Conference: LEAPS-MPS PI Workshop

This award will support a Principal Investigator workshop in January, 2024 for the Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023 Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) awardees. The two-day workshop will be held at the Westin Alexandria, Old Town in Alexandria, VA, in the vicinity of the National Science Foundation (NSF) headquarters in Alexandria, VA. The main goals of the workshop are two-fold: (1) to provide PIs who have received their LEAPS award with valuable information and advice on the policies, procedures, and funding opportunities available at NSF, and (2) to provide a platform for networking among the LEAPS PIs for future collaborations. The workshop program is composed of several main parts such as: informational presentations by NSF Program Directors and invited speakers, a poster session, and individual meetings with Program Directors. The topics of various sessions and presentations include (1) information on various funding opportunities in MPS and across NSF; (2) discussions on preparing competitive proposals (3) understanding the NSF review process; (4) Broader Impacts; (5) and Divisional breakout sessions. Ample opportunity to meet with NSF personnel is provided. Plans for a post-workshop survey are included to evaluate the workshop organization and to inform plans for future workshop improvements. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.