Proposal due 1/8:
DOE Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs)
The Research & Innovation Office announces a limited submission internal competition for the Depatment of Energy's Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs). The EFRC program, initiated in 2009, brings together the skills, talents, and expertise of teams of scientists to perform energy-relevant, basic research with a scope and complexity beyond what is possible in standard single-investigator or small-group awards.
The internal application requirements and link are below. Questions should be sent to ltdsubs@colorado.edu. Please share with faculty within your unit.
All interested applicants should review the Procedures for Limited Campus Competitions on the RIO website.
Program Summary
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) announces a recompetition of the Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) and encourages both new and renewal applications. Applications will be required to address priority research directions identified by the series of “Basic Research Needs” reports, the scientific grand challenges identified in the report Directing Matter and Energy: Five Challenges for Science and the Imagination, and the opportunities described in the report Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science. All of these reports are described below. Funding will be competitively awarded to the successful Energy Frontier Research Center applications selected by Federal officials, based on a rigorous merit review process as detailed in Section V of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).
The mission of the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program is to support fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE’s mission emphases in energy, the environment, and national security. BES has long invested in innovative basic research to advance the DOE mission through BES’s core research areas.
The EFRC program, initiated in 2009, brings together the skills, talents, and expertise of teams of scientists to perform energy-relevant, basic research with a scope and complexity beyond what is possible in standard single-investigator or small-group awards. These multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary centers enable, encourage, and accelerate transformative scientific advances for the most challenging topics in materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, and biosciences. EFRCs conduct fundamental research focused on one or more “grand challenges,” “transformative opportunities,” and “basic research needs” identified in major strategic planning efforts by BES and the scientific community.
Deadlines
- Internal CU Deadline: 11:59pm MST January 8, 2017
- DOE Pre-Application Deadline: 5:00pm EST January 31, 2017
- DOE Application Due Date: 11:59pm EST April 11, 2018
Internal Application Requirements
Applications should be in PDF format. Requirements include:
- Up to a 5-page description of the mission, goals and scientific approaches of the proposed project (includes figures; 12 point Times New Roman; 8.5" x 11" paper) including at least:
- A clear and concise statement of the scientific mission of the proposed EFRC and a set of integrated four-year research goals designed to support that mission
- A description of the research methods and approaches that will be used to achieve the goals of the EFRC
- An explanation of the importance of the proposed research and its potential scientific impact
- A discussion of how the proposed research is responsive to the objectives of the EFRC program
- A table stating names and affiliations of senior and key personnel
Eligibility
Individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as a Principal Investigator are invited to develop an application. Individuals from underrepresented groups as well as individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
For more specific eligibility information, please see the Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Limited Submission Guidelines
An entity may not submit more than three applications as the lead organization. If more than three applications are received from an institution, DOE will consider only the first three applications that match a qualified pre-application (as described below in Section IV.B.2). The remaining applications will be deemed non-responsive and rejected without further review. However, there is no limitation on the number of applications in which a specific entity may participate as a subawardee (team member).
Award Information and Duration
DOE anticipates that award sizes will range from $2,000,000 per year to $4,000,000 per year over four years.
Evaluation Criteria
Federal Program Managers will evaluate all pre-applications using these criteria:
- Responsiveness to the objectives of the FOA.
- Scientific and technical merit.
- Appropriateness of the proposed researc approaches.
- Likelihood of scientific impact.