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The Materials Engineering and Processing (MEP) program supports fundamental research addressing the interrelationship of materials processing, structure, properties and/or life-cycle performance for targeted applications. Research proposals should be driven by the performance or output of the material system relative to the targeted application(s). Research plans driven by scientific hypotheses are encouraged when suitable. Materials in bulk form or focus on special zones such as surfaces or interfaces that are to be used in structural and/or functional applications are appropriate. All material systems are of interest including polymers, metals, ceramics, semiconductors, composites and hybrids thereof. Analytical, experimental, and numerical studies are supported and collaborative proposals with industry (GOALI) are encouraged.

The Control Systems (CS) program supports fundamental research on control theory and control technology driven by real life applications.  The program emphasis is on paradigm-shifting ideas for control strategies that are inspired by nature, unconventional applications, and the combined roles of feedback, feedforward and uncertainty in systems.  The program supports research that advances fundamental understanding, analysis and synthesis of control strategies and tools based on system formulation, assumptions and constraints that are motivated and derived from real-life applications and/or industry needs.  Integration of novel sensing and actuation concepts that combine feedback, communication and signal processing and analysis to achieve a sensing or actuation objectives are also supported.

The Board of Regents is seeking high quality, focused cooperative education and internship program proposals from Ohio institutions of higher education and their partners. This program has been funded  through one-time casino licensing fees; it is expected that the funds will be awarded to build systems to sustain co-ops and internships beyond the direct investment from the State and to ensure these workbased learning opportunities are relevant to the needs of students and businesses. Funds will be awarded to build the capability and capacity of programs to engage more students, more businesses,  and more faculty members in co-op and internship programs. The programs should address the talent needs of JobsOhio key industries.

The goal of the National Robotics Initiative is to accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside, or cooperatively with, people. Innovative robotics research and applications emphasizing the realization of such co-robots acting in direct support of and in a symbiotic relationship with human partners is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The purpose of this program is the development of this next generation of robotics, to advance the capability and usability of such systems and artifacts, and to encourage existing and new communities to focus on innovative application areas. It will address the entire life cycle from fundamental research and development to manufacturing and deployment. Methods for the establishment and infusion of robotics in educational curricula and research to gain a better understanding of the long term social, behavioral and economic implications of co-robots across all areas of human activity are important parts of this initiative. Collaboration between academic, industry, non-profit and other organizations is strongly encouraged to establish better linkages between fundamental science and technology development, deployment and use.

United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is seeking multiple non-federal partners ("Collaborators") from industry and/or academia to be considered for participation in Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) (described in 15 USC 3710a, quoted below). Under CRADAs, USTRANSCOM seeks to explore, research and initially develop the concept and business model for the Multi-Mission Logistics Vessel (MMLV), a ship-based delivery system to rapidly provide support to worldwide (U.S. and foreign nation) crisis response/disaster relief operations. The challenge is to understand the feasibility of the concept, considering user needs, economic factors, vessel characteristics and capabilities, appropriate command and control systems, ownership models, support and maintenance concepts, operations costs and user fee structures, and all other system aspects of a small fleet of MMLVs, geographically assigned to specific areas of operation.

The Ohio Innovation Summit is designed to inform the sensors community about emerging technologies and market opportunities which are vital for future sensor development. The interaction it provides between government, industry, and academia spawns new collaborations that accelerate research and development, and provides the impetus for regional economic growth.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Building Technologies Office, a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled "Buildings University Innovators and Leaders Development (BUILD) - 2015." The BUILD FOA will have the following objectives: (i) Improving the competitiveness of American universities to conduct building energy-efficiency R&D (ii) Enabling American universities to develop stronger partnerships with industry (iii) Improving manufacturing education in American universities EERE envisions awarding multiple competitive financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements with an estimated period of performance of approximately 2 years to USA-based university teams to research and develop innovative building energy efficiency technologies.  These student teams must include undergraduate students, and be led by faculty with relevant expertise in energy efficient technologies, manufacturing (for projects developing hardware), and commercialization.

The Science and Technology Centers (STC): Integrative Partnerships program supports innovative, potentially transformative, complex research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term awards. STCs conduct world-class research through partnerships among academic institutions, national laboratories, industrial organizations, and/or other public/private entities, and via international collaborations, as appropriate. They provide a means to undertake significant investigations at the interfaces of disciplines and/or fresh approaches within disciplines. STCs may involve any area of science and engineering that NSF supports

The Advanced Research Projects Agency ? Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy, is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-358), to support the creation of transformational energy technologies and systems through funding and managing Research and Development (R&D) efforts. Originally chartered in 2007, the Agency was first funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The mission of ARPA-E is to identify and fund research to translate science into breakthrough energy technologies that are too risky for the private sector and that, if successfully developed, will create the foundation for entirely new industries. Successful projects will address at least one of ARPA-E?s two Mission Areas: 1. Enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that result in: a. reductions of imports of energy from foreign sources; b. reductions of energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases; and c. improvement in the energy efficiency of all economic sectors. 2. Ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.

