The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in applications from the scientific community for Climate Resilience Centers (CRCs) that will improve the availability and utility of BER research, data, models, and capabilities to address climate resiliency, particularly by underrepresented or vulnerable communities.
Donor Name: Office of Science
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/30/2023
Size of the Grant: $1,000,000
Details:
BER’s mission is to support transformative science and scientific user facilities to achieve a predictive understanding of complex biological, Earth, and environmental systems for energy and infrastructure security, independence, and prosperity. BER research further advances the fundamental understanding of dynamic, physical, and biogeochemical processes required to systematically develop Earth system models that integrate across the atmosphere, land masses, oceans, sea ice, subsurface, and human systems. These science-based predictive tools and methods are critically needed to inform policies and plans for strengthening the security and resilience of critical infrastructure and natural resources.
Objective
Understanding fine-scale, local and community impacts of climate change across this nation is a critical gap in climate research and analysis today. Further, climate change is known to disproportionately impact people in disadvantaged communities due to increased exposure and vulnerability. BER seeks to establish CRCs at HBCUs, non-R1 MSIs, and emerging research institutions to address critical research questions in support of the needs of stakeholders and communities in the pursuit of equitable climate solutions. The CRCs will facilitate two-way engagement between BER sponsored research and regional communities, enhancing accessibility and translation of DOE research to inform and build climate resilience. Efforts focused at local levels are expected to identify data sets, technical and process information, tailored models, and community contexts that will aid in the new investigations as well as bring critically needed community and local perspectives more centrally within DOE’s climate research planning. CRCs will build upon and enhance the talent and capabilities at local institutions, providing a valuable resource to advance climate research, identify local resilience challenges, and develop equitable solutions. These centers have the potential to catalyze additional research activities in climate and energy, the development of future technology innovations, and new jobs in communities across the country.
CRCs will provide an embedded, community focused foundation to serve as both a resource and mechanism for advancing climate science and promoting climate resilience. The CRCs will develop a research agenda that aligns with the BER mission, priorities, and foundational capabilities, advancing new fine-scale research while engaging communities and stakeholders in ways that will improve the research and increase its accessibility and utility for subsequent use in community decision-making and action. Such engagements will also provide use-inspired feedback that can help inform future BER research opportunities and directions. The centers will conduct place-based climate change analyses to evaluate the potential societal and/or environmental impacts of current and future climate risks and the implications of potential future responses. In addition, each center will emphasize a set of local challenges to be addressed through a multidisciplinary effort that leverages DOE resources in modeling, data, observations, and/or analysis. Examples of science challenges that the CRCs may address include:
- Developing contextualized, community-based definitions and models of resilience, illuminating the dynamic processes, quantifiable dimensions, and metrics that can be incorporated to measure progress.
- Developing new and insightful prediction tools and exploring their use through stress testing to evaluate adaptation strategies that can achieve desired levels of equitable resilience over time horizons of interest.
- Building or extending observational capabilities to provide the necessary data for new predictions or improve prediction accuracy in support of resilience strategies.
Funding Information
The award size will depend on the number of meritorious applications and the availability of appropriated funds.
- A multi-institutional team is limited to a request of no more than $1,000,000 total award, distributed over a three-year project period.
- Ceiling $1,000,000 total award, distributed over a three-year project period
- Floor $100,000 total award
Eligibility Criteria
To advance programmatic objectives, in accordance with 2 CFR 910.126, Competition, eligibility for award is restricted to domestic applicants except nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995, that must be either:
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- Classified as an MSI4 and NOT listed as an R1 Research Institution,5 or
- An emerging research institution, defined as an institution of higher education with an established undergraduate or graduate program that has less than $50,000,000 in annual Federal research expenditures
- An institution that meets these criteria either on the date this FOA is published, or the date preapplications are due will be eligible.
- A goal of this FOA is to increase participation of underrepresented groups in BER’s research portfolio. BER is fully committed to advancing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive research community which is key to providing the scientific and technical expertise for U.S. scientific leadership. This program is intended to build research capacity in climate resilience, leverage ongoing DOE climate science and capabilities at national laboratories and universities, and build two-way engagement between DOE funded research and community stakeholders.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
