Department of Energy
Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Energy Research Financial
Assistance Program
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy
ACTION: Annual Notice of Continuation of Availability of Grants and Cooperative Agreements
SUMMARY: The Office of Energy Research (ER) of the Department of Energy
hereby announces its continuing interest in receiving applications for
grants and cooperative agreements supporting work in the following programs:
Basic Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Computational
and Technology Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, Biological and
Environmental Research and Energy Research Analyses. On September 3, 1992, (57FR40582),
DOE published in the Federal Register the Office of Energy Research
Financial Assistance Program, 10 CFR Part 605, Final Rule, which contained
a solicitation for this program. Information about submission of
applications, eligibility, limitations, evaluation and selection processes
and other policies and procedures are specified in 10 CFR Part 605.
DATES: Applications may be submitted at any time in response to this
Notice of Availability. This Notice is published annually and remains in
effect until it is superseded by another issuance by the Office of Energy
Research.
ADDRESSES: Applications must be sent to: Director, Grants and Contracts
Division, Office of Energy Research, ER-64, U.S. Department of Energy,
19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290. When preparing
applications, applicants should use the Office of Energy Research Financial
Assistance Program Application Guide and Forms located on the World Wide
Web at: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html. Applicants
without Internet access may call 301-903-5544 for information.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: It is anticipated that approximately $400
million will be available for grant and cooperative agreement awards in
FY 1998. The DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated
with the preparation or submission of an application. DOE reserves the
right to fund, in whole or in part, any, all, or none of the applications
submitted in response to this Notice.
In addition, the following program descriptions are offered to provide more
in-depth information on scientific and technical areas of interest to the
Office of Energy Research:
1. Basic Energy Sciences
(b) Chemical Sciences
(c) Engineering Research
This program's objectives are: (1) to extend the body of knowledge
underlying current engineering practice in order to open new ways for
enhancing energy savings and production, prolonging useful equipment life,
and reducing costs while maintaining output performance, and environmental
quality; and (2) to broaden the technical and conceptual base for solving
future engineering problems in the energy technologies. Long-term research
topics of current interest include: foundations of bioprocessing of fuels
and energy related wastes, fracture mechanics, experimental and theoretical
studies of multi phase flows, intelligent machines, and diagnostics and
control for plasma processing of materials.
(d) Geosciences
(e) Energy Biosciences
2. High Energy and Nuclear Physics
(a) High Energy Physics
(b) Nuclear Physics (Including Nuclear Data Program)
3. Computational and Technology Research
(a) Mathematical, Information, and Computational Sciences
o Advanced Computational Testing and Simulation - developing an
integrated set of algorithms, software frameworks, and network
infrastructures to enable simulation to complement experimentation when
actual experiments would be dangerous, expensive, or infeasible.
Laboratory Technology Research - This activity conducts technology research
projects to reduce technical risk associated with a technology or process
development. The program couples basic research advances at ER national
laboratories into the advanced energy technology arena through leveraged
collaborations with industry. The program is focused on critical technology research
areas, i.e., tailored materials, intelligent manufacturing, and sustainable
environments, to contribute technological innovations that will stimulate
national economic growth, and to increase the return on the government
investment in basic research.
4. Fusion Energy Sciences
(a) Science Division
Research into basic physics issues associated with medium to large scale
confinement devices is essential to studying conditions relevant to the
production of fusion energy. Experiments on these scale of devices are
used to explore the limits of specific confinement concepts, as well as
study associated physical phenomena. Specific areas of interest include:
(1) the production of increased plasma densities and temperatures, (2) the
understanding of the physical laws governing plasma energy of high plasma
pressure, (4) the investigation of plasma interaction with radio frequency
waves, and (5) the study and control of particle transport and exhaust in
plasmas.
(b) Technology Division
5. Biological and Environmental Research Program
(a) Health Effects and Life Sciences Research
(b) Medical Applications and Measurement Science
(c) Environmental Remediation
(d) Environmental Processes
6. Energy Research Analyses
John Rodney Clark
Published in the Federal Register October 31, 1997, Volume 62, Number 211,
pages 58951-58953.
