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This FOA will support high-impact R&D for plastics by developing new plastics that are capable of efficient recyclability and improving recycling strategies that can break existing plastics into chemical building blocks that can be used to make higher-value products. DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) develops technologies that convert domestic biomass and waste resources into fuels, products, and power to enable affordable energy, economic growth, and innovation in renewable energy and chemicals production. DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) develops technologies that drive energy productivity improvements in the U.S. manufacturing sector, efficiently utilize abundant and available domestic energy resources, and support the manufacture of clean energy products with benefits extending across the economy. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support high-impact technology research and development (R&D) to enable the development of technologies that overcome the challenges associated with plastic waste. Topic Areas include: 1) Highly Recyclable or Biodegradable Plastics: develop new plastics that have improved performance attributes over a comparable existing plastic that can be cost-effectively recycled or biodegrade completely in the environment or in compost facilities. 2) Novel Methods for Deconstructing and Upcycling Existing Plastics: generate energy efficient recycling technologies (mechanical, chemical, or biological) that are capable of breaking plastic streams into intermediates which can be upgraded into higher value products. 3) BOTTLE Consortium Collaborations to Tackle Challenges in Plastic Waste: create collaborations with the Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE) Laboratory Consortium to further the long-term goals of the Consortium and the Plastics Innovation Challenge.

The large energy consumption associated with space heating and cooling is primarily driven by the need to provide a comfortable range of temperatures to the building?s occupants. In practice the ?dead-band? is usually between 71 and 75oF , the temperature range between set points where no action is taken by the building?s heating and cooling systems. This practice is tighter than the ANSI/ASHRAE standards with acceptable target temperatures within appropriate humidity levels of 68?F during the heating season and 76?F during the cooling season, which is de emed satisfactory for 80% of the occupants. Due to the potential for large energy savings, there is ongoing research to improve building heating and cooling efficiency; expanding the dead-band can significantly reduce energy use. In order to enable this strategy of expanding the dead-band, local, in particular, personal environmental control is necessary to ensure an occupant?s thermal comfort. In the context of building energy consumption, the occupants have largely been treated as static thermal objects. However, work has been undertaken for advancing personal comfort systems. Personal garments are part of the thermal comfort system for an individual. Little effort has been devoted to developing adaptive clothing solutions to improve the thermal comfort of building occupants that would enable an expansion of the dead-band and reduction in building energy consumption. ARPA-E is thus seeking input from the broad research and development community with regard to developing personal comfort systems, in particular, advanced clothing and textiles, to enable a wider temperature set point range for buildings while maintaining or improving personal thermal comfort.

* Address priority STEM workforce needs and identified gaps in early-stage advanced manufacturing technology - Traineeship programs focus on advancing those critical STEM disciplines and competencies specifically relevant to the AMO missions where other U.S. Government or academic workforce development programs either do not exist or where DOE-relevant early-stage technology areas are not being leveraged to support specific DOE mission responsibilities. The high priority topic identified in this traineeship program is advanced manufacturing (advanced materials and process technologies in manufacturing). The full Funding Opportunity Announcement is posted on the EERE Exchange website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov. Applications must be submitted through the EERE Exchange website to be considered for award. The applicant must first register and create an account on the EERE Exchange website. The Users' guide for applying to Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Funding Opportunity Announcements through the Exchange website can be found at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx.

The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announces its interest in receiving grant applications from U.S. universities/institutions of higher education for basic research to investigate some of the outstanding scientific questions in the synthesis of ammonia (NH3) from nitrogen (N2) using processes that do not generate greenhouse gases (such as CO2, NOx, etc.). Of interest is molecular level research that will provide the scientific basis for novel catalysts and mechanisms for nitrogen activation. Ideally, this research should produce fundamental knowledge that will lead to future catalytic processes for ammonia synthesis that are energy efficient, use renewable sources of energy, and do not produce greenhouse gases. This FOA will not consider proposals on process or reactor design, optimization or plant-level intensification. Research will not be supported whose primary goal(s) or challenge(s) are hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution, CO2 capture or conversion, or outside the specific focus on nitrogen activation. See the Summary Criteria section for more information on research areas excluded from this funding opportunity.

