[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 236 (Thursday, December 7, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76622-76625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-31159]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Office of Science; Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of 
Science Financial Assistance Program--Notice 01-01

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Annual notice of continuation of availability of grants and 
cooperative agreements.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Science of the Department of Energy hereby 
announces its continuing interest in receiving grant applications for 
support of work in the following program areas: Basic Energy Sciences, 
High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Advanced Scientific Computing, 
Fusion Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, and 
Energy Research Analyses. On September 3, 1992, (57 FR 40582), DOE 
published in the Federal Register the Office of Energy Research 
Financial Assistance Program (now called the Office of Science 
Financial Assistance Program), 10 CFR part 605, Final Rule, which 
contained a solicitation for this program. Information about submission 
of applications, eligibility, limitations, evaluation and selection 
processes and other policies and procedures are specified in 10 CFR 
part 605.

DATES: Applications may be submitted at any time in response to this 
Notice of Availability.

ADDRESSES: Applications must be sent to: Director, Grants and Contracts 
Division, Office of Science, SC-64, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 
Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290. When preparing 
applications, applicants should use the Office of Science Financial 
Assistance Program Application Guide and Forms located on the World 
Wide Web at http://www.science.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html. 
Applicants without Internet access may call 301-903-5212 for 
information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published annually and 
remains in effect until it is succeeded by another issuance by the 
Office of Science, usually published after the beginning of the fiscal 
year. This annual Notice 01-01 succeeds Notice 00-01, which was 
published November 5, 1999.
    It is anticipated that approximately $400 million will be available 
for grant and cooperative agreement awards in FY 2001. The DOE is under 
no obligation to pay for any costs associated with the preparation or 
submission of an application. DOE reserves the right to fund, in whole 
or in part, any, all, or none of the applications submitted in response 
to this Notice.
    In addition, the following program descriptions are offered to 
provide more in-depth information on scientific and technical areas of 
interest to the Office of Science:

1. Basic Energy Sciences

    The Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program supports fundamental 
research

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in the natural sciences and engineering leading to new and improved 
energy technologies and to understanding and mitigating the 
environmental impacts of energy technologies. The science areas and 
their objectives are as follows:

(a) Materials Sciences

    The objective of this program is to increase the understanding of 
phenomena and properties important to materials behavior that will 
contribute to meeting the needs of present and future energy 
technologies. It is comprised of the subfields metallurgy, ceramics, 
condensed matter physics, materials chemistry, and related disciplines 
where the emphasis is on the science of materials.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3427.

(b) Chemical Sciences

    The objective of this program is to expand, through support of 
basic research, knowledge of various areas of chemistry, chemical 
engineering and atomic molecular and optical physics with a goal of 
contributing to new or improved processes for developing and using 
domestic energy resources in an efficient and environmentally sound 
manner. Disciplinary areas where research is supported include atomic 
molecular and optical physics; physical, inorganic and organic 
chemistry; chemical physics; photochemistry; radiation chemistry; 
analytical chemistry; separations science; actinide chemistry; and 
chemical engineering sciences.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-5804.

(c) Engineering Research

    This program's objectives are: (1) To extend the body of knowledge 
underlying current engineering practice in order to open new ways for 
enhancing energy savings and production, prolonging useful equipment 
life, and reducing costs while maintaining output performance, and 
environmental quality; and (2) to broaden the technical and conceptual 
base for solving future engineering problems in the energy 
technologies. Long-term research topics of current interest include: 
foundations of bioprocessing of fuels and energy related wastes, micro- 
and nano-scale energy transport, fracture mechanics, fundamental 
studies of multiphase flows and heat transfer, robotics and intelligent 
machines, nanotechnology, and diagnostics and control for plasma 
processing of materials.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3427.

