Funding

November 2020

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002392—Environmental System Science

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental System Science (ESS). Recently formed by the merger of the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) programs, the ESS program goal is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent ecological, hydrological, and physical processes. The program seeks to develop an integrated framework using a systems approach to elucidate the complex processes and controls on the structure, function, feedbacks, and dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems that span from the bedrock through the rhizosphere and vegetation to the atmospheric interface. This FOA will consider applications that focus on improving the understanding and representation of ecosystems and watersheds in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of local, regional, and larger-scale models. Using new measurements, field experiments, and more sophisticated modeling and/or synthesis studies, research funded through this FOA will address three challenges: (1) ecological and environmental dynamics involving terrestrial-aquatic interfaces (TAI); (2) perturbations and disturbances affecting terrestrial ecosystems and watersheds; and (3) novel methods for capturing “hot spots” and “hot moments” of biogeochemical activity. All applications are required to clearly delineate an integrative, hypothesis-driven approach and describe the existing needs/gaps in state-of-the-art models. Applicants should provide details on how the results of the proposed research will be used to improve the predictability and sophistication of integrated watershed systems and/or terrestrial ecosystem models.

Current information on ESS can be found at ess.science.energy.gov.

The principal investigator (PI) and anyone submitting on the PI’s behalf must register for an account in DOE’s Portfolio Analysis and Management System (PAMS) before a pre-application can be submitted. All PIs and those submitting pre-applications on behalf of PIs are encouraged to establish PAMS accounts as soon as possible to avoid submission delays.

Pre-Applications (Required) Due: December 17, 2020, 5:00 pm Eastern Time

Proposals Due: March 4, 2021, 11:59 pm Eastern Time

Please see the announcement for additional details. For any questions, please contact the following ESS program managers: Jennifer Arrigo (Jennifer.Arrigo@science.doe.gov) and Brian Benscoter (Brian.Benscoter@science.doe.gov).

ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC): Call Open for 2021–2022 Allocation Year

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) is now receiving proposals for projects of interest to the Department of Energy (DOE), with an emphasis on high-risk, high-payoff simulations in areas directly related to the DOE mission, in response to National emergencies, and for broadening the community of researchers capable of using leadership computing resources. The ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC) allocation program is open to scientists in industry, academia, and at national laboratories.

The ALCC program provides access to computational resources at ASCR’s three supercomputing facilities, which represent some of the world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputers. These facilities include the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) at Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

ALCC grants one-year awards, which are active from July 1 to June 30 of the following year. Scientific discoveries advanced by ALCC allocations range across the DOE mission space such as energy efficient engineering, computer science, materials and chemical sciences, geosciences and energy-related biosciences, biological and environmental sciences, computational fluid dynamics, high-energy and nuclear physics, cosmology, design and control of scientific user facilities and experiments at these facilities, nuclear energy, fossil energy, and renewable energy.

  • Pre-Proposals (Required) Due: January 4, 2021, 5:00 pm Eastern Time
  • Pre-Proposal Response Date: January 15, 2021
  • Full Proposals Due: February 26, 2021, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time

Please see the announcement for additional details.

Environmental Research Funding Opportunity: DoD SERDP

The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) has issued two solicitations for environmental research and development proposals for funding beginning in fiscal year 2022. Scientists from federal organizations, universities, and private industry can apply for funds to perform basic and applied research and advanced technology development.

Funds are awarded through a competitive process, and there is no limit on the number of proposals an organization may submit. Applicants should submit their proposals directly to SERDP. The request for proposals references 11 Statements of Need (SONs) for the Core Solicitation and two SONs for the SERDP Exploratory Development (SEED) Solicitation.

The Core Solicitation requests proposals related to the SERDP program areas of Environmental Restoration, Munitions Response, Resource Conservation and Resiliency, and Weapons Systems and Platforms. All Core pre-proposals are due January 7, 2021, by 2:00 p.m. ET.

The SEED Solicitation requests proposals for the Munitions Response and the Weapons Systems and Platforms program areas. SEED proposals are due March 4, 2021, by 2:00 p.m. ET.

Full details are available on the SERDP website.

SERDP staff will conduct a webinar titled “SERDP Funding Opportunities” on November 10, 2020, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET. Participants may ask questions about the funding process, current SERDP solicitations, and proposal submission. Pre-registration for this webinar is required.

SERDP is DoD’s environmental science and technology program. It is planned and executed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and includes participation by other federal and nonfederal organizations.

October 2020

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DOE ESPCoR Program

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is receiving applications for Implementation Grants through Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002431. Pre-applications are due Dec. 15, 2020, at 5 p.m. Eastern.

Eligibility. Although academic, nonprofit, and industrial research communities are welcome to lead or participate in applications, a strong component of graduate student education is required for all applications. Entities within the following jurisdictions are eligible to apply: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Applicants are encouraged, but not required, to work toward building beneficial relationships between institutions in EPSCoR jurisdictions and the 10 world-class Federally Funded Research and Development Centers managed by the DOE Office of Science. While these institutions cannot receive EPSCoR funding, they can offer opportunities to leverage capabilities of DOE national user facilities and to develop intellectual collaborations that may not be available locally.

See the funding announcement for additional details on eligibility.

Objectives. DOE EPSCoR Implementation Grants seek to:

  • Jumpstart capability development in the jurisdiction(s) through increased human and technical resources.
  • Support a group of researchers working on a common scientific theme, with mutually supporting goals and objectives.
  • When topically relevant to the subject matter of the application, promote collaborations with other institutions of higher education and industry with strong participation by students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty from EPSCoR eligible institutions. These collaborations may include institutions from other EPSCoR jurisdictions. Collaborations involving more than one institution or more than one EPSCoR jurisdiction, while welcome, are not a requirement.

Research Topics. Applications are sought for early stage research and development for a wide range of topical areas across DOE, including research aligned with the mission and scope of the Environmental System Science program (ESS) within DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER).

Applicants submitting pre-applications relevant to ESS science themes and goals should identify BER’s ESS program on the cover of the pre-application, along with the appropriate point of contact from among the ESS program managers.

September 2020

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program 2020 Solicitation 2

The DOE Office of Science is pleased to announce that the SCGSR program is now accepting applications for the 2020 Solicitation 2. Applications are due Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Detailed information about the program, including eligibility requirements and access to the online application system, can be found at: https://science.osti.gov/wdts/scgsr/.

The SCGSR program supports supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to conduct part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory/facility in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist for a period of 3 to 12 consecutive months—with the goal of preparing graduate students for scientific and technical careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission.

For any questions, please contact the SCGSR Program Manager, Dr. Ping Ge, at sc.scgsr@science.doe.gov.

February 2020

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program 2020 Solicitation 1

The DOE Office of Science is pleased to announce that the SCGSR program is now accepting applications for the 2020 Solicitation 1. Applications are due 5:00 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Detailed information about the program, including eligibility requirements and access to the online application system, can be found at: https://science.osti.gov/wdts/scgsr/.

The SCGSR program supports supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to conduct part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory/facility in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist for a period of 3 to 12 consecutive months—with the goal of preparing graduate students for scientific and technical careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission.

For any questions, please contact the SCGSR Program Manager, Dr. Ping Ge, at sc.scgsr@science.doe.gov.

January 2020

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002230 – Earth System Model Development and Analysis

  • Pre-Application Due: February 14, 2020, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time
  • Pre-Application Response Date: February 21, 2020
  • Submission Deadline for Applications: March 31, 2020, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time
  • Announcement PDF