Mentoring Research on Getting Funding from the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Defense

(DOD)

PanelistsDion Vlochos, vlachos@udel.eduYushan Yan, yanys@udel.edu LJ Holmes, ljholmes@udel.eduMark Mirotznik, mirotzni@udel.edu

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An Overview of DOE Programs and Successful

Proposal SubmissionDion Vlachos and Yushan Yan

An Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Sciences

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DOE Organizational Chart

Office of Science

Office of AI

Fossil Energy

EERE

ARPA-E

AMO

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Important Programs

AMO

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• https://www.energy.gov/science/bes/basic-energy-sciences

BES

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• DOE has roadmaps for most areas– These reports should be studied carefully so a proposal is relevant

to what they are interested in; a section on how your proposal fits in should be written

– (2016) Check out this site:

• Factual Documents

DOE Roadmaps and Factual Documents

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• Cite DOE reports and relate your work to them

• Confidential to adapt for your proposal

Proposals Should Address Relevance to DOE

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• Regular submissions are typically in October

• Solicitations happen throughout the year but more so early in the calendar year; many proposals due by March/April

• DEI sends info on solicitations

• You can register on the DOE website and monitor the solicitations

• DOE has fast turnaround from solicitation announcement to proposal submission

• Some of the programs, e.g., EERE, ARPA-E, etc. send reviews back and expect us to address these within 48 hours

Deadlines/Solicitations

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• Volunteer to participate in panel review by contacting the program manager (this applies also to NSF)

• Do your homework in positioning your idea to future directions of DOE

• Contact the program manager and pitch your idea– This may take a few iterations

– You may be invited to submit a white paper

Submitting a Proposal to the Regular Program

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Developing Partnerships with National Labs

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• Focused FOA– DOE specifies a problem and tells us where it wanted us to be– Our job is to tell DOE where we are and how we can get to where it

wanted us to be

• OPEN FOA (arpa-e every 3 yrs)– We tell DOE where we should be and why– Then we tell DOE where we are and how we can get to where we

should be

• Both cases– It is important that we provide arguments that are quantitative and

numerical– A path to commercialization is also appreciated

▪ It is required for ARPA-E

A FOA and A Good Proposal

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• This is my personal story (PhD in zeolite membranes and zero electrochemistry/energy)– Start with a good reading of the relevant mega trends– Develop a good idea that you are in reasonable position to pursue (it is

ok to have gaps)– Approach someone who has an established track record with DOE

community, especially the ones inside the labs, and who can fill your gaps– Share ideas to test excitement and get feedback and propose together if

feasible– Can be mutually beneficial

▪ They learn new ideas▪ I get educated in electrochemistry▪ I get my gaps filled▪ All of the people I got to work with early in my career are still friends today, after

~20 yrs; I can claim that I self taught myself electrochem or I was taught by them and my own students and postdocs

• Good idea + persistence = win• It is totally feasible to start with a brand new area of research

How to get into the DOE community

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• RFI• FOA

– Focused FOA ▪ DOE specifies a problem and tells us where it wanted us to be

– OPEN FOA (only for ARPA-E)▪ We tell DOE where we should be and why

• Concept Paper (4 pp including 1 p for data)– Mostly prescribed sections to fill

• Full Proposal – Mostly prescribed sections to fill

• Award• Contract Negotiations

– Detailed milestone negotiations▪ This has real consequences in getting funding in all phases

– Budget negotiations

ARPA-E/EERE proposal steps

The Department of Defense (DOD) is pretty huge!!

❑1.4 million active duty, 1.1 million reservists and 450,000 civil servants.

❑$13 billion each year (or 2% of the total annual budget) spent on basic (6.1 funding) , applied research (6.2 funding) and technology development (6.3 funding). As a comparison NSF budget is $7.8 billion and the NIH budget is $41.5 billion.

