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U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF
ENERGY
The Office of Science is now using The Department of Energy e-Center Industry
Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) for the electronic submission of applications. Please
reference
IIPS number
DE-FG01-04ER04-01 when submitting applications for this Solicitation.
Notice:
Only the applicant organization's authorized administrative official(s) may
submit applications through IIPS.
Directions on the Use of IIPS, Tailored to the Office of Science, are available at
Instructions on the Use of IIPS
Click Here to Access
Electronic Submission Instructions and Forms
For more information about the
Office of Science Grant Program, go to the
Office of Science
Grants and Contracts Web Site.
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Office of Science
Notice DE-FG01-04ER04-01
Annual Notice
Continuation of Availability of Grants and Cooperative Agreements
U.S. Department of Energy
Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program -
Notice DE-FG01-04ER04-01
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy
ACTION: Annual Notice of Continuation of Availability of Grants and Cooperative Agreements
SUMMARY: The Office of Science (SC) of the Department of Energy (DOE) hereby announces
its continuing interest in receiving grant applications for support of work in the following
program areas: Basic Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Advanced
Scientific Computing Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental
Research, and Energy Research Analyses. On September 3, 1992, DOE published in the Federal
Register the Office of Energy Research Financial Assistance Program (now called the Office of
Science 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.
ADDRESSES: Formal applications referencing Program Notice DE-FG01-04ER04-01 must be
sent electronically by an authorized institutional business official through DOE's Industry
Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) at: http://e-center.doe.gov
(see also
http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html). IIPS provides for the posting of
solicitations and receipt of applications in a paperless environment via the Internet. In order to
submit applications through IIPS your business official will need to register at the IIPS website.
IIPS offers the option of using multiple files, please limit submissions to one volume and one file
if possible, with a maximum of no more than four files. Color images should be submitted in
IIPS as a separate file in PDF format and identified as such. These images should be kept to a
minimum due to the limitations of reproducing them. They should be numbered and referred to
in the body of the technical scientific application as Color image 1, Color image 2, etc. Questions
regarding the operation of IIPS may be E-mailed to the IIPS Help Desk at:
HelpDesk@pr.doe.gov, or you may call the help desk at: (800) 683-0751. Further information on
the use of IIPS by the Office of Science is available at:
http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html.
If you are unable to submit the application through IIPS, please contact the Grants and Contracts
Division, Office of Science at: (301) 903-5212 or (301) 903-3604, in order to gain assistance for
submission through IIPS or to receive special approval and instruction on how to submit printed
applications.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Notice is published annually and remains in effect
until it is succeeded by another issuance by the Office of Science. This annual Notice DE-FG01-04ER04-01
succeeds Notice 03-01, which was published October 17, 2002.
It is anticipated that approximately $400 million will be available for grant and cooperative
agreement awards in Fiscal Year 2004. 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.
The following program descriptions are offered to provide more in-depth information on
scientific and technical areas of interest to the Office of Science:
1. Basic Energy Sciences
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 four long-term measures of
the program are:
Design, model, fabricate, characterize, analyze, assemble, and use a variety of new
materials and structures, including metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, biomaterials and
more – particularly at the nanoscale – for energy-related applications.
Understand, model, and control chemical reactivity and energy transfer processes in the
gas phase, in solutions, at interfaces, and on surfaces for energy-related applications,
employing lessons from inorganic, organic, self-assembling, and biological systems.
Develop new concepts and improve existing methods for solar energy conversion and
other major energy research needs identified in the 2003 Basic Energy Sciences Advisory
Committee workshop report, Basic Research Needs to Assure a Secure Energy Future.
Conceive, design, fabricate, and use new instruments to characterize and ultimately
control materials.
