PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation | 20 558

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20 558

The National Science Foundation (NSF) opportunity titled "PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation" (often abbreviated PFE RIEF; Funding Opportunity Number 20-558) is a discretionary grant program within NSF’s Engineering Directorate that focuses on building research capacity around how engineers are educated and socially formed into the profession. The program sits inside NSF’s larger, multi-year "Professional Formation of Engineers" (PFE) initiative, which aims to help create an innovative, inclusive engineering profession that can keep pace with national priorities, grand challenges, and rapidly changing workforce needs. In this context, "professional formation" is broader than classroom instruction: it includes the formal and informal learning experiences, cultural expectations, and value systems through which people become engineers, along with the ethical responsibility of practicing engineers to sustain and strengthen the profession over time.

PFE RIEF has two central goals. First, it supports research projects that examine the professional formation of engineers, meaning studies that can produce evidence and insights about how engineers develop skills, identities, values, and professional behaviors. Second, it is explicitly designed to expand the pool of researchers doing this work by helping engineering faculty who are not already trained in social science or education research methods learn how to conduct rigorous engineering education research. That workforce-development objective is a defining feature of the program: it is meant as a research initiation pathway for faculty who are strong teachers, mentors, or educational change leaders, but who have limited or no prior experience running education or social science research studies.

Because of that intent, PFE RIEF is not meant to serve as an additional funding stream for established engineering education researchers or researchers with deep expertise in social science or education research who simply want to start another project. The solicitation clearly directs those experienced investigators to apply instead to NSF’s "Research in the Formation of Engineers" program (linked in the announcement) or to other relevant NSF opportunities. In other words, PFE RIEF is positioned as an on-ramp: it supports both the research itself and the professional development needed for engineering faculty to gain competence in education research approaches.

Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based organizations that NSF commonly supports for educational and research activities. Proposals may be submitted by U.S. institutions of higher education, including accredited two-year and four-year colleges and universities (community colleges included), acting on behalf of their faculty members. Proposals may also be submitted by non-profit, non-academic organizations in the United States that are directly associated with education or research, such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, and professional societies. For U.S. institutions with international branch campuses, the announcement adds an important condition: if any funding will support work at an international branch campus (including via subawards or consultants), the proposal must explain the specific benefits of doing that work there and justify why the activities cannot be conducted at the U.S. campus.

The program also places a key requirement on who can serve as Principal Investigator. At least one PI or co-PI must be a member of an engineering department, and that individual must not have received engineering education or professional formation funding through NSF’s EEC division in the past three years. This reinforces the program’s purpose of bringing new researchers into the PFE research community rather than repeatedly funding the same established education-research teams. At the same time, the solicitation notes that submissions are especially encouraged from faculty who maintain active disciplinary research programs or who are considering a shift in research direction, suggesting NSF is interested in helping technically focused engineering faculty begin integrating education and formation research into their scholarly portfolios.

From an administrative standpoint, this opportunity is a grant mechanism under the NSF umbrella (CFDA 47.041) in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category. The source data lists an original closing date of 2024-11-12. Some fields such as award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided text, so applicants would typically confirm budget limits, project durations, and award counts in the full solicitation on NSF’s site. Overall, the practical takeaway is that PFE RIEF is a targeted NSF funding opportunity for engineering faculty who want to study and improve how engineers are formed, while simultaneously learning the research tools needed to conduct credible, publishable engineering education research.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-07-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-11-12. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for 20 558

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: