Request for Information - Upgrading Carbon Derived from Methane Pyrolysis This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not accepting application for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The Advanced Research Projects Agency -Energy (ARPA-E) in the US Department of Energy is seeking information concerning technologies to produce hydrogen and elemental carbon from the thermal decomposition of methane (also known as methane pyrolysis, methane cracking, or methane splitting). Recognizing that the value of the carbon product would be a key factor in the economic feasibility of such processes, ARPA-E seeks input from experts in the fields of materials science (including advanced carbon fiber synthesis), process engineering, methane pyrolysis, plasma chemistry, and chemical engineering regarding potential mechanisms for the bulk conversion of carbon materials, specifically from less valuable forms (e.g. amorphous carbon) or mixtures, to more valuable single allotropes or controlled mixtures of high-value carbon structures. Consistent with the agency's mission, ARPA-E is seeking insights on clearly disruptive, novel technologies for such conversions, early in the R&D cycle, and not integration strategies for existing technologies. The information you provide may be used by ARPA-E in support of program planning.

The purpose of the R01 grant program is to develop an understanding of the risks and conditions associated with occupational diseases and injuries, to explore methods for reducing risks and preventing or minimizing exposure to hazardous conditions in the workplace, and to translate significant scientific findings into prevention practices and products that will effectively reduce work-related illnesses and injuries. Applicants must concisely describe the occupational health burden(s) being addressed in their proposal while also linking the need for the proposed research activities to planned outputs that will help address or alleviate this burden. Applicants should clearly articulate the anticipated impacts of the proposed research, both during the project period and beyond.

The Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS) program focuses on Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS) that are capable of robust, long-term autonomy requiring minimal or no human operator intervention in the face of uncertain, unanticipated, and dynamically changing situations. IPS are systems that combine perception, cognition, communication, and actuation to operate in the physical world. Examples include, but are not limited to, robotic platforms, self-driving vehicles, underwater exploration vehicles, and smart grids. Most current IPS operate in pre-programmed ways and in a limited variety of contexts. They are largely incapable of handling novel situations, or of even understanding when they are outside their areas of expertise. To achieve robust, long-term autonomy, however, future IPS need to be aware of their capabilities and limitations and to adapt their behaviors to compensate for limitations and/or changing conditions.

The ERC program is placing greater emphasis on research that leads to societal impact, including convergent approaches, engaging stakeholder communities, and strengthening team formation, in response to the NASEM study recommendations. The ERC program intends to support planning activities leading to convergent research team formation and capacity-building within the engineering community. This planning grant pilot initiative is designed to foster and facilitate the engineering community's thinking about how to form convergent research collaborations. To participate in the upcoming ERC competition, one is not required to submit a planning grant proposal nor to receive a planning grant.

The landscape of jobs and work is changing at unprecedented speed, driven by the development of new technologies that have moved from the factory floor to an expanding array of knowledge and service occupations. These changes promise benefits to the Nation in the creation of new industries and occupations, increased productivity, opportunity for innovation, and sustained global leadership. But there are risks as well. Technological advances scale back the need for some workers, and in some cases, eliminate job sectors, with consequences to displaced workers who must adapt to emerging new technologies and the changing economy through retraining and reskilling. The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF) is one of 10 new and far-sighted Big Ideas for Future Investments announced by NSF in 2016. NSF aims to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the changing landscape of jobs and work by supporting convergent research to: understand and develop the human-technology partnership; design new technologies to augment human performance; illuminate the emerging socio-technological landscape and understand the risks and benefits of new technologies; and foster lifelong and pervasive learning with technology. In order to be nimble and responsive to new opportunities and challenges as they are recognized, focus areas for the FW-HTF solicitation, the centerpiece of the FW-HTF Big Idea, may change from year to year.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announces a notice of availability of funds for financial assistance to accelerate research and development related to the production of affordable and sustainable non-food energy crops that can be used as feedstocks for the production of price-competitive biofuels and bioproducts. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) supports EERE's performance metrics to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, increase the viability and affordability of renewable energy technologies and processes, and spur growth in the domestic bioeconomy. Applicants must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov before submitting an application and must provide a valid Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in the application. Failure to comply may result in a determination that the applicant is not qualified to receive a Federal award, and that determination could be used as a basis for making a Federal award to another applicant.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announces a notice of availability of funds for financial assistance to address gaps in current research and development (R&D) which hinder better utilizing waste streams (e.g. lignin, CO2, and biosolids), improving organic and inorganic catalysts to increase conversion efficiency and decrease costs, and creating high-value performance-advantaged bioproducts to allow for more profitable biorefineries.

