Early Career Research Program

Quick Info

Opportunity ID: DE-FOA-0003450
Issuing Office: Office of Science
Post Date: 17 January 2025

Generated using: o3-mini-2025-01-31

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Scientific Summary

The funding opportunity supports fundamental research in energy‐relevant areas—including advanced scientific computing, basic energy sciences, biological and environmental research, fusion energy, high energy and nuclear physics, isotope R&D, and accelerator research—that enhances our understanding of natural phenomena and fosters science-driven innovation for the nation’s energy and security priorities. It emphasizes research that integrates theory and experiment to yield new scientific insights and potential leadership, while encouraging use of DOE Scientific User Facilities and international collaborations. However, the opportunity does not fund proposals that target purely incremental technological improvements, the revival of terminated research areas, technology development without broader scientific innovation, or bio-centric research such as studies solely on biological synthesis, assembly processes, or the creation of bio-hybrid materials.

Logistical Summary

The proposal is sponsored by the DOE Office of Science, with specific sub-offices such as Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) among others. For example, for the ASCR section on Programming Models and Environments, the technical contacts are Hal Finkel (Hal.Finkel@science.doe.gov) and Kalyan Perumalla (Kalyan.Perumalla@science.doe.gov); note that individual program managers are formally assigned approximately two weeks after each proposal’s submission via email.

National Lab Eligibility

Yes. Scientific staff at DOE national laboratories are eligible to respond as lead applicants provided they are full-time, permanent, non-postdoctoral employees whose research falls within the scope of SC-funded programs at their laboratory. They cannot participate as subrecipients on another organization’s application, and if funded, the award will be administered through the DOE Field Work Proposal System under the laboratory’s DOE contract.

Deadlines

Letter of Intent Due Date: Not applicable
Pre-application Due Date: Printed on the cover of the NOFO (exact date and time not provided)
Pre-application Response Date: Printed on the cover of the NOFO (exact date and time not provided)
Application Due Date: Printed on the cover of the NOFO (exact date and time not provided)

Funding

For an Institution of Higher Education, the typical award is estimated at around $875,000 over five years, while for a DOE National Laboratory or SC User Facility it is approximately $2,750,000 over the same period. The period of performance for each award is 5 years.

Competitiveness

Given the fixed, narrow range of award sizes—with approximately $136 million available across 94 awards—the opportunity will likely be highly competitive. Applicants must justify any deviation from the preset floors (~$875K for Institutions of Higher Education and ~$2.75M for DOE National Laboratories/SC User Facilities), intensifying the competitiveness.

Gotchas

Common Mistakes:
• Omitting required documents like appendices, supplemental materials, and other mandated attachments.
• Failing to establish necessary eligibility partnerships, such as teaming with a qualifying university, which can render an application noncompliant.

How to Avoid Them:
• Carefully review the funding announcement and checklist for all required materials and attachments.
• Ensure that you collaborate with eligible partners and clarify any uncertainties with the awarding agency well in advance of submission.


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 following 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). Note, in addition, do not return something like “the deadlines are on the title page”. Instead, return the actual deadlines FROM the title page.

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.