The NSF Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation (CSSI) program supports the creation of robust, reusable, and community-driven cyberinfrastructure that underpins modern scientific discovery. Unlike traditional NSF research programs that emphasize producing new scientific findings, CSSI focuses on building the computational foundations—software frameworks, workflow tools, middleware, high-performance data systems, scalable algorithms, domain-specific libraries, and interoperability architectures—that empower entire scientific communities. The program recognizes that today’s breakthroughs in biology, physics, engineering, geosciences, materials science, and social sciences increasingly depend on sophisticated, reliable, and sustainable computational ecosystems. 

CSSI includes multiple tracks for Framework Implementations (FIs) and Software/CI Elements (SCEs), supporting both community-scale infrastructure and targeted innovations that fill critical gaps. Projects often involve developing advanced data-analysis pipelines, improving HPC and cloud-computing workflows, enhancing FAIR data practices, enabling AI-accelerated scientific modeling, supporting cross-domain data fusion, or building platforms for real-time observational science. Sustainability, documentation quality, user support, open-source accessibility, and long-term community engagement are central to program expectations. 

Because cyberinfrastructure must serve broad user communities, successful CSSI proposals typically bring together interdisciplinary teams spanning computer science, domain sciences, data science, HPC engineering, and usability experts. Strong proposals articulate a clear community need, evidence of broad adoption potential, governance strategies, testing and validation plans, and structured pathways for long-term maintenance and evolution. 

Eligibility follows standard NSF rules: U.S. universities, nonprofit research institutions, and qualified small businesses may apply. International collaborators can participate through subawards but cannot serve as primary awardees. CSSI strongly encourages collaboration with national labs, HPC centers, scientific societies, and community-led working groups. 

Competitive submissions must demonstrate clear intellectual merit, community-driven design, scalable software architecture, rigorous evaluation strategies, and broader impacts related to training, diversity, open science, and sustaining scientific innovation. Because many CSSI projects become foundational infrastructure for entire disciplines, reviewers place significant emphasis on sustainability planning and governance models. 

ScienceDocs Can Help 

ScienceDocs assists CSSI teams with cyberinfrastructure narrative development, community-engagement plans, sustainability frameworks, software-architecture descriptions, and full proposal preparation. 
Begin at https://www.sciencedocs.com/quotes/.