INSTITUTION PROFILE / MATERIALS INFORMATICS
NSF (National Science Foundation)
The U.S. funder that hands out grants for university materials and data research
NSF is an independent U.S. federal agency, and it says it fulfils its mission chiefly by making grants. It does not run a large laboratory of its own to do MI. Instead, it selects research teams at universities and other institutions through review and supports them. The best-known NSF program for MI is DMREF, which funds research that joins theory, computation and experiment to design materials. This profile looks at one question only: how much influence NSF has over materials informatics (MI).
- NSF in 30 seconds
- What kind of body it is: the four types of influence
- What it does for materials informatics
- How far its influence reaches (powers and geography)
- How grants flow and who it works with
- Outlook
- Glossary, references and claim-to-source audit
1. NSF in 30 seconds
NSF is not the body that sets MI policy. It reviews proposals from research teams and funds them. The direction of the MGI as a whole is coordinated by a cross-agency subcommittee, and NSF is one of its co-chairs Sourced. NSF itself describes DMREF as its principal program responsive to the MGI subcommittee Sourced. Its influence comes from funding the research topics university researchers apply for, and the people they train. But Congress decides how much money NSF gets, and the FY2027 request is sharply lower (section 4).
2. What kind of body it is: the four types of influence
Unlike companies, the institutions in MI articles do not sell new materials themselves. They can be sorted into four types by the route through which they influence the field. NSF belongs to the first type, "Funding".
Both DOE and NSF are funders, but DOE owns national laboratories, while NSF works mainly through grants to universities and other institutions. NSF says its investments account for about 25% of federal support for basic research at U.S. colleges and universities Sourced.
3. What it does for materials informatics
NSF's involvement falls into the following main areas. Everything was checked on 22 October 2026.
| Activity | What it is | Scale and conditions | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMREF (grants to teams that design materials) | Supports research teams that run theory, computation and experiment as a loop. It also stresses data science and machine learning, access to materials data, and training. The solicitation is NSF 25-508 (published 4 November 2024) | US$1.5 million to US$2 million per award over four years; 20 to 25 awards expected. Teams of at least two senior researchers. The page says competitions are expected every two years, in odd-numbered years, if funds are available | Sourced |
| MIP (building shared materials facilities) | Supports mid-scale facilities that combine materials synthesis, characterization and modelling. The solicitation is NSF 25-521 (published 12 December 2024). The third competition, in 2025, covers alloys, amorphous materials and composites | Earlier competitions were in 2015 and 2019. The outcome of the third could not be confirmed | Sourced Not yet confirmed |
| Core materials-research grants | The Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences supports basic materials research, including theory, computation and data-driven methods. It also supports materials research centers (MRSECs) | No MI-specific amount could be found | Sourced |
| Participation in the Genesis Mission | NSF's FY2027 budget request says it will support AI for scientific discovery, autonomous experimentation systems and data infrastructure. In the White House announcement of July 2026, NSF joins the "AI-driven autonomous laboratories" challenge | No amount could be found (the request does not give a separate figure) | Sourced |
| Role in coordinating the MGI | One of the co-chairs of the subcommittee in 2021. The MGI Strategic Plan describes NSF's MIP program | n/a | Sourced |
To apply to DMREF, a team's research must include a closed loop: theory guides computation, computation guides experiments, and experimental results guide theory Sourced. Many MI efforts stall because they stop at calculation, or because experimental results never feed back into the model. This condition reads as a way of making confirming a computed prediction by experiment part of the unit of research. Even so, each team's results still have to be checked one by one in papers and published data. Being funded by DMREF does not by itself guarantee how a material will perform.
