OARS funding Engineering

The PRORP Idea Development Award is designed to promote new ideas that are still in the early stages of development and have the potential to yield highly impactful data and new avenues of investigation. This mechanism supports conceptually innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that could lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate progress in the clinical care of combat-related orthopaedic injuries. Applications should include a well-formulated, testable hypothesis based on strong scientific rationale.

The SI2 program includes three classes of awards: 1. Scientific Software Elements (SSE): SSE awards target small groups that will create and deploy robust software elements for which there is a demonstrated need that will advance one or more significant areas of science and engineering. 2. Scientific Software Integration (SSI): SSI awards target larger, interdisciplinary teams organized around the development and application of common software infrastructure aimed at solving common research problems. SSI awards will result in a sustainable community software framework serving a diverse community. 3. Scientific Software Innovation Institutes (S2I2): S2I2 awards will focus on the establishment of long-term hubs of excellence in software infrastructure and technologies, which will serve a research community of substantial size and disciplinary breadth.

A. Research Areas of Interest SOF medical personnel place a premium on medical equipment that is small, lightweight, ruggedized, and designed for operation in extreme environments. The equipment must be easy to use, require minimum maintenance, and have low power consumption. Drugs and biologics should not require refrigeration or other special handling. All materiel and related techniques must be simple and effective. Research projects may apply existing scientific and technical knowledge for which concept and/or patient care efficacy have already been demonstrated to meet SOF requirements.

The mission of the NSF Summer Institute on Nano Mechanics, Nanomaterials, and Micro/Nanomanufacturing is: To identify and promote important areas of nanotechnology, and to create new areas o focus which will augment current nanotechnology research and development by universities, industries and government. To train future and practicing engineers, scientists and educators in the emerging areas of nanotechnology, nano-mechanics, and nano-materials. To exchange new ideas, disseminate knowledge and provide valuable networking opportunities for researchers and leaders in the field. The short courses offered by the Institute provide fundamentals and recent new developments in selected areas of nanotechnology. The material is presented at a level accessible to BS graduates of science and engineering programs. Emphasis is on techniques and theory recently developed that are not available in texts or standard university courses. The instructors are well known for their research and teaching.

The Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program (PRORP) is administered by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) through the Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). Congressional funds for the FY13 PRORP have not yet been appropriated, and this document is not to be construed as an obligation by the Government; there is no guarantee of funding for the program. However, the PRORP anticipates releasing program announcements in February 2013, and the information provided in this pre-announcement is intended to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications. Focus Areas: The FY13 PRORP plans to solicit research applications that address the following focus areas, which are subject to change. Information on the final focus areas and the award mechanisms to which they correspond will be included in the program announcements when they are posted

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) DEBUT Challenge is open to teams of undergraduate students working on projects that develop innovative solutions to unmet health and clinical problems. Entries are solicited in one of the following categories: *   Diagnostic Devices/Methods *   Therapeutic Devices/Methods *   Technology to Aid Underserved Populations and Individuals with Disabilities NIBIB's mission is to improve health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies.  The goals of the challenge are 1) to provide undergraduate students valuable experiences such as working in teams, identifying unmet clinical needs, and designing, building and debugging solutions for such open-ended problems; 2) to generate novel, innovative tools to improve healthcare, consistent with NIBIB's purpose to support research, training, the dissemination of health information, and other programs with respect to biomedical imaging and engineering and associated technologies and modalities with biomedical applications; and 3) to highlight and acknowledge the contributions and accomplishments of undergraduate students.

A. Research Areas of Interest SOF medical personnel place a premium on medical equipment that is small, lightweight, ruggedized, and designed for operation in extreme environments. The equipment must be easy to use, require minimum maintenance, and have low power consumption. Drugs and biologics should not require refrigeration or other special handling. All materiel and related techniques must be simple and effective. Research projects may apply existing scientific and technical knowledge for which concept and/or patient care efficacy have already been demonstrated to meet SOF requirements. 1. Damage Control Resuscitation SOF medical personnel require capabilities for far-forward medical care to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with major battlefield wounds and injuries. The primary emphasis is to research, apply and/or develop medical techniques and materiel (medical devices, drugs, and biologics) for early intervention in life-threatening battle injuries when MEDEVAC is not possible.

