News

March 2021

Funding Opportunity Announcement: Integrated Computational and Data Infrastructure for Scientific Discovery

Letters of Intent (Required) Due: April 2, 2021, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Proposals Due: May 14, 2021, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Announcement Details: DE-FOA-0002482

The Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science announces its interest in funding research and development projects to create an advanced Integrated Computational and Data Infrastructure (ICDI) program. The ICDI program will accelerate research activities across the entire Office of Science complex.

Over the past four decades experimental scientists (domain scientists working with a physical device, at a user facility, or in the field to understand scientific interactions), computational scientists (domain scientists developing and executing simulation codes to explore scientific phenomenon on leadership-class computers), and computer scientists (computer/data scientists and applied mathematicians developing scientific algorithms and codes) have increasingly used a wide array of computers and experiments to generate, analyze, and manage vast amounts of data. These data may be transferred from the facility and stored at a principal investigator’s home institution, a facility storage repository, or in a large central or distributed repository that individuals and teams access to conduct detailed analysis tasks. Combining, in real time, a variety of data, facilities, and computer resources coupled with machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques will greatly accelerate scientific discovery.

The key challenge now is to move from today’s computational/computer scientist partnerships to deeply integrated collaborations that merge experimental scientists in with their computational/computer science peers. Moving forward, it is increasingly necessary to leverage the symbiotic relationships that exist between the experimental and computational sides of numerous DOE science communities (biology, chemistry, cosmology, Earth system science, environmental science, geosciences, material science and physics). To accomplish this, the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research will collaborate with the other DOE Office of Science programs to research, develop, deploy, and validate a core suite of federated services.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is composed of two topics:

“Experimental/Computational/Computer Science collaborations” addresses the challenge of creating collaborative teams of scientists to accelerate science discoveries supported by the Office of Science programs. Applications to this topic must be submitted by multi-investigator teams.
“Intelligent Distributed Infrastructure Simulation Capabilities” addresses the challenge of modeling, simulating, and validating the performance of geographically distributed science infrastructures. Both single- and multiple-investigator applications may be submitted.

Awards under this FOA will develop new software workflows and tools to accelerate the scientific discovery process through the convergence of experimental/simulation data, computational/experimental facilities, and a broad community of scientists to both generate high-fidelity simulations and steer experiments. Awards will also develop the modeling and simulation capabilities needed to predict and debug workflow performance in distributed computational and data infrastructures.

Please see the announcement for additional details. For any questions, please contact the ICDI program manager: Richard Carlson, Richard.carlson@science.doe.gov.

February 2021

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program 2021 Solicitation 1

The DOE Office of Science SCGSR program is now accepting applications for the 2021 Solicitation 1. Applications are due Wednesday, May 5, 2021, 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 or 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.

December 2020

Virtual Workshop: Spectroscopy and Modeling for Molecular Insight into Environmental Processes – January 26, 2021

Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), in coordination with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) will organize a virtual half-day workshop titled “Spectroscopy and Modeling for Molecular Insight into Environmental Processes” on January 26, 2021. The focus is to encourage and provide help in getting started with the use of theory and modeling (such as DFT and MD) in the interpretation of EXAFS/XAS data.

This workshop is part of a DOE Biological and Environmental Research (BER) outreach initiative within SSRL to expand biological and environmental user research and support DOE BER-funded individual researchers and scientists within BER user facilities on SSRL’s X-ray imaging and spectroscopy beamlines. All interested users/research groups are encouraged to participate.

Time: 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Pacific Time
Further information and agenda: emsl.pnnl.gov/news/workshop-spectroscopy-and-modeling-for-molecular-insight-into-environmental-processes/1564
Registration: stanford.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYode-gqz4rGN2Q5UgHOsVuzVYw3N8GbtuU

ESS Program Manager Position

The Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division within DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research announces its intent to fill a Physical Scientist GS-13/14 position (Program Manager for Environmental System Science).

To be considered for this position, interested applicants must submit an expression of interest by Jan. 4, 2021, with an attached Curriculum Vitae, to Gary Geernaert at Gerald.Geernaert@science.doe.gov. Note that U.S. citizenship is required for this position.

Additional details can be found in the full announcement.

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002431 – DOE EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Implementation Grants

Download announcement
Pre-Application Due: December 15, 2020, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: January 26, 2021
Submission Deadline for Applications: March 2, 2021, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time

Scope: Grants awarded under this program are intended to improve research capability through the support of a group of scientists and engineers, including graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, working on a common scientific theme in one or more EPSCoR jurisdictions.

The objectives of the DOE EPSCoR Implementation Grants are to (1) jumpstart capability development in the jurisdiction(s) through increased human and technical resources; (2) support a group of researchers working on a common scientific theme, with mutually supporting goals and objectives; and (3) 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.

DOE EPSCoR also encourages but does not require implementation grants 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 Office of Science.

Call for White Papers on AI for Earth System Predictability

The Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD) within the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research has issued a Call for White Papers to Advance an Integrative Artificial Intelligence Framework for Earth System Predictability: AI4ESP.

White papers will inform the design of three sequential workshops (conducted in 2021-2022) focused on answering the overarching question of: How can DOE directly leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to engineer a substantial (paradigm-changing) improvement in Earth System Predictability?

EESSD seeks white papers from the scientific community that focus on developing and applying AI methods in areas relevant to EESSD research, with an emphasis on quantifying and improving Earth system predictability, particularly related to the integrative water cycle and associated water cycle extremes.

White papers are due 5:00 p.m. EST on February 15, 2021

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.

Seventh Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds (ICRW7)

The ICRW7 will be held virtually November 16–19, 2020. This year’s theme is “Enhancing Landscapes for Sustainable Intensification and Watershed Resiliency.” Presenters include researchers from government, academic, nonprofit, and community organizations working to protect, restore, and manage water resources at local to national scales. Topic areas encompass:

Water quality and quantity
Watershed modeling
Watershed networks and data management
Integrating science and watershed decision making
Remote sensing of watersheds and riparian systems
Watershed ecology and ecosystem services
Watershed management, planning, and regulation
Watershed response to change
Coastal plain watersheds
Riparian systems
Adaptive management
Cross-region collaboration in watershed research
Long-term agroecosystem research
Regional groundwater issues

For more information and to register, see the conference website.

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

Announcement
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

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.

Amanzi-ATS Team Wins R&D 100 Award for Environmental Simulation Code

Researchers supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental System Science program have earned a prestigious R&D 100 Award for developing the Amanzi–Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS). This powerful multiscale software tool enables scientists to simulate how dynamic flows of surface water and groundwater interact with a complex topographic landscape in environmental systems important to society that are undergoing stresses such as disturbances, population growth, and a changing climate.

Traditionally, modeling tools have focused on only a few environmental processes or subsystems, unable to capture the vast complexity of

natural systems. With Amanzi-ATS, environmental scientists can simulate a wider array of processes and their interplay for a more holistic system understanding. This open-source, open-development software can easily be adapted to address different scales of complexity, allowing researchers to tailor simulations to their questions of interest. Moreover, the flexible code can be run on laptops to supercomputers.

Amanzi provides a flexible and extensible flow and reactive transport simulation capability that runs in parallel and accurately represents complex topography and stratigraphy. ATS builds on Amanzi’s multi-physics framework and toolsets (e.g., mesh infrastructure, discretizations, and solvers). Amanzi-ATS continues to be developed by a team including David Moulton, Rao Garimella, Ethan Coon, Ahmad Jan, and Scott Painter from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is being used by modelers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Some research teams have used Amanzi to model contaminant migration at various DOE legacy waste sites. Others have used ATS to explore the impact of disturbances such as wildfire and to model thermal integrated (surface and subsurface) hydrology in polygonal Arctic tundra and surface water and groundwater in mountainous watersheds.