4. How far its influence reaches (powers and geography)
| Aspect | What NSF has | What NSF does not have |
|---|---|---|
| Powers | The power to shape funding calls together with the research community and to decide awards through merit review. About 50,000 people a year serve as reviewers. Temporary program directors from outside ("rotators") help set research directions | The power to set MGI policy (a cross-agency subcommittee coordinates it). The power to set budget amounts (Congress). Any power to regulate or to set standards. A role in running its own national laboratories (NSF's own description centres on grants) |
| Geography | Grants that reach U.S. universities and research institutions. DMREF has room for ties with partner agencies abroad (Israel, India, Canada, Germany) | The power to fund researchers abroad directly. Partner-country researchers are paid by their own agencies and are not listed on the NSF proposal |
| Funding | DMREF awards of US$1.5 million to US$2 million over four years. Grants to build facilities such as MIP | A published total for MI-specific funding |
| Scale | About 1,580 federal employees (FTE, FY2025 current plan). A US$8.75 billion budget (FY2026 enacted) | Published headcount or budget for MI alone |
The US$8.75 billion is NSF's enacted total for FY2026 across all fields, including the life sciences, geosciences, education and polar programs. It is not an MI figure Sourced. The FY2027 figures are requests, not enacted amounts. The request puts NSF's total discretionary budget at US$3.96 billion, a 55.1 percent cut from the FY2025 current plan of US$8.826 billion. For the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, which houses materials research, it asks for US$515 million, 66.7 percent below the FY2025 current plan of US$1.548 billion Not yet confirmed. Congress makes the final decision, so the actual amounts will differ.
5. How grants flow and who it works with
The DMREF solicitation says submitted proposals may be shared with other agencies Sourced. It names the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Office of Naval Research, NIST and Army research organisations. Abroad, it names the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, India's Department of Science and Technology, Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Germany's German Research Foundation (DFG). The roles of DOE and NIST are covered in their own institution profiles.
6. Outlook
| What can be read | Primary source | Category |
|---|---|---|
| The FY2027 request would cut NSF as a whole by 55.1% and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences by 66.7%. Congress will decide the final amounts | Summary table of NSF's FY2027 budget request. A request, not an enacted amount | Not yet confirmed |
| Whether the next DMREF competition goes ahead in 2027 could not be confirmed (the solicitation says every two years, in odd-numbered years) | DMREF NSF 25-508, which makes it conditional on funds | Not yet confirmed |
| The outcome of the third MIP competition (2025: alloys, amorphous materials, composites) could not be confirmed | MIP solicitation NSF 25-521 | Not yet confirmed |
| Because the request lists autonomous experimentation and AI-ready data as NSF's contributions to the Genesis Mission, NSF's MI support may shift its centre of gravity toward "AI for science" | NSF's FY2027 budget request (Genesis Mission section); the White House announcement of July 2026 | Inference |
7. Glossary
- DMREF
- Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future. An NSF program that funds research teams that design materials by looping theory, computation and experiment.
- MIP (Materials Innovation Platforms)
- A program that builds mid-scale facilities combining materials synthesis, characterization and modelling, which outside researchers can also use.
- MRSEC
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: a university-based hub that tackles hard materials problems across disciplines.
- MGI Strategic Plan
- The multi-year plan of the Materials Genome Initiative. The 2021 version sets three goals: unify the infrastructure, harness materials data, and train the workforce.
- Rotator
- A researcher who comes to NSF temporarily from a university or similar body and acts as a program director, guiding funding calls and reviews.
- Requested / enacted / current plan
- Requested is what the government proposes to Congress, enacted is what Congress approves, and current plan is the amount planned for a year already under way. This article keeps requested and enacted apart.
- FTE
- Full-time equivalent: a headcount that adds part-time work up to the number of full-time workers it equals.
