The Simons Foundation – USA

New experimental techniques in many fields of study are creating enormous amounts of raw, complex and sometimes noisy data. Understanding and learning from these data and modelling the complex processes they reflect is a pressing concern in the scientific community. At the same time, advances in concepts, algorithms and computation are enabling new kinds of simulations that can capture rich nonlinear, and often time-dependent, processes. These simulations demand increased sophistication in scientific technique, algorithmic development and computation.

The Simons Foundation launched the Flatiron Institute to address these challenges, developing new conceptual, algorithmic and computational methods and bringing them to bear on important scientific issues. The institute provides a highly interactive research environment for physicists, biologists, astronomers, chemists, computational scientists, data scientists and programmers to work together to create, deploy, apply and support state-of-the-art computational methods.

The institute currently comprises the Center for Computational Biology, launched in 2013 as the Simons Center for Data Analysis; the Center for Computational Astrophysics, launched in 2016; the Center for Computational Quantum Physics, launched in 2017; and the Center for Computational Mathematics, launched in 2018. The work of these centers is supported by the Scientific Computing Core.

To learn more, please visit the Flatiron Institute.

The Simons Foundation makes grants in four areas: Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, autism research (Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative) and Outreach & Education. Our Simons Collaborations are a new funding model for the foundation, spanning Mathematics and Physical Sciences and Life Sciences.

The Simons Foundation seeks to create strong collaborations and foster the cross-pollination of ideas between investigators, as these interactions often lead to unexpected breakthroughs. In an effort to promote such interaction between scientists, in 2012 the foundation launched a new collaborative funding model, the Simons Collaborations, which bring funded investigators — sometimes from different disciplines — together to work on a timely and important problem. To date, 16 Simons Collaborations have been launched in and across our Mathematics and Physical Sciences and Life Sciences divisions.

The Simons Foundation Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) division supports research in mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science by providing funding for individuals, institutions and science infrastructure.

To learn more about MPS programs, please visit Mathematics and Physical Sciences.

The Simons Foundation Life Sciences division seeks to advance basic research on fundamental questions in biology, with a focus on origins of life, microbial oceanography and microbial ecology and evolution.

To find out more, please visit our Life Sciences pages.

The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI)’s mission is to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance. SFARI offers grant programs to support bold, imaginative and rigorous research, relevant to its mission. Standing Request for Application (RFA) programs include Research and Pilot Awards, as well as Bridge to Independence Awards. Targeted RFAs are offered on an ad-hoc basis.

To facilitate and drive research in the field as a whole, SFARI has created and maintains several resources for autism scientists. The online magazine Spectrum provides comprehensive news and analysis of advances in autism research.

For more information on SFARI, please visit SFARI.org.

The Simons Foundation’s Outreach & Education programs seek to stimulate a deeper interest and understanding of science and mathematics among students, professionals and the interested public.

The foundation’s Science Sandbox initiative supports and collaborates with programs that unlock scientific thinking in everyone. The division’s education initiative, Math for America, focuses on reaching secondary school students with a corps of outstanding STEM teachers and leaders in U.S. public schools. Quanta Magazine seeks to illuminate basic science and math research through public service journalism. Simons Foundation Lectures connect both practicing scientists and the interested public with some of the top minds in science in a lecture setting.

To find out more, please visit our Outreach & Education pages.

The Informatics Group manages the foundation’s many and expanding scientific and administrative data assets. Informatics provides guidance to some of the foundation’s data-intensive research grants and, importantly, advances the foundation’s commitment to the open sharing of information. Group members regularly collaborate on research projects with SFARI and the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Biology, as well as with external investigators. Internally, they assist the foundation’s grants administration groups.

Read more about the Informatics Group here.

The Simons Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Read about the Simons Foundation’s Code of Conduct here.