Environmental Engineering Program (NSF 1440)

Environmental Engineering Program (NSF 1440) is sponsored by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). This program supports fundamental research applying scientific and engineering principles to prevent, minimize, or reuse pollution discharges to soil, water, and air; mitigate ecological and human-health impacts; and remediate polluted environments through engineered processes.

Environmental Engineering | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation Environmental Engineering Archived funding opportunity This document has been archived. See PD 20-1440 for the latest version.

Important information for proposers and award recipients All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in the funding opportunity and in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and its supplements . All NSF grants and cooperative agreements are subject to the applicable set of NSF award terms and conditions . NSF has updated its research security policies for NSF funded projects.

The goal of the Environmental Engineering program is to encourage transformative research which applies scientific and engineering principles to avoid or minimize solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges, resulting from human activities on land, inland and coastal waters, and air, while promoting resource and energy conservation and recovery.

The program also fosters cutting-edge scientific research for identifying, evaluating, and monitoring the waste assimilative capacity of the natural environment and for removing or reducing contaminants from polluted air, water, and soils. Any proposal investigating sensors, materials or devices that does not integrate these products with an environmental engineering activity or area of research may be returned without review.

Major areas of interest include: Enhancing the availability of high quality water supplies: Development of innovative biological, chemical and physical treatment processes to meet the growing demand for water; investigation of processes that remove and degrade contaminants, remediate contaminated soil and groundwater, and convert wastewaters into water suitable for reuse; investigation of environmental engineering aspects of urban watersheds, reservoirs, estuaries and storm water management; investigation of biogeochemical and transport processes driving water quality in the aquatic and subsurface environment.

(Please note that research targeting the chemical or physical separation process should be submitted to the Chemical and Biological Separations Program, CBET 1417) . Fate and transport of contaminants of emerging concern in air, water, and soils: Investigate the fate, transport and remediation of potentially harmful contaminants and their by-products.

(Please note that research concerning the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials should be submitted to the Nano-Bio Phenomena and Processes in the Environment program, CBET 1179). NOTE: For proposals involving any aspect of chemistry, including but not limited to biochemistry or physical chemistry, consider making proposal submissions to this program (1440) with the Proposal Title as: ‘ SusChEM: Title of Your Proposal' .

For more information on SusChEM-related proposals click here . The same applies for proposals involving sustainable engineering. The duration of unsolicited awards is generally one to three years.

The typical annual award size for the program is around $100,000. Principal Investigators requesting a substantially higher amount must consult with the Program Director prior to the submission of a proposal, to avoid the possibility of the proposal being returned without review. Proposals should address the novelty and/or potentially transformative nature of the proposed work compared to previous work in the field.

Also, it is important to address why the proposed work is important in terms of engineering science, as well as to also project the potential impact on society and/or industry of success in the research. The novelty or potentially transformative nature of the research should be included, as a minimum, in the Project Summary of each proposal. Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program proposals are strongly encouraged.

Award duration is five years. The submission deadline for Engineering CAREER proposals is in July every year. Please see the CAREER URL here for more information.

Proposals for Conferences, Workshops, and Supplements : PIs are strongly encouraged to discuss their requests with the Program Director before submission of the proposal. Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) are also considered when appropriate. Please note that proposals of these types must be discussed with the program director before submission.

Further details are available in the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) download found here . Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) proposals that integrate fundamental research with translational results and are consistent with the application areas of interest to each program are also encouraged.

Please note that GOALI proposals must be submitted during the annual unsolicited proposal window for each program. More information on GOALI can be found here . COMPLIANCE : Proposals which are not compliant with the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) will be returned without review.

Unsolicited proposals received outside of the Announced Proposal Window dates will be returned without review. Awards made through this program Browse projects funded by this program Map of recent awards made through this program Directorate for Engineering (ENG) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (ENG/CBET)