Basic Energy Sciences - Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (BES-RENEW)

Description

Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) aims to build foundations for Office of Science (SC) research and training at institutions historically underrepresented in the SC research portfolio. RENEW leverages SC’s unique national laboratories, user facilities, and other research infrastructures to provide undergraduate and graduate training opportunities (i.e., internships) for students and academic institutions not currently well represented in the U.S. science and technology (S&T) ecosystem. The hands-on experiences gained through the RENEW initiative will open new career avenues for participants, forming a nucleus for a future pool of talented young scientists, engineers, and technicians with the critical skills and expertise needed for the full breadth of SC research activities. Principal Investigators, key personnel, students and postdocs of RENEW awards will be invited to participate in cross-Basic Energy Sciences researcher meetings and/or SC-wide professional development and collaborator events.The goal of the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) RENEW program is to increase participation of underrepresented groups in BES’s clean energy research portfolio. BES 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 pilot program is intended to leverage BES’s world-unique national laboratories and user facilities to provide training and research opportunities for students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty from non-R1 minority serving institutions (MSIs) [1,2], including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) [3], currently underrepresented in the BES portfolio [4]. Institutions with the R1 Carnegie Classification are excluded from applying. The hands-on experiences gained through research internships at a DOE national laboratory can open new career avenues for the participants, who will gain the critical skills and expertise needed for the full breadth of BES research activitiesProposals for BES-RENEW awards are limited to hypothesis-driven basic and fundamental chemical and materials sciences research that underpins clean energy technologies and low-carbon manufacturing in at least one of two topic areas:• Basic and Fundamental Science to Enable Clean Energy: Research to provide understanding and scientific foundations for clean energy, including but not limited to direct air capture of carbon dioxide; hydrogen production, storage, and use; solar energy conversion to electricity and fuels; and electrical and thermal energy storage.• Basic and Fundamental Science to Transform Low-Carbon Manufacturing: Research to understand fundamental chemical and materials processes for low-carbon, circular, clean, and scalable manufacturing, synthesis, and processing; to advance transformational operando characterization and multiscale models and tools related to these areas; and to co-design materials, processes, and products for functionality and use.

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