The DOE SC programs in Nuclear Physics (NP) and Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) hereby announce their interest in receiving applications to the Nuclear Data InterAgency Working Group Research Program for research projects intended to answer nuclear data questions of interest to the research communities supported by those programs. This topic focuses on acquiring and refining nuclear data essential for fusion applications, particularly neutron interaction cross-sections, decay pathways, and activation products. It emphasizes the need for comprehensive sensitivity studies to prioritize nuclear data gaps that significantly impact reactor design, economics, and safety. Additionally, improving nuclear analysis and radiation transport models to optimize material selection and reduce waste is
crucial. Research should aim to improve predictive models for material activation and provide detailed uncertainty quantification to support better design choices and waste management strategies in fusion energy systems.

The Wind Turbine Technology Recycling NOFO is a $20M program intended to address various barriers to widespread adoption of recycling for two major materials found in wind energy systems, fiber reinforced composites and rare earth elements. The overall goals are as follows:

• Accelerate development of designs that are more easily recyclable and reusable
• Accelerate development of end-of-life processing technologies to cost effectively, sustainably, and efficiently recycle and recover materials from wind turbines, including manufacturing waste
• Address technological and supply chain challenges limiting recycling of fiber reinforced composites and rare earth element magnets in wind turbines

Transmission Acceleration Grants (TAG) will support State and Tribal efforts to accelerate and improve transmission siting and permitting and strengthen transmission planning for critical transmission lines (100 kV or greater) in any area of the country. Eligible participants are State or Tribal entities, or entities working with them such as regional transmission planning organizations, regional-state committees, or not-for-profit organizations. The TAG Program is making $10 million in funding available at this time.

The FY25 CLIMR Lab Call allocates part of the DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), whose mission is to support technologies with commercial potential that originate at DOE national laboratories by attracting partners who will develop products and sell them into viable markets. This process fills a key need for many labs as they assess their own portfolios, identify the highest-quality prospective partners, and assist those industry partners in evaluating technologies for their business models. While only DOE national laboratories are eligible for funding from this lab call, every funded project must include at least one private sector partner. Incubators, accelerators, manufacturers, and trade associations are among the range of partner types encouraged to partner with national labs through the CLIMR lab call, as they are well positioned to help energy-related national lab-developed technology advance toward commercialization.

The SBIR/STTR Programs Office works collaboratively with 13 program offices throughout the DOE. Each DOE program office considers its high priority research needs and program mission, as well as the Department’s goals for the program in developing research topics.  The specific research topics selected for the SBIR and STTR programs are developed by DOE technical program managers. DOE offers more than sixty technical topics and 250 subtopics, spanning research areas that support the DOE mission in Energy Production, Energy Use, Fundamental Energy Sciences, Environmental Management, and Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation.

The fifth edition of The Clean Fight is focused on decarbonizing existing multifamily low-to-moderate income (LMI) and affordable housing in New York City and State. In collaboration with leaders in the affordable housing market–the Climate Friendly Homes Fund administered by The Community Preservation Corporation–we’re seeking high impact solutions that break down barriers to decarbonization and simplify the retrofit process for multifamily LMI and affordable housing. Our program is laser-focused on supporting the scaling of your solution. How? Through high-touch matchmaking with housing partners, and critical ecosystem players, connections to the right sources of capital to meet your growth needs, and access to technical assistance and grant funding to facilitate demonstration projects in New York State.

The Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics program (MFS-SPEED) is a cross-directorate funding call in response to The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. It is supported by the NSF Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), and five industry partners: Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, BASF, Dow, and IBM. The goal of MFS-SPEED is to support fundamental research enabling the accelerated discovery and ultimate manufacturing of sustainable polymers using state-of-the-art data science, and to enhance development of a cross-disciplinary workforce skilled in this area. In particular, through this solicitation the research community is encouraged to address the discovery and elaboration of new sustainable polymers or sustainable pathways to existing polymers by the creation and use of a data-centric environment where research projects are: (1) focused on new approaches to predicting structure and properties of polymers and advanced soft materials, (2) with insights enabled by data analytics including Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning; (3) This includes more efficient, scalable preparation of monomers and polymers using existing or new synthetic routes (4) and this call aims to train a technical workforce that leverages data analytics to create sustainable polymers and soft materials. Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics (MFS-SPEED,) research grants – Awards will be supported in FY24/25 up to $2M per award for up to a three-year grant period, commensurate with the scope and team size. This program seeks to fund collaborative team research that transcends the traditional boundaries of individual disciplines to achieve the program goals.

The overall objectives of this FOA is to (1) continue to advance Critical Minerals and Materials technology development, not only in the area of new advanced recovery concepts, but also to (2) expand and improve process systems development, optimization, and efficiency, to (3) improve Critical Minerals and Materials process system economic feasibility and align production costs with existing market sectors, and to (4) produce CMM from multiple, diverse feedstocks including recycled materials. Modification 000001: The purpose of this modification is to include 2024 Revisions to Title 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and update technical language concerning Area of Interest 1.

The Regional Resilience Innovation Incubators (R2I2) is a cross-directorate NSF solicitation led by the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) and the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP). R2I2 will support community- engaged team science to co-design high-impact solutions to climate-related societal challenges that leverage recent advances in fundamental climate change and Earth system science research. Each R2I2 project will address specific regional climate challenges and will develop and demonstrate solutions to those challenges that can be effectively applied in real- world settings. Investment in R2I2 will leverage past federal investments in addressing climate change and will provide a bridge connecting advancements in basic science with local knowledge, informed decision making, and technological innovations for societal applications.

Eligible planning projects must have a transportation nexus per Article XIX Sections 2 and 3 of the California Constitution. Therefore, successful planning projects are expected to directly benefit the multimodal transportation system. These grants will also improve public health, social equity, environmental justice, the environment, and provide other important community benefits. The period of grant fund availability spans over three FYs and approximately 32 months for grant project activities after the grant agreement is executed and Caltrans issues a Notice to Proceed. Refer to Chapter 9.2 for details regarding the anticipated grant project start and expiration dates.

The Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy (IGNIITE) 2025 program is designed to support a new cohort of early-career innovators to develop the most disruptive and unconventional ideas into transformative new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. This announcement is purposefully broad in technical scope, but eligibility is limited to early-career researchers. In addition to research efforts, awardees will engage with ARPA-E and fellow awardees through dedicated IGNIITE events, meetings, and mentorship activities. Submissions to this solicitation must propose transformational R&D that has the potential for high impact. If successful, a project could create a new class or new trajectory for an energy technology, with the potential to substantially contribute to ARPA-E’s statutory goals. Awards under this program may take the form of exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. Alternatively, awards may support proof-of-concept research for a particular new technology in an area not currently supported by the agency.

NSF seeks proposals to create an NSF National Resource Coordination Center on Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) (IUSE Center) that will be an intellectual partner to the IUSE: EDU community and NSF. Working in concert with the IUSE: EDU program, the goal of the IUSE Center is to serve as a focal point and intellectual partner for the IUSE: EDU community. The objectives of the IUSE Center are to:

• Enhance the reach and influence of IUSE investments by facilitating communication, engagement, and networking among IUSE: EDU award recipients, prospective recipients, and other stakeholders; and
• Provide support and resources for development and maintenance of IUSE: EDU projects, especially for prospective recipients and those underrepresented in the IUSE: EDU award recipient community.

The IUSE Center will be expected to work collaboratively with NSF and the IUSE: EDU community to design, implement, and execute its activities and ensure the inclusion of diverse educators and education researchers representing the full range of the nation’s talent pool, of eligible institutions and organizations, and of STEM education efforts funded through the IUSE: EDU Program.