Early Career Research Program
Quick Info
Opportunity ID: DE-FOA-0003450
Issuing Office: Office of Science
Post Date: 17 January 2025
Generated using: o1-2024-12-17
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Scientific Summary
The funding opportunity aims to advance fundamental, hypothesis-driven research in areas aligned with DOE’s Office of Science mission—such as condensed matter physics, chemical sciences, biological and environmental sciences, fusion, high-energy and nuclear physics, and advanced scientific computing—with a strong focus on transformative, early-stage discoveries that can underpin clean energy solutions and broaden our understanding of natural phenomena. Specifically, it prioritizes basic science (not engineering) that could lead to breakthroughs in energy production, conversion, storage, and related fields, including the development of next-generation materials, novel computational methods, and deeper insight into subatomic interactions. It will not fund research primarily focused on incremental improvements, code or sensor development alone, scale-up of existing processes, titer/yield optimization, or other projects that fall outside the scope of fundamental, discovery-driven science.
Logistical Summary
This funding opportunity is sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, specifically the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program. The listed technical points-of-contact/program managers are Hal Finkel (Hal.Finkel@science.doe.gov) and Kalyan Perumalla (Kalyan.Perumalla@science.doe.gov).
National Lab Eligibility
Yes, staff from DOE National Laboratories are eligible to apply for this funding opportunity. They can serve as either the lead applicant or as a proposed team member on another entity’s application, provided they obtain written authorization from the cognizant DOE/NNSA Contracting Officer. If selected as a lead, funding is handled through the DOE field work authorization system under the lab’s M&O contract, rather than an assistance award.
Deadlines
Pre-application due date: Date printed on the cover of the NOFO (no specific date/time provided).
Pre-application encourage/discourage date: Date printed on the cover of the NOFO (no specific date/time provided).
Application due date: Date printed on the cover of the NOFO (no specific date/time provided).
(No letter of intent deadline applies, as the NOFO states “Not applicable.”)
Funding
For institutions of higher education, the typical award is around $875,000 over five years, and for DOE National Labs or SC User Facilities, it’s around $2,750,000 over five years. The anticipated period of performance is five years.
Competitiveness
Answer: The Early Career Research Program is known to be highly competitive, typically funding only a fraction of submitted proposals. Because the program award amounts tend to be substantial and support multiple years of research, many strong applications vie for limited slots. Consequently, applicants should expect a rigorous selection process with relatively low overall success rates.
Gotchas
Common mistakes include failing to register or renew a SAM or Grants.gov registration in time, attaching documents in the wrong fields on required forms, or omitting mandatory elements (e.g., letters of intent, pre-applications, appendices). Applicants can avoid these errors by carefully reading the FOA instructions, following the “Checklist for Avoiding Common Errors,” and ensuring each required document is uploaded to the correct spot. Submitting initial materials (e.g., LOIs, pre-applications) through the correct system, bookmarking deadlines, and confirming acknowledgments can further reduce disqualification risks.
Prompt Information
Scientific Summary
Summarize the scientific objectives of this funding opportunity. Pay close attention to the key themes of the proposal and especially the scientific areas of research the funding opportunity is concerned with. In addition, summarize non-goals of the funding opportunity, i.e., scientific research that the opportunity specifically will NOT fund. In summary, what will this proposal fund? What will it not fund? Answer both of these questions clearly.
Logistical Summary
Briefly summarize the logistics of the proposal. For example, which sub-office is sponsoring this (e.g. DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Research; ASCR)? Who is the technical point-of-contact/program manager?
National Lab Eligibility
Answer the question: are scientific staff at United States Department of Energy national laboratories eligible to respond to this funding opportunity (either as the lead or otherwise) and if so, in what capacity.
Deadlines
Record ALL deadlines mentioned in the funding opportunity, and present them in the format of “<deadline type>: <date>”, where deadline type is the deadline in question (final draft, pre-application, letter of intent, etc.) and date is the deadline including a time, if provided (e.g. 12 February 2023 at 5:00 PM EST).
Funding
How much funding PER AWARD is estimated for this opportunity, and what is the period of performance for the award?
Competitiveness
Speculate on the competitiveness of this award. Take into account the award amount, number of awards expected, etc. Summarize your conclusions in 3 sentences or less.
Gotchas
Often times, there are simple mistakes respondent can make that will significantly reduce their chances of getting funded, or disqualify them all together. Some examples of this might be failing to include an appendix or supplemental material, or failing to partner with a university. Summarize some of the common key mistakes respondents make and how to avoid them.