(d) Geosciences

    The goal of this program is to develop a quantitative and 
predictive understanding of those geologic processes related to energy 
and environmental quality. The emphasis is on disciplinary areas of 
geophysics, geomechanics, hydrogeology and geochemistry with a focus on 
the upper levels of the earth's crust. Particular emphasis is on rock-
fluid systems and interactions emphasizing processes taking place at 
the atomic and molecular scale. Specific topical areas receiving 
emphasis include: High resolution geophysical imaging; rock physics, 
physics of fluid transport, and fundamental properties and interactions 
of rocks, minerals, and fluids.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-5804.

(e) Energy Biosciences

    The primary objective of this program is to generate the 
fundamental understanding of biological mechanisms in the areas of 
botanical and microbiological sciences that will support technological 
developments related to DOE's mission. The research serves as the basic 
information foundation with respect to an environmentally responsible 
renewable resource production for fuels and chemicals, microbial 
conversions of renewable materials and biological systems for the 
conservation of energy. This program has special requirements for the 
submission of preapplications, when to submit, and the length of the 
applications. Applicants are encouraged to contact the program 
regarding these requirements.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-2873.

2. High Energy and Nuclear Physics

    This program supports about 90% of the U.S. efforts in high energy 
and nuclear physics. The objectives of these programs are indicated 
below:

(a) High Energy Physics

    The primary objectives of this program are to understand the 
ultimate structure of matter in terms of the properties and 
interrelations of its basic constituents, and to understand the nature 
and relationships among the fundamental forces of nature. The research 
falls into three broad categories: Experimental research, theoretical 
research, and technology R&D in support of the high energy physics 
program.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3624.

(b) Nuclear Physics (Including Nuclear Data Program)

    The primary objectives of this program are an understanding of the 
interactions and structures of atomic nuclei and nuclear matter at the 
most elementary level possible, and an understanding of the fundamental 
forces of nature as manifested in nuclear matter.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3613.

3. Advanced Scientific Computing Research

    This program fosters and supports fundamental research in advanced 
computing research (applied mathematics, computer science and 
networking), and operates supercomputer, networking, and related 
facilities to enable the analysis, modeling, simulation, and prediction 
of complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy.

Mathematical, Information, and Computational Sciences

    This subprogram supports a spectrum of fundamental research in 
applied mathematical sciences, computer science, and networking from 
basic through prototype development. Results of these efforts are used 
to form partnerships with users in scientific disciplines to validate 
the usefulness of the ideas and to develop them into tools. Testbeds on 
important applications for DOE are supported by this subprogram. Areas 
of particular focus are:
    Applied Mathematics: Research on the underlying mathematical 
understanding and numerical algorithms to enable effective description 
and prediction of physical systems such as fluids, magnetized plasmas, 
or protein molecules. This includes, for example, methods for solving 
large systems of partial differential equations on parallel computers, 
techniques for choosing optimal values for parameters in large systems 
with hundreds to hundreds of thousands of parameters, improving our 
understanding of fluid turbulence, and developing techniques for 
reliably estimating the errors in simulations of complex physical 
phenomena.
    Computer Science: Research in computer science to enable large 
scientific applications through advances in massively parallel 
computing such as very lightweight operating systems for parallel 
computers, distributed computing such as development of the Parallel 
Virtual Machine (PVM) software package which has become an industry 
standard, and large scale data management and visualization. The 
development of new computer and computational science techniques will 
allow scientists to use the most advanced computers without being

[[Page 76624]]

overwhelmed by the complexity of rewriting their codes every 18 months.
    Networking: Research in high performance networks and information 
surety required to support high performance applications--protocols for 
high performance networks, methods for measuring the performance of 
high performance networks, and software to enable high speed 
connections between high performance computers and networks. The 
development of high speed communications and collaboration technologies 
will allow scientists to view, compare, and integrate data from 
multiple sources remotely.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-5800.