Primary DoD Organizations for External Funding

Primary Secondary

Army Army research office (ARO)https://www.arl.army.mil/who-we-are/aro/

Combat Capabilities Development Centers (CCDCs)❑ Army Research Laboratory (ARL, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Adelphi, …)❑ C5ISR (formally CERDEC)❑ Armaments Research Center (formally ARDEC)❑ Ground Vehicle Systems Center (formally TARDEC)❑ Chem. Bio Center(formally ECBC)❑ Soldier Systems Center (formally NSRDEC)❑ Aviation & Missile Research Center (formally AMADEC)

Navy Office of Naval Research (ONR)https://www.onr.navy.mil/

Research and Development Labs and Warfare Centers❑ Naval research laboratory (NRL)❑ Naval surface warfare centers (NSWC, Carderock, Crain, Dohlgren,

Philly)❑ Naval underwater warfare center (NUWC)❑ Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (formally SPAWAR)

Air Force Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)https://www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl/afosr/

Research and Development Labs❑ Air Force research laboratory (AFRL)❑ Air Force Materiel Command Research Centers❑ Air Force Life Cycle Management Centers (Aero Armament, Electronic

Human, Aircraft Combat)

Others Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)https://www.darpa.mil/

National Security Agency (NSA)

❑ Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)❑ Missile Defense Agency (MDA)❑ Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)❑ National Reconnaissance Office❑ Acquisition Resource Center (NSA Research)

Example Research Programs in the DoD

Broad Agency Announcements(BAAs)

❑ The defense agencies announce funding opportunities in a variety of ways, including Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs). Each agency typically issues a “Long Range BAA,” which outlines technical research interests and priorities of the agency over a several-year range, as well as targeted BAAs, which address more specific competitions, and other targeted solicitations. University research is often funded through unsolicited proposals based on the Long Range BAA.

Young investigator awards ❑ ONR Young Investigator Program (YIP): https://www.onr.navy.mil/en/Education-Outreach/Sponsored-Research/YIP❑ AFOSR Young Investigator Program (YIP): (https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=313523)❑ ARO Young Investigator Program (YIP): (https://www.aro.org/aro-young-investigator-award)❑ DARPA Young Faculty Award : (https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/for-universities/young-faculty-award)

Program Officer’s Individual Science and Technology Programs

(S&T)

❑ All DoD program officers at ARO, ONR, AFOSR and DARPA have S&T budgets that they can use to fund various projects. They fund these through their long range BAAs.

❑ Budgets vary considerably depending on the particular program manager.❑ Funding decisions are primarily made by the program officers themselves.❑ Potentially great opportunity for long term funding

Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI)

❑ University teams work on fundamental research projects (6.1) for 3-5 years❑ $1.25M-1.5M per year❑ Topic areas and calls for proposals come out once per year

Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

❑ ~$50M per year for the purchase of major equipment <$1M❑ Equipment is intended to benefit current DoD programs.❑ Need to have buy-in from program manager

Small Business Innovation Program (SBIR) and Small Business Technology

Transfer Program (STTR)

❑ Must work with small business (<500 employees)❑ Phase I: 6-9 months $100k-150k❑ Phase II: 24 months $1M-1.2M❑ STTRs must send 30% to university partner❑ SBIR PIs must work 51% with company❑ STTR PIs can be university professor❑ Topic calls come out a few times per year (https://www.sbir.gov)

Some Tricks I Have Learned Over Time

❑ Don’t be shy! Program Officers in the various DoD agencies are given a large amount of discretion in making funding decisions. Having a relationship with the Program Officer is extremely important to potential applicants. Establishing a relationship with a Program Officer is usually not difficult; they are often receptive to phone calls and e-mails and are usually happy to discuss a potential applicants’ research and whether it fits into the agency’s needs; they also attend professional conferences on research topics of interest to their organizations.

❑ Do your homework about the various research and development programs. All of the Department of Defense agencies are highly mission-oriented. The missions of AFOSR, ONR and ARO are related to the management of research that supports the goals and operations of their respective services (Air Force, Navy and Army, respectively). DARPA’s mission is to oversee high risk, high pay-off research that has the potential to significantly benefit any of the DoD’s branches. These DoD agencies therefore are looking for research that has a close connection to defense, and particular technologies and problems of interest. Do not try to sell them on what you want to do! Try to sell them on why what you do will help solve their problems.