Presented annually since 1963, R&D 100 Awards celebrate the most innovative technologies and ideas of the year. They are widely recognized among industry, government, and academia as the most promising new products, processes, materials, or software developed throughout the world.

Related Links:

Amanzi-ATS website
YouTube video by Los Alamos National Laboratory
GitHub Demos

New Environmental System Science Program Merges TES and SBR Programs

The Environmental System Science (ESS) program advances an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent biological, chemical, ecological, hydrological, and physical processes. ESS is part of the Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD) within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER). The ESS program is developing an integrated framework using a systems approach to unravel the complex processes and controls on the structure, function, feedbacks, and dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems, spanning from the bedrock through the rhizosphere and vegetation to the atmospheric surface layer. The scope encompasses watersheds and coastal zones, terrestrial-aquatic interfaces, and understudied ecosystems that represent a significant knowledge gap in local and regional process models and predictive Earth system models.

Visit the new ESS website: https://ess.science.energy.gov. TES and SBR websites will still be available for a period of time until their information is migrated to the new site.

September 2020

Interagency Workshop Report on Integrated Hydro-Terrestrial Modeling Now Available

A report that outlines opportunities for coordinating water-related data and modeling capabilities across multiple federal agencies has been released by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Geological Survey. The “Integrated Hydro-Terrestrial Modeling: Development of a National Capability” report describes activities from a September 2019 workshop that brought together representatives of water-related agencies and their scientific partners (including university researchers) to initiate a vision for a national integrated hydro-terrestrial modeling and data infrastructure. The report focuses on modeling associated with three priority water challenges: (1) hypoxia, nutrient loading, and harmful algal blooms; (2) water availability in the western United States; and (3) water-related hazards.

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.

July 2020

New Requirement for Highlight Submissions

Before research highlights can be submitted on the SBR website (https://public.ornl.gov/site/submithighlightTES/index.cfm), your publication manuscript must now be in the DOE Public Access Gateway for Energy and Science (DOE PAGES) database. For guidance on how to obtain a DOE PAGES record for your publication, go to the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) website (https://www.osti.gov/pages/) and click on “FAQs”. For each publication listed in your highlight, please embed within the article title a link to the publication’s record in DOE PAGES. Below is an example citation with a DOE PAGES link:

P.A. Rodrigues, et al. (MINERvA Collaboration), “Identification of nuclear effects in neutrino-carbon interactions at low three-momentum transfer.” Physical Review Letters 116, 071802 (2016). [DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.071802]

June 2020

DOE Announces Early Career Research Program Awards for FY 2020

Seven researchers received FY 2020 Early Career Research Program awards from DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research within DOE’s Office of Science:

Joanne B. Emerson, Award Abstract: “Infective Viruses and Inert Virions: Illuminating Abundant Unknowns in Terrestrial Biogeochemical Cycles”
Matthew Hoffman, Award Abstract: “Creating a Sea-Level-Enabled E3SM: A Critical Capability for Predicting Coastal Impacts”
Trevor F. Keenan, Award Abstract: “Extreme Drought, Heat, and Wildfire Impacts on Future Coastal Water Relations”
Erin E. Nuccio, Award Abstract: “Crosstalk: Interkingdom Interactions in the Mycorrhizal Hyphosphere and Ramifications for Soil C Cycling”
Christina M. Patricola, Award Abstract: “Variability and Change in Tropical Cyclone Characteristics: Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Drivers and Coastal Impacts”
Simon Roux, Award Abstract: “Characterizing Virus-Driven Alterations of Microbial Metabolism in Model Soil Ecosystems”
Benjamin N. Sulman, Award Abstract: “Simulating Estuarine Wetland Function: Nitrogen Removal, Carbon Sequestration, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes at the River-Land-Ocean Interface”

DOE SC First-Person Science Interview: Colleen Iversen on Belowground Ecology.

The DOC Office of Science (SC) has started an interview series. TES researcher Colleen Iversen (ORNL) and her work on belowground ecology is featured in their first story. Iversen is supported by the TES program through the SPRUCE SFA and NGEE-Arctic. SEE THE STORY.

Brian Benscoter joins the Environmental System Science team as an IPA/rotator on one-year appointment

Brian Benscoter

DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research is pleased to welcome Brian Benscoter to the Environmental System Science team as an IPA/rotator for the next year.

Brian has been at Florida Atlantic University for the past 10 years, where he is Associate Professor of Plant Ecology. His research focuses on the role of disturbance, from fires to floods, on ecosystem structure and biogeochemical function at the terrestrial-aquatic interface. His recent research in freshwater and coastal wetlands of the Florida Everglades has been supported by DOE, USGS, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the US National Park Service, largely through multidisciplinary interagency cooperative projects. Before moving to Florida, Brian studied boreal peatlands of Canada, Alaska, and Siberia on topics ranging from paleobotany to peat combustion. He completed a MSc at Villanova University and PhD at Southern Illinois University prior to postdocs at Michigan State University and the University of Guelph.

Brian is currently Chair of the South Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS), where he previously served as Chair of the Peatland and Biogeochemistry sections and mentor for the undergraduate multicultural mentoring program (SWAMMP). He was host for the Ecological Society of America annual meeting in Ft Lauderdale and organizing committee member for the SWS annual meeting in Puerto Rico, and has also organized many conference sessions and workshops. Brian was a member of the writing team for the ESS “Research Priorities to Incorporate Terrestrial-Aquatic Interfaces in Earth System Models” workshop report, chapter coauthor for SOCCR-2, and review panelist for various programs at DOE, NSF, NASA, and BLM.

ESS holds Virtual All-Hands Meeting

See details on the PI Meeting page.

May 2020

“Building a Culture of Safety and Trust in Team Science: An Arctic research team of 150 members that implemented a culture of safety, inclusion, and trust as the foundation for cross-disciplinary science shares lessons from its experiences”

—An Eos article by DOE BER-funded researcher Colleen Iversen and her team.

April 2020

ESS PI Meeting Postponed

ESS Virtual All-Hands Meeting Planned. See details on the PI Meeting page.

BER CESD Changes Name

In April 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science underwent an organizational change that included updating the name of the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) within the Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The division’s new name is the Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD). No changes were made to the names or scope of the division’s scientific programs.

For more information about this division, see the EESSD Strategic Plan. Note that while the CESD name remains throughout the text, the document still reflects EESSD’s mission, vision, scientific grand challenge topics, and implementation strategy.

Xujing Davis

Xujing Davis joins DOE BER as ESMD Program Manager

Xujing Davis has joined the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as program manager for the Earth System Model Development (ESMD) component of the Earth and Environmental System Modeling Program (EESM).

In her new role, Dr. Davis is responsible for the development and demonstration of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) and related research. Along with Regional & Global Model Analysis (RGMA) Program Manager Renu Joseph and MultiSector Dynamics Program Manager Bob Vallario, the addition of Dr. Davis completes DOE’s Earth and Environmental System Modeling’s (EESM) team of program managers.

Dr. Davis received a PhD in Physical Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, after producing a dissertation on a difficult problem involving highly complex system modeling. She subsequently worked as a postdoctorate and then senior researcher of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

Since 2016, Dr. Davis has been Program Director for Physical Oceanography and Arctic Natural Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF). In this role, she represented NSF and the U.S. government to domestic and international scientific committees, and she led town halls on behalf of NSF at numerous international scientific conferences.

