How to NSF

Fast Facts

• Need a US university that does not charge to take responsibility for the NSF grant. They will apply for it and handle reimbursing students after the conference for their travel.
• The NSF grant is only available to students at US universities. Note the student does not have to be a US citizen but they must be enrolled at a US university.
• Need a chair across CGO/HPCA/PPoPP conferences who will handle the interaction with the institution that is managing the grant. By necessity this person should be at the same institution that is applying for the funding.
• Typical amount: $30,000 or $10,000 per conference
• Ratio per conference: split equally 1/3 among CGO/HPCA/PPoPP
• Traditionally applied for by CGO for all conferences

Preparing the Proposal

1. First contact the appropriate program officer at NSF to make sure they are accepting grant proposals and that funding is available. This has been Anindya Banerjee recently.
2. Once you receive the OK from NSF, meet with your institute to discuss preparing the grant proposal. Universities have an office that knows how to prepare a grant proposal. This might be called something like "Research Foundation" or the "Office for Sponsored Research".
3. After your institution prepares the proposal, they will need to submit it to NSF.

Administering the Grant

1. Coordinate NSF support with the other sources of CGO student travel funding -- typically SIGPLAN, SIGMICRO, IEEE TCuARCH.
2. US students that receive NSF support will have their travel expenses reimbursed after the conference is over. They must supply original receipts to the institution administering the grant to be reimbursed.
3. Students cannot "double dip". If they are reimbursed from NSF for an expense they cannot then receive reimbursement for that same expense from another source of funding. Coordinate with the other sources of travel funding to ensure this does not happen.