*Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: -<ul> <li> Only U.S. Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), also referred to in this solicitation as universities and academic institutions,accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, that grant engineering degrees at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral engineering level may submit proposals as the lead university. The Lead university submits the proposal, and the award is made to the lead university. Support is provided to core partner universities and any affiliated faculty from other partner institutions through subawards.<a id="_anchor_5" name="_msoanchor_5" href="https://nsf-my.sharepoint.com/personal/0020679335_nsf_gov/Documents/2026%20ERC%20solicitation/Gen-4%20ERC%202026%20-%20after%20PIMS%20edited_03-04-2024Back%20to%20Anne.docx#_msocom_5"></a> </li> <li>NSF welcomes proposal submissions that broaden geographic and demographic participation. Proposals from STEM-minority-serving institutions (STEM-MSI*), non-R1 schools, emerging research institutions, and IHEs in EPSCoR-eligible jurisdictions, as lead or core partners, as well as IHEs that primarily serve populations of students with disabilities or women in engineering interested in STEM, are encouraged.</li> </ul> Invited full proposals must meet all the following organizational requirements or they will be returned without review: <ul> <li>The Lead must be an Institution of Higher Education per the Carnegie Foundational Attribute: https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/</li> <li>A proposed ERC must be multi-institutional, with a lead university and additional domestic university core partners. There is no maximum number of partner institutions.</li> <li>To qualify as a core partner institution, there must be financial support for a minimum of three faculty participating in the ERC along with financial support for a minimum of three students (Postdoctoral scholars may not be included as students).</li> <li>The lead or at least one of the core partner universities must be a STEM-MSI* university.</li> <li>Commitments from lead and core partner universities for cost sharing must be in place.</li> </ul> *For this solicitation <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-minorityinst.html" target="_blank">STEM-MSI </a>is definedby the Department of Education as institutions of higher education enrolling populations with significant percentages of undergraduate minority students, or that serve certain populations of minority students under various programs created by Congress. Eligibility may be determined by reference to the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/" target="_blank">Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)</a> of the US Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics (https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/). *Who May Serve as PI: The Lead PI must be a faculty member at the Lead university. Non-Lead PIs are the co-PIs listed on the Cover Sheet after the Lead PI and may be from institutions other than the lead university. In order to provide more flexibility for the Center's management, the Lead PI and the ERC Director are not required to be the same person, however, both must be affiliated with the lead institution.