The science areas and their objectives are as follows:
(a) Materials Sciences and Engineering
The objective of this program is to increase the fundamental understanding of phenomena,
properties, and behavior important to materials that will contribute to improving current
energy technologies and developing new energy technologies. Disciplinary areas where basic
research is supported include materials physics, condensed matter physics, materials
chemistry, engineering physics, and related disciplines where the emphasis is on the science
of materials. Product development, demonstration, and surveys and process optimization
studies for existing commercial materials are not within the scope of this solicitation.
Program Contact: Phone - (301) 903-3427
Website: http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/dms/index.htm
(b) Chemical Sciences
The objective of this program is to develop and enhance fundamental understanding in the
chemical sciences that contributes to the overall goal of developing new sources of energy
and improving processes for using existing energy resources in an efficient and
environmentally sound manner. Disciplinary areas where basic research is supported include
atomic, molecular, and optical sciences; physical, inorganic, and organic chemistry; chemical
physics; photochemistry; radiation chemistry; analytical chemistry; separations science;
actinide chemistry; and chemical engineering sciences.
Program Contact: Phone - (301) 903-5804
Website: http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/chm/chmhome.html
(c) Geosciences
The objective of this program is to develop a quantitative and predictive understanding of
geologic processes related to energy and environmental quality. The program emphasizes
cross-cutting basic research that will improve understanding of reactive geochemical
transport and other subsurface processes and properties and how to image them using
techniques ranging from electrons, x-rays or neutrons to electromagnetic and seismic waves.
Applications of this fundamental understanding might include transport of contaminant
fluids, hydrocarbons, sequestered carbon dioxide, or performance prediction for repository
sites. The emphasis is on the disciplinary areas of geochemistry, geophysics, geomechanics,
and hydrogeology with a focus on the upper levels of the earth's crust. Particular emphasis is
on processes taking place at the atomic and molecular scale. Specific topical areas receiving
emphasis include: high resolution geophysical imaging; rock physics, physics of fluid
transport, and fundamental properties and interactions of rocks, minerals, and fluids.
Program Contact: Phone - (301) 903-4061
Website: http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/geo/geohome.html
(d) Energy Biosciences
The objective of this program is to generate an understanding of fundamental biological
mechanisms in plants and microorganisms. The emphasis is on understanding biological
processes that will be the foundation for technology developments related to DOE's mission
to achieve environmentally responsible production and conversion of renewable resources for
fuels, chemicals, and other energy-enriched products. This program has special requirements
for the submission of preapplications, when to submit, and the length of the applications.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the program regarding these requirements.
Program Contact: Phone - (301) 903-2873
E-mail - energy.biosciences@science.doe.gov
Website: http://www.science.doe.gov/bes/eb/ebhome.html
2. High Energy Physics
The primary objectives of this program are to explore the fundamental interactions of matter and
energy, including the unseen forms of matter and energy that dominate the universe; to
understand the ultimate unification of fundamental forces and particles; to search for possible
new dimensions of space; and to investigate the nature of time itself. The research falls into three
broad categories: experimental research, theoretical research, and a program of advanced R&D
in accelerator and particle detector science and technology. The goal of the R&D program is to
enable the design and fabrication of the instrumentation needed for the physics research.
In support of these broad scientific objectives, the High-Energy Physics program has established
specific long-term goals that correspond very roughly to current research priorities, and are
representative of the program:
Measure the properties and interactions of the heaviest known particle (the top quark) in
order to understand its particular role in the Standard Model.
Measure the matter-antimatter asymmetry in many particle decay modes with high
precision.
Discover or rule out the Standard Model Higgs particle, thought to be responsible for
generating mass of elementary particles.
Determine the pattern of the neutrino masses and the details of their mixing parameters.
Confirm the existence of new supersymmetric (SUSY) particles, or rule out the minimal
SUSY “Standard Model” of new physics.
Directly discover, or rule out, new particles which could explain the cosmological “dark
matter”.
