Science Matters

The Director's 2020 highlights

December 28, 2020

Despite the many challenges we have faced this year, as NSF’s 70th year draws to a close, we can reflect on this legacy and celebrate the accomplishments of 2020 — all of which demonstrate our…

Graphic showing a desk with a phone and worksheets

NSF 101: The Mid-Career Advancement program

January 15, 2021

As a mid-career scientist or engineer (at the associate professor rank or equivalent), you are familiar with the pressure to remain productive in the lab, yet also obligated to teaching, institutional…

NSF 101: Funding opportunities for early career researchers

January 7, 2021

Congratulations! After years of work, you’ve earned that coveted professorship and finally settled into your new lab. Now you might be looking to secure funding for your new research idea or take on a…

Self-sanitizing mask research at Northwestern

NSF providing critical support in COVID-19 fight

December 17, 2020

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is facing one of the greatest challenges of its history. Addressing the wide-ranging impact of the pandemic requires the combined efforts of researchers…

Howard University doctorate recipients in 2015

I’ve been there. Fighting stereotypes in the world of science.

December 8, 2020

NSF’s Build and Broaden program seeks to expand minority participation in the social, behavioral and economic sciences and increase the ability of minority-serving institutions to acquire NSF support…

Fossils from flooded caves in Madagascar offer a new perspective on the region’s history

November 20, 2020

Despite their proximity to the ocean, the flooded caves of Tsimanampetsotse National Park in southwest Madagascar are filled with fresh, clear water. While exploring one of the caves, named Vintany…

a black webbing spreads across a gray background connecting in nodes of glowing yellow

Dark matter, COVID-19, and an opportunity to help people

October 30, 2020

As a particle physicist, Cristian Galbiati’s research focuses on some very curious natural phenomena. Last spring, while working in Italy, he was overseeing NSF-supported research related to dark…

‘The Greatest Auction Ever’ – Q&A with Paul Milgrom, 2020 Nobel laureate

October 23, 2020

Milgrom and Robert Wilson received the 2020 Nobel Prize in economics for their pioneering use of game theory to create new types of auctions, which generate billions of dollars for the U.S.

California firefighters attack the Bobcat fire

#NSFStories: Fighting fires with supercomputers

October 23, 2020

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Tim Werle cranked the temperature up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, tuned the Santa Ana winds to swirl hard from the northeast, and dropped the humidity down to a bone…

No soils, no life

October 14, 2020

They’re beneath our feet, but we seldom hear important signals in the soils