DOE Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) Workshop

The purpose of this memo is to inform all interested units and individuals at GIT of the processes being implemented to help faculty prepare GIT’s responses to the anticipated Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) call at http://science.energy.gov/bes/efrc.  The EFRC portfolio will undergo an open re-competition in FY2014 and it is anticipated that the call will come out this fall. The EFRC program supports multi-year multi-investigator studies “focused on overcoming hurdles in basic science that block transformational discoveries”.  Note that all 46 existing EFRC's will be up for renewal, and it is likely that a smaller number of EFRC's will emerge as part of this process.  The current budget request for EFRC’s is $169M, allocated between $98M for materials science and engineering, and $71M in Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences.

A number of teams have already nucleated internally.  There are many faculty members that have already expressed an interest in either leading or participating in a GIT lead EFRC proposal.  To help accelerate and support this process, the SEI and IMAT plan to host a one-half day workshop in early August, 2013.  This workshop would involve short presentations and overviews of potential teams, partnerships, and topics.  The anticipated outcome is a “self-selection” process of the teams, partnerships and topics we collectively wish to pursue institutionally.  In order to prepare for this workshop, the SEI and IMAT request that each potential team put together a brief (two-page) white paper.  The white paper should summarize the team (including all known internal and external partners); include an executive summary of the proposal objectives, a summary of the management approach, and an estimated budget.  Where teams have not yet achieved this level of organization, we also request individual letters of interest that simply state the area(s) of interests and capabilities. The white papers and letter of interests should be sent to Mary Hallisey Hunt (mhhunt@gatech.edu) by July 28th, 2013. These will then be the basis for the presentations scheduled for the workshop, as well as breakout sessions around common topics and themes.

The workshop, which will be supported by the SEI and IMAT, is open to anyone wishing to participate in an EFRC.  All participants do not have to give a formal presentation in order to attend.  SEI and IMAT hope that you are interested and willing to participate in this workshop and more generally help GIT win an award in this upcoming call. The workshop will be held at the GA Tech Student Center on Friday August 9, 2013 from 9am to 12pm. Specific details on the meeting room will be announced closer to the date of the event.

If you plan to register for the workshop, please click the link and RSVP to (CNES@gatech.edu) by Monday, July 29th, 2013.   

Thank you.