NSF Test Bed: Toward a Network of Programmable Cloud Laboratories (PCL Test Bed) 2025
OBJECTIVES
The Test Bed program seeks to establish and facilitate the operation of distributed autonomous laboratory facilities. These laboratories will combine technological and human capacity to enable integration, testing, evaluation, validation, and translation of cutting-edge technology solutions in automated science and engineering. The PCL Test Bed will consist of a set of Programmable Cloud Laboratory Nodes (PCL Nodes) that can be remotely accessed to run custom workflows specified and programmed by users, that are linked together via computational networking, shared science questions, and data and AI standards.
The PCL Test Bed will facilitate access to advanced scientific equipment, accelerate translation and scaling of basic research into industry applications, enhance reproducibility and the exchange of experimental data, and assist in training the next generation of scientists and engineers in state-of-the art methodologies. It will help develop community norms, best practices, and formal standards for automated laboratory procedures, workflows, and instrument testing and validation. It will also advance consistent practices for the collection, sharing, and use of metadata and training data and the use and exploitation of AI methods.
Proposals must have a set of well-defined science drivers poised to derive significant benefit from targeted use of the PCL Test Bed capabilities, including but not limited to synthesis, optimization, and/or characterization experiments, in specific sub-disciplines within materials science, biotechnology, chemistry or other areas of science and engineering. These science drivers will guide the protocols and standards necessary for each node and facilitate collaboration across the Test Bed. For example, science drivers could include but are not limited to:
- Materials science, materials synthesis and characterization efforts that advance U.S. competitiveness
- Biotechnology experiments in scalable, high-throughput engineering and characterization services for proteins or microbes with novel applications in the U.S. bioeconomy
- High-throughput experimentation for the accelerated development of catalysts to support more efficient chemical synthesis to address urgent national needs
User Recruitment and On-Boarding Workshops will be a key component of the PCL Test Bed program and will serve to recruit users to individual PCL Nodes and the Test Bed to help make progress on the proposed science drivers, provide access to technology, test the limits of the experimental set-up of the nodes, and explore new research opportunities between the PCL Nodes and other institutions. PCL Nodes are expected to develop and implement plans for continued operation after the period of this award.
FUNDING INFORMATION
Awards will be made as Cooperative Agreements and funds will be allocated one year at a time, subject to availability of funds, quality of proposals received, and progress against proposer- and NSF-defined metrics.
Funding provided to a PCL Node will depend upon the instruments and capabilities provided by the proposed Node, including the number and diversity of instruments, number of science drivers supported, and the corresponding staffing and other supporting resources.
ELIGIBILITY
There are no restrictions or limits on who can act as a PI.
INTERNAL SELECTION
BU may forward one application. Interested applicants should submit the following materials via InfoReady Review by: 9/8/2025
- 3-page Proposal Summary (citations optional) describing the following:
- Clear articulation of the science drivers motivating the development of the PCL Node
- Summary of current capabilities
- Summary of areas for proposed growth
- Preliminary metrics for evaluating success
- Preliminary plans for providing education and training in the areas of science represented by the science drivers
- List of Collaborators with 1-sentence description of each collaborator’s expected contribution
- Updated CV for PIPrincipal Investigator View Boston University's policy on...
As necessary, a faculty committee will review internal materials and select a candidate.
DEADLINES
Internal Materials Due: Monday, September 8, 2025 by 11:59 pm ET
Anticipated Notification Date: Friday, September 26, 2025
Full Proposals Due: Thursday, November 20, 2025 by 5:00 pm ET