March 2020

DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research is pleased to welcome Jennifer Arrigo to the Environmental System Sciences Team as a Program Manager

Jennifer Arrigo

Before joining DOE, Jennifer spent three years on staff at the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s (USGCRP) National Coordination Office, where she led scoping, development and support for a U.S. Program Office for the Global Water and Energy Exchanges (GEWEX) project of the World Climate Research Program, among providing broader support for U.S. interagency water activities under USGCRP.

She has also served as a program manager in NOAA’s Climate Program Office, where she managed the Climate Monitoring Program, which supports development of authoritative climate data records and information products tailored for various researchers and stakeholders. Before coming to the D.C. area in 2014, she spent several years working with a diverse water science research community as senior program manager and then deputy director of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI), a non-profit university consortium for water research, funded primarily by the U.S. National Science Foundation, that develops community science initiatives and infrastructure to support interdisciplinary water science. During her time with CUAHSI, Jennifer focused on community hydrologic modeling, data services, technical exchange programs for instrumentation development, and water science education and training.

Jennifer also has served as an assistant professor of Atmospheric Science at East Carolina University. She holds a Ph.D. in geography from Boston University, where her dissertation research focused on using probabilistic methods to characterize heterogeneity in soil moisture data at different scales and on observational studies of land-atmosphere interactions.

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/.

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

January 2020

Office of Science Issues Guide for Writing Research Summaries in Plain Language [01/31/20]

To assist in preparing research highlight, the DOE Office of Science has developed a succinct description of how to write a research summary for a nontechnical audience and what it should contain. It provides an example of the difference between an abstract from a scientific publication and a plain language research summary. This valuable two-page description could also be used by a PI to develop a verbal description of the work contained in their publication for a general audience.

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

December 2019

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002215 – ESPCoR Building EPSCOR-State/National Laboratory Partnerships

Pre-Application Due: January 16, 2020, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: February 21, 2020
Submission Deadline for Applications: March 27, 2020, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time
Announcement PDF

November 2019

Job Announcement: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LLNL has an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Staff Member to develop and pursue innovative research in the analysis of actinide and stable metal isotopes in environmental samples. The position involves conducting isotope analysis utilizing MC-ICP-MS to investigate the behavior of actinides, and to identify and develop stable metal isotopic signatures to improve our understanding the cycling and transport of metals and radionuclides at several contaminated field sites in the U.S. and U.K. The candidate will work with an interdisciplinary group of students, postdocs, and staff applying advanced spectroscopic and analytical techniques (e.g. MC-ICP-MS, TEM, SEM, NanoSIMS, EXAFS, NMR) to characterize laboratory and field samples and develop conceptual and numerical models of actinide biogeochemistry in the subsurface. The postdoc will be part of the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute and report to the Environmental Isotopic Signatures group leader in the Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division of the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate.

The postdoc will join our vibrant and interdisciplinary team studying actinide behavior in the environment. This research Scientific Focus Area is supported by DOE’s Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, Subsurface Biogeochemical Research program (http://doesbr.org/research/sfa/sfa_llnl.shtml).

Details regarding the application process can be found at: https://careers.llnl.gov/
Job Opening ID: 106465

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002173 – Early Career Research Program

Pre-Application Due: January 7, 2020, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: January 30, 2020
Submission Deadline for Applications: March 16, 2020, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time
Announcement PDF

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002184 – Environmental System Science

Pre-Application Due: December 5, 2019, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: December 19, 2019, at 11:59 pm Eastern Time
Submission Deadline for Applications: February 20, 2020, at 11:59 pm Eastern Time
Announcement PDF

September 2019

2019 TES Awards Announced

Summary of projects awarded in summer 2019 (PDF)

Physical Scientist (Program Management) Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research. Position closes Sept. 12

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Climate and Environmental Sciences Division is hiring a new program manager within the Environmental System Science (ESS) team. The position has been posted to the USAJobs.gov website (https://www.usajobs.gov/) and will be open until Sept. 12, 2019. Both federal and non-federal candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

A successful candidate in this position will serve as a physical scientist with expertise in hydro-biogeochemistry and field research. Familiarity in modeling research involving, e.g., watershed systems and/or surface water-groundwater interactions is desired. The position will join the ESS team, which is comprised of the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science programs as well as the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory Scientific User Facility. More information on these programs can be found on the respective program websites (https://science.osti.gov/ber/Research/cesd; https://doesbr.org/; https://tes.science.energy.gov/; https://www.emsl.pnl.gov/emslweb/).

Potential candidates will be expected to serve as a technical authority and expert in key aspects of Environmental System Sciences; evaluate contractor, DOE laboratory, and grantee research proposals and performance via own scientific and technical judgment, merit review, site visits, and panel reviews; serve as a Program Manager evaluating/determining scientific focus and direction of aspects of the ESS program portfolio; and prepare, justify, and support portions of the budget relative to ESS.

This will be a federal position at the GS-13, GS-14, of GS-15 level, depending upon qualifications. The duty location will be in Germantown, MD. Applicants must possess U.S. citizenship! Due to the very short period (~1 week) during which the announcement will be open, this message is provided as a courtesy to alert the community of the opportunity and to encourage potential candidates to consider creating a profile (e.g., CV, transcripts, etc.) in the USAJobs website. Applications will not be accepted outside of USAJobs, nor will extensions be granted to complete all required paperwork related to this position. Potential candidates should carefully review the job announcement and direct all inquiries to that announcement to the Human Resources representative associated with the posting.

August 2019

Physical Scientist (Program Management) Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Climate and Environmental Sciences Division will be hiring a new program manager within the Environmental System Science (ESS) team. A successful candidate in this position will serve as a physical scientist with expertise in hydro-biogeochemistry, and field research. Familiarity in modeling research involving, e.g., watershed systems and/or surface water – groundwater interactions is desired. The position will join the ESS team, which is comprised of the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science programs as well as the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory Scientific User Facility. More information on these programs can be found on the respective program websites (https://science.osti.gov/ber/Research/cesd; https://doesbr.org/; https://tes.science.energy.gov/; https://www.emsl.pnl.gov/emslweb/). Potential candidates will be expected to serve as a technical authority and expert in key aspects of Environmental System Sciences; evaluate contractor, DOE laboratory, and grantee research proposals and performance via own scientific and technical judgment, merit review, site visits, and panel reviews; serve as a Program Manager evaluating/determining scientific focus and direction of aspects of the ESS program portfolio; and prepare, justify, and support portions of the budget relative to ESS.

This will be a federal position at the GS-13, GS-14, of GS-15 level, depending upon qualifications. The duty location will be in Germantown, MD. Applicants must possess U.S. citizenship. The position is anticipated to be formally announced on September 4th via the USAJobs.gov website (https://www.usajobs.gov/). Both federal and non-federal candidates are strongly encouraged to apply! Due to the very short period (~1 week) during which the announcement will be open, this message is provided as a courtesy to alert the community of the opportunity and to encourage potential candidates to consider creating a profile (e.g., CV, transcripts, etc.) in the USAJobs website. Applications will not be accepted outside of USAJobs, nor will extensions be granted to complete all required paperwork related to this position. Potential candidates should carefully review the job announcement when it is posted on September 4th and direct all inquiries to that announcement and the Human Resources representative associated with the posting.

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) 2019 Solicitation 2

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science is pleased to announce that the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2019 Solicitation 2. Applications are due 5:00pm Eastern Time on Thursday, November 14, 2019. 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/.

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

Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research: Position closes Friday, August 9

The U.S. Department of Energy has a current opening for a Physical Scientist with expertise in Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling.

A successful candidate in this position will serve as the Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD), Physical Scientist responsible for enhancing predictive modeling capabilities, through the incorporation of advanced parameterizations, adaptive mesh grids, improved physics, and software as part of Earth and Environmental system models.