All grant proposals should address one or more of these goals, or else explain how the proposed
research supports the broad scientific objectives outlined above. More information on the
program and the scientific research it supports can be found at our website:
http://doe-hep.hep.net/.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3624
3. Nuclear Physics
The Nuclear Physics program supports basic research, technical developments and world-class
accelerator facilities to expand our fundamental understanding of the interactions and structures
of atomic nuclei and nuclear matter, and an understanding of the forces of nature as manifested
in nuclear matter. Today, the reach of nuclear physics extends from the quarks and gluons that
form the substructure of the once-elementary protons and neutrons, to the most dramatic of
cosmic events—supernovae. These and many other diverse activities are driven by five broad
questions articulated recently by the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) in the
Opportunities in Nuclear Science: A Long-Range Plan for the Next Decade. The four
subprogram areas and their objectives are organized around answering these five key questions.
Research activities supported by the Office of Nuclear Physics are aligned with and contribute to
the overall progress of the following long term performance measures:
Make precision measurements of fundamental properties of the proton, neutron and
simple nuclei for comparison with theoretical calculations to provide a quantitative
understanding of their quark substructure.
Recreate brief, tiny samples of hot, dense nuclear matter to search for the quark-gluon
plasma and characterize its properties.
Investigate new regions of nuclear structure, study interactions in nuclear matter like
those occurring in neutron stars, and determine the reactions that created the nuclei of
atomic elements inside stars and supernovae.
Measure fundamental properties of neutrinos and fundamental symmetries by using
neutrinos from the sun and nuclear reactors and by using radioactive decay
measurements.
The program is organized into the following four subprograms:
(a) Medium Energy Nuclear Physics
This subprogram supports experimental research primarily at the Thomas Jefferson National
Accelerator Facility and with the polarized proton collision program at the Relativistic Heavy
Ion Collider (RHIC-Spin), directed at answering the first key question: What is the structure of
the nucleon? Detailed investigations of the structure of the nucleon are aimed at understanding
how these basic building blocks of matter are constructed from the elementary quarks and gluons
of Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD) and how complex interactions among them generate all
the properties of the nucleon, including its electromagnetic and spin properties. New knowledge
in this area would also allow the nuclear binding force to be described in terms of QCD, thus
providing a path for understanding the structure of atomic nuclei from first principles.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3904
b) Heavy Ion Nuclear Physics
This subprogram supports experimental research primarily at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC) directed at answering the second question: What are the properties of hot nuclear
matter? At extremely high temperatures, such as those that existed in the early universe
immediately after the “Big Bang,” normal nuclear matter is believed to revert to its primeval
state called the quark-gluon plasma. This research program aims to recreate extremely small and
brief samples of this high energy density phase of matter in the laboratory by colliding heavy
nuclei at relativistic energies. At much lower temperatures, nuclear matter passes through
another phase transition from a Fermi liquid to a Fermi gas of free roaming nucleons;
understanding this phase transition is also a goal of the subprogram.
Program Contact: (301) 903-4702
(c) Low Energy Nuclear Physics
This subprogram supports experimental research directed at understanding the remaining three
questions: What is the structure of nucleonic matter? Forefront nuclear structure research lies in
studies of nuclei at the limits of excitation energy, deformation, angular momentum, and isotopic
stability. The properties of nuclei at these extremes are not known and such knowledge is needed
to test and drive improvement in nuclear models and theories about the nuclear many-body
system. What is the nuclear microphysics of the universe? Knowledge of the detailed nuclear
structure, nuclear reaction rates, half-lives of specific nuclei, and the limits of nuclear existence
at both the proton and neutron drip lines is crucial for understanding the nuclear astrophysics
processes responsible for the production of the chemical elements in the universe, and the
explosive dynamics of supernovae. Is there new physics beyond the Standard Model? Studies of
fundamental interactions and symmetries, including those of neutrino oscillations, are indicating
that our current “Standard Model” theory which explains what the universe is and what holds it
together is incomplete, opening up possibilities for new discoveries by precision experiments.