Complete information on this FOA can be found on the EERE Exchange website - https://eere-exchange.energy.gov. DE-FOA-0001880: Efficient Drilling for Geothermal Energy, contains three Topic Areas. The first two involve early stage research and development (R&D), while the third solicits projects that incentivize the risk-averse geothermal industry to adopt innovations earlier in the R&D cycle. Topic Area 1: Reducing Non-Drilling Time Topic Area 2: Advanced Drilling Technologies Topic Area 3: Innovative Partnership Models Complete information on this FOA can be found on the EERE Exchange website - https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

The Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) on behalf of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies (VT) Program, is seeking applications that will lead to computational modeling advances and development of lightweight alloys for lightweighting and propulsion applications. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) includes three (3) Areas of Interest; Area of Interest 3 includes two (2) subtopics. Areas of Interest are indentified below:   Area of Interest 1:  Predictive Engineering Tools for Injection Molded Long Carbon Fiber Thermoplastic Composites Area of Interest 2:  Integrated Computation Materials Engineering (ICME) Development of Advanced Steel for Lightweight Vehicles Area of Interest 3:  Advanced Alloy Development for Automotive and Heavy-Duty Engines 3a) Lightweight Cast Alloy Development for Light Duty Automotive Engine Applications 3b) High Strength Cast Alloy Development for Heavy-Duty On-Road Engine Applications

DOE-NE's mission is to encourage development and exploration of advanced nuclear science and technology. DOE-NE promotes nuclear energy as a resource capable of meeting the nation's energy, environmental, and national security needs by resolving scientific, technical, and regulatory challenges through research, development, and demonstration. IUP supports DOE-NE's Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), which enables outstanding, cutting-edge, and innovative research at U.S. IHEs through the following: * Integrating research and development (R&D) at U.S. IHEs, national laboratories, and industry to revitalize nuclear education and support NE'sPrograms * Attracting the brightest students to the nuclear professions and supporting the nation's intellectual capital in science and engineering disciplines * Improving U.S. IHE's infrastructure for conducting R&D and educating students * Facilitating knowledge transfer to the next generation ofworkers Educating undergraduate and graduate students in NS&E will: * Support the ongoing need for personnel who can develop and maintain the nation's nuclear power technology * Enhance the R&D capabilities of U.S. IHEs * Fulfill national demand for highly trained scientists and engineers to work in NS&E areas

The goal of the Combustion and Fire Systems program is to generate cleaner global and local environments, enhance public safety, improve energy and homeland security, and enable more efficient energy conversion and manufacturing. 

Innovators working on energy and science technologies can get two years worth of financial and technical support by applying to a new incubator at Argonne National Laboratory.

National Spherical Torus Experiment - Upgrade: Collaborative Research on Configuration Optimization The Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) Program of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby announces its interest in receiving grant applications for collaborative research on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The NSTX-U program contributes to two goals of the FES program: 1) understanding the dynamics of magnetically confined plasmas and developing techniques for controlling them and 2) developing the scientific understanding required to design and deploy materials that withstand the extreme conditions of fusion power plants.

The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announces its interest in receiving applications from small collaborative groups of investigators for support of combined experimental and theoretical efforts to advance ultrafast chemical and materials science. 

The objective of this effort is to conduct exploratory and advanced research and development of materials technologies to control, manipulate, and protect against photonic energy. Research involved in the processing, structure, properties and performance of photonic materials will provide a means to mature and transition the highest priority products needed by the Air Force. These efforts will ultimately result in developed technologies that can be transitioned to legacy, developmental and future Air Force system components to provide an increase in aircrew protection, performance and efficiency while reducing cost and accelerating manufacture. The objective of this program is to increase aircrew survivability to flash-blindness and directed energy threats through unique and innovative R&D solutions, and to advance the current state-of-the-art in photonic materials technologies, interactions, and applications.

The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announces its interest in receiving applications from small groups of investigators for support of experimental and theoretical efforts to advance ultrafast chemical and materials sciences that utilize x-ray free electron lasers.

The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announces its interest in receiving applications from single investigator or small groups of investigators for support of experimental and theoretical efforts to advance materials and chemical sciences research for quantum information sciences (QIS).

In 2010, NSF established the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES)1 investment area to lay the research foundation for decision capabilities and technologies aimed at mitigating and adapting to environmental changes that threaten sustainability. Some SEES investments advanced a systems-based approach to understanding, predicting, and reacting to stress upon, and changes in, the linked natural, social, and built environments. In this context, the importance of understanding the interconnected and interdependent systems involving food, energy, and water (FEW) has emerged. The NSF aims to specifically focus on advancing knowledge of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles; the production and use of fertilizers for food production; and the detection, separation, and reclamation/recycling of nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing species in and from complex aqueous environments.

In 2010, NSF established the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES)1 investment area to lay the research foundation for decision capabilities and technologies aimed at mitigating and adapting to environmental changes that threaten sustainability. Some SEES investments advanced a systems-based approach to understanding, predicting, and reacting to stress upon, and changes in, the linked natural, social, and built environments. In this context, the importance of understanding the interconnected and interdependent systems involving food, energy, and water (FEW) has emerged. The NSF aims to specifically focus on advancing knowledge of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles; the production and use of fertilizers for food production; and the detection, separation, and reclamation/recycling of nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing species in and from complex aqueous environments.

The Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) Program seeks to improve the fundamental understanding of devices and components based on the principles of micro- and nano-electronics, optics and photonics, optoelectronics, magnetics, electromechanics, electromagnetics, and related physical phenomena. The Electronics & Magnetic Devices component of EPMD enables discovery and innovation advancing the frontiers of nanoelectronics, spin electronics, molecular and organic electronics, bioelectronics, biomagnetics, non-silicon electronics, and flexible electronics. It also addresses advances in energy-efficient electronics, sensors, low-noise, power electronics, and mixed signal devices. The Optic & Photonic Devices component of EPMD supports research and engineering efforts leading to significant advances in novel optical sources and photodetectors, optical communication devices, photonic integrated circuits, single-photon quantum devices, and nanophotonics. It also addresses novel optical imaging and sensing applications and solar cell photovoltaics.

The Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) Program seeks to improve the fundamental understanding of devices and components based on the principles of micro- and nano-electronics, optics and photonics, optoelectronics, magnetics, electromechanics, electromagnetics, and related physical phenomena. The Electronics & Magnetic Devices component of EPMD enables discovery and innovation advancing the frontiers of nanoelectronics, spin electronics, molecular and organic electronics, bioelectronics, biomagnetics, non-silicon electronics, and flexible electronics. It also addresses advances in energy-efficient electronics, sensors, low-noise, power electronics, and mixed signal devices. The Optic & Photonic Devices component of EPMD supports research and engineering efforts leading to significant advances in novel optical sources and photodetectors, optical communication devices, photonic integrated circuits, single-photon quantum devices, and nanophotonics. It also addresses novel optical imaging and sensing applications and solar cell photovoltaics.

The Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) Program is intended to spur visionary systems-oriented activities in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and integrative engineering research. CCSS supports systems research in hardware, signal processing techniques, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) that leverage computation, communication, and algorithms integrated with physical domains. CCSS supports innovative research and integrated educational activities in micro- and nano- electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), communications and sensing systems, and cyber-physical systems. The goal is to design, develop, and implement new complex and hybrid systems at all scales, including nano and macro, that lead to innovative engineering principles and solutions for a variety of application domains including, but not limited to, healthcare, medicine, environmental and biological monitoring, communications, disaster mitigation, homeland security, intelligent transportation, manufacturing, energy, and smart buildings. CCSS also supports integration technologies at both intra- and inter- chip levels, new and advanced radio frequency (RF), millimeter wave and optical wireless and hybrid communications systems architectures, and sensing and imaging at terahertz (THz) frequencies.

The Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) Program is intended to spur visionary systems-oriented activities in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and integrative engineering research. CCSS supports systems research in hardware, signal processing techniques, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) that leverage computation, communication, and algorithms integrated with physical domains. CCSS supports innovative research and integrated educational activities in micro- and nano- electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), communications and sensing systems, and cyber-physical systems. The goal is to design, develop, and implement new complex and hybrid systems at all scales, including nano and macro, that lead to innovative engineering principles and solutions for a variety of application domains including, but not limited to, healthcare, medicine, environmental and biological monitoring, communications, disaster mitigation, homeland security, intelligent transportation, manufacturing, energy, and smart buildings. CCSS also supports integration technologies at both intra- and inter- chip levels, new and advanced radio frequency (RF), millimeter wave and optical wireless and hybrid communications systems architectures, and sensing and imaging at terahertz (THz) frequencies.

First Round of HPC4Mtls Solicitation is Now Open The first HPC4Mtls Program solicitation seeks concept papers that will address key challenges in developing, modifying, and/or qualifying new or modified materials that perform well in severe and complex energy application environments using high performance computing, modeling, simulation, and data analysis. For each of the program offices supporting this solicitation, we provide brief descriptions of their mission and the topics of interest to them. Deadline for concept paper submission is April 19, 2018 at 11:59 pm PDT.

The Fluid Dynamics program supports fundamental research and education on mechanisms and phenomena governing fluid flow. Proposed research should contribute to basic understanding; thus enabling the better design; predictability; efficiency; and control of systems that involve fluids. Encouraged are proposals that address innovative uses of fluids in materials development; manufacturing; biotechnology; nanotechnology; clinical diagnostics and drug delivery; sensor development and integration; energy and the environment. While the research should focus on fundamentals, a clear connection to potential application should be outlined.

With this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative is soliciting collaborative research teams to define and fabricate model systems that utilize a single p-n junction device structure and have the potential to approach Shockley-Queisser power conversion efficiency limits (for a chosen bandgap and absorber material). The emphasis of this FOA is assembling cohesive and highly diverse teams of experts within and outside the PV community who can achieve the goals of creating a model system concept and a subsequent device that can approach theoretical limits. DOE SunShot anticipates significant collaboration between experts in fundamental materials, characterization, device physics, ab-initio simulations, and PV device integration to adequately address these issues.