Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2021-33

Spring 2022 Geothermal Collegiate Competition National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Department of Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office is excited to follow up previous years’ student competitions with the Spring 2022 Geothermal Collegiate Competition, managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), to engage young individuals, build skills, and promote new ideas to drive change.  The Competition invites college and university teams to develop proposals to heat and cool buildings, campuses, districts, or entire communities. Students can gain real-world renewable energy industry experience developing, designing, and testing technologies alongside community stakeholders, shaping the future of geothermal and the transition to a clean economy.

Registration opens on August 6, 2021, with core submissions due in November, elective modules due in February 2022, and final submissions due in April 2022. Winners will be announced in May 2022 and in-person stakeholder engagement events will be in June 2022. All teams must complete the core submission and two of the four elective modules. Final submissions will be scored by a panel of expert reviewers.

• Join us for an informational webinar on Sept. 14, 2021 at 11 a.m. MDT. Register for the webinar here.
• Ready to confirm a team? Join the Geothermal Collegiate Competition on HeroX. Create an account and submit a progress form on or before Nov. 4, 2021.
• Team members must be enrolled in a collegiate institution, and team captains must be U.S. citizens. For more information, visit the 2022 Competition website.

Department of Defense Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) Program

The objectives of the program are to:

• Support unclassified basic scientific and engineering research that could be the foundation for future revolutionary new capabilities for DoD.
• Educate and train student and post-doctoral researchers for the defense workforce.
• Foster long-term relationships between university researchers and the DoD.
• Familiarize university researchers and their students with DoD’s current and projected future challenges.
• Increase the number of talented technical experts that DoD can call upon.

This FOA is for single investigator grant proposals for basic research. All awardees will receive a research grant and the title of VBFF Fellow. VBFF Fellows and their students are provided with opportunities that are designed to enhance their understanding of DoD’s critical research needs and interact with DoD senior Science and Technology (S&T) program leaders. Fellows and their students are expected to attend VBFF activities scheduled throughout the year. These activities may include an orientation meeting, site visits to DoD labs, technical workshops, and an annual meeting to report the progress of VBFF–sponsored research. VBFF Fellows may also be encouraged to serve as members of DoD advisory boards, panels, or groups. For a list of current and past VBFF or NSSEFF Fellows, refer to: https://basicresearch.defense.gov/Programs/Vannevar-Bush-Faculty-Fellowship/. Total amount of available funding is $24 million to $30 million. More information is posted in this newsletter under the Department of Defense section.

(National and Federal News Related to Research Funding and Grant Opportunities)

Artificial Intelligence Research Resources: The National Science Foundation and the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy are developing a plan to make high-performance computing, machine-learning datasets and other resources more widely available to artificial intelligence researchers at every level. Developing artificial intelligence tools and technologies requires lots of data and even more computing resources. Gaining a national advantage in this area will require a significant concentration of work that is currently limited to agencies and organizations that have those resources. But the best, groundbreaking ideas aren’t always centered in places with the most resources.

To address this issue, the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act charged NSF and OSTP with developing a plan to build up those resources and make sure they are available to people throughout the U.S. who can make good use of them. The NDAA included creation of the National AI Research Resource Task Force, which “has been directed by Congress to develop an implementation roadmap for a shared research infrastructure that would provide artificial intelligence researchers and students across scientific disciplines with access to computational resources, high-quality data, educational tools, and user support,” according to a notice set to publish Wednesday in the Federal Register. As the team develops the plan for making this a reality, officials put out a request for information and opened a comment period to hear about the “options, models and priorities” that should be considered, “as well as how the NAIRR can reinforce principles and practices of ethical and responsible research and development of AI,” the notice states. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

NIST Prioritizes Development of AI Risk Management Framework: National Institute of Standards and Technology officials are gleaning insights from a range of players as they work to draft Congressionally-directed guidance promoting the responsible use of artificial intelligence technologies.

That in-the-making document—the Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework, or AI RMF—is aimed at building the public’s trust in the increasingly adopted technology, according to a recent request for information.  Responses to the RFI are due Aug. 19 and will inform the framework’s early days of production.“We want to make certain that the AI RMF reflects the diverse experiences and expertise of those who design, develop, use, and evaluate AI,” Elham Tabassi, NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory chief of staff, told Nextgov in an email Monday.  

AI capabilities are transforming how humans operate in meaningful ways, but also present new technical and societal challenges—and confronting those can get sticky. NIST officials note in the RFI that “there is no objective standard for ethical values, as they are grounded in the norms and legal expectations of specific societies or cultures.” Still, they note that it is generally agreed that AI must be made, assessed and used in a manner that fosters public confidence. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

Senate Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and Partisan Budget Resolution: Senate passing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has been hailed as major legislative milestone following years of more talk than action; 19 Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting its passage. Immediately after, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pivoted to a budget resolution that advances a broader $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” package that only has the support of Senate Democrats. If enacted, the $5 trillion in investments would represent the biggest increase in spending since World War II. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders released the following documents to help guide the process:

• Text of the FY22 Budget Resolution

• One Page Summary of the FY22 Budget Resolution

• A Detailed Summary of the Recommended Reconciliation Instructions for Committees Included in the FY22 Budget Resolution

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