Program Contact: (301) 903-6093
(d) Nuclear Theory (including the Nuclear Data subprogram)
Progress in nuclear physics, as in any science, depends critically on improvements in the
theoretical techniques and on new insights that will lead to new models and theories that can be
applied to interpret experimental data and predict new behavior. The Nuclear Theory program
supports theoretical research directed at understanding all five of the central questions identified
in the NSAC 2002 Long Range Plan.
Included in the theory program are the activities that are aimed at providing information services
on critical nuclear data and have as a goal the compilation and dissemination of an accurate and
complete nuclear data information base that is readily accessible and user oriented.
Program Contact: (301) 903-7878
4. Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
The mission of the Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program is to deliver forefront
computational and networking capabilities to scientists nationwide that enable them to extend the
frontiers of science, answering critical questions that range from the function of living cells to
the power of fusion energy.
In order to accomplish this mission, this program fosters and supports fundamental research in
advanced computing research (applied mathematics, computer science and networking), and
operates supercomputer, networking, and related facilities to enable the analysis, modeling,
simulation, and prediction of complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy.
The following long-term goals will be indicators of ASCR’s success in meeting its mission.
Develop mathematics, algorithms, and software that enable effective models of complex
systems, including highly nonlinear or uncertain phenomena, or processes that interact on
vastly different scales or contain both discrete and continuous elements.
Develop, through the GTL partnership with BER, the computational science capability to
model a complete microbe and a simple microbial community.
Mathematical, Information, and Computational Sciences Subprogram -
This subprogram is responsible for carrying out the primary mission of the ASCR program:
discovering, developing, and deploying advanced scientific computing and communications
tools and operating the high performance computing and network facilities that researchers need
to analyze, model, simulate, and -- most importantly -- predict the behavior of complex natural
and engineered systems of importance to the Office of Science and to the Department of Energy.
The computing, networking middleware required to meet Office of Science needs exceed the
state-of- the-art by a wide margin. Furthermore, the algorithms, software tools, the software
libraries and the distributed software environments needed to accelerate scientific discovery
through modeling and simulation are beyond the realm of commercial interest. To establish and
maintain DOE's modeling and simulation leadership in scientific areas that are important to its
mission, the MICS subprogram employs a broad, but integrated research strategy. The basic
research portfolio in applied mathematics and computer science provides the foundation for
enabling research activities, which includes efforts to advance high-performance networking, to
develop software tools, software libraries and software environments. Results from enabling
research supported by the MICS subprogram are used by computational scientists supported by
other Office of Science and other DOE programs. Research areas include:
(a) Applied Mathematics
Research on the underlying mathematical understanding and numerical algorithms to enable
effective description and prediction of physical systems, such as fluids, magnetized plasmas, or
protein molecules. This includes, for example, methods for solving large systems of partial
differential equations on parallel computers, techniques for choosing optimal values for
parameters in large systems with hundreds to hundreds of thousands of parameters, improving
our understanding of fluid turbulence, and developing techniques for reliably estimating the
errors in simulations of complex physical phenomena.
(b) Computer Science
Research in computer science to enable large scientific applications through advances in
massively parallel computing such as scalable and fault tolerant operating systems for parallel
computers, programming models such as development of the Message Passing Interface (MPI)
model that has become an industry standard, performance modeling and assessment tools,
interoperability and infrastructure methodology, and large scale data management and
visualization. The development of new computer and computational science techniques will
allow scientists to use the most advanced computers without being overwhelmed by the
complexity of rewriting their codes with each new generation of high performance architectures.
(c) Network Environment Research
Research to develop and deploy high-performance network and collaborative technologies to
support distributed high-end science applications and large-scale scientific collaborations. The
current focus areas include but are not limited to ultra high-speed transport protocols, dynamic
bandwidth allocation services, network measurement and analysis, cyber security systems, and
advanced application layer services that make easy for scientists to effectively and efficiently
access and use distributed resources, such as advanced services for group collaboration, secure
services for remote access of distributed resources, and innovative technologies for sharing,
controlling, and managing distributed computing resources.