As a physical scientist (Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling), you will:

Serve as a recognized technical authority and expert in Earth and Environmental System modeling, including internationally recognized scientific knowledge of at least one of the following system components: atmospheric, ocean, terrestrial, and cryosphere.
Serve as an expert and consultant to other scientists engaged in Earth and Environmental Systems modeling science, and senior management in areas of assigned responsibility.
Serve as a Program Manager determining scientific focus and direction of the Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling research program.
Examines and ascertains pioneering research needs and opportunities of the Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling program against scientific and technological advances and of potential needs of the DOE.
Evaluate contractor, DOE laboratory, and grantee research proposals and performance via own scientific and technical judgment, merit review, site visits and reviews, and panel reviews.

The position closes Friday, August 9, 2019. Learn more about the position requirements and how to apply.

More information on the position can be found here: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/540933200.
Questions related to this position must be directed to the Human Resources contacts listed in the announcement.

July 2019

Upcoming Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Climate and Environmental Sciences Division will be hiring a new program manager within the Environmental System Science (ESS) team. A successful candidate in this position will serve as a physical scientist with expertise in hydro-biogeochemistry, and field research. Expertise in inorganic chemistry and modeling research is welcomed. The position will join the ESS team, which is comprised of the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science programs as well as the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory Scientific User Facility. More information on these programs can be found on the respective program websites: ( https://science.osti.gov/ber/Research/cesd; https://doesbr.org/; https://tes.science.energy.gov/; https://www.emsl.pnl.gov/emslweb/). Potential candidates will be expected to serve as a technical authority and expert in key aspects of Environmental System Sciences; Evaluate contractor, DOE laboratory, and grantee research proposals and performance via own scientific and technical judgment, merit review, site visits and reviews, and panel reviews; Serve as a Program Manager evaluating/determining scientific focus and direction of aspects of the ESS program portfolio; and Prepare, justify, and support portions of the budget relative to ESS.

This will be a federal position at the GS-13, GS-14, of GS-15 level, depending upon qualifications. The duty location will be in Germantown, MD. Applicants must possess U.S. citizenship. The position will be formally announced via the USAJobs.gov website and is anticipated to be released sometime over the next few weeks. Both Federal and public candidates are strongly encouraged to apply! Due to the anticipated very short period during which the announcement will be open, this message is provided as a courtesy to alert the community of the opportunity and to encourage potential candidates to consider creating a profile (e.g., CV, transcripts, etc.) in USAJobs.gov. Applications will not be accepted outside of USAJobs, nor will extensions be granted to complete all required paperwork related to this position. Potential candidates should carefully review the job announcement when it if released and direct all inquiries to that announcement and Human Resources representative

June 2019

DOE Position Available for Physical Scientist (Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling)

Position closes Friday, June 7, 2019
Learn more

January 2019

DE-FOA-0002043 – Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

Pre-Applications due (required): Jan 24, 2019; 5 pm Eastern
Proposals due: Mar 29, 2019; 11:59 pm Eastern

DE-FOA-0002035 – Subsurface Biogeochemical Research

Pre-Application due February 14, 2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: February 24, 2019
Submission Deadline for Applications: April 11, 2019 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time
Announcement PDF

DE-FOA-0002019 – Early Career Research Program

Pre-Application required and due February 6, 2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: March 8, 2019
Submission Deadline for Applications: April 29, 2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Announcement PDF

LAB 19-2019 – Early Career Research Program for DOE National Laboratories

Pre-Application required and due February 6, 2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: March 8, 2019
Submission Deadline for Applications: April 29, 2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Announcement PDF

December 2018

DE-FOA-0002043 – Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

The Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) program within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE), Office of Science (SC) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER), announces its interest in receiving research applications seeking to improve the understanding and representation of terrestrial ecosystems in ways that advance Earth system model parameterizations and capabilities. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will consider applications that utilize and couple measurements, experiments, modeling and/or synthesis of terrestrial ecosystems across a continuum from the subsurface to the top of the vegetated canopy and from molecular to global scales. TES hereby announces its interest in grant applications that advance the understanding and predictive representation of terrestrial ecosystem in the following areas: 1) Interactions and feedbacks between aboveground and belowground processes; and, 2) The role of disturbance at the terrestrial-aquatic interface. Applicants are required to pose their research applications in the context of representing terrestrial ecosystem processes in ways that improve the predictability of Earth system models.

Applications from this FOA will support the scientific mission for Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) activity (more information on the program can be found at https://science.osti.gov/ber/Research/cesd/Terrestrial-Ecosystem-Science and https://tes.science.energy.gov/.

DE-FOA-0002043 – Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

Deadline for Pre-applications (required): January 24, 2019; 5 pm eastern time
Deadline for Proposals: March 29, 2019; 11:59 pm eastern time
Announcement

November 2018

Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2) Released

Funding Announcement: Established Program To Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR) Implementation
FOA Number: DE-FOA-0002023

Pre-Application required and due 12/20/2018 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Pre-Application Response Date: 1/25/2019
Submission Deadline for Applications: 3/27/2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Announcement PDF
DOE’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications from eligible jurisdictions for Implementation Grants. The applications are sought for research in key science and technology areas related to DOE missions as limited by the specific language of this FOA. Details available: Announcement PDF

October 2018

2018 ESS Awards Announced

Summary of projects awarded in summer 2018 (PDF)

May 2018

TES/SBR Joint Investigators Meeting

The TES/SBR Joint Investigators Meeting was held May 1-2, 2018 in Potomac, Maryland. Research Summary (Abstracts)

April 2018

Energy Exascale Earth System Model Released

After four years of development, the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) has been released to the broader scientific community. The E3SM project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science in the Biological and Environmental Research Office. The E3SM release will include model code and documentation, as well as output from an initial set of benchmark simulations. The new earth modeling system will have weather scale resolution and use advanced computers to simulate aspects of Earth’s variability and anticipate decadal changes that will critically impact the U.S. energy sector in coming years.

February 2018

SCGSR Solicitation

The Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2018 Solicitation 1. Applications are due 5:00pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 15, 2018.

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. 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.

Open Calls from User Facilities

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) Science Area Research Call open until March 5, 2018
Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Community Science Program Call Letter of Intent due March 30, 2018
Joint EMSL and JGI FICUS Call Letter of Intent due March 21, 2018

January 2018

The Surprising Life Inside Frozen Soil

Two TES-suppored scientists, Colleen Iversen (ORNL) and Matt Wallenstein (Colorado State University) were featured on NPR’s Science Friday. Visit Science Friday to listen. [Jan 12, 2018]

November 2017

Crunchflow

LBNL Researcher Carl Steefel and his team have been recognized with a R&D100 award for Crunchflow.

Links to new videos featuring SBR-funded research added to this website.

Subsurface Biogeochemical Research Overview brochure

[PDF]

Environmental System Science Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0001855

The Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program within the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hereby announces its interest in receiving research applications for Environmental System Science (ESS). As part of the ESS program, the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science activity seeks to improve the understanding and representation of terrestrial ecosystems in ways that advance Earth system model parameterizations and capabilities. This FOA will consider applications that utilize and couple measurements, experiments, modeling and/or synthesis of terrestrial ecosystem across a continuum from the subsurface to the top of the vegetated canopy and from molecular to global scales. ESS hereby announces its interest in grant applications for improved quantitative and predictive understanding of critical terrestrial ecosystems processes and feedbacks within high latitude (i.e., Arctic and Boreal) and coastal ecosystems in the following areas: Interactions between above- and below-ground processes and traits, impacts of disturbances on ecosystems, and coupled biogeochemical and energy fluxes at the terrestrial-aquatic interface. Applicants are required to pose their research applications in the context of representing terrestrial ecosystem processes appropriate for improving the predictability of Earth system models.

