Topics of Interest

This call seeks to support projects with potential to become sustained, collaborative, interdisciplinary research efforts towards solutions to key problems in energy production, use, management, and environmental impacts. To encourage focused efforts, the Andlinger Center recently completed a strategic plan establishing Research Initiatives (“Initiatives”) that are broad themes under which we hope to advance fundamental and applied interdisciplinary research towards ambitious goals. Within the Initiatives, cross-cutting areas have been identified and include Enabling Technologies (hard tech and software tools, including AI), Systems Analysis and Modeling, and Policy and Decision Making. Investigators working in different cross-cuts are strongly encouraged to engage with each other in research and community dialogue to accelerate knowledge transfer and translation of research results into practice.

This call announces the center’s interest in receiving proposals for research projects that advance the goals of the three Initiatives described below. Proposals outside of these themes will not be considered in this round of applications.

Initiative 1: Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

Various challenges exist to eliminating carbon emissions rapidly enough to meet international climate goals. These include hard-to-abate emissions in the industrial and transportation sectors and near-term barriers to expanding transmission for developing renewables at-scale. There is thus broad acknowledgement that meeting climate goals will require deployment of carbon capture and storage systems. Additionally, further gains towards net-zero can be realized by utilizing captured carbon to create products that would otherwise be based on fossil carbon. While deployment of large-scale systems is already underway, advances are desirable to make capture processes more cost-effective and robust, to improve the efficiency and scope of practicable utilization schemes, and to ensure that storage methods are safe and reliable. Thus, this initiative will support efforts to develop and implement technologies, models, and policies with the potential to lower the barriers for widespread adoption of carbon capture, utilization, and storage.

We welcome proposals for activities in a variety of areas, including but not limited to: approaches to improve the efficiency or cost-effectiveness of point-source or direct air capture via advances in technology, process integration; developing CDR methods involving mineralization of natural sequestration with robust carbon accounting; technologies for conversion of CO₂ to commercially desirable products; approaches for improving assessments of long-term CO₂ geological storage potential and safety; understanding societal barriers to deployment of various CO₂ capture and storage technologies and infrastructures, and exploring strategies to overcome them.

Initiative 2: Climate Resilience Engineering

As knowledge of the societal risks posed by climate change has become increasingly detailed, several climate hazards have risen to prominence in national adaptation plans, including drought, sea level rise and flooding, extreme heat, and coastal storm damage, with concomitant concerns about the vulnerability of the systems noted above and the potential for cascading effects. Thus, this initiative will support efforts to develop and implement technologies, models, and policies for mitigating and managing climate risks to critical systems (e.g., civil infrastructure for energy, water, and transportation; food and agriculture) and human health. We welcome proposals for activities with potential to enhance the climate resilience of infrastructure, transportation, human health, and agriculture.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to: climate model-informed assessment of risks (e.g., heat, storm, drought) to existing and/or planned energy and civil infrastructure systems, particularly approaches that leverage advances in climate model downscaling to forecast specific regional challenges on decadal timescales; designs for hardening infrastructure and/or innovations that can make recovery faster and less expensive (e.g., novel flood management strategies, distributed energy systems and micro-grids, coastal storm- and flood-resilient infrastructure); cost-effective approaches for mitigating human health impacts of extreme urban heat; mitigating and managing climate risks to critical resources (e.g., water and food systems) and ensuring continuity of supplies to vulnerable populations; identifying barriers to awareness of adaptation needs, and strategies to encourage adoption of various approaches; linking climate models and damage functions to financial models to inform infrastructure capital investment decisions

Initiative 3: Decarbonizing Buildings and Transportation

The majority of global, anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are closely linked with two areas that touch everyone’s daily life: shelter and mobility. In the US, recent EPA estimates put carbon emissions from the transportation sector roughly on par with the construction and operation of buildings, and collectively these sectors represent about 60% of all US greenhouse gas emissions. There are thus substantial opportunities for carbon reductions in these areas of everyday civil life. Regarding transportation, battery electrification has already enabled zero-emissions vehicle travel, and improvements in battery energy densities and power management systems present clear R&D targets. In contrast, decarbonizing aviation and commercial transportation may require alternative approaches such as fuel cells and sustainable fuels (note: see Topics Not in Scope). In the building sector, sustainable design and construction offer routes to reduce embedded carbon (note: see Topics Not in Scope), and energy-efficiency improvements and advanced energy management provide opportunities to reduce operational emissions. In both sectors, tools and strategies for implementing effective policy and behavioral incentives are also needed.

This initiative aims to support a range of research around decarbonizing buildings and transportation, with a view towards developing practicable solutions that address the opportunities outlined above. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: construction materials and techniques that reduce the embodied carbon in buildings (note: production of concrete and steel are not considered here; see Topics Not in Scope); materials or designs for substantially improving the efficiency or sustainability of LED lighting; high-efficiency heating and cooling technologies that enable electrification; technologies and strategies to advance grid-interactive buildings and other approaches to facilitate demand-side energy management; enhancing battery or fuel cell performance and efficiency via improvements in materials or designs; technologies and models for optimizing the performance of alternative transportation fuels (note: production of alternative fuels is not considered here; see Topics Not in Scope).

Topics Not in Scope. The production of alternative fuels for transportation and the production of steel and concrete are not considered in scope for this inititiative. Those are part of a separate initative on Industrial Decarbonization, which is not supported under this call.