Office of Energy Research
Notice 98-01
The Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program supports fundamental research in
the natural sciences and engineering leading to new and improved energy
technologies and to understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts
of energy technologies. The science divisions and their objectives are as
follows:
(a) Materials Sciences
The objective of this program is to increase the understanding of phenomena
and properties important to materials behavior that will contribute to
meeting the needs of present and future energy technologies. It is
comprised of the subfields metallurgy, ceramics, solid state physics,
materials chemistry, and related disciplines where the emphasis is on the
science of materials.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3427
The objective of this program is to expand, through support of basic
research, knowledge of various areas of chemistry, chemical engineering and
atomic molecular and optical physics with a goal of contributing to new or
improved processes for developing and using domestic energy resources in an
efficient and environmentally sound manner. Disciplinary areas where
research is supported include atomic molecular and optical physics;
physical, inorganic and organic chemistry; chemical physics; photochemistry;
radiation chemistry; analytical chemistry; separations science; actinide
chemistry; and chemical engineering sciences.
Program Contact: (301) 903-5804
Program Contact: (301) 903-5822
The goal of this program is to develop a quantitative and predictive
understanding of the energy-related aspects of processes in the earth. The
emphasis is on the upper levels of the earth's crust and the focus is on
geophysics, geomechanics and geochemistry of rock-fluid systems and
interactions emphasizing processes taking place at the atomic and molecular
scale. Specific topical areas receiving emphasis include: high resolution
geophysical imaging; rock physics, fundamental properties and interactions
of rocks, minerals, and fluids; and sedimentary basin systems. The
resulting improved understanding and knowledge base are needed to assist
efforts in the utilization of the Nation's energy resources in an
environmentally acceptable fashion.
Program Contact: (301) 903-5822
The primary objective of this program is to generate the fundamental
understanding of biological mechanisms in the areas of botanical and
microbiological sciences that will support biotechnological developments
related to DOE's mission. The research serves as the basic information
foundation with respect to an environmentally responsible renewable resource
production for fuels and chemicals, microbial conversions of renewable
materials and biological systems for the conservation of energy. This
office has special requirements for the submission of preapplications, when
to submit, and the length of the applications. Applicants are encouraged
to contact the office regarding these requirements.
Program Contact: (301) 903-2873
This program supports about 90% of the U.S. efforts in high energy and
nuclear physics. The objectives of these programs are indicated below:
The primary objectives of this program are to understand the ultimate
structure of matter in terms of the properties and interrelations of its
basic constituents, and to understand the nature and relationships among
the fundamental forces of nature. The research falls into three broad
categories: experimental research, theoretical research, and technology R&D
in support of the high energy physics program.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3624
The primary objectives of this program are an understanding of the
interactions and structures of atomic nuclei and nuclear matter at the most
elementary level possible, and an understanding of the fundamental forces
of nature as manifested in nuclear matter.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3613
The goal of this program is to conduct an integrated program in applied
mathematical sciences, high performance computing and communications,
information infrastructure, advanced energy projects research, and
technology research, to address complex problems. Research in forefront
and diverse programs is becoming more multi disciplinary and requires new
approaches to the solution of these complex problems. The program exploits
the capabilities and research skills at universities, national laboratories,
and industrial research laboratories. The program provides technical,
analytical, and management direction for development, implementation, and
evaluation of research programs that include activities from fundamental
research to technology development. The goal of the program is accomplished
through the effort of the following two divisions:
This is a diverse research program in applied mathematical sciences, high
performance computing, communications and information infrastructure
technologies that spans the spectrum of activities from strategic
fundamental research to technology development and demonstration. The
diverse activities supported by this program are integrated to support two
major strategic directions that support the underlying mathematical
concepts and information technology needs of all Department of Energy (DOE)
mission areas. These two strategic directions are:
o National Collaboratories - developing a set of tools and capabilities
to permit scientists and engineers to access facilities and collaborate on
experiments system-wide, as easily as if they were in the same building.
(b) Advanced Energy Projects/Laboratory Technology Research
Program Contact: (301)-903-5800
Advanced Energy Projects - This activity funds research to establish the
feasibility of novel, energy-related concepts. These concepts are usually
derived from recent advances in basic research, but require additional
research to establish their feasibility. A common theme for each concept
is the initial linkage of new, or previously neglected, research results to
a practical energy payoff for the Nation.