Gasification is used to convert a solid feedstock?such as coal, petcoke or biomass?into a gaseous form, referred to as syngas, which is composed primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO). With gasification-based technologies, pollutants can be easily captured and then disposed of or converted to useful products. In the Department of Energy?s vision for clean power using gasification, steam is added to syngas in a water-gas shift (WGS) reactor to convert the CO to carbon dioxide (CO2) and to produce additional hydrogen. The hydrogen and CO2 are separated?the hydrogen is combusted to make power and the CO2 is captured and sent to storage, converted to useful product, or used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The Gasification Systems Technology Area takes full advantage of the flexibility inherent in gasification. For instance, technologies designed to clean syngas to chemical production standards also clean syngas for power production (i.e., integrated gasification combined cycle [IGCC]), often with significantly lower contaminant levels than the Environmental Protection Agency?s (EPA) criteria for power plant emissions. Technologies that lower the cost of producing high-hydrogen syngas for fuels or chemical production will also reduce the carbon footprint of IGCC. Advanced technologies being developed under the Gasification Systems Technology Area will provide a more efficient and economical platform for the capture and utilization of CO2. In addition to efficiently producing electric power, a wide range of liquids and/or high-value chemicals and fuels (especially diesel and gasoline) can be produced from cleaned, high-hydrogen syngas, thereby providing flexibility capable of capitalizing on a ra

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; and 2. Ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies. This program seeks to fund the development of transformational electrochemical energy storage technologies that will accelerate widespread electric vehicle adoption by dramatically improving their driving range, cost, and reliability. To achieve this long-term objective, this program aims to maximize specific energy and minimize cost of energy storage systems at the vehicle level. Central to this system-level approach is the use of robust design principles for energy storage systems. Robust design is defined as electrochemical energy storage chemistries and/or architectures (i.e. physical designs) that avoid thermal runaway and are immune to catastrophic failure regardless of manufacturing quality or abuse conditions. In addition, this program seeks multifunctional energy storage designs that use these robust storage systems to simultaneously serve other functions on a vehicle (for example, in the frame, body, and/or crumple zone), thus further reducing an energy storage syst em?s effective weight when normalized to the entire electric vehicle weight.

Sophisticated electronic microsystems can now be made at such low cost that they are increasingly pervasive throughout the battlefield and large numbers can be widely proliferated and used for applications such as distributed remote sensing and communications. However, it is nearly impossible to track and recover every device, resulting in unintended accumulation in the environment as well as subsequent unauthorized use. DARPA seeks innovative proposals to address this pervasive challenge by developing electronic systems capable of physically disappearing in a controlled, triggerable manner. The goal of the Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) BAA is to develop and establish a basis set of materials, components, integration, and manufacturing capabilities to undergird this new class of electronics. See the full DARPA-BAA-13-23 document attached.

AFOSR is seeking research proposals from medical and scientific organizations for research that is aimed at using lasers and other light source technology to develop applications in medicine, photobiology, surgery, and closely related materials sciences. Proposals for work of up to three years duration to be conducted by interdisciplinary teams of physicians, biomedical scientists, physical scientists, and engineers are desired. Applications to combat casualty care and other military medicine are a high priority. Proposals will be evaluated by peer review. Awards may take the form of grants or contracts.

This FOA, issued by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), encourages applications from institutions that propose to establish new or to enhance existing team-based design courses in undergraduate Biomedical Engineering departments or programs. This FOA targets undergraduate students at the senior level but may also include junior undergraduates and first-year graduate students. Courses that address innovative and/or ground-breaking development, multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary training and clincial immersion are especially encouraged.

ICECool is exploring disruptive thermal technologies that will mitigate thermal limitations on the operation of military electronic systems, while significantly reducing size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP). The specific goal of ICECool Applications is to enhance the performance of RF power amplifiers and embedded computing systems through the application of chip-level heat removal with kW-level heat flux and heat density with thermal control of local submillimeter hot spots, while maintaining these components in their commonly-accepted temperature range by judicious combination of intra- and/or interchip microfluidic cooling and on-chip thermal interconnects. See the full DARPA-BAA-13-21 document attached.

Since 2005, the BMEidea competition has recognized innovative biomedical engineering design with high commercial potential and social impact. The competition is open to both graduate and undergraduate students (undergraduate-only teams may also enter BMEStart). Strong BMEidea submissions define a problem and demonstrate the development of a device, product, or technology designed to solve it. Examples include but are not limited to: surgical devices, home health care devices, diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative applications, rehabilitative and assistive technologies, or other innovations that will have a substantial impact on clinical care and patient outcomes. Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged to apply and may include undergraduate students from diverse fields such as business, nursing, physical therapy, life sciences, physical sciences, or other related disciplines. Inter-institutional collaborations are also encouraged; in these cases we require a faculty advisor from each institution. Each team must include at least one engineering student.