As the largest video, high-speed Internet, and phone provider to residential customers, Comcast Cable is committed to supporting external technical research and open source software development. Over the long term, this can lead to critical insights and advancements that can positively benefit consumers by delivering innovative new generations of products faster than ever before. The Comcast Innovation Fund offers funding for researchers at leading academic institutions and elsewhere to support research that is of mutual interest to Comcast and the research community. It also provides funding to support open source software development. While Comcast has supported this kind of work for many years, we are now doing so in a more strategic way. RESEARCH GRANTS Research Grants can be either general or targeted. A general research grant provides an unrestricted award of funds to support researchers, usually at colleges and universities. These grants are focused on supporting excellent technical research in a wide variety of fields that are relevant to the broadband industry and/or to Comcast specifically. In contrast, a targeted research grant is more narrowly tailored and typically study more specific issues. In either case, applicants are encouraged to consider grants that may have a cooperative focus, whereby researchers can be matched with a Comcast engineering liaison who will be involved with the research. Applicants for these grants may be organizations, academic institutions, or individuals.

The Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS) program focuses on Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS) that are capable of robust, long-term autonomy requiring minimal or no human operator intervention in the face of uncertain, unanticipated, and dynamically changing situations. IPS are systems that combine perception, cognition, communication, and actuation to operate in the physical world. Examples include, but are not limited to, robotic platforms, self-driving vehicles, underwater exploration vehicles, and smart grids. Most current IPS operate in pre-programmed ways and in a limited variety of contexts. They are largely incapable of handling novel situations, or of even understanding when they are outside their areas of expertise. To achieve robust, long-term autonomy, however, future IPS need to be aware of their capabilities and limitations and to adapt their behaviors to compensate for limitations and/or changing conditions.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through the Directorate for Engineering, the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering Division of Computer and Network Systems, and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of Materials Research, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), through its Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), have established the NSF/FDA Scholar-in-Residence Program at FDA. This program comprises an interagency partnership for the investigation of scientific and engineering issues concerning emerging trends in medical device technology. This partnership is designed to enable investigators in science, engineering, and computer science to develop research collaborations within the intramural research environment at the FDA. This solicitation features three flexible mechanisms for support of research at the FDA: 1) Principal Investigators at FDA; 2) Postdoctoral Researchers at FDA; and 3) Graduate Students at FDA.

The Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS) program focuses on Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS) that are capable of robust, long-term autonomy requiring minimal or no human operator intervention in the face of uncertain, unanticipated, and dynamically changing situations. IPS are systems that combine perception, cognition, communication, and actuation to operate in the physical world. Examples include, but are not limited to, robotic platforms, self-driving vehicles, underwater exploration vehicles, and smart grids. Most current IPS operate in pre-programmed ways and in a limited variety of contexts. They are largely incapable of handling novel situations, or of even understanding when they are outside their areas of expertise. To achieve robust, long-term autonomy, however, future IPS need to be aware of their capabilities and limitations and to adapt their behaviors to compensate for limitations and/or changing conditions. To foster such intelligent systems, the S&AS program supports research in four main aspects of IPS: cognizant, taskable, adaptive, and ethical. Cognizant IPS exhibit high-level awareness of their own capabilities and limitations, anticipating potential failures and re-planning accordingly. Taskable IPS can interpret high-level, possibly vague, instructions, planning out and executing concrete actions that are dependent on the particular context in which the system is operating. Adaptive IPS can change their behaviors over time, learning from their own experiences and those of other entities, such as other IPS or humans, and from instruction or observation. Ethical IPS should adhere to a system of societal and legal rules, taking those rules into account when making decisions. Each of these research areas requires the IPS to be knowledge-rich, employing a variety of representation and reasoning mechanisms, such as semantic, probabilistic, commonsense, and meta-reasoning.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through the Directoratefor Engineering, the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering Division of Computer and Network Systems, and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of Materials Research, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), through its Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), have established the NSF/FDA Scholar-in-Residence Program at FDA. This program comprises an interagency partnership for the investigation of scientific and engineering issues concerning emerging trends in medical device technology. This partnership is designed to enable investigators in science, engineering, and computer science to develop research collaborations within the intramural research environment at the FDA. Thissolicitation features three flexible mechanisms for support of research at the FDA: 1) Principal Investigators at FDA; 2) Postdoctoral Researchers at FDA; and 3) Graduate Students at FDA.

