November 5, 2007. The NICCR National office will release the 2008/2009 RFP on March 1st, 2008. Other important dates will be announced in the near future.

July 17, 2006.   The selection of the new NICCR Coastal Center has been completed. Seven competitive applications were submitted in April, and reviewed by a panel of technical experts shortly thereafter. As a result of the competitive review, the application from Tulane University was selected by DOE. It is expected that a cooperative agreement between Tulane University and the DOE will be in place to manage the new Coastal Center by September 1, 2006. The next NICCR request for proposals is expected to include a research focus on potential effects of climatic change and/or sea level rise on the structure and functioning of coastal terrestrial ecosystems. All coastal ecosystem research to be supported by NICCR will be in the United States.

March 2, 2006. On January 13, 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its interest in receiving applications to host a new, fifth NICCR center to support research on effects of climatic change and sea-level rise on coastal ecosystems (see http://www.science.doe.gov/grants/FAPN06-08.html ). Preapplications were required and were due March 1, 2006. Each preapplication received by the due date was evaluated by DOE, and based on that evaluation, seven full applications were today encouraged. Full applications will be due April 18, 2006. It is expected that the new NICCR center will be selected during fiscal year 2006, and that a request for proposals from that center will be released during calendar 2006.

January 31, 2006. The four NICCR regional centers received 260 preproposals in response to Notice RFP-01 by the deadline of January 18, 2006. Each preproposal received on time was reviewed for technical merit and adherence to the terms of Notice RFP-01 by a panel of technical experts. Based on the reviews, 93 of the 260 preproposals were selected to be developed into full proposals. Those full proposals will be due March 14, 2006. It is expected that the four NICCR regional centers will release another joint request for proposals later in calendar year 2006.

December 1, 2005. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today established cooperative agreements with Duke University, Michigan Technological University, Northern Arizona University, and Pennsylvania State University to administer four Regional Centers of the newly reconfigured DOE National Institute for Global Environmental Change (NIGEC). The reconfigured NIGEC is now named the DOE National Institute for Climatic Change Research (NICCR).

The U.S. Congress directed that DOE establish the NIGEC in Fiscal Year 1990 at the University of California (UC), Davis. NIGEC has been managed for the DOE under the terms of a cooperative agreement between DOE and the UC Office of the President. NIGEC consisted of a National Office near the UC Davis campus and six Regional Centers, hosted by Indiana University, Harvard University, Tulane University, University of Alabama, UC Davis, and University of Nebraska. DOE reorganized NIGEC by moving its management from the National Office in Davis to DOE headquarters in Germantown, Maryland, by reducing the number of Regional Centers from six to four (to reduce administrative costs and use the savings to support additional research projects), and by re-competing the Regional Center host universities. Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are represented by one of the four new NICCR Regional Centers.

The goal of the NICCR is to mobilize university scientists, from all regions of the country, in support of the research goals of DOE's Climate Change Research Division (in the DOE Office of Science's Office of Biological and Environmental Research; more information on the research goals is at http://www.sc.doe.gov/ober/CCRD_top.html). DOE's climatic change research goals are based in part on the Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program published July 2003 (see http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/stratplan2003/final/default.htm).

The NICCR released its first Request for Proposals today.