2024 Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program (MSIPP) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)
Funding Agency:
- Department of Energy
The Areas of Interest of this Announcement are offered to provide more in‐depth information on STEM areas of interest to the Office of Environmental Management. Specific areas of interest are identified in each Sub‐Program Priority Areas (PA), Research Needs (RN), and Conditions (C). Research and technology development (R&TD) activities must complement and enhance classroom and laboratory learning as well as off-campus experiential learning.
i. Deactivation & Decommissioning
Deactivation and Decommissioning (D&D) is the process of taking an active/excess/abandoned facility to a final disposition end state. Because of residual radioactivity, other hazardous constituents, and the physical condition of EM’s facilities, D&D presents unique hazards that must be addressed from a safety, programmatic, environmental, and technological standpoint. The general D&D process applies to all facilities across the EM complex. The D&D function within the Office of Infrastructure and D&D focuses on innovative applications and timely insertion of existing commercially available technologies, to address D&D risks and challenges. In cases where appropriate technologies do not exist or are not at the required level of maturity, the Office supports R&D to increase technology maturation. The program supports the development of an informed facility D&D strategy such as In‐Situ Decommissioning (entombment), enhanced verifiability of the efficacy of D&D operations, increased productivity, personnel safety of D&D operation, facilitation of acceptable facility end‐states, and independent verification.
ii. Digital Technologies
The sub‐program priority area is focused on anticipating and leveraging the opportunities offered by the emergence of leading-edge and future-of-the-art technologies including, but not limited to, rapidly advancing artificial intelligence along with its subset of machine learning; specialized sensor technologies; alternative realities; and wearable technologies and smart devices.
iii. Robotics
Many of the risks and challenges faced by the EM cleanup mission can be mitigated using advanced technology. Providing better tools to the workforce can allow work to be completed in a safer and more efficient manner. Robotics and remote systems are particularly compelling tools because they can provide advanced capabilities while removing workforce personnel from direct proximity of hazards.
Limitation on Number of Concept Papers and Full Applications Eligible for Review
An entity may only submit one Concept Paper and one Full Application for each topic area of this NOFO.
Institutional Internal Review: If you plan to submit a proposal for this RFP, please send a concept paper to Shawn Chester, Associate Vice Provost for Research at shawn.chester@njit.edu by September 25, 2024 for institutional internal review. The concept paper should include title, project summary, intellectual merit, broader impact, investigator team, budget summary and any specific institutional resources or cost-sharing needed. In case the number of concept papers exceeds the institutional limit requirement, the internal review will provide selection recommendations for institutional submission.
Award Ceiling: $3,000,000
$15,500,000
Submission Deadline for Concept Papers: October 15, 2024 5:00 PM ET
Institutional Internal Review: If you plan to submit a proposal for this RFP, please send a concept paper to Shawn Chester, Associate Vice Provost for Research at shawn.chester@njit.edu by September 25, 2024 for institutional internal review. In case the number of concept papers exceeds the institutional limit requirement, the internal review will provide selection recommendations for institutional submission.
January 15, 2024* 5:00 PM ET
Questions regarding the content of the notice of funding opportunity must be submitted to the following e-mail address: MSIPP-FOA@emcbc.doe.gov. DOE-EM will try to respond to a question within 3 business days unless a similar question and answer have already been posted on Grants.gov. All questions submitted after September 10, 2024, may not be answered before the submission deadline for Concept Papers.