Applications from this FOA will support the scientific mission for the Environmental System Science/Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) activity (more information on the program can be found at https://science.osti.gov/ber/Research/cesd/Terrestrial-Ecosystem-Science and https://tes.science.energy.gov/.

DE-FOA-0001855 – Environmental System Science (https://science.osti.gov/ber/Funding-Opportunities) (https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298742)

Please note the schedule below.
Deadline for Pre-applications (required): December 20, 2017; 5 pm eastern time
Deadline for Proposals: March 1, 2018; 11:59 pm eastern time

Please see the announcement for additional details.

September 2017

Call for Session Abstracts: 255th ACS Conference, New Orleans; March 18th to 22nd, 2018

Division of Environmental Chemistry, abstract deadline October 9, 2017: Submission portal and Fe-S-OM Interplay Session

Geochemistry Division, abstract deadline October 16, 2017: Session Descriptions and Student Travel Awards

Conference website

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program

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 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.

The Environmental Systems Science topic is one of the most popular in the SCGSR, and students are encouraged to consider applying to the new announcement:

(e) Environmental Systems Science: Process-Level Terrestrial Ecosystem and Biogeochemical Research to Inform Models of the Earth and Environmental System

Current land process, watershed, ecosystem, and climate models inadequately represent the structure and function of key environmental and ecological processes that span the continuum from the bedrock, through the soil and vegetation, and to the atmospheric interface. These processes (e.g., soil biogeochemical reactions, plant-rhizosphere interactions, reactive transport, microbe-mineral interactions, vegetative, etc.), have interfaces and interactions between the various components of the continuum and land surface, riverine environments, coastal zones and the subsurface environment. The inadequate representation of these terrestrial ecosystem, subsurface structures, biogeochemical processes and hydrologic interactions represents a major roadblock in our ability to predictively understand the Earth and environmental systems. Improving our representation of the complex Earth system requires a better understanding of terrestrial ecosystem and/or subsurface processes that can affect the cycling and transport of water, elements (including carbon), nutrients, and other constituents from process-level observational, ecosystem and hydrobiogeochemical research. Candidates for this topic are required to delineate an integrative, hypothesis-driven approach and clearly describe the existing needs in state-of-the-art models through terrestrial ecosystem and subsurface biogeochemical process research projects that will inform land process, watershed, and ecosystem models, and aligns with the scope and focus of the DOE Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and/or Subsurface Biogeochemical Research programs. Developing a workforce with experience in innovative, experimental approaches efforts in subsurface/belowground process research will enable DOE to make significant advances in the high resolution predictive understanding of the Earth and environmental system and to foster innovative research.

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 is open to current Ph.D. students in qualified graduate programs at accredited U.S. academic institutions, who are conducting their graduate thesis research in targeted areas of importance to the DOE Office of Science. The program is open to graduate students with Permanent Resident status, in addition to U.S. Citizens, who meet all other eligibility requirements. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral thesis/dissertation while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the DOE laboratories. The supplemental award provides for additional, incremental costs for living and travel expenses directly associated with conducting the SCGSR research project at the DOE host laboratory during the award period.

Since its inception in 2014, the SCGSR program has provided support to over 200 graduate awardees from about 90 different universities to conduct thesis research at DOE national laboratories across the nation.

The SCGSR program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), in collaboration with the six Office of Science research programs offices and the DOE national laboratories, and the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE).

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

June 2017

Workshop Report Published: Research Priorities to Incorporate Terrestrial-Aquatic Interfaces in Earth System Models Workshop (2016)

May 2017

Newly Identified Microbial Process Could Reduce Toxic Methylmercury Levels

A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has identified a novel microbial process that can break down toxic methylmercury in the environment, a discovery that could potentially reduce mercury toxicity levels and support health and risk assessments. ORNL News Release (May 31, 2017)

March 2017

DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program accepting applications

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. Applications due May 16, 2017 5:00PM Eastern Time

February 2017

2017 JGI Community Science Program Annual Call Released

The CSP Annual Call is focused on large-scale sequence-based genomic science projects that address questions of relevance to DOE missions in energy security and sustainability and global biogeochemistry. While applications will be accepted that address any aspect of these mission areas, priority for this call will be given to projects that address the specific areas of special emphasis that are listed in the call, and exploit the diversity of JGI technical and analytical capabilities.

This year four topics areas are emphasized:

Plant Functional Genomics and Microbiomes
Inter-organismal Interactions
Microbiology of Extreme Environments
Microbes and Communities Involved in Elemental Cycling in Terrestrial and Coastal Environments

A Letter of Intent is required before submitting a proposal. Letters of intent for CSP18 will only be accepted electronically and should be submitted between February 6 and March 31, 2017. For more information, please see the website.

January 2017

TES/SBR Joint Investigators Meeting

The TES/SBR Joint Investigators Meeting will be held April 25-26, 2017 in Potomac, Maryland.
Registration and Information https://www.orau.gov/esspi2017/

November 2016

Subsurface Imaging Tool “Sees” Underground Like Never Before

Much like medical scans, a new technology enables users to remotely look into the Earth’s subsurface in real time. Contaminants in soils often provide a high-contrast medium in comparison to clean soils. For instance, nuclear waste from weapons production is present in the groundwater and soil at certain sites across the country, posing potential threats to the environment. The contamination must not only be monitored but better understood for cleanup to be possible.

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed and are applying Real-time Four-Dimensional Subsurface Imaging (E4D-RT) software to determine the extent of contamination and what drives its migration. No other commercial subsurface modeling software constructs 3-dimensional, time-lapse images of how the subsurface environment changes over time,in real time.

“Snapshots” of subsurface conditions are collected by measurements made at the surface or by electrodes inserted in boreholes that pass an electrical current through the material being studied and record how difficult it is for that electrical current to move through the material. E4D-RT combines supercomputers to analyze large amounts of data with real-time imaging and the ability to model buried metallic infrastructure like tanks and pipes. E4D-RT is a cost-saving, open-source solution for imaging in many kinds of subsurface studies, including fluid movement in geothermal systems and hydraulic fracturing operations and even understanding volcanic activity.

E4D-RT was developed by PNNL’s Tim Johnson. DOE’s Office of Science and Office of Environmental Management supported the technology’s development.

E4D-RT Video

American Chemical Society establishes new journal dedicated to geochemistry, atmospheric and marine chemistry, and astrochemistry research

The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced the forthcoming 2017 publication of ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal that will unite the diverse and global community of scientists who explore the complex chemical nature of materials and processes that occur on Earth and in Space. The journal will disseminate high-impact research in the fields of geochemistry, atmospheric and marine chemistry, astrochemistry, and analytical geochemistry. Joel Blum, the MacArthur Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan, and an investigator in the DOE SBR program, will serve as the journal’s inaugural editor-in-chief. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry will publish applications of analytical, experimental and theoretical chemistry to investigate research questions relevant to the Earth and Space. The journal encompasses the highly interdisciplinary nature of research in this area, while emphasizing chemistry and chemical research tools as the unifying theme. Article submissions are now being accepted. Visit pubs.acs.org/acsearthchem to read the journal scope and editor profile and for information on how to submit your work.

December 2016

Subsurface Biogeochemical Research Funding Announcement

Grant Notice: DE-FOA-0001724
Pre-Application Due Date: Feb 07, 2017 at 5 PM Eastern Time
Encourage/Discourage Date: Feb 22, 2017 at 5 PM Eastern Time
Application Due Date: Apr 05, 2017 at 5 PM Eastern Time
Announcement PDF
The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR). The mission of the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) within BER is to advance a robust predictive understanding of Earth’s climate and environmental systems and to inform the development of sustainable solutions to the Nation’s energy and environmental challenges.