Program Contact: (301) 903-5800
5. Fusion Energy Sciences
The Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program supports the Department’s Energy Security and
World-Class Scientific Research Capacity goals. The FES program goal is to advance plasma
science, fusion science, and fusion technology -- the knowledge base needed for an economically
and environmentally attractive fusion energy source. FES supports basic and applied research,
encourages technical cross-fertilization with the broader U.S. science community, and uses
international collaboration to accomplish this goal.
The FES program contributes to the Energy Security goal through participation in ITER, an
experiment to study and demonstrate the sustained burning of fusion fuel. This proposed
international collaboration will provide an unparalleled scientific research opportunity and will
test the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power; ITER is also the penultimate step
before a demonstration fusion power plant. Assuming a successful outcome of ongoing ITER
negotiations, in Fiscal Year 2005, FES scientists and engineers will be supporting the technical
R&D and preparations to start project construction in Fiscal Year 2006.
The FES program contributes to the World-Class Scientific Research Capacity goal by managing
a program of fundamental research into the nature of fusion plasmas and the means for confining
plasma to yield energy. This includes: 1) exploring basic issues in plasma science; 2) developing
the scientific basis and computational tools to predict the behavior of magnetically confined
plasmas; 3) using the advances in tokamak research to enable the initiation of the burning plasma
physics phase of the FES program; 4) exploring innovative confinement options that offer the
potential of more attractive fusion energy sources in the long term; 5) developing the cutting
edge technologies that enable fusion facilities to achieve their scientific goals; and 6) advancing
the science base for innovative materials to establish the economic feasibility and environmental
quality of fusion energy.
The overall effort requires operation of a set of unique and diversified experimental facilities,
ranging from smaller-scale university programs to large national facilities that require extensive
collaboration. These facilities provide scientists with the means to test and extend theoretical
understanding and computer models—leading ultimately to an improved predictive capability for
fusion science.
In Fiscal Year 2005, operation of fusion facilities will be increased to create greater opportunity
for scientists to address the large backlog of proposed experiments, many of them relevant to
ITER design and operation. Fabrication of the National Compact Stellarator will also continue
with a target of Fiscal Year 2007, for the initial operation of this innovative new confinement
system which is the product of advances in physics understanding and computer modeling. In
addition, work will be initiated on the Fusion Simulation Project — a joint effort with the Office
of Advanced Scientific Computing Research — to provide an integrated simulation and
modeling capability for magnetic fusion energy confinement systems over a 15-year
development period.
There will be three performance measures, for 10 years out, that will demonstrate that progress is
being made towards meeting the overall program goal. These measures are:
1. Predictive Capability for Burning Plasmas: Develop a predictive capability for key aspects
of burning plasmas using advances in theory and simulation benchmarked against a
comprehensive experimental database of stability, transport, wave-particle interaction, and
edge effects.
2. Configuration Optimization: Demonstrate enhanced fundamental understanding of magnetic
confinement and improved basis for future burning plasma experiments through research on
magnetic confinement configuration optimization.
3. Inertial Fusion Energy and High Energy Density Physics: Develop the fundamental
understanding and predictability of high energy density plasmas for potential energy
applications.
Research Division
This Division is responsible for overseeing the Science and Technology subprograms as well
as most of the facility operations subprogram (not including ITER) within the FES. The
Science subprogram seeks to develop the physics knowledge base needed to advance the FES
program. Research is conducted on medium to large-scale confinement devices to study
physics issues relevant to fusion and plasma physics and to the production of fusion energy.
Experiments on these devices are used to explore the limits of specific confinement concepts,
as well as study associated physical phenomena. Specific areas of interest include: (1)
reducing plasma energy and particle transport at high densities and temperatures; (2)
understanding the physical laws governing stability of high pressure plasmas; (3)
investigating plasma wave interactions; (4) studying and controlling impurity particle
transport and exhaust in plasmas; and (5) understanding the interaction and coupling among
these four issues in a fusion experiment.
