Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) NSF 20-066, the NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) plans to fund workshops to identify critical needs for unique research infrastructure that can serve a research community at a national needs level, and have the potential to significantly advance engineering research. Such workshops are typically identified as conferences in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), and will hereafter be referred to as conferences. Members of the engineering research community are invited to propose conferences that identify gaps in existing mid-scale research infrastructure and define the infrastructure that would be needed to address grand-challenge-level engineering research questions. Conference outcomes may help define either design or implementation projects for future mid-scale research infrastructure.

Workshop proposals should be submitted by May 22, 2020, for consideration during Fiscal Year 2020.  Proposals must be completed by May 19, 2020 for OSRP review and submission.