Program Contact: (301)-903-5995
The mission of the Fusion Energy Sciences program is to advance plasma
science, fusion science, and fusion technology - the knowledge base needed
for an economically and environmentally attractive fusion energy source.
This program is supported by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES),
which fosters both applied and basic research and emphasizes international
collaboration to accomplish this mission.
This Division seeks to develop the physics knowledge base needed to advance
the Fusion Energy Sciences program toward its goals. Basic and applied
research is carried out in the following areas: (1) basic plasma science
research directed at furthering the understanding of fundamental processes
in plasmas; (2) improving the theoretical understanding of fusion plasmas
necessary for interpreting results from present experiments and the planning
and design of future confinement devices, (3) obtaining the critical data
on plasma properties, atomic physics and new diagnostic techniques for
support of confinement experiments, (4) supporting exploratory research
into concepts that are alternatives to the tokamak, and (5) carrying out
research on issues that support the development of Inertial Fusion Energy,
for which target development is carried out by the Department of Energy's
Defense Programs.
Program Contact: (301) 903-4095
This Division seeks to develop the technology knowledge base needed to
advance the Fusion Energy Sciences program toward its goals. The Division's
science-oriented goal is to provide the technologies that are required to
successfully design, build, and operate near-term experiments aimed at
producing, understanding, and optimizing the fusion energy process. The
Division's energy-oriented goal is to develop the technologies that will be
needed in the long-term for an economically and environmentally attractive
fusion energy source. These goals are pursued through multi-institutional
domestic programs and international collaboration partnerships that are
centered around U.S. participation in the Engineering Design Activities for
a long-pulse burning plasma experiment - the International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor (ITER).
Program Contact: (301) 903-5378
The goals of the Biological and Environmental Research Program are as
follows: (1) to provide, through basic and applied research, the
scientific information required to identify, understand and anticipate the
long-term health and environmental consequences of energy use and
development; and (2) to utilize the Department's unique resources to solve
major scientific problems in medicine, biology and the environment. Goals
of the program are accomplished through the efforts of the following
research program elements:
This is a broad program of basic and applied biological research. The
objectives are: (1) to create and apply new technologies and resources in
mapping, sequencing, and information management for characterizing the
molecular nature of the human genome; (2) to develop and support DOE
national user facilities for use in fundamental structural biology; (3) to
use model organisms to understand human genome organization, human gene
function and control, and the functional relationships between human genes
and proteins; (4) to characterize and exploit the genomes and diversity of
microbes with potential relevance for energy, bioremediation, or global
climate; (5) to understand and characterize the risks to human health from
exposures to low levels of radiation and chemicals; (6) to develop novel
technologies for high throughput determination of protein structure; and
(7) to anticipate and address ethical, legal, and social implications
arising from genome research.
Program Contact: (301) 903-5468
The objectives of this program comprise the following areas: (1) to
develop technologies for the beneficial applications of radiation and in
vivo radiotracer detection in the study, diagnosis and treatment of human
diseases and disorders; (2) to develop new instrumentation for biological
and medical research; and (3) to develop new concepts and techniques for
detecting and measuring the hazardous agents of biochemical, physical and
environmental consequences related to energy production.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3213
The objectives of the program relate to environmental processes affected by
energy production and use. The program develops information on the
physical, chemical and biological processes that cycle and transport
energy-related material, particularly contaminates that arose during
nuclear weapons production, through the Earth's surface and subsurface.
Emphasis is put on the development of a strong basis for understanding and
implementing the appropriate and efficient use of bioremediation,
particularly at the Department's sites.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3281
This program addresses global environmental change from increases in
atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The scope of the
global change program encompasses the carbon cycle, climate modeling and
diagnostics, atmospheric sciences and meteorology, ecosystem responses,
and impacts on resources. The role of clouds and radiation in climate
prediction is a particular emphasis.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3281
This program supports energy research analyses of the Department's basic
and applied research activities. Specific objectives include assessments
to identify any duplication or gaps in scientific research activities, and
impartial and independent evaluations of scientific and technical research
efforts.
Program Contact: (202) 586-7021
Associate Director
for Resource Management
Office of Energy Research