Research is also carried out in the following areas: (1) basic plasma science directed at
furthering the understanding of fundamental processes in plasmas; (2) theory and modeling
to provide the understanding of fusion plasmas necessary for interpreting results from present
experiments, planning future experiments, and designing future confinement devices; (3)
atomic physics and the development of new diagnostic techniques for support of confinement
experiments; (4) innovative confinement concepts; and (5) high energy density physics and
issues that support the development of Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE). The high energy density
physics necessary for IFE target development is carried out by the Office of Defense
Programs in the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Agency.
The Technology subprogram supports the advancement of fusion science in the nearer-term
by carrying out research on technological topics that: (1) enable domestic experiments to
achieve their full performance potential and scientific research goals; (2) permit scientific
exploitation of the performance gains being sought from physics concept improvements; (3)
allow the U.S. to enter into international collaborations gaining access to experimental
conditions not available domestically; and (4) explore the science underlying these
technological advances.
The Technology subprogram supports pursuit of fusion energy science for the longer-term by
conducting research aimed at innovative technologies, designs and materials to point toward
an attractive fusion energy vision and affordable pathways for optimized fusion development.
Program Contact: (301) 903-4095 N. Anne Davies
6. Biological and Environmental Research Program
For more than 50 years the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) Program has been
investing to advance environmental and biomedical knowledge connected to energy. The BER
program provides fundamental science to underpin the business thrusts of the Department's
strategic plan. Through its support of peer-reviewed research at national laboratories,
universities, and private institutions, the program develops the knowledge needed: (1) to identify,
understand, and anticipate the long-term health and environmental consequences of energy
production, development, and use; and (2) to develop biology based solutions that address DOE
and National needs.
The following indicators establish specific long term goals in Scientific Advancement that the
BER program is committed to, and progress can be measured against.
Life Sciences: Characterize the multi protein complexes (or the lack thereof) involving a
scientifically significant fraction of a microbe’s proteins. Develop computational models
to direct the use and design of microbial communities to clean up waste, sequester
carbon, or produce hydrogen.
Climate Change Research: Deliver improved climate data & models for policy makers to
determine safe levels of greenhouse gases for the Earth system. By 2013, substantially
reduce differences between observed temperature and model simulations at
subcontinental scales using several decades of recent data.
Environmental Remediation: Develop science-based solutions for cleanup and long-term
monitoring of DOE contaminated sites. By 2013, a significant fraction of DOE’s long-
term stewardship sites will employ advanced biology-based clean up solutions and
science-based monitors.
Medical Applications and Measurement Science: Develop intelligent biomimetic
electronics that can both sense and correctly stimulate the nervous system and new
radiopharmaceuticals for disease diagnosis.
All grant proposals should address one or more of these measures and/or explain how the
proposed research supports the broad scientific objectives outlined above. More information on
the program and the scientific research it supports can be found at our website:
http://www.sc.doe.gov/ober/.
(a) Life Sciences Research
Research is focused on using DOE's unique resources and facilities to develop fundamental
knowledge of biological systems that can be used to address DOE needs in clean energy,
carbon sequestration, and environmental cleanup and that will underpin biotechnology based
solutions to energy challenges. The objectives are: (1) to develop the experimental and,
together with the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, the computational
resources, tools, and technologies needed to understand and predict the complex behavior of
complete biological systems, principally microbes and microbial communities; (2) to take
advantage of the remarkable high throughput and cost-effective DNA sequencing capacity at
the Joint Genome Institute to meet the DNA sequencing needs of the scientific community
through competitive, peer-reviewed nominations for DNA sequencing; (3) to develop and
support DOE national user facilities for structural biology at synchrotron and neutron
sources; (4) to develop novel research and computational tools that provide the basis for
understanding and predicting the responses of complex biological systems, information
needed to develop biotechnology solutions for energy and environmental challenges; (5) to
use model organisms to understand human genome organization, human gene function and
control, and the functional relationships between human genes and proteins at a genomic
scale; (6) to understand and characterize the risks to human health from exposures to low
levels of radiation; and (7) to anticipate and address ethical, legal, and social implications
arising from BER-supported biological research.