The Keck Futures Initiative - a program of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, with the support of the W.M. Keck Foundation - will award four $20,000 prizes in 2013 to individuals or teams (up to four individuals associated with the creation of the work being nominated) who have developed creative, original works that address issues and advances in science, engineering and/or medicine for the general public. Nominations were accepted in four categories: Book; Film/Radio/TV; Magazine/Newspaper; and Online. The winners will be honored in the Fall 2013 at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C and are expected to attend in person. Eligibility To be considered for a 2013 Communication Award, the work should: -be accessible and appeal to a broad, public audience; -demonstrate clarity, creativity, originality, and accuracy; -address issues and/or advances in science, engineering, and/or medicine; -cover topics that have an impact on society; and -have been published, broadcast, or released in 2012, in the United States and in English. Material primarily intended for children, reference books, and textbooks are not eligible for consideration. Candidates may be individuals or teams of not more than four people. National Academies' employees are not eligible and posthumous awards are not permitted.  This award is not for lifetime achievement; the work for which a candidate or team is nominated must have been published or broadcast in 2012.

The Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (EESE) program funds research and educational projects that improve ethics education in all fields of science and engineering that NSF supports, with priority consideration given to interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, and international contexts.  Although the primary focus is on improving ethics education for graduate students in NSF-funded fields, the proposed programs may benefit advanced undergraduates as well.

The Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering (BRIGE) solicitation is designed to promote the development of early career faculty who will become champions for diversity and broadening participation of underrepresented groups in engineering throughout their careers. BRIGE awards will enable early career faculty to integrate effective diversity and broadening participation strategies in their engineering research, education, and innovation activities. Throughout this solicitation, the term underrepresented groups will refer to and include the following: women, persons with disabilities, and ethnic/racial groups that are in the minority in engineering, which include African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Pacific Islanders. Proposals from early career faculty who are members of underrepresented groups as well as from Minority Serving Institutions (including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Predominantly Black Institutions) are especially encouraged.

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) is a Presidential award established by the White House in 1995. The purpose of the award is to recognize U.S. citizens or permanent residents and U.S. organizations that have demonstrated excellence in mentoring individuals from groups that are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Groups that are underrepresented in STEM include women, people with disabilities, underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities, as well as individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds and some geographic regions such as urban and rural areas. The PAESMEM program is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Nominations, including self-nominations, are invited for Individual and Organizational PAESMEM awards. Individuals and organizations in all public and private sectors are eligible including industry, academia, primary and secondary education, military and government, non-profit organizations, and foundations. Nominations are encouraged from all geographical regions in the U.S., its territories or possessions, particularly jurisdictions designated by Congress under NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

The lack of logistics systems capable of handling and delivering sufficiently high tonnage year-round volumes of high quality feedstocks to support the rapid escalation of cellulosic biofuels production has been identified as a significant barrier to the expansion of a sustainable domestic biofuels industry. In particular, biomass physical and chemical quality parameters have repeatedly been identified as significant challenges to the smooth operation and economic viability of biorefineries. This FOA will focus on developing and demonstrating strategies, equipment, and rapid analytical methods to manage feedstock quality within economic constraints throughout the feedstock supply chain. The main effort in Proposals must be directed toward full-scale demonstration of integrated feedstock supply chain systems that can deliver the volume of high quality, affordable, high impact feedstocks required by commercial biorefineries over a significant geographic area in the United States. DOE plans to support the increased production of high volumes of sustainably produced domestic biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks by seeking Proposals to design new systems or adapt existing systems to handle industrial scale volumes of cellulosic feedstocks from the harvest point to the throat of the biorefinery reactor.

The objective of this activity is to competitively solicit projects in novel technologies under the Crosscutting Research Program Area to support Department of Energy Strategic Goals. The United States Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory is seeking innovative research and development of novel sensor and control systems for use in advanced power generation systems. New sensor and control technology will contribute the goals of high efficiency, near zero emission, and effective carbon capture for the next generation power generation technologies. These technologies include advanced combustion, gasification, turbines, fuel cells, gas cleaning and separation technologies, and carbon dioxide separation and capture technologies. The inclusion of transformational power generation and emission control technology will enable high process efficiency and integration to achieve performance goals at reasonable cost. Integration o f new technology will introduce unprecedented levels of complexity and process conditions that must be address by improved sensor and control technology. To manage complexity and achieve performance goals, advances in the capability and architecture of instrumentation, sensors, and process controls are vital in assuring integrated unit operations, predictive on-line maintenance, and continuous life cycle monitoring and real time process optimization. Innovations in these areas are being supported by the National Energy Technology Laboratorys Crosscutting Research Program which aims at bridging the gap between the basic sciences and applied research as it relates to Advanced Power Systems that utilize domestic resources. Long range transitional type research is needed to support the identification and growth of novel concepts that will to scientific breakthroughs and early adoption of innovative concepts into applications for power generation.