Funding Levels and Number of Awards

Two categories of projects will be awarded:

• Seed, led by one or two principal investigators (PIs) and funded at up to $150k for one or two years. Seed projects should explore high risk, high reward fundamental research ideas and/or seed new collaborative directions (for projects involving multiple PIs).
• Convergence, involving two or more PIs and funded at up to $450k for one or two years. Convergence projects draw together a collaborative, interdisciplinary team (i.e., representing different departments or clearly distinct disciplines) to address a multi-dimensional problem requiring different avenues of investigation. These projects should have potential to grow into sustained research programs that could form the basis of an externally funded center or other large-scale, multi-institutional research efforts.

The Andlinger Center anticipates funding up to two compelling submissions from this proposal call.  

Proposal Requirements, Evaluation, and Submission

Proposal Requirements

SEED PROJECTS: The total proposal length for seed projects should not exceed three (3) pages excluding the cover page, references, and budget rationale. Proposals must include the section elements in the order listed below.

• Cover page (not included in page count). This consists of a project title, list of PIs, requested budget, anticipated start date, project duration, and project abstract (150 words max).
• Background (approximately 0.5 page). Explain the target research questions and problems and the significance in the realm of energy and the environment.
• Objectives and approach (approximately 2 pages). Describe the research objectives, general plan of work, preliminary findings, and methods to be used.
• Expected outcomes and future plans (approximately 0.5 page). Explain the key expected outcomes, how they will advance knowledge or otherwise address the target problem, and outline future directions for the research (particularly how it might grow collaborations and interdisciplinarity and lead to potential external research awards).
• References (not included in page count).
• Budget rationale (not included in page count). State the amount of funds requested and provide an explanation of how the funds would be spent. If awarded, a budget and budget justification will be required.
• NSF-style biosketch (3 pp maximum) for the PI and all co-PIs
• Statement of current and pending research funding for the PI and all co-PIs

CONVERGENCE PROJECTS: The total proposal length for convergence projects should not exceed four (4) pages excluding the cover page, references, and budget rationale. Proposals must include the section elements in the order listed below.

• Cover page (not included in page count). This consists of a project title, list of PIs, requested budget, anticipated start date, project duration, and project abstract (150 words max).
• Background (approximately 0.5 page). Explain the target research questions and problems and the significance in the realm of energy and the environment.
• Objectives and approach (approximately 2 pages). Describe the research objectives, general plan of work, preliminary findings, and methods to be used.
• Team members’ expertise and roles (approximately 0.5 page). Describe the investigators expertise, their project roles, and how they will collaborate.
• Expected outcomes (approximately 0.5 page). Explain the key expected research and other outcomes, noting how they will advance knowledge or otherwise address the target problem.
• Future plans (approximately 0.5 page). Outline plans for project growth towards large external proposals, noting team building efforts that will be pursued during the project, specific funding opportunities of interest, and how the efforts would complement those of existing centers (if any) in the US.
• References (not included in page count).
• Budget rationale (not included in page count). State the amount of funds requested and provide a brief explanation of how the requested funds would be spent. If awarded, a budget and budget justification will be required.
• NSF-style biosketch (3 pp maximum) for the PI and all co-PIs
• Statement of current and pending research funding for the PI and all co-PIs

Proposal Evaluation

Both Seed and Convergence projects will be peer reviewed by the following criteria:

1. To what extent does the project suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts that can address problems posed by the PIs’ chosen initiative?
2. Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale?
3. Are the expected outcomes reasonable, and would they constitute notable progress towards addressing the stated target problem?

Seed projects will be evaluated by the additional criterion:

• Are the plans for future directions logical and compelling with regard to research thrusts and paths for growing interdisciplinarity?

Convergence projects will be evaluated by the additional criteria:

• Is the team well-structured with respect to expertise and interdisciplinarity?
• Are the plans for future growth logical with regard to (a) building a multi-pronged research effort, (b) assembling an interdisciplinary team, and (c) preparing the team to compete for large center-level proposals from funding agencies?

Proposal Submission

Proposals should be submitted through InfoReady using the link provided on the Andlinger Center’s website announcement of this opportunity, 

Eligiblity

Only full-time Princeton faculty or senior research scholars are eligible to serve as a PI or co-PI. Researchers who have received a Convergence award from the previous two cycles of this program are ineligible to serve as PI but may serve as a co-PI. Investigators who have previously received grants from the Andlinger Center must be up-to-date with report submissions before submitting a proposal in response to this call. All things being equal, preference will be given to proposals submitted by PIs who are not currently receiving funding from either the Andlinger Center’s Fund for Energy Research with Corporate Partners or the Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows Programs.

Requirements for funded projects

• Reports: For all projects, a summary report will be due at the conclusion of the funding term. For multi-year projects, a progress report will be due at the end of year one. Report requirements will be communicated to PIs of awarded projects.
• Participation in Andlinger Center annual meeting: During or soon after the award period, the PI and relevant team members will be invited to present the research results in a poster or panel session at an appropriate Andlinger Center event.

Prospective PIs who are interested in submitting a proposal are requested to send an email of intent briefly describing the project idea and listing the PI and co-PIs by Tuesday, September 2^nd, to the Andlinger Center’s assistant director for research, Charlie Sharpless (csharpless@princeton.edu). Sharpless is available to answer general or technical questions, and provide guidance on topic selection or research strategy.