TSE Postdoctoral Research Position Now Open

Applications accepted until Dec. 31, 2016
The Terrestrial and Subsurface Ecosystems science program at EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, has an opening for a postdoctoral research staff member. See the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory job posting to apply.

September 2016

Program Management (Rotator) Opportunity in DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Download PDF
The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research would like to alert you to new temporary staff opportunities. DOE is seeking qualified individuals to join our Climate and Environmental Sciences Division as Program Manager rotators (under the Interagency Personnel Act – similar to NSF rotators). The positions would be for up to two years. Potential IPAs would need to have a permanent position in either a University or not-for-profit research institution located in the U.S., and would be “loaned” from their home institution to DOE for the performance period. The positions would not be as federal employees. As a rotator, the candidate will co-manage a program within the Division with specific duties including: co-write/manage funding opportunity announcements; manage resulting research projects; assist in coordinating activities at the DOE National laboratories; develop strategic plans and program workshops, plan annual principle investigator meetings, participate in federal interagency coordination committees, etc. In addition, candidates would be expected to have excellent communication skills involving both writing and oral presentation. The positions are based in Germantown, MD (DC metro area) and are limited to US citizens. A Ph.D. is required.
Candidates are invited to work within the following programmatic areas:

Environmental System Science (Terrestrial Ecosystem Science, TES) – Ideal candidate would possess expertise relevant to the TES program such as biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, microbial ecology, eco-hydrology, carbon feedbacks (tes.science.energy.gov for more information on program activities and scope).
Climate and Earth System Modeling (Earth System Modeling, ESM) – Ideal candidate would possess expertise with model development, expertise in one or more of the following: climate-scale modeling of the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, land, or coupled system; representation of human-systems needed in climate models; computational methods for complex model systems. (climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/ for more information on program activities and scope).

For additional information, please contact or send a CV and statement of interest to Dr. Gary Geernaert (Gerald.Geernaert@science.doe.gov, CESD Division Director), Dr. Dan Stover (Daniel.Stover@science.doe.gov, TES), or Dorothy Koch (Dorothy.Koch@science.doe.gov, ESM). Serious inquires only please.

August 2016

DOE Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

EMSL Director Allison Campbell interviews Malak Tfaily, a post doc in EMSL’s Spectrometry group. TES funds Tfaily’s role at EMSL. (June 29, 2014)

The Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is accepting applications for the 2016 Solicitation 2.

Applications are due 5:00 pm ET on Monday, November 21, 2016. 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 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. The SCGSR program is open to current Ph.D. students in qualified graduate programs at accredited U.S. academic institutions, who are conducting their graduate thesis research in targeted areas of importance to the DOE Office of Science. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral thesis/dissertation while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the DOE laboratories. The supplemental award provides for additional, incremental costs for living and travel expenses directly associated with conducting the SCGSR research project at the DOE host laboratory during the award period.

Early Career Research Program (PDF, 405KB) Announcement Number: DE FOA 0001625; Posting Date: July 28, 2016;

Closing Date: November 14, 2016 Companion Announcement: LAB 16-1625.
See Also: additional information from the Office of Science
Notes: Pre-Application Due Date: 09/08/2016 at 5 PM Eastern Time (A Pre-Application is required);
Encourage/Discourage Date: 10/06/2016 at 5 PM Eastern Time;
Application Due Date: 11/14/2016 at 5 PM Eastern Time

June 2016

For TES-Funded Research Only: Online highlight submission now available

This system collects brief science highlights describing published research supported by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) program within DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER).

May 2016

Post Doc Opening

The Terrestrial and Subsurface Ecosystems science program at EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, in Richland WA has an opening for postdoctoral research staff. We are seeking a recent graduate in environmental geochemistry, soil ecology, plant ecophysiology or hydrology to study the terrestrial carbon cycle dynamics using advanced spectroscopic, analytical, imaging experimental platforms and computational, simulation, and modeling approaches. Candidates will be interviewed in June 2016. MORE INFORMATION.

February 2016

DOE, NASA, USDA-NIFA, and NOAA announce release of the NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) Funding Opportunity, Topic A.5 “Carbon Cycle Science”

This is a joint solicitation between NASA, NOAA, USDA-NIFA, and DOE for funding in fiscal year 2017. Step 1/Notice of Intents are due April 1, 2016, and full proposals are due June 15, 2016.

More information on the ROSES announcement can be found here: http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2016.

Specific information on Topic A.5 Carbon Cycle Science can be found here: https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?method=init&solId={BDFEB327-957C-2DA8-CFB4-AABEA9A38D57}&path=open

For more information, please see the full ROSES announcement below:

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate announces the release of its annual omnibus solicitation, Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) for 2016 at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2016.
Table 2 of individual programs in order of due date can be found at: http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2016table2
Table 3 of individual programs organized by subject area can be found at: http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2016table3
This ROSES NRA (NNH16ZDA001N) solicits basic and applied research in support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD). ROSES is an omnibus NRA, with many individual program elements, each with its own due dates and topics. All together these cover the wide range of basic and applied supporting research and technology in space and Earth sciences supported by SMD. Awards range from under $100K per year for focused, limited efforts (e.g., data analysis) to more than $1M per year for extensive activities (e.g., development of specialized science experimental hardware). The funds available for awards in each program element offered in this NRA range from less than one to several million dollars, which allow selection from a few to as many as several dozen proposals, depending on the program objectives and the submission of proposals of merit. Awards will be made as grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and inter- or intra-agency transfers, depending on the nature of the work proposed, the proposing organization, and/or program requirements. The typical period of performance for an award is three years, but some programs may allow up to five years and others specify shorter periods. Organizations of every type, domestic and foreign, Government and private, for profit and not-for-profit, may submit proposals without restriction on teaming arrangements. Note that it is NASA policy that all investigations involving non-U.S. organizations will be conducted on the basis of no exchange of funds. Details of the solicited program elements are given in the Appendices of this NRA.
Proposal due dates are given in Tables 2 and 3 of this NRA, which will be posted at the URLs given above. Interested proposers should monitor http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ or subscribe to the SMD electronic notification system there for additional new program elements or amendments to this NRA through February 2017, at which time release of a subsequent ROSES NRA is planned. A web archive (and RSS feed) for amendments, clarifications, and corrections to ROSES-2016 will be available at: http://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2016/. This NRA will be available upon its release at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2016.
Questions concerning general ROSES NRA policies and procedures may be directed to Max Bernstein, Lead for Research, Science Mission Directorate, at sara@nasa.gov.

DOE JGI CSP Call

DOE’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) has just released its annual Community Science Program (CSP) call focused on large-scale sequence-based genomic science projects that address questions of relevance to DOE missions in sustainable biofuel production, global carbon cycling, and biogeochemistry. While applications will be accepted that address any aspect of these mission areas, priority for this call will be given to projects that address the specific areas of special emphasis that are listed in the call, and exploit the diversity of JGI technical and analytical capabilities. Note a Letter of Intent is required (April 7, 2016 deadline).

For the CSP annual call, a letter of intent is required to submit a proposal to JGI. Submitters whose letters of intent/proposals are approved will receive further instructions via email. Human or animal disease-causing organisms will NOT be considered under this Program. Only plant pathogens of relevance to bioenergy-related crops or plants will be considered. All proposals will be reviewed for scientific merit, DOE relevance, proposed data usage by the applicant/community, and track record of the applicant. Proposers are encouraged to review JGI’s sample requirements; samples that are not available in a timely manner, or are of insufficient quality or quantity, will delay or potentially defer approval for sequencing.

