Research Funding Opportunities

The Research Funding Opportunities sessions provide interaction between government agency presenters and MRS Membership. Invited talks will be followed by roundtable Q&A sessions with the individual program managers.

Tuesday

Linda Horton, Division Director for Materials Sciences and Engineering
U.S. Department of Energy—Office of Science

Overview of Research Opportunities—Office of Basic Energy Sciences

The presentation will provide an overview of the fundamental materials research activities, including national user facilities for materials sciences research, that are supported by DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES).

Research opportunities identified by recent workshops, including quantum materials and microelectronics will be discussed. 

The application process and opportunities for white papers will be overviewed, as well as the online resources for principal investigators.

Jennifer Gerbi, Associate Director for Technology
U.S. Department of Energy—Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy

Funding Opportunities at ARPA-E

ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) is a U.S. Department of Energy agency that focuses on high risk, high reward research in the energy sector, as defined by our mission, which is to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies.

In addition, ensuring that the United States maintain a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies is also a stated goal of ARPA-E.

Here, an overview of the agency will be given, with a discussion of how we develop programs, what makes a project “ARPA-E” hard, and potential areas for future engagement.

Kenneth Caster, Program Officer, Organic Materials Chemistry
Air Force Office of Scientific Research

AFOSR—Funding Opportunities and Collaboration

The US Government funds basic and applied research across many disciplines using multiple funding agencies.  This presentation will focus on processes used by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) to fund domestic and international basic research projects that broadly address R&D activities within the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL).  An overview of the AFRL structure will be provided to put the presentation into context. Topics to be addressed include AFOSR materials-related technical areas and research portfolios; Broad Agency Announcement, BAA; white papers and proposal submission; funding timelines; program reviews; and opportunities to collaborate with AFRL scientists and engineers.

Thursday

Alex Klironomos, Deputy Division Director (Acting)
Division of Materials Research—National Science Foundation

Funding Opportunities for Materials Research at the NSF

The talk will feature an overview of the Division of Materials Research, which is one of the largest and most diverse divisions at the National Science Foundation, together with a presentation of current funding opportunities in materials research.

Maija M. Kukla, Program Director
Office of International Science and Engineering—National Science Foundation

Opportunities for International Collaboration

In this talk, a brief overview of NSF opportunities and programs that support international partnerships and collaborations will be presented. We will also discuss how NSF promotes U.S. international engagement at a global scale. 

Michael Bakas, Program Manager, Synthesis and Processing of Materials
U.S. Army Research Office—Engineering Sciences Directorate

Overview of Funding Opportunities at the Army Research Office

In this talk, Bakas will outline the role and goals of the Army Research Office, the Materials Science Division, and the Synthesis and Processing Program in particular.