Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems

The summary for the Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Science Foundation, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems: Creating solutions to pressing environmental and sustainability challenges will require input and imaginative approaches from various fields, perspectives, and disciplines. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), in their report "Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges," identified five critical challenges we must address as a society: o Sustainably supply food, water, and energy o Curb climate change and adapt to its impacts o Design a future without pollution and waste o Create efficient, healthy, and resilient cities o Foster informed decisions and actions The report further states, "The challenges provide focal points for evolving environmental engineering education, research, and practice toward increased contributions and a greater impact. Implementing this new model will require modifications in educational curriculum and creative approaches to foster interdisciplinary research on complex social and environmental problems." This solicitation aims to address these grand challenges by supporting a collaborative research model that seamlessly integrates sustainability, environmental engineering, and process science and engineering. Accordingly, the Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (ECO-CBET) solicitation will support activities that confront vexing environmental engineering and sustainability problems by uncovering and incorporating fundamental knowledge to design new processes, materials, and devices from a systems-level perspective. Projects should be compelling and reflect sustained, coordinated efforts from interdisciplinary research teams. A key objective of the solicitation is to encourage conversations and robust collaborations amongst the chemical process, transport phenomena, bioengineering, and environmental and sustainability research communities such that unanticipated solutions may arise. Furthermore, training the future workforce to actively engage and be successful in interdisciplinary research will be necessary to continually innovate given the scope of the environmental problems faced by our global community. Process science and engineering, in the context of this solicitation, is broadly defined, including all programmatic interests of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering's (ENG) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET). The interests are outlined in the "core" program descriptions: Chemical Process Systems (CPS) Cluster - Catalysis - Electrochemical Systems - Interfacial Engineering - Process Systems, Reaction Engineering, and Molecular Thermodynamics Engineering Biology and Health (EBH) Cluster - Biophotonics - Biosensing - Cellular and Biochemical Engineering - Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering - Engineering of Biomedical Systems Environmental Engineering and Sustainability (EES) Cluster - Environmental Engineering - Environmental Sustainability - Nanoscale Interactions Transport Phenomena (TP) Cluster - Combustion and Fire Systems - Fluid Dynamics - Particulate and Multiphase Processes - Thermal Transport Processes Teams should be constructed in such a manner that expertise is complementary and distinct, drawing from the program descriptions as inspiration; non-traditional collaborations between research communities is highly encouraged. There should be at least three named investigators to ensure a diversity of perspectives. Teams may also wish to consider, as appropriate, incorporating individuals with expertise in manufacturing or social sciences. While this solicitation is not restricted to a specific environmental engineering and sustainability research topic, the 2020 fiscal year solicitation emphasizes research topics related to: 1) greenhouse gas mitigation and 2) managing the nitrogen cycle. Assuming sufficient funding is provided in the NSF budget, it is anticipated this competition will continue annually. Research topic priorities are subject to change in subsequent years. Awards are expected to range from $1,500,000 to $1,700,000 over four years. Budgets should be commensurate with the scope of the proposed research. Pending the availability of funds, awards have the potential to be renewed once for a total of eight years of support. Renewal of awards will be subject to a competitive merit review process.