The Scientific Exchange Program (SEP) leverages the latest developments in cross-cutting agricultural priorities, research, and technologies to educate a new generation of agricultural scientist to promote trade, trade policy, trade capacity building, and food security. The collaborative nature of the SEP leadership training and research programs improves agricultural productivity, systems, and processes in partnering emerging market economies through the transfer of new science and agricultural technologies. SEP focuses on a cohort of Fellows who spend up to 12 weeks at the U.S. academic institution (host institution) and work directly with U.S. scientists in their fields. For fiscal year 2024, USDA/FAS is seeking proposals that (1) promote the mentorship and leadership role of women researchers and scientists in food systems and, (2) that strengthen the science and evidence-base for the role and needs of women in food systems, including as it relates to climate change.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to accelerate the growth of domestic production capability of electric heat pumps to meet the anticipated increased demand for clean energy technologies as the economy transitions to net-zero emissions. Amendment 000002 – This FOA is being re-opened to solicit applications for new Topic Areas: Topic Area 3 – Residential Heat Pump Production Capability, Topic Area 4 – Heat Pump Water Heater Production Capability, Topic Area 5 – All Other Heat Pump and Component Production Capability.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will focus on applied R&D and pilot demonstration for the highest greenhouse gas-emitting (GHG) subsectors, specifically chemicals and fuels; iron and steel; food and beverage; cement and concrete, asphalt pavements, and glass; and forest products. Technology approaches include achieving cost and emissions savings through increased circularity and sustainability across manufacturing to reduce waste and decrease the need for resource extraction. The FOA will fund research, development, and prototype or pilot-scale technology validation and demonstration activities that will accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable technologies that increase efficiency and eliminate industrial GHG emissions for the most energy- and emissions- intensive industrial subsectors. These activities will contribute to a clean and equitable energy economy, bolster the technological and economic competitiveness of domestic manufacturing, and boost the viability and competitiveness of U.S. industrial technology exports.

The Regional Resource Hubs for Purpose-Grown Energy Crops funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will advance a domestic supply chain of alternative carbon sources necessary to produce biofuels and bioproducts to decarbonize the transportation and industry sectors, as well as innovate and grow the U.S. agricultural industry. The FOA supports one topic area focused on the advancement of low carbon-intensity, purpose-grown energy crops across varied agronomic and geographic landscapes through the generation of data and research findings. Topic Area 1 includes:

• Subtopic Area 1a: Algae (e.g., microalgae, macroalgae, and cyanobacteria)
• Subtopic Area 1b: Herbaceous Energy Crops (e.g., switchgrass, miscanthus, energycane, wheatgrass, and high-biomass sorghum)
• Subtopic Area 1c: Intermediate Energy Crops (e.g., carinata, pennycress, and camelina), and
• Subtopic Area 1d: Short-Rotation Woody Crops (e.g., hybrid poplar and shrub willow)

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced $15 million in new funding for projects that will advance deployment of technologies critical to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. The funding will drive innovation in equitable clean transportation and is aligned with strategies detailed in the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization. The funding is administered through the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) within DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Topic areas in VTO’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Technology Integration funding opportunity include:

• Clean Cities Outreach, Engagement, and Technical Assistance
• Training on Zero Emission Vehicle and Infrastructure Technologies for Critical Emergency Response Workers
• Clean Transportation Demonstration and Deployment.

The primary goal of the UAIP projects is to support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production. The UAIP grants being made available for application under this NFO support planning and implementation activities. Planning activities will initiate, develop, or support the efforts of farmers, gardeners, citizens, government officials, schools, members of tribal communities, and other stakeholders in areas where access to fresh foods are limited or unavailable. Implementation activities will accelerate existing and emerging models of urban and/or innovative agricultural practices that serve multiple farmers or gardeners. Innovation may include new and emerging, as well as indigenous or non-traditional agricultural practices.

On January 30, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $31M in total funding for a combined Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support two topic areas:

• Topic Area 1: Projects to address downhole cement and casing evaluation tools for use in high-temperature and hostile geothermal wellbores
• Topic Area 2: Demonstration project for low-temperature (<130◦ C) reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) technology with applications to industrial processes.

Projects under Topic Area 1 will reduce costs and technical challenges associated with wellbore construction for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), which will expand opportunities to tap firm, flexible, domestic geothermal energy nationwide and support DOE’s Enhanced Geothermal Shot™. Projects under Topic Area 2 can help reduce emissions from energy-intensive industrial heating processes, spur RTES technology towards being a long-term, reliable decarbonization technology for U.S. industry and manufacturing, and support DOE’s Industrial Heat Shot

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is being issued by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). The goals of this FOA are to advance manufacturing platform technologies in the following specific areas: Platforms for next generation battery manufacturing – focusing on manufacturability and scalability of critical battery components and system architectures as well as the role of machines for battery technologies (i.e., sodium-ion batteries (NIBs), flow batteries, and nanolayered films) Smart manufacturing platforms for battery production – developing innovative ways to revolutionize battery production by maximizing the benefits of smart manufacturing This FOA will support activities to advance platform technologies that enable flexible, scalable, and highly controllable battery manufacturing processes. Topics include: 1. Platforms for Next Generation Battery Manufacturing 1.1 Processes and Machines for Sodium-ion Batteries 1.2 Processes and Design for Manufacturability of Flow Batteries 1.3 Scalable Manufacturing of Nanolayered Films for Energy Storage 2. Smart Manufacturing Platforms for Battery Production.

The DOE SC program in Basic Energy Sciences (BES) announces a re-competition of the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) program and encourages both new and renewal applications. Applications from multi-disciplinary teams will be required to propose discovery science and use-inspired basic research that addresses priority research directions and opportunities identified by a series of BES workshop and roundtable reports.  BES is soliciting renewal applications for basic science in three topical areas: 1) Transformative manufacturing, 2) Quantum information science (QIS), and 3) Environmental management. BES is soliciting new applications for basic science in two topical areas: 1) Co-design of materials and processes to revolutionize microelectronics and/or QIS fabrication, and 2) Environmental management.

The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program is designed to encourage development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that a) explore ways for graduate students in STEM master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers, or b) support research on the graduate education system and outcomes of systemic interventions and policies. IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for the customization, implementation, and broader adoption of potentially transformative approaches to graduate education. The program supports piloting, testing, and validating novel models or activities and examining systemic innovations with high potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches. The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity-building needs in graduate education.

Phase 1 of the CPRG program provides flexible support to states, local governments, tribes, and territories regardless of where they are in their climate planning and implementation process. Planning grant recipients are using the funding to design climate action plans that incorporate a variety of measures to reduce GHG emissions from across their economies in six key sectors (electricity generation, industry, transportation, buildings, agriculture/natural and working lands, and waste management).

The objective is research, development, and demonstration activities that will yield new communications and control technologies to enhance the security of electric distribution systems. Particularly with respect to the grid’s capability to prevent, detect, and respond to inadvertent and/or malicious disruptions to critical information flows. A demonstration of the developed solution under the evolving system architecture—including changes occurring on the grid edge—needs to be performed to validate electric utility acceptance. A successful demonstration will lend confidence that the innovation will perform as expected, will increase information security on the grid, and will not interfere with the function of the energy delivery control system. Research findings leading to valuable insights and best practices regarding the design, configuration, and use will be broadly shared with the utility community creating a pathway to accelerate deployment.