The Acquisition Research Program (ARP) conducts and supports research in academic disciplines that bear on public procurement policy and management. These include economics, finance, financial management, information systems, organization theory, operations management, human resources management, risk management, and marketing, as well as the traditional public procurement areas such as contracting, program/project management, logistics, test and evaluation and systems engineering management. The ARP is interested in innovative proposals that will provide unclassified and non-proprietary findings suitable for publication in open scholarly literature. Studies of government processes, systems, or policies should also expand the body of knowledge and theory of processes, systems, or policies outside the Government. Offerors bear prime responsibility for the design, management, direction and conduct of research. Researchers should exercise judgment and original thought toward attaining the goals within broad parameters of the research areas proposed and the resources provided. Offerors are encouraged to be creative in the selection of the technical and management processes and approaches and consider the greatest and broadest impact possible.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is issuing, on behalf of the Vehicle Technologies Office, this Funding Opportunity Announcement, which seeks research project to address priorities in the following areas: batteries and electrification; materials; technology integration and energy efficient mobility systems; energy efficient commercial off road vehicle technologies; and co optimized advanced engine and fuel technologies to improve fuel economy.

The purpose of this modification is to revise references to correctly identify Figure 3 within Section I.B of the FOA. To obtain a copy of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) please go to the ARPA-E website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. ARPA-E will not review or consider notices of intent or full applications submitted through other means. For detailed guidance on using ARPA-E eXCHANGE, please refer to the ARPA-E eXCHANGE User Guide (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx).

The National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Directorates for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) and Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) recently launched the Transdisciplinary Research in Principles of Data Science (TRIPODS) Phase I program with the goal of promoting long-term, interdisciplinary research and training activities that engage theoretical computer scientists, statisticians, and mathematicians in developing the theoretical foundations of data science. Twelve TRIPODS Phase I Institutes were established in FY17 (see https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=242888). The Partnerships between Science and Engineering Fields and the NSF TRIPODS Institutes (TRIPODS + X) solicitation seeks to expand the scope of the TRIPODS program beyond the foundations community by engaging researchers across other NSF disciplines and the TRIPODS research teams in collaborative activities. TRIPODS + X projects will foster relationships between researchers in science & engineering domains and foundational data scientists by leveraging existing NSF investments in the TRIPODS organizations. Working in concert with a TRIPODS organization, a TRIPODS + X project would focus on data-driven research challenges motivated by applications in one or more science and engineering domains or other activities aimed at building robust data science communities.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) that propose to further the development of Advanced Technology Training (ATT) products for: the health and safety training of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) workers; waste treatment personnel; skilled support personnel associated with an emergency/disaster; emergency responders in biosafety response, infectious disease training and cleanup; emergency responders in disasters and resiliency training; and for ATT tools to assist in research into the acute and long-term health effects of environmental disasters. ATT as defined by the Worker Training Program (WTP) includes, but is not limited to, online training, virtual reality, and serious gaming, which complement all aspects of training from development to evaluation including advanced technologies that enhance, supplement, improve, and provide health and safety training for hazardous materials workers. These products must complement the goals and objectives of the WTP http://www.niehs.nih.gov/careers/hazmat/about_wetp/. The major objective of the NIEHS WTP is to prevent work related harm by assisting in the training of workers in how best to protect themselves and their communities from exposure to hazardous materials. The financial support for this initiative comes directly from NIEHS Worker Education and Training Branch SBIR funds.

The intent of the PRMRP Discovery Award is to support innovative, non-incremental, high-risk/potentially high-reward research that will provide new insights, paradigms, technologies, or applications. Studies supported by this award are expected to lay the groundwork for future avenues of scientific investigation. The proposed research project should include a well-formulated, testable hypothesis based on a sound scientific rationale and study design.

The PRMRP Focused Program Award mechanism is intended to optimize research and accelerate the solution for a critical question related to at least one of the Congressionally directed FY18 PRMRP Topic Areas through a synergistic, multidisciplinary research program. The anticipated total costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY18 PRMRP Focused Program Award will not exceed $10M.

The goal of the Sensing, Learning, Autonomy, and Knowledge Engineering (SLAKE) program is to advance Air Force sensing capabilities by employing diverse sensor processing results at a representational or product level that is abstracted from the direct sensing output yet retains crucial information and corresponding uncertainties. Key research areas under SLAKE include development of sensor product representations suitable for efficient storage, efficient communication, and efficient resource allocation; robust conversion of sensor processing output to novel representation formats; accurate characterization of sensing uncertainties; rigorous incorporation of sensing uncertainties within novel algorithms for sensor resource management, task allocation, and information fusion; development and employment of virtual environments suitable for exercising specific algorithms and for analyzing specific system concepts; and sustained, efficient descriptions of mission context and mission operating environment. In support of technology maturation and transition, SLAKE also includes small unmanned aerial system (SUAS) integration and operation, advanced demonstration and validation.