HISTORICAL TRENDS AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DIVISION OF EARTH SCIENCES AT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

For 75 years, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) mission has been to promote science's progress by investing in research to expand knowledge in science, engineering, and education. NSF invests in actions that increase the capacity of the U.S. to conduct and exploit such research. The unique nature of NSF is that it does not prescribe what research should be conducted but relies on the scientific community to propose transformative research ideas. Within the Geoscience directorate, the Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) supports disciplinary research across a wide range of geoscience sub-disciplines and cross-cutting research opportunities. EAR funding trends show the evolution of research disciplines, institutional participation, emerging research directions, and principal investigator participation. As EAR looks forward to the next 75 years, the division has developed new disciplinary programs and updated other initiatives to support increased collaborative research, emerging institutions, and broadening participation. The research presented here focuses on how historical trends drive new opportunities at NSF. These opportunities include funding in fundamental research, early career support, RAPID awards, emerging institutions, infrastructure awards, and navigation of Dear Colleague Letters. This research provides a historical context for current and future principal investigators to navigate the proposal submission process in EAR and beyond.