The program seeks to fund research as well as education and workforce development to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at the nation’s institutions of higher education, spanning two-year colleges and four-year universities including the minority-serving institutions with a goal to advance semiconductor design and manufacturing. NSF encourages bold, potentially transformative activities that address future semiconductor design and manufacturing challenges as well as shortages in the skilled scientists, engineers, and technician workforce. This solicitation encourages proposers to take a holistic perspective on workforce development, considering the participation of the full spectrum of diverse talent in STEM career paths, advanced technologies, and research capabilities. All proposals must include education and workforce development plans integrated with the proposed research activities. This solicitation seeks proposals to perform fundamental research to enable a new paradigm in semiconductor capabilities through research grants focused on co-design approaches. Teams of all sizes, with a minimum of a PI and a co-PI, are encouraged.

DOE’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for Building EPSCoR-State/DOE-National Laboratory Partnerships. These partnerships advance the understanding of the physical world by supporting fundamental, early-stage energy research collaborations with DOE National Laboratories. Participation by undergraduate students, graduate students, or postdoctoral fellows is required. Early career faculty from EPSCoR jurisdictions are encouraged to apply, and utilization of DOE user facilities is encouraged.

This FOA supports the vision outlined in the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen
Strategy and Roadmap of affordable clean hydrogen for a net-zero carbon
future and a sustainable, resilient, and equitable economy. It targets five topics
of interest critical to enabling increased adoption of clean hydrogen technologies
across sectors, particularly in medium- and heavy-duty (MD/HD) vehicles and
other heavy-duty transportation applications. This FOA will fund projects under the following topic areas:

• Topic 1: Components for Hydrogen Fueling of Medium- and Heavy-Duty (MD/HD) Vehicles.
• Topic 2: Standardized Hydrogen Refueling Station of the Future.
• Topic 3: Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Powered Port Equipment.
• Topic 4: Enabling Permitting and Safety for Hydrogen Deployment.
• Topic 5: Equitable Hydrogen Technology Community Engagement.

This FOA seeks applications to address the recycling of EV batteries to support
the establishment of a robust domestic critical materials supply chain. The
activities funded under this FOA include projects that reduce the costs
associated with the transport, disassembly, and preprocessing of EOL EV
batteries for battery recycling and that demonstrate the recycling of plastic EV
battery accessory components. These Topic Areas will support the development
of a domestic critical materials supply chain by ensuring that EV battery recycling
is a financially viable endeavor.

The primary objective of the GREENWELLS program is the development of chemical reactors and supporting units that economically store at least 50% of incoming intermittent electrical energy in carbon-containing liquids. To achieve attractive economics, ARPA-E expects that chemical reactors will need to be dynamically operable to optimize the entire system of renewable energy production, electrolysis capital, and energy storage. If successful, the GREENWELLS program will provide low-cost carbon-containing liquids that enable the transportation and storage of renewable energy, are suitable as-is or with upgrading for use in the difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, and will speed the development of new renewable energy projects by alleviating requirements for connection to an electric grid.

Technical approaches of interest include but are not limited to:

(1) Dynamic Reactor Design

(2) Novel Catalyst Development and Optimization

(3) Manufacturing of Modular Reaction Systems

(4) Transient Modelling and Process Optimization

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the Office of Electricity (OE), Grid Controls and Communications Division, Sensor and Data Analytics (SDA) Program, is seeking applications under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to enhance grid reliability and resilience with demonstrations of sensors and advanced analytics to develop the grid of the future. Demonstrations and direct partnerships with data providers and power sector utilities is strongly encouraged since they ensure that the analytics can meaningfully support planning and operations decision.

LabStart is actively recruiting a diverse cohort of individuals – passionate about climate solutions, for a paid, year-long fellowship. During the program, fellows will work to build a startup around technologies licensed from national labs and universities. LabStart provides funding, structured programming and mentorship with a peer cohort, access to industry networks and funding pipelines, and guidance navigating the patent licensing process. You commit to working full-time on launching your company and we commit to making that possible! Selected entrepreneurs will convene with an in-person kickoff March 12-14, 2024. We anticipate 3-5 in-person events throughout the year and 6-8 virtual hours per week of LabStart curriculum, mentorship, team building, and coaching.

The 2024 challenge: To be part of a competitively selected cohort of start-up and/or seed stage ventures who offer innovative products or services aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to help Vermont meet its climate goals. Start-ups addressing the decarbonization of buildings, transportation, heating and industrial processes through electrification, biofuels, thermal energy networks or other renewables with a particular focus on load management controls integrated with storage, heat pumps, electric vehicle charging equipment and building systems are encouraged to apply. Ventures that address energy burden for under-represented and low to moderate income populations are of particular interest.

Congress established the Small Business Innovation Research / Technology Transfer (SBIR and STTR) programs to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy.  Federal agencies with large research and development budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only. Small businesses that win awards in these R&D programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology. DOE’s Phase 1 Release 2 includes funding for topics at the Offices of:

• Electricity
• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
• Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D
• Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
• Nuclear Energy

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for up to $10 million of its base funding to fund Critical Materials Accelerator R&D projects. Projects funded under this FOA will prototype and mature technologies or processes to address critical material challenges in high impact areas. The Critical Materials Accelerator will be one of several pathways developed through the Critical Materials Collaborative (CMC) to de-risk innovation and mature technology development in partnership with industry. This FOA solicits proposals that continue advancing science and technology innovation and de-risking technologies that build and transform domestic critical material supply chains examined through the CMA.

This three-phase prize will award a total of $4.5 million in cash prizes and $1.1 million in national laboratory analysis consultation and technical assistance to teams that develop innovative ways to extend the lifetimes of products or parts via re-using, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, or repurposing (“Re-X”) before recycling.  

The innovations developed through this prize will reduce life cycle energy and emissions, strengthen circular supply chains for emerging clean energy technologies, and decrease the demand for virgin materials. Innovations that enable new or expanded Re-X supply chains can also engage communities and labor, advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), and support the implementation of the White House Justice40 initiative. 

This lab call represents the combined effort of fourteen different U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program offices and the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT). This solicitation offers an opportunity for private industry to partner with DOE’s National Labs to advance energy-related National Lab-developed technology toward commercialization and to reduce the barriers to commercializing lab-developed energy-related technologies and IP. The intent is to increase the volume and speed to which energy-related lab-developed technologies make it to market from an improved lab commercialization ecosystem.