The DOE Office of Science (SC) program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for RENEW grants that will target building capacity in climate and environmental science-relevant programs, particularly at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Funding may be requested to support experiential training, mentoring, and institutional capacity building activities in partnership with DOE national laboratory Scientific Focus Areas (SFAs) supported within BER’s Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD). BER has a goal to broaden and diversify institutional representation in the EESSD portfolio. BER recognizes there are many academic scientists at institutions not currently supported by BER who have limited familiarity with EESSD programs and research support; BER further recognizes that such barriers to engagement in research and student training can be surmounted by fostering partnerships and collaborations with BER-supported SFA research at the DOE national laboratories. To help provide technical assistance to build capacity and achieve the goal of broadening institutional participation, this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will provide training and research funding for institutions to: 1) develop new partnerships with the BER-supported EESSD SFAs at the DOE national laboratories, to enable sustained undergraduate and graduate student participation in EESSD-relevant research; 2) facilitate undergraduate and graduate student participation in EESSD research programmatic and user facility outreach and training activities; and 3) foster the development of climate and environmental science training capacity and research at under-represented institutions.
Program Objective
The mission of BER is to support transformative science and scientific user facilities to achieve a predictive understanding of complex biological, Earth, and environmental systems for energy and infrastructure security, independence, and prosperity.
Within BER, EESSD supports fundamental science research projects and capabilities that enable improved understanding and predictability of the climate, environmental, and Earth system. To address the EESSD mission, the Division is organized into three research activities. The Atmospheric System Research (ASR) activity focuses on using observations to study the interdependence of clouds, atmospheric aerosols, and precipitation processes that impact the Earth’s energy and water cycles. The Environmental System Science (ESS) activity supports fundamental research from the bedrock to the atmosphere to provide a robust and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial ecosystems and watersheds and facilitate their representation in Earth system models. The Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling (EESM) activity develops and applies high-fidelity models representing Earth system changes to improve understanding of the significant drivers, feedbacks, and uncertainties within the integrated Earth system, including both natural and human components.
See full FOA for details.
Interested applicants should upload the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: Last name_DE-FOA-0002757_2022) no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Cover Letter (1 page, pdf):
- Descriptive title of proposed activity
- Primary Topic Area (TA) addressed
- PI name, departmental affiliations(s) and contact information
- Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
- Names of other key personnel
- Participating institution(s)
- Number and title of this funding opportunity
2. Project Description (no more than two pages, pdf) clear and concise description of the objectives and technical approach of the proposed research
- Figures and references, if included, must fit within the two-page limit
3. Estimated Budget
4. 2-page CV's of Investigators
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: Not smaller than 11 point
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.