4. Fusion Energy Sciences

    The mission of the Fusion Energy Sciences program is to advance 
plasma science, fusion science, and fusion technology and, thereby the 
knowledge base needed for an economically and environmentally 
attractive fusion energy source. The Office of Fusion Energy Sciences 
(OFES) supports basic and applied research, encourages technical 
connectivity with the broader U.S. science community, and uses 
international collaboration to accomplish this mission.

(a) Research Division

    This Division seeks to develop the physics knowledge base needed to 
advance the Fusion Energy Sciences program toward its goals. Research 
into physics issues associated with medium to large-scale confinement 
devices is essential to studying conditions relevant to the production 
of fusion energy. Experiments on this scale of devices are used to 
explore the limits of specific confinement concepts, as well as study 
associated physical phenomena. Specific areas of interest include: (1) 
Reducing plasma energy and particle transport at high densities and 
temperatures, (2) understanding the physical laws governing confinement 
of high pressure plasmas, (3) investigating plasma wave interactions, 
and (4) studying and controlling impurity particle transport and 
exhaust in plasmas.
    Research is also carried out in the following areas: (1) Basic 
plasma science research directed at furthering the understanding of 
fundamental processes in plasmas; (2) theoretical research to provide 
the understanding of fusion plasmas necessary for interpreting results 
from present experiments, planning future experiments, and designing 
future confinement devices; (3) critical data on plasma properties, 
atomic physics and new diagnostic techniques for support of confinement 
experiments; (4) supporting research on innovative confinement 
concepts; and (5) research on issues that support the development of 
Inertial Fusion Energy, for which target development is carried out by 
the Office of Defense Programs in the Department of Energy's National 
Nuclear Security Agency.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-4095.

(b) Facilities and Enabling Technologies Division

    This Division is responsible for overseeing the facility operations 
and enabling research and development activity budgets within the OFES. 
Grant program opportunities are in the enabling research and 
development activity. (Grants for scientific use of the facilities 
operated/maintained by this Division should be addressed to the 
Research Division.) The enabling technologies program supports the 
advancement of fusion science in the nearer-term by carrying out 
research on technological topics that: (1) Enable domestic experiments 
to achieve their full performance potential and scientific research 
goals; (2) permit scientific exploitation of the performance gains 
being sought from physics concept improvements; (3) allow the U.S. to 
enter into international collaborations gaining access to experimental 
conditions not available domestically; and (4) explore the science 
underlying these technological advances.
    The enabling technologies program supports pursuit of fusion energy 
science for the longer-term by conducting research aimed at innovative 
technologies, designs and materials to point toward an attractive 
fusion energy vision and affordable pathways for optimized fusion 
development.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3068.

5. Biological and Environmental Research Program

    For over 50 years the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) 
Program has been investing to advance environmental and biomedical 
knowledge connected to energy. The BER program provides fundamental 
science to underpin the business thrusts of the Department's strategic 
plan. Through its support of peer-reviewed research at national 
laboratories, universities, and private institutions, the program 
develops the knowledge needed to identify, understand, and anticipate 
the long-term health and environmental consequences of energy 
production, development, and use.

(a) Life Sciences Research

    Research is focused on using DOE's unique resources and facilities 
to develop fundamental biological information and advanced technologies 
to understand and mitigate potential health effects of energy 
development, energy use, and waste cleanup. The objectives are: (1) To 
create and apply new technologies and resources in sequencing, 
comparative genomics, and bioinformatics to characterize the human 
genome; (2) to develop and support DOE national user facilities for use 
in fundamental structural biology; (3) to use model organisms to 
understand human genome organization, human gene function and control, 
and the functional relationships between human genes and proteins; (4) 
to characterize and exploit the genomes and diversity of microbes with 
potential relevance for energy, bioremediation, or global climate; (5) 
to understand and characterize the risks to human health from exposures 
to low levels of radiation; and (6) to anticipate and address ethical, 
legal, and social implications arising from genome research.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-5468.

