Early Career Faculty Innovators Program

OVERVIEW

The Early Career Faculty Innovator Program provides funding for faculty in the social, policy, and behavioral sciences to co-develop interdisciplinary and actionable research projects in partnership with scientists and engineers at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.

A primary goal of the Innovator Program is to address complex research problems by building partnerships between NSF NCAR scientists and early-career faculty. The Innovator Program supports faculty and their graduate student(s) for two years. Research themes that align with NSF NCAR strategic priorities are selected for each two-year cohort.

2019-2021 Cohort: Coastal Regions and Human Settlements

2021-2023 Cohort: Actionable Earth System Science

2023-2025 Cohort: Actionable Earth System Science

2025-2027 Cohort: Convergent and Actionable Earth System Science

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?

Join our mailing list to receive program updates. If you have specific questions that are not answered on our webpages, you can email us at ecinnovators@ucar.edu

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The program is overseen by an advisory committee, known as the Core Science Team, composed of representatives from NSF NCAR. The Core Science Team, together with NSF NCAR leadership will guide the selection of a Research Theme, invite proposals, and support the selection of early-career faculty. During the two-year research period, NSF NCAR scientists and engineers, faculty and their graduate students will form interdisciplinary research teams. At the end of their appointment, by mutual agreement, the early-career faculty could be appointed as an NSF NCAR affiliate scientist to continue the scientific relationship, and develop joint research proposals for extramural funding.

VISION

We envision a community of physical, social, behavioral, and policy scientists who are empowered, valued and supported in conducting innovative interdisciplinary and convergent research that addresses complex societal problems. This community, facilitated and supported by NSF NCAR, builds upon a network of collaborations between NSF NCAR scientists and university faculty and students to augment the reach and breadth of NSF NCAR science. These inclusive partnerships will lead to more equitable access to and benefit from Earth system science.

MISSION

The mission of the Innovator program is to expand the impact of NSF NCAR science by fostering lasting interdisciplinary and convergent research collaborations. These partnerships bring together early-career faculty and students from social, behavioral, and policy sciences with NSF NCAR researchers to benefit a broad range of communities.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

Address complex research problems by building partnerships between NSF NCAR scientists and early-career Innovator faculty and their students
In collaboration with NSF NCAR scientists, co-develop interdisciplinary research projects and future funding proposals for sustained partnerships
Build capacity within NSF NCAR’s workforce and enhance strategic, interdisciplinary connections with university scientists
Accelerate innovation and discovery in Earth system science and improve the creation and delivery of scientific information that is responsive to societal needs

FUNDING

Faculty participants receive up to $110,000 per year to fund the proposed interdisciplinary project. Through that funding or other university resources, faculty must fund:

Year-round salary and benefits for one graduate student
Tuition for graduate student
Travel and accommodation for a one week research session at NSF NCAR for each faculty and their grad student for summer 2026 and 2027
Research funds for costs associated with the project such as surveys, computing, etc.
With any remaining funds after tuition, travel and research costs are covered, faculty may take summer salary support (up to two months)

Additional NCAR funding includes:

Salary support for NSF NCAR collaborators to use when working on Innovator projects
Travel to NSF NCAR for a week-long orientation prior to the award period in Summer 2025. Travel for faculty will be arranged and paid for by NSF NCAR

Convergence Research at NSF NCAR

Earth connected to other images through lines with a cityscape as a background.

Convergence research (as defined by the National Science Foundation, NSF) is a means of solving complex research problems with a focus on societal needs. It entails integrating knowledge, methods, and expertise from different disciplines and forming novel frameworks to catalyze scientific discovery and innovation.

The NSF identifies convergence research as having two primary characteristics:

Research driven by a specific and compelling problem
Deep integration across disciplines

The Innovators Program supports a convergence research paradigm with the specific goal of transforming our understanding of the interactions among natural, human-built, and social systems.

DEFINITIONS OF TERMINOLOGY

(defined in the NCAR strategic Plan)

Actionable Science
Provides sound knowledge, information, or technology that is useful either to the scientific community by supporting research or education, or to society by enabling decision making. Actionable science can be fundamental or applied, and can create benefits over the short or long term.

Co-development
Brings people with multiple kinds of expertise together to form collaborative teams that jointly design and implement scientific or technological efforts.

Community
The collection of individuals and organizations, including NSF NCAR, in the academic, government, private, and nonprofit sectors that are interested in Earth system science and technology. NSF NCAR convenes, supports, and collaborates with other community members, with a particular focus on academic community members engaged in research and education in atmospheric and related Earth system science.

Constituencies
Organized groups and individuals who are affected by or make decisions about Earth system–related risks and opportunities.

Convergent research
Research that is driven by and addresses a specific, complex, compelling problem, which may arise from deep scientific questions or pressing societal needs. It uses deep integration across disciplines to form novel frameworks and catalyze scientific discovery and innovation.

Earth system science
Science of the atmosphere; connected components of geoscience including the land, ocean, ice and fresh water, geospace, and Sun; and their interactions with ecosystems, people, and the built environment.

Interdisciplinary research
Research by teams or individuals that integrates data, techniques, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems beyond the scope of a single discipline.

Partners
Members of the community and constituencies with whom we collaborate in specific, explicit ways over time to actualize strategic goals.

THE 2019-2021 INNOVATOR PROGRAM COHORT

Nine early-career faculty were selected to the 2019-2021 Innovator Cohort. Faculty have expertise in a broad range of disciplines from anthropology and geography to environmental design and civil engineering.

THE 2021-2023 INNOVATOR PROGRAM COHORT

Twelve early-career faculty were selected to the 2021-2023 Innovator Cohort. Faculty have expertise in a broad range of disciplines from climate resilience and agribusiness to environmental policy and risk communication.

THE 2023-2025 INNOVATOR PROGRAM COHORT

Six early-career faculty were selected to the 2023-2025 Innovator Cohort. Faculty have expertise in a broad range of disciplines from biology, geology and resource conservation to psychology, sociology, political science and economics.

THE 2025-2027 INNOVATOR PROGRAM COHORT

Five early career faculty were selected to the 2025-2027 Innovator Cohort. Faculty have expertise in a broad range of disciplines from disaster science and management, environmental anthropology, social work, urban and regional planning and geography.