For questions about the appropriateness of projects, program specifics or application process, please contact Susannah Tringe (sgtringe@lbl.gov). For more information: https://jgi.doe.gov/user-programs/program-info/ [2/16]

DOE JGI-EMSL Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS) Call for Proposals

The FICUS program was established to encourage and enable researchers to more easily integrate the expertise and capabilities of multiple user facilities into their research. The FICUS call between DOE JGI and Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL) represents a unique opportunity for researchers to combine the power of genomics and molecular characterization in one proposed research project. Both user facilities play critical roles in supporting DOE’s energy, environment and basic research missions. Successful applications will focus on high risk/high payoff projects in the focused topic areas that can be completed on an accelerated timeline as compared with the standard CSP projects. In addition, they must utilize a broad range of the capabilities of each facility, and generate datasets beyond what each of these facilities could generate by itself. A letter of Intent is required (April 4, 2016 deadline).

For questions about the appropriateness of projects, program specifics or application process, please contact Terry Law (Emsl@pnnl.gov). For more information:https://jgi.doe.gov/user-programs/program-info/how-to-propose-a-csp-project/ [2/16]

Science Graduate Student Research Accepting Applications

The Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) is now accepting applications for the SCGSR Program for its first solicitation for 2016.Applications are due May 11, 2016. Please note that beginning with the 2015 Solicitation 2 the SCGSR Program began accepting applications from graduate students with Permanent Resident status, in addition to those who are U.S. citizens. Questions: sc.scgsr@science.doe.gov [2/16]

October 2015

Grant Notice: DE-FOA-0001432

Closing Date for Applications: Jan 28, 2016

The U. S. Department of Energy’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for building EPSCoR-State/DOE-National Laboratory Partnerships. These partnerships are to advance fundamental energy oriented scientific and engineering research collaborations with the DOE Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (DOE FFRDCs hereafter referred to as the National Laboratories) (Information on the DOE National Laboratories can be found at https://science.osti.gov/Laboratories ). Participation by graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows is required. Junior faculty from EPSCoR jurisdictions are encouraged to apply. Utilization of DOE user facilities is encouraged. (Information on the DOE Office of Science user facilities can be found at https://science.osti.gov/User-Facilities , information on the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy user facilities can be found at https://atrnsuf.inl.gov/ )
Details

SBIR/STTR FY 2016 Phase II DE-FOA-0001405: Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for Fiscal Year 2016, Phase II Release 1. (Closing date: Dec 15, 2015) See also http://sbir.er.doe.gov/sbir.

Grant Notice: DE-FOA-0001437

Closing Date for Applications: Jan 22, 2016

The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental Systems Science (ESS), including Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) and Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR). The mission of the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) within BER is to advance a robust predictive understanding of Earth’s climate and environmental systems and to inform the development of sustainable solutions to the Nation’s energy and environmental challenges. The goal of the Environmental System Science (ESS) activity in the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) is to advance a robust predictive understanding of terrestrial environments, extending from bedrock to the top of the vegetated canopy and from molecular to global scales in support of DOE’s energy and environmental missions. Using an iterative approach to model-driven experimentation and observation, interdisciplinary teams of scientists work to unravel the coupled physical, chemical and biological processes that control the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems across vast spatial and temporal scales. State-of-science understanding is captured in conceptual theories and models which can be translated into a hierarchy of computational components and used to predict the system response to perturbations caused, for example, by changes in climate, land use/cover or contaminant loading. Basic understanding of the system structure and function is advanced through this iterative cycle of experimentation and observation by targeting key system components and processes that are suspected to most limit the predictive skill of the models. Details.

September 2015

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program

The US Department of Energy is pleased to announce the Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) is now accepting applications for the new Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program for the 2015. The SCGSR program will support supplemental awards to graduate students to conduct part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory for a period of 3 to 12 consecutive months. The goal of the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is to prepare graduate students for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission, by providing graduate thesis research opportunities at DOE laboratories. The SCGSR program provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to pursue part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE laboratory in areas that address scientific challenges central to the Office of Science mission. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral thesis while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the DOE laboratories. Priority research areas for the 2015 SCGSR competition were identified to help address important workforce needs in support of Office of Science mission. The priority research areas for the 2015 SCGSR competition can be viewed at: https://science.osti.gov/wdts/scgsr.

Specific details and information on eligibility and how to apply can be found at the program website: https://science.osti.gov/wdts/scgsr.
If you have any questions, please contact the SCGSR program manager, Dr. Ping Ge. She can be reached at ping.ge@science.doe.gov or sc.scgsr@science.doe.gov.

The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program encourages undergraduate students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers by providing research experiences at the Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories. Selected students participate as interns appointed at one of 17 participating DOE laboratories/facilities. They perform research, under the guidance of laboratory staff scientists or engineers, on projects supporting the DOE mission. Applications for the SULI program are solicited annually for three separate internship terms. Internship appointments are 10 weeks in duration for the Summer Term (May through August) or 16 weeks in duration for the Fall (August through December) and Spring (January through May) Terms. Each DOE laboratory/facility offers different research opportunities; not all DOE laboratories/facilities offer internships during the Fall and Spring Terms. More information can be found at https://science.osti.gov/wdts/suli.

August 2015

SBIR/STTR FY 2016 DE-FOA-0001366

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for two distinct funding opportunities for DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for Fiscal Year 2016, Phase I Release 1. (Closing date: Oct 19, 2015) See also announcement PDF and http://sbir.er.doe.gov/sbir.

Shaima Nasiri Announced as New Program Manager in Climate and Environmental Sciences Division

Dr. Shaima Nasiri has been selected as Program Manager, responsible for co-managing the Atmospheric System Research Program of BER in DOE Office of Science; starting August 10, 2015. She shares programmatic responsibilities for the ASR program with Dr. Ashley Williamson. Dr. Nasiri comes to DOE with impeccable scientific credentials as well as experience in the management of federal programs. During the past decade, Dr. Nasiri served on the faculty of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, where she published extensively on topics involving cloud physics, aerosol science, and satellite meteorology. Dr. Nasiri also gained tremendous experience during the past year as an IPA serving as co-manager of the ASR program; during this time she has also represented DOE conducting strategic planning for climate sciences within the US Global Change Research Program (as part of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy).

DE-FOA-0001386 Early Career Research Program Announcement

The Office of Science of the Department of Energy hereby invites grant applications for support under the Early Career Research Program in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); High Energy Physics (HEP), and Nuclear Physics (NP). The purpose of this program is to support the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and to stimulate research careers in the areas supported by the DOE Office of Science.(Closing date: Nov 19, 2015)

July 2015

TES welcomes new Program Manager Jared DeForest

Dr. Jared L. DeForest is a Program Manager for Terrestrial Ecosystem Science programs in the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science. He co-manages a portfolio of university and national laboratory research projects to improve the representation of critical terrestrial ecosystem properties and processes in predictive Earth system models (ESM). This includes the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE-Arctic & NEGG-Tropics) and SPRUCE. Jared is a rotator (IPA) to DOE’s Office of Science from the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology at Ohio University. He earned his Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Environment from the University of Michigan in 2004 and his M.S. and B.S. in Forestry from Michigan Technological University in 2000 and 1997, respectively. After his post-doc investigating ecosystem-scale carbon exchange from the University of Toledo, he became a faculty member at Ohio University in 2006 and is currently an associate professor. His teaching portfolio includes Soil Properties and Ecosystem Processes, Restoration Ecology, Plant Ecology (non-majors), and Plants & People (non-majors). His research interests draws from soil biogeochemistry (coupled biogeochemical cycles), ecosystem ecology, microbial ecology, and forestry to understand how soil mediates the structure and function of ecosystems. Specifically, he investigates soil microorganism’s influence on the nutrient economy (nitrogen and phosphorus) and how that mediates ecosystem carbon cycling and storage.

