🤖 NSF Foundations for Operating the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource: the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC)

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
Program: Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
Posted Date: September 2, 2025
Closing Date: February 4, 2026
Total Program Funding: $35 million (single award)
Eligibility: U.S.-based universities, nonprofits, for-profit research organizations, FFRDCs, and other qualified U.S. entities
Assistance Listing: 47.070 — Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Website: NSF Publication 25-546

🎯 Program Overview

The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) is a public–private initiative to democratize access to advanced AI infrastructure—datasets, models, computing resources, and educational tools—for researchers and educators across the U.S.

This solicitation funds the establishment of the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC), a national coordinating entity that will transition the current NAIRR Pilot into a sustainable, long-term operational framework supporting the entire U.S. AI research ecosystem.

The NAIRR-OC will:

• Build and manage the organizational and operational framework for the NAIRR
• Lead community building, user engagement, and education across academia, industry, and government
• Develop and maintain a unified web portal integrating compute, data, and software resources
• Coordinate with current NAIRR Pilot partners (14 federal agencies and 28 private organizations)
• Advance open, equitable access to AI resources that accelerate U.S. innovation and competitiveness

🧩 NAIRR-OC Core Responsibilities

1. Organizational Leadership – Build transparent governance and define success metrics for sustainability
2. Infrastructure Integration – Connect public and private data, models, and compute platforms under a shared architecture
3. Community Development – Engage research communities through outreach, training, and open-source collaboration
4. Pilot Coordination – Ensure continuity with NAIRR Pilot teams and plan transition to full operations
5. Public–Private Collaboration – Strengthen links across academia, industry, and federal labs for AI capacity building

💡 Strategic Focus Areas

• Open and Secure AI Infrastructure: Interoperable systems for AI compute, data, and model sharing
• Equitable Access: Reduce barriers for under-resourced institutions and regions
• AI Research and Education: Train the next generation through accessible datasets and curricula
• Transparency & Ethics: Establish responsible AI operations and reproducible science standards
• Sustainability: Develop governance and funding models for long-term operations beyond the pilot

🧩 NumFOCUS Alignment Opportunities

💰 Funding Strategy Fit

Illustrative funding fit:

• $100K Tier – Strategic Growth
  Support integration of open-source AI frameworks and training modules into the NAIRR platform via NumFOCUS-affiliated contributors.
• $1M + Tier – Audacious Impact
  Establish a NumFOCUS–NAIRR partnership node or sub-award to co-develop reproducible, privacy-preserving, and open AI infrastructure at national scale.

✳️ Recommendation for Project Leads

This opportunity is ideal for a joint proposal with a university, FFRDC, or nonprofit consortium applying as the NAIRR Operations Center lead—or for NumFOCUS projects to serve as strategic sub-award partners focused on open AI and reproducibility.

Proposed Theme:
“Open Infrastructure for Equitable AI Research:
Connecting Data, Compute, and People through Reproducible Science.”

High-Potential Lead or Contributing Projects:

• scikit-learn / SciML / PyMC → Open and interpretable AI modeling
• Xarray / Zarr / pandas → FAIR and scalable AI data infrastructure
• rOpenSci / Open Journals → Open publishing and community documentation frameworks

Grant Contact:
📧 grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov
Agency: U.S. National Science Foundation

Tags: #FundingOpportunity #OpenScience #ArtificialIntelligence #NumFOCUSProjects #NAIRR #OpenInfrastructure