and the Award & Administration Guide.

DUE DATES

Full Proposal Window:  September 1, 2013 - September 30, 2013

CSDM Window

September 1 - September 30, Annually Thereafter

If one of the dates falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date becomes the next business day.

SYNOPSIS

The CSDM Program supports research on the nature of molecular structure and its consequences for reactivity, intermolecular interactions, and dynamics.   Chemical dynamics is defined to encompass reaction kinetics and mechanisms, intramolecular rearrangement or conformational changes, and changes induced via electromagnetic excitation.  While the majority of projects supported by CSDM are experimental in nature, the Program is receptive to research focused on utilizing applied computational methods.  However, the proposer should establish a high degree of relevance to the understanding of existing experimental data.  The CSDM Program is concerned primarily with chemical phenomena in the gas and fluid phases, as well as chemical processes at gas-fluid, gas-solid, fluid-solid, and fluid-fluid interfaces.  Proposals concerned with solid phase chemical processes are generally not supported by the Program. Proposals concerned with structure, dynamics or mechanisms as they pertain to catalytic processes should submit to the Chemical Catalysis Program (CHE/CAT). Proposals whose primary questions relate to phenomena arising from the properties of nanoscale materials or assemblies should be submitted to the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program (CHE/MSN). CSDM supports research projects that have strong implications for advancing the foundational physical models of chemical structure and dynamics.  Projects focusing on device or process optimization are not supported by the Program.

The CSDM Program is divided into two sub-programs, CSDM-A and CSDM-B.  The two programs will inevitably overlap in some instances.  At coarse resolution, they are separable in terms of i) molecular complexity, ii) time scale, iii) strength of the interactions, and iv) links to potential applications. The following Program Descriptions are intended to guide the proposer to the most appropriate sub-program for his/her research.  If additional guidance is required, Principal Investigators are encouraged to send brief electronic summaries of their research to CSDM Program Directors prior to formal proposal submission.  After Programmatic review of the summaries, Principal Investigators will be given advice as to the appropriateness of the research for CSDM, and if appropriate, the best sub-program (CSDM-A or CSDM-B) for submission.

CSDM-A

Research supported by this program generally seeks to develop and refine our quantitative understanding of molecular structure, reactivity and dynamics.  The most successful proposals will be those which describe research that has the potential to change how we think about chemical structure and dynamics in general, as opposed to the behavior of a specific class of molecules or reactions.  CSDM-A research often involves the development of experimental techniques that extend the limits of short time scales or spectral resolution. When the development of such capabilities is the primary focus (rather than the pursuit of specific new insights they may enable), the work is probably better suited to the Chemical Measurement and Imaging program. Examples of topics recently funded in CSDM-A include femtosecond time-resolved studies of solvent effects on reaction dynamics, photoelectron spectroscopy of gas phase ions and clusters, nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy of liquid-liquid interfaces, diffraction/scanning probe studies of molecular adsorbates on metal surfaces, and the molecular modeling of clathrate hydrate growth.

For information on the CSDM-B Program, follow this link: PD 12-9102

THIS PROGRAM IS PART OF

Disciplinary Research Activities

What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)

Map of Recent Awards Made Through This Program