he Department of Energy (DOE) seeks input from the public related to improving the manufacturing process for both marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) and hydropower technologies. An emphasis on design for manufacturing could transition a nascent MHK industry from its current focus on performance prototypes towards manufacturing cost competitive production units. Advanced materials and manufacturing processes for hydropower turbines could result in cost reduction across the entire power plant that will have significant impact on the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of hydropower. Investment in materials and manufacturing will drive an increase of U.S. domestic manufacturing content in clean energy technologies. DOE is seeking to improve these areas and is requesting information to identify

The second major report of the President's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing, provides high-level recommendations for U.S. advanced manufacturing strategies, with emphasis on three manufacturing technology areas (MTAs): Advanced sensing, controls and platforms for manufacturing; Visualization, information, and digital manufacturing; and Advanced materials manufacturing. Detailed information on the recommendations for each MTA can be found in Annexes 1 through 10 of the AMP's report. Also of note are reports from the European Commission1 and industry2,3, which provide descriptions of advances in manufacturing, including leveraging of emerging information technologies. Consistent with the AMP's report, the evolution of manufacturing technology has arguably been most importantly dependent on the application of increasingly powerful and low-cost computation in manufacturing enterprises. NSF researchers are, and have been, actively engaged in pursuing fundamental advances in design theory and translation; real-time sensing and perception; data capture, representation, and analytics; machine architectures and human interfaces; materials and process modeling; scheduling and control algorithms; fault detection, analysis, and correction; and coordination of decisions across distributed production facilities that have led to the globally-connected, low-cost, flexible and resilient supply chains, computer-integrated factories, and digital design systems of the modern world. There is a general consensus about the increasingly important role of powerful, low-cost computation in manufacturing.

The mission of the Solar Energy Technology Office's Tech-to-Market sub-program is to enable the widespread market penetration of highly impactful solar technologies and solutions through technology research, development and demonstration to overcome technical, institutional and market challenges. Historically, annual funding opportunities have been separated by stage of technology development (Incubator and SolarMat). In the interest of optimizing the application and selection process, these funding opportunities have been combined into a single FOA, with the goal of bringing disruptive innovation to the solar industry in the near term that will take root in the U.S. The purpose of this funding program is to help remove barriers that are addressable by technology and business innovation. 

The Materials Engineering and Processing (MEP) program supports fundamental research addressing the interrelationship of materials processing, structure, properties and/or life-cycle performance for targeted applications. Research proposals should be driven by the performance or output of the material system relative to the targeted application(s). Research plans driven by scientific hypotheses are encouraged when suitable. Materials in bulk form or focus on special zones such as surfaces or interfaces that are to be used in structural and/or functional applications are appropriate. All material systems are of interest including polymers, metals, ceramics, semiconductors, composites and hybrids thereof. Analytical, experimental, and numerical studies are supported and collaborative proposals with industry (GOALI) are encouraged.Areas of interest include: Functional Materials - materials that possess native properties and functions that can be controlled by external forces such as temperature, light, electric field, pH, etc. These include materials that exhibit properties such as electronic, magnetic, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, photovoltaic, chromogenic, shape memory, thermoelectric or self-healing, etc. Structural Materials - materials that, in service, bear mechanical load. Length scales from nano to meso to macro are of interest as are materials in the bulk or in special configuration such as thin film. These include materials such as metals, polymers, composites, biomaterials, ceramics, hybrids, cement, etc. Materials Processing - processes that convert material into useful form as either intermediate or final composition. These include processes such as extrusion, molding, casting, deposition, sintering, printing, etc. Proposed research should include the consideration of cost, performance, and feasibility of scale-up, as appropriate. Research that addresses multi-scale and/or multi-functional materials systems is encouraged as is research in support of envir

The Sensors, Dynamics, and Control (SDC) program supports fundamental research on the analysis, measurement, monitoring and control of complex dynamical and structural systems, including development of new analytical, computational and experimental tools, and novel applications to engineered and natural systems. Program objectives are the discovery of new phenomena and the investigation of innovative methods and applications for dynamics, measurement, and control. Transformative research on complex networks, linear and nonlinear discrete or infinite dimensional systems spanning a multitude of time and length scales and physical domains are of interest, as are highly interdisciplinary projects and projects addressing security, resilience and sustainability. Basic research strongly motivated by industry needs or other real-life applications is welcome.The SDC program supports fundamental research on the theories of dynamical systems to uncover novel paradigms for modeling, control and analysis of dynamic phenomena and systems that undergo spatial and temporal evolution with applications crossing interdisciplinary boundaries, along with fundamental studies on stability, phase transitions, and wave propagation in complex and non-local media. Furthermore, the program supports fundamental research on monitoring, analysis, and decision-making processes for integrity monitoring, sensors reliability and safety of complex engineered systems, especially under conditions of uncertainty. Of interest is the investigation of big data (high-volume and high-speed) issues related to virtually-continuous streams of measurements from heterogeneous sensors for continuous systems monitoring. The SDC program also includes fundamental research on control theory and its applications. Topics of current interest include unconventional applications of control; the combined roles of feedback, feedforward and uncertainty; integrated feedback, communication and signal processing; and control conc

