Physical Sciences & Engineering

No Applicants // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 3 

This NOFO announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to develop projects for hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) reclamation and innovative destruction technologies. Section 60109 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided the EPA with $15 million for competitive grants for “reclaim and innovative destruction technologies” consistent with subsections (a) through (i) and subsection (k) of section 103 division S of Public Law 116-260 (42 U.S.C. 7675) (also known as the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act). Enacted in 2020, the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act authorizes the EPA to address climate-damaging greenhouse gases (GHGs) called HFCs by: phasing down their production and consumption, maximizing reclamation and minimizing releases from equipment, and facilitating the transition to next-generation technologies through sector-based restrictions on HFCs. HFCs are potent GHGs commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, as well as foams and many other applications. A global phasedown of HFCs is expected to avoid up to 0.5°C of global warming by 2100. There are hundreds of possible HFC compounds. The 18 HFCs listed as regulated substances by the AIM Act are some of the most commonly used HFCs and have high impacts as measured by the quantity emitted multiplied by their respective global warming potentials (GWPs). For more information on the AIM Act and its implementing regulations, please visit https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction.

Areas of Interest

The objectives of the HFC Reclaim and Innovative Destruction Grants, as described under Assistance Listing 66.047, are to support and contribute to addressing HFCs under the AIM Act by funding the following three project areas (listed order below does not indicate preference):
(1) Reclaim Technologies – pilot projects for new/better technologies to increase the reclamation of HFCs by expanding access to reclamation and improving the reclamation process;
(2) Reclaim Market Dynamics – programs or pilot projects for innovative strategies that address market dynamics to increase HFC reclamation by lowering barriers; or
(3) Innovative Destruction Technologies – pilot projects for innovative technologies or innovative deployment of technologies to destroy unusable and/or unwanted HFCs

 Limit: 2 // J.  Green (Environmental Science), L. Ikner (Environmental Science)

*Deadline note: Due to the competitive nature of this funding program, this selection process is running with an anticipated deadline.
We will inform all applicants of relevant updates in the guidelines, submission deadlines, and eligibility as soon as more information becomes available.

The Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering Program invests in future leaders who can take risks, explore new frontiers in their fields of study, and follow uncharted paths that may lead to groundbreaking discoveries.

The Foundation established the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering to allow the nation's most promising early career professors to pursue their science and engineering research with few funding restrictions and limited paperwork requirements.

Competitive Proposals Will explain clearly in the nomination letter(s) why the investigator is creative, innovative and promising. The proposed research program has breakthrough potential and reflects that promise and a sense of adventure and creativity. Proposals should put the work and its significance in context of the larger field. And differentiates projects should be accessible to a group of very successful scientists from a diverse set of fields (i.e. stay away from field-specific jargon). Projects must have high impact referees that can emphasize the significance and impact of the “big idea” and how the fellowship will significantly impact the nominee’s career.

Eligibility:

• Candidates must be faculty members who are eligible to serve as principal investigators engaged in research in the natural and physical sciences or engineering and must be within the first three years of their faculty careers.
• Disciplines that will be considered include biology, chemistry, bio-medical engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering. Candidates engaged in research in the social sciences will not be considered.
• Candidates must be faculty members in the first three years of their faculty careers, that is, whose initial appointment began no earlier than May 31, 2021, and no later than May 31, 2024.

Limit: 3 // PIs:
Y. Vitaliy (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering)
B. Revil-Baudard (Materials Science and Engineering)
H. Rastgoftar (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering)

The DEVCOM Army Research Lab seeks unclassified research proposals from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MI) under Broad Agency Announcement (FOA) W911NF-23-S-0001-0002 (hereafter referred to as the DEVCOM ARL BAA”) to establish an Army HBCU/MI Early Career Program (ECP) which embodies the high priority placed by the government on maintaining the leadership position of the United States in science by producing outstanding scientists and engineers and nurturing their continued development. Each award will support basic research contributing to Army modernization needs conducted by outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their careers at HBCU/MI institutions. ECP awards are funded by the Army to support early career scientists and engineers who show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. This targeted opportunity is open to U.S. citizens, U.S. Nationals, or Lawful Permanent Residents of the U.S. who have held a tenure- track position at a covered educational institution for fewer than five years at the time applications are due in response to this special notice. Faculty at an institution of higher education which does not designate a faculty appointment as "tenure track" are eligible if that fact is so indicated in the proposal, and the supporting letter from the institute states that the faculty member submitting the proposal will be considered for a permanent appointment, or it is demonstrated that the faculty member is within five years of receiving his or her first competitively awarded federal research funding (as principal investigator), excluding funds secured during graduate school or postdoctoral training/fellowship and funds secured for training, fellowship, education, or career development. The objective of the ECP Award is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance development of outstanding early career investigators; and increase opportunities for early career investigators to pursue research in areas relevant to the Army. Proposals that do not meet these criteria for the Principal Investigator (PI) will be considered ineligible and not reviewed or considered for funding.

The eleven DEVCOM ARL competencies are:

•   Biological and Biotechnology Sciences

•   Electromagnetic Spectrum Sciences

•   Energy Sciences

•   Humans in Complex Systems

•   Mechanical Sciences

•   Military Information Sciences

•   Network, Cyber, and Computational Sciences

•   Photonics, Electronics, and Quantum Sciences

•   Sciences of Extreme Materials

•   Terminal Effects

•   Weapons Sciences

DEVCOM ARL plans to award up to eight (8) new HBCU/MI ECP grants at a total cost of $990,000 each over a duration of 5 years, with funding profile of $110,000 in year one, $165,000 in year two, $220,000 in year three, $330,000 in year four, and $165,000 in year five. Note this is more funding and longer duration than the typical ECP award specified in the DEVCOM ARL BAA.

No applicants // Limit: 5 // Tickets Available: 5

The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) can nominate five applications for the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award. 
For more information please contact: UACC-PreAward.

The Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award supports independent young physician-scientists conducting disease-oriented research that demonstrates a high level of innovation and creativity. The goal is to support the best young physician-scientists doing work aimed at improving the practice of cancer medicine.

The Clinical Investigator Award responds to three recognized realities:

• Though there has never been a more pressing need or more promising time for clinical cancer research, fewer young physicians enter this area of investigation every year.
• The number of institutions committed to training young physicians in the scientific discipline and methodologies of clinical investigation is critically low.
• The burden of medical school debt (averaging over $100,000) discourages many physicians from pursuing clinical investigation.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s award offers solutions to these realities. The awardee will receive financial support for three years, as well as assistance with certain research costs such as the purchase of equipment. The Foundation will also retire up to $100,000 of any medical school debt still owed by the awardee.

The Clinical Investigator Award program is specifically intended to provide outstanding young physicians with the resources and training structure essential to becoming successful clinical investigators. The goal is to increase the number of physicians capable of moving seamlessly between the laboratory and the patient’s bedside in search of breakthrough treatments.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The NERRS collaborative science program is intended to deliver highly credible and relevant information to the coastal management community by incorporating user input into the design and implementation of research projects, ensuring that the outcomes support the needs of stakeholders. This program will also increase the capacity of the NERRS management, research, education, stewardship, and coastal training sectors to transfer information and skills to end-users and more effectively support coastal and estuarine resource management.