Program Contact: (301) 903-5468
(b) Medical Applications and Measurement Sciences
The research is designed to develop the beneficial applications of nuclear and other energy-
related technologies for bio-medical research, medical diagnosis and treatment. The objectives
are: (1) to utilize innovative radiochemistry to develop new radiotracers for medical research,
clinical diagnosis and treatment; (2) to develop the next generation of non-invasive nuclear
medicine instrumentation technologies, such as positron emission tomography; (3) to develop
advanced imaging detection instrumentation capable of high resolution from the sub-cellular to
the clinical level; and (4) to utilize the unique resources of the DOE in engineering, physics,
chemistry and computer sciences to develop the basic tools to be used in biology and medicine,
particularly in imaging sciences, photo-optics and biosensors.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3213
(c) Environmental Remediation
This research delivers the scientific knowledge, tools, and enabling discoveries in biological and
environmental research to reduce the costs, risks, and schedules associated with the cleanup of
the DOE nuclear weapons complex; to extend the frontiers of biological and chemical methods
for remediation; to discover the fundamental mechanisms of contaminant transport in the
environment; to develop cutting edge molecular tools for investigating environmental processes;
and to develop an understanding of the ecological impacts of remediation activities. Research
priorities include bioremediation, contaminant fate and transport, nuclear waste chemistry and
advanced treatment options, and the operation of the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular
Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL). The research
performed for this program will provide fundamental knowledge on a broad range of remediation
problems.
Program Contact: (301) 903-4902
(d) Climate Change Research
The program seeks to understand the basic physical, chemical, and biological processes of the
Earth's atmosphere, land, and oceans and how these processes may be affected by energy
production and use. The research is designed to provide data that will enable an objective
assessment of the potential for, and the consequences of, human-induced climate change at
global and regional scales. It also provides data and models to enable assessments of mitigation
options to prevent such a change. The program is comprehensive with an emphasis on: (1)
understanding and simulating the radiation balance from the surface of the Earth to the top of the
atmosphere (including the effect of clouds, water vapor, trace gases, and aerosols); (2) enhancing
and evaluating the quantitative models necessary to predict natural climatic variability and
possible human-caused climate change at global and regional scales; (3) understanding and
simulating both the net exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere, terrestrial and
ocean systems, and the effects of climate change on the global carbon cycle; (4) understanding
ecological effects of climate change; (5) improving approaches to integrated assessments of
effects of, and options to mitigate, climatic change; and (6) basic research directed at
understanding options for sequestering excess atmospheric carbon dioxide in terrestrial
ecosystems and the ocean, including potential environmental implications of such sequestration.
Program Contact: (301) 903-3281
7. Energy Research Analyses
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. Consistent with these overall objectives, this program conducts numerous research
studies to assess directions in science and to identify and assess new and improved approaches to
science management.
Program Contact: (202) 586-9942
8. Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)
The objective of the EPSCoR program is to enhance the capabilities of EPSCoR states to
conduct nationally competitive energy-related research and to develop science and engineering
manpower to meet current and future needs in energy-related fields. This program addresses
basic research needs across all of the Department of Energy research interests. Research
supported by the EPSCoR program is concerned with the same broad research areas addressed
by the Office of Science programs that are described in this notice. The EPSCoR program is
restricted to applications, which originate in 21 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii,
Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and
Wyoming) and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is anticipated that only a limited number of
new competitive research grants will be awarded under this program subject to the availability of
funds.
Program Contact: Phone - (301) 903-3427
Website: http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/EPSCoR/index.htm
Ralph H. Delorenzo
Acting Associate Director of Science
for Resource Management
Published in the Federal Register October 27, 2003, Volume 68, Number 207, Pages 61198-61203.
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