8. References
- NSF About NSF (an independent federal agency; grants as the main tool; about 25% of federal support for basic research at U.S. colleges and universities; merit review). https://www.nsf.gov/about
- NSF History (established in 1950 by the National Science Foundation Act). https://www.nsf.gov/about/history
- NSF Budget, Performance and Financial Reporting (FY2025 at a glance: US$8.826 billion in appropriations, 8,377 awards, 43,532 proposals evaluated). https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget
- NSF FY 2027 Budget Request to Congress (FY2025 current plan, FY2026 enacted, FY2027 request, workforce, mention of the Genesis Mission). https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-2027-NSF-Budget-Request-to-Congress.pdf
- NSF Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF), solicitation NSF 25-508 (published 4 November 2024). https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/dmref-designing-materials-revolutionize-engineer-our-future
- NSF Materials Innovation Platforms (MIP), solicitation NSF 25-521 (published 12 December 2024). https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/mip-materials-innovation-platforms
- NSF Division of Materials Research (materials research programs). https://www.nsf.gov/mps/dmr
- NSTC SMGI Materials Genome Initiative Strategic Plan (November 2021; co-chairs of the subcommittee; NSF's MIP program). https://www.mgi.gov/sites/mgi/files/MGI-2021-Strategic-Plan.pdf
- White House "Trump Administration Announces More Than $5 Billion for the Genesis Mission, a National Mission on AI for Science" (July 2026). https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/45502/
9. Claim-to-source audit
| Claim in the article | Category | Source |
|---|---|---|
| An independent federal agency, grants as the main tool, about 25% of federal support for university basic research, about 50,000 reviewers a year, the rotator system, headquarters location | Sourced | Reference 1 https://www.nsf.gov/about |
| Established in 1950 by the National Science Foundation Act (Public Law 81-507) | Sourced | Reference 2 https://www.nsf.gov/about/history |
| FY2025 appropriations of US$8.826 billion, 8,377 awards, 43,532 proposals, 1,621 institutions funded | Sourced | Reference 3 https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget |
| FY2025 current plan US$8.826 billion, FY2026 enacted US$8.75 billion, FY2027 request US$3.96 billion (55.1% cut), Mathematical and Physical Sciences request US$515 million (66.7% cut), workforce (federal 1,583 to 1,308; temporary researchers 287 to 150; total 1,870 to 1,458), Genesis Mission passage, MRSECs | Sourced | Reference 4 https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-2027-NSF-Budget-Request-to-Congress.pdf |
| DMREF content (the loop requirement, principal program responding to the MGI subcommittee, four directorates, US$1.5 million to US$2 million over four years, 20 to 25 awards, every two years, partners) | Sourced | Reference 5 https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/dmref-designing-materials-revolutionize-engineer-our-future |
| MIP content (mid-scale facilities, competitions in 2015 and 2019, third competition in 2025 on alloys, amorphous materials and composites) | Sourced | Reference 6 https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/mip-materials-innovation-platforms |
| Materials research programs in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences | Sourced | Reference 7 https://www.nsf.gov/mps/dmr |
| The 2021 subcommittee co-chairs (DoD, NSF, OSTP) and the description of the MIP program | Sourced | Reference 8 https://www.mgi.gov/sites/mgi/files/MGI-2021-Strategic-Plan.pdf |
| NSF joins the autonomous-laboratories challenge (July 2026) | Sourced | Reference 9 https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/45502/ |
| About 1,580 (a rounding of 1,583) and about 22% fewer (1,870 to 1,458) | Our calculation | Our rounding and arithmetic on the figures in reference 4 |
| The four types of institution | Our calculation | Our own classification |
| MI-specific budget and headcount, a separate Genesis amount, the outcome of the third MIP competition, whether the next DMREF call goes ahead | Not yet confirmed | Not stated in references 1 to 9; this article does not estimate them |
| The outlook point that NSF's MI support may shift toward "AI for science" | Inference | Our reading of references 4 and 9 |
Last updated 22 October 2026 / Troy Technical
Figures come from NSF's and the White House's websites and from NSF's budget request to Congress. Numbers described as "requested" are not enacted amounts. Items marked "Inference" are this article's reading of the primary information, not statements by NSF.