Environmental Engineering

PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Apply to PD 08-1440 as follows:

For full proposals submitted via FastLane: standard Grant Proposal Guidelines apply.
For full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide; A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf)

SYNOPSIS

In broadest terms, the field of Environmental Engineering is concerned with understanding the impacts of human activities on the natural environment and developing the scientific basis for solving, mitigating, or managing environmental problems caused by human activities.  The field emerged as a separate engineering discipline during the middle third of the 20^th century, in response to widespread public concern about water and air pollution and increasingly extensive environmental degradation.  However, its roots extend back to early efforts in public health engineering in the late 19^th century and to ancient times with regard to urban drinking water systems.

The Environmental Engineering program supports fundamental research and educational activities across the broad field it serves, with the goal of applying engineering principles to understand and reduce adverse effects of solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges into land, inland and coastal waters, and air that result from human activity and that impair the ecological and economic value of those resources.  It fosters cutting-edge research based on fundamental science and four types of engineering tools - - measurement, analysis, synthesis, and design.  Proposals emphasizing enhancement of American Competitiveness are encouraged. 

Major areas of interest and activity in the program include:

• Developing innovative biological, chemical, and physical treatment processes to remove and degrade pollutants from water and air
  
• Measuring, modeling, and predicting the movement and fate of pollutants in the environment
  
• Developing and evaluating techniques to clean up polluted sites, such as landfills and contaminated aquifers, restore the quality of polluted water, air, and land resources and rehabilitate degraded ecosystems

Along with its sibling environmental programs (Environmental Technology, Environmental Sustainability, and Energy for Sustainability), the program fosters environmental sustainability through the development of techniques to minimize or avoid generating pollution.  Research may be directed toward improving the cost-effectiveness of pollution avoidance, as well as developing new principles for pollution avoidance technologies.  Research for new and improved sensors of environmental conditions and innovative waste reduction and recycling processes also are important components of this program.

The duration of unsolicited awards is generally one to three years.  The average annual award size for the program is $90,000.  Please check the NSF Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems Division (CBET) Home Page for the two annual submission windows for unsolicited proposals.  Small equipment proposals up to $100,000 will also be considered and may be submitted during these windows.  Any proposal received outside the announced dates will be returned without review.

The duration of CAREER awards is five years.  The submission deadline for Engineering CAREER proposals is in July every year.  Please see the following URL for more information: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05027/nsf05027.jsp

Proposals for Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER), Conferences, Workshops, and Supplements may be submitted at any time, but must be discussed with the program director before submission.

Please refer to the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), January 2008, (NSF 08-1) when you prepare your proposal.  Chapter II, especially, will assist you.  The GPG is available for download at: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg

THIS PROGRAM IS PART OF

Environmental Engineering and Sustainability

Abstracts of Recent Awards Made Through This Program

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