The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is a program designed to fulfill the National Science Foundation's (NSF) mandate to promote scientific progress nationwide. The EPSCoR program is directed at jurisdictions that have historically received lesser amounts of NSF Research and Development (R&D) funding. Thirty-one jurisdictions including twenty-eight states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, and Guam currently are eligible to participate. Through this program, NSF establishes partnerships with government, higher education, and industry that are designed to effect lasting improvements in a state's or region's research infrastructure, R&D capacity and hence, its national R&D competitiveness.Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: Track-2 (RII Track-2) awards provide funds in the range of $1.5 to 2.0 million per year for up to 3 years to consortia of EPSCoR jurisdictions. The awards promote opportunities for collaborations among EPSCoR jurisdictions in all areas of science, engineering, and education supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). RII Track-2 proposals must describe a clear, comprehensive, and integrated vision to drive discovery, and train a skilled workforce capable of solving science and engineering challenges of regional, thematic, and national relevance. Proposals should also include a strong rationale for the establishment of the consortium and clearly demonstrate that the consortium is well-positioned to produce results that cannot be obtained by any single partner working independently. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research and education activities should broaden participation by different types of institutions, individuals, and sectors in the project.

The Science and Technology Centers (STC): Integrative Partnerships program supports innovative, potentially transformative, complex research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term awards. STCs conduct world-class research through partnerships among academic institutions, national laboratories, industrial organizations, and/or other public/private entities, and via international collaborations, as appropriate. They provide a means to undertake significant investigations at the interfaces of disciplines and/or fresh approaches within disciplines. STCs may involve any area of science and engineering that NSF supports. STC investments support the NSF vision of creating and exploiting new concepts in science and engineering and providing global leadership in research and education.

Through research and development of solid state lighting (SSL) including both light emitting diode and organic light emitting diode technologies the objectives of this opportunity are to maximize the energy efficiency of SSL products in the market place, remove market barriers through improvements to lifetime, color quality, and lighting system performance, reduce costs of SSL sources and luminaires, improve product consistency while maintaining high quality products, and encourage the growth, leadership, and sustainability of domestic US manufacturing within the SSL industry.

The Environmental Health and Safety of Nanotechnology (Nano EHS) program provides support to examine and mitigate the environmental effects of nanotechnologies.  Fundamental research is sought to understand, evaluate, and lessen the impact of nanotechnology on the environment and biological systems.  The program emphasizes engineering principles underlying the environmental health and safety impacts of nanotechnology.  Innovative methods related to clean nanomaterials production processes, waste reduction, recycling, and industrial ecology of nanotechnology are also of interest.  

he goal of the Interfacial Processes and Thermodynamics (IPT) program is to advance fundamental molecular engineering at interfaces, especially as applied to the nano-processing of soft materials.  The program views fundamental interfacial interactions, molecular transport at interfaces, and molecular thermodynamics as integral to developing new approaches for solving critical engineering needs that face society. Molecules at interfaces, with functional interfacial properties, are of special interest, as these molecules have potential use in important research areas, such as adhesion and advanced manufacturing/fabrication.  These interfacial molecules may also have biomolecular functions at the micro- and nano-scale, where the biomolecular functionalities may be re-directed toward engineering solutions. One new area of interest is the adhesion between unlike materials, or adhesion in adverse environments, with particular emphasis on applying strategies arising from nature.  Research supported in these fundamental areas should lead to more economical and environmentally benign processing, improved water quality, and novel functional materials for sensors, in industrial, environmental, and biomedical settings.  Nanotechnology plays a critical role in most of these new areas.

The Biotechnology, Biochemical, and Biomass Engineering (BBBE) program supports fundamental engineering research that advances the understanding of cellular and biomolecular processes (in vivo, in vitro, and/or ex vivo) and eventually leads to the development of enabling technology and/or applications in support of the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and bioenergy industries, or with applications in health or the environment.  Quantitative assessments of bioprocesses are considered vital to successful research projects in the BBBE program.  Fundamental to many research projects in this area is the understanding of how biomolecules and cells interact in their environment, and how those molecular level interactions lead to changes in structure, function, phenotype, and/or behavior.  The program encourages proposals that address emerging research areas and technologies that effectively integrate knowledge and practices from different disciplines, and effectively incorporate ongoing research into educational activities. Research projects of particular interest in BBBE include, but are not limited to: Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology Quantitative systems biotechnology Tissue engineering and stem cell culture technologies Protein engineering/protein design Development of novel "omics" tools for biotechnology applications