May 2015

The Subsurface Biogeochemical Research and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science programs within the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) held their third annual joint investigators meeting April 28-29, 2015, in Potomac, Maryland. Funded projects provided abstracts and posters summarizing their progress to date.

April 2015

For SBR-Funded Research Only: Online highlight submission now available! This system collects brief science highlights describing published research supported by the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) program within DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER).

February 2015

2015 Environmental System Science (ESS) PI Meeting

Agenda

Bolger Conference Center, 9600 Newbridge Drive,
Potomac, Maryland
April 28 – 29, 2015

The Department of Energy’s Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) and Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) programs will hold their third Joint Principal Investigators Meeting on April 28-29, 2015, at the Bolger Conference Center in Potomac, MD. This event will follow a similar basic program format as previous years, beginning on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at 8:00 a.m. and concluding on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting is only for the Principal Investigators and associates of projects funded through the program. The meeting provides a venue for project investigators to exchange results and accomplishments while providing program managers the opportunity to evaluate the progress of each project.

Information, registration, abstract submission available at http://www.orau.gov/esspi2015/

October 2014

ORNL Seeking Postdoctoral Research Staff Member in Hg Biogeochemistry

The Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) of the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (LLNL) has an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Staff Member in their research group focused on Hg biogeochemistry in a watershed context.

Description: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) seeks a highly motivated and creative individual skilled in watershed biogeochemistry or environmental engineering to work on a project investigating targeted actions to decrease (i) mercury and methylmercury concentration in water, (ii) mercury and methylmercury flux, and (iii) mercury concentration in fish. Current research at ORNL in this area spans from the molecular to the field scales although for this position work will be conducted at the laboratory microcosm to field scales. The integration of field, laboratory, and simulation research will be used to inform decisions related to environmental remediation and long-term stewardship of terrestrial and aquatic systems.

The successful candidate will focus their research efforts on understanding, within a watershed context, the geochemical and hydrological processes that control Hg transformation at an industrially contaminated site on the Oak Ridge Reservation. The biogeochemical controls on transformations that sustain methyl mercury concentrations in this system are poorly understood. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to develop and evaluate innovative technologies to limit the release of mercury into the system. Opportunities exist to collaborate with skilled researchers in hydrology, geochemistry, environmental microbiology, and ecology within ORNL, at collaborating Universities and other National Laboratories.

Qualifications:This position requires a Ph.D. in environmental chemistry or engineering, (bio)geochemistry, soil science, watershed hydrology, or a related discipline. Experience in Hg research, applying (bio)geochemical models, and the analysis of kinetic data is desired. Strong oral and written communication skills are required. The candidate must have the ability to work in a multidisciplinary team environment.

Technical Questions: Interest in the position should be directed to Scott Brooks at brookssc@ornl.gov. Additional information about ORNL and the Environmental Sciences Division is available from www.ornl.gov, and /www.ornl.gov/division/esd respectively.

September 2014

LLNL Seeking Postdoctoral Research Staff Member

The Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) of the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Staff Member. They are seeking an environmental radiochemist, chemist, materials scientist, or geochemist to study, characterize and model the geochemical behavior of radionuclides in the environment using advanced spectroscopic and analytical techniques. The candidate will design, conduct and oversee laboratory experiments involving sorption/desorption kinetics of actinides on mineral surfaces in the presence of dissolved organic matter and microorganisms. The candidate is expected to apply advanced spectroscopic and analytical techniques (e.g. TEM, SEM, NanoSIMS, EXAFS) to characterize laboratory and field samples and develop conceptual and numerical models of actinide behavior in groundwater. The candidate will work in an interdisciplinary LLNL research team that is investigating the biogeochemical processes that control the behavior of actinides in the subsurface. The candidate will be part of the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute and report to the Environmental Radiochemistry Group Leader in CSD.

The post-doc will join LLNL’s interdisciplinary team studying actinide behavior in the environment. This research Scientific Focus Area is supported by DOE’s Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, Subsurface Biogeochemical Research program (http://doesbr.org/research/sfa/sfa_llnl.shtml). LLNL plans to interview candidates this fall. Details regarding the application process can be found at: http://careers-llnl.ttcportals.com/. Job Opening ID: 12385

News

March 2021

Funding Opportunity Announcement: Integrated Computational and Data Infrastructure for Scientific Discovery

February 2021

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program 2021 Solicitation 1

December 2020

Virtual Workshop: Spectroscopy and Modeling for Molecular Insight into Environmental Processes – January 26, 2021

ESS Program Manager Position

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002431 – DOE EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Implementation Grants

Call for White Papers on AI for Earth System Predictability

November 2020

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

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

Seventh Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds (ICRW7)

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

Environmental Research Funding Opportunity: DoD SERDP

October 2020

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DOE ESPCoR Program

Amanzi-ATS Team Wins R&D 100 Award for Environmental Simulation Code

New Environmental System Science Program Merges TES and SBR Programs

September 2020

Interagency Workshop Report on Integrated Hydro-Terrestrial Modeling Now Available

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

July 2020

New Requirement for Highlight Submissions

June 2020

DOE Announces Early Career Research Program Awards for FY 2020

DOE SC First-Person Science Interview: Colleen Iversen on Belowground Ecology.

Brian Benscoter joins the Environmental System Science team as an IPA/rotator on one-year appointment

ESS holds Virtual All-Hands Meeting

May 2020

“Building a Culture of Safety and Trust in Team Science: An Arctic research team of 150 members that implemented a culture of safety, inclusion, and trust as the foundation for cross-disciplinary science shares lessons from its experiences”

April 2020

ESS PI Meeting Postponed

BER CESD Changes Name

Xujing Davis joins DOE BER as ESMD Program Manager

March 2020

DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research is pleased to welcome Jennifer Arrigo to the Environmental System Sciences Team as a Program Manager

February 2020

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

January 2020

Office of Science Issues Guide for Writing Research Summaries in Plain Language [01/31/20]

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

December 2019

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002215 – ESPCoR Building EPSCOR-State/National Laboratory Partnerships

November 2019

Job Announcement: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002173 – Early Career Research Program

Funding Opportunity Announcement: DE-FOA-0002184 – Environmental System Science

September 2019

2019 TES Awards Announced

Physical Scientist (Program Management) Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research. Position closes Sept. 12

August 2019

Physical Scientist (Program Management) Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) 2019 Solicitation 2

Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research: Position closes Friday, August 9

July 2019

Upcoming Job Opportunity at DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research

June 2019

DOE Position Available for Physical Scientist (Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling)

January 2019

DE-FOA-0002043 – Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

DE-FOA-0002035 – Subsurface Biogeochemical Research

DE-FOA-0002019 – Early Career Research Program

LAB 19-2019 – Early Career Research Program for DOE National Laboratories

December 2018

DE-FOA-0002043 – Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

DE-FOA-0002043 – Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

November 2018

Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2) Released

Funding Announcement: Established Program To Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR) Implementation FOA Number: DE-FOA-0002023

October 2018

2018 ESS Awards Announced

May 2018

TES/SBR Joint Investigators Meeting

April 2018

Energy Exascale Earth System Model Released

February 2018

SCGSR Solicitation

Open Calls from User Facilities

Funding Announcement: Established Program To Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR) Implementation
FOA Number: DE-FOA-0002023