The Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fields Grant Program is a competitive grants program supporting research and extension projects that will increase — to the maximum extent practicable — participation by rural women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

NIFA intends this program to address educational needs within broadly defined areas of food and agricultural sciences. Applications recommended for funding must highlight and emphasize the development of a competent and qualified workforce in the food and agricultural sciences. WAMS-funded projects improve the economic health and viability of rural communities by developing research and extension initiatives that focus on new and emerging employment opportunities in STEM occupations. Projects that contribute to the economic viability of rural communities are also encouraged.

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.

The DOE SC program in Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications to carry out experimental research in magnetic fusion energy sciences on long-pulse overseas stellarator facilities, namely, Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X – Germany) and the Large Helical Device (LHD – Japan). The research should be related to the planning, execution, and analysis of experiments concerning the topical areas described below. The FES Burning Plasma Science: Long Pulse portfolio supports U.S. researchers who work in collaboration with foreign scientists to explore critical science and technology issues at the frontiers of magnetic fusion research. These collaborations take advantage of the unique capabilities of the most advanced overseas research facilities.

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

RAISE discretionary grants help project sponsors at the state and local levels, including municipalities, Tribal governments, counties, and others complete critical freight and passenger transportation infrastructure projects. The eligibility requirements of RAISE allow project sponsors to obtain funding for projects that may be harder to support through other U.S. DOT grant programs. Half of the funding will go to projects in rural areas, and half of the funding will go to projects in urban areas. At least $15 million in funding is guaranteed to go towards projects located in Areas of Persistent Poverty or Historically Disadvantaged Communities, and projects located in these areas will be eligible for up to 100 percent federal cost share, as directed in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

This FOA aims to reach across both the midstream and downstream segments of the battery supply chain, supporting both midstream battery materials and component manufacturing, as well as subsequent cell manufacturing and end of life recycling. It is anticipated that the FOA would increase domestic battery manufacturing and create good-paying clean energy jobs. The overall FOA scope includes commercial facilities for battery-grade precursor materials, constituent materials, battery components, and cell manufacturing and recycling.

The purpose of the grant program is to provide funds for extension projects that have national or regional relevancy. In particular, the program supports extension projects that address emerging forest and rangeland resources through the adoption of climate-smart technologies among forest and rangeland owners.

The overall intent of the RREA-NFF for FY24 is to support projects that result in the adoption of climate smart technologies and practices that: 1) strengthen education, training, and technical assistance to forest and rangeland owners and managers; 2) promote conservation, protection, and market development through effective extension educational design; 3) shape the future of forestry and rangeland through effective communication and engagement with forest and rangeland owners; 4) support new and better markets for forestry and rangelands products generated; and 5) can be easily replicated by other institutions, states, and regions.

The Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) seeks to solve critical organic agriculture issues, priorities, or problems through the integration of research, education, and extension activities. The purpose of this program is to fund projects that will enhance the ability of producers and processors who have already adopted organic standards to grow and market high quality organic agricultural products. Priority concerns include biological, physical, and social sciences, including economics. The OREI is particularly interested in projects that emphasize research, education and outreach that assist farmers and ranchers with whole farm planning by delivering practical research-based information. Projects should plan to deliver applied production information to producers. Fieldwork must be done on certified organic land or on land in transition to organic certification, as appropriate to project goals and objectives.

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.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) released a $9.5 million funding opportunity to increase hydropower’s flexibility, allowing it to better balance the variability of resources such as wind and solar on the power system. The opportunity will fund projects in three topic areas:

1. Up to $4 million for projects that demonstrate hydropower hybrid configurations, such as a hydropower facility paired with another type of generation or with an energy storage resource.
2. Up to $4 million for projects that advance technology innovations to improve the flexible capabilities of the U.S. hydropower fleet.
3. Up to $1.5 million for projects that quantify the flexible capabilities of hydropower and advance operational strategies to increase such flexibility to better serve an evolving electric grid.

The Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) announced a $38 million funding opportunity focused on cross-sector technologies for industrial decarbonization. Through this funding opportunity, IEDO seeks high-impact, applied research, development, and pilot demonstration (RD&D) projects that will help drive the transformational cross-sector technologies and innovations required to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the industrial sector. The projects selected for this funding opportunity will advance 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.

Topic Areas

• Topic 1 – Electrification of Industrial Heat
• Topic 2 – Efficient Energy Use in Industrial Systems
• Topic 3 – Decarbonizing Organic Wastewater and Wet Waste Treatment