(b) Medical Applications and Measurement Science

    The research is designed to develop beneficial applications of 
nuclear and other energy-related technologies for medical diagnosis and 
treatment. The research is directed at discovering new applications of 
radiotracer agents for medical research as well as for clinical 
diagnosis and therapy. A major emphasis is placed on application of the 
latest concepts and developments in genomics, structural biology, 
computational biology, and instrumentation. Much of the research seeks 
breakthroughs in noninvasive imaging technologies such as positron 
emission tomography. The measurement science activities focus on 
research in the basic science of chemistry, physics and engineering as 
applied to bioengineering.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3213.

(c) Environmental Remediation

    The research is primarily focused on the fundamental biological, 
chemical, geological, and physical processes that must be understood 
for the development and advancement of new, effective, and efficient 
processes for the remediation and restoration of the Nation's nuclear 
weapons production sites. Priorities of this research are 
bioremediation and operation of the William R. Wiley Environmental 
Molecular Sciences

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Laboratory (EMSL). Bioremediation activities are centered on the 
Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) program, a 
basic research program focused on determining the conditions under 
which bioremediation will be a reliable, efficient, and cost-effective 
technique. This subprogram also includes basic research in support of 
pollution prevention, sustainable technology development and other 
fundamental research to address problems of environmental 
contamination.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3281.

(d) Environmental Processes

    The program seeks to understand the basic physical, chemical, and 
biological processes of the Earth's atmosphere, land, and oceans and 
how these processes may be affected by energy production and use. The 
research is designed to provide data that will enable an objective 
assessment of the potential for and consequences of global warming at 
global and regional scales. The program is comprehensive with an 
emphasis on understanding and simulating the radiation balance from the 
surface of the Earth to the top of the atmosphere (including the effect 
of clouds, water vapor, trace gases, and aerosols) and on enhancing the 
quantitative models necessary to predict possible climate change at 
global and regional scales.
    The Climate Change Technology (CCT) research seeks the 
understanding necessary to exploit the biosphere's natural carbon 
sequestration processes to enhance the sequestration of carbon dioxide 
in terrestrial systems and the ocean and to understand its potential 
environmental implications. The CCT includes research that can lead to 
the development of approaches to reduce or overcome the environmental 
and biological factors or processes that limit the sequestration of 
carbon in these systems to enhance the net sequestration of carbon in 
terrestrial and ocean systems. The research includes studies on 
terrestrial and ocean carbon sequestration and disposal, including 
research to modify the carbon sequestration capacity and rate by marine 
and terrestrial organisms and to understand the potential environmental 
implications of purposeful policies intended to enhance the natural 
sequestration of carbon in terrestrial and marine systems and/or 
dispose of carbon by deep ocean injection.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3281.

6. Energy Research Analyses

    This program supports energy research analyses of the Department's 
basic and applied research activities. Specific objectives include 
assessments to identify any duplication or gaps in scientific research 
activities, and impartial and independent evaluations of scientific and 
technical research efforts. Consistent with these overall objectives, 
this program conducts numerous research studies to assess directions in 
science and to identify and assess new and improved approaches to 
science management.
    Program Contact: (202) 586-9942.

7. Experimental Program To Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)

    The objective of the EPSCoR program is to enhance the capabilities 
of EPSCoR states to conduct nationally competitive energy-related 
research and to develop science and engineering manpower to meet 
current and future needs in energy-related fields. This program 
addresses basic research needs across all of the Department of Energy 
research interests. Research supported by the EPSCoR program is 
concerned with the same broad research areas addressed by the Office of 
Science programs that are described in this notice. The EPSCoR program 
is restricted to applications, which originate in nineteen states 
(Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, 
Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South 
Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming) and the 
commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is anticipated that only a limited 
number of new competitive research grants will be awarded under this 
program subject to the availability of funds.
    Program Contact: (301) 903-3427.

    Issued in Washington, DC on: November 30, 2000.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 00-31159 Filed 12-6-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-U