NSF/EPA TSE 2003 Home Page

Announcement
of Opportunity

The Most Recent
TSE Solicitation is:
NSF 03-510

FY 2003 Home Page for the
Technology for a Sustainable
Environment (TSE) Program

Our easy-to-remember shortcut URL is: www.eng.nsf.gov/tse

| TSE FY 2003 Program Overview | TSE FY 2003 Program Synopsis |

| TSE 2001 - 2003 Proposal and Grant Summary | TSE Award Grants | Questions ? |

| NSF Program Officers | EPA Program Coordinator and Program Officers |

TSE FY 2003 Program Overview

In FY 2003, the Technology for a Sustainable Environment (TSE) program has been combined with the New Technologies for the Environment (NTE) program into the 2003 Environmental Technologies and Systems (ETS) solicitation of the NSF/EPA Partnership for Environmental Research. Details of each program can be found in solicitation NSF 03-510.

TSE FY 2003 Program Synopsis

It is well recognized that industrial pollution often has complex negative effects on biological systems in the environment. The various policies and regulations set in place to help protect the environment have stimulated researchers to search for effective, economical ways to minimize pollution.

This competition is designed to address pollution avoidance / prevention processes and methodologies, and to support scientific and technological research with long-term impact on industrial and societal applications. Research proposals are invited that advance the discovery, development, and use of innovative technologies and approaches to avoid or minimize the generation of pollutants at the source.

Other than aspects of materials flow and reuse, this competition is not intended to address issues related to waste monitoring, treatment, remediation, recycling, or containment other than inprocess recycling of waste. Research in remediation and treatment of hazardous materials, while very important, is largely supported by other program activities in both agencies, or elsewhere.

General Areas of Possible TSE Research Projects (Prevention at the Source) include:

Chemistry, Bioengineering, and Chemical Reaction-based Science and Engineering for Pollution Avoidance or Prevention -
(1) Alternative Reaction Conditions,
(2) Safer Chemicals,
(3) Catalysis and Biocatalysis,
(4) Unit Chemical and Material Processes,
(5) Computational Chemistry and Molecular Simulation, and
(6) Materials.

Non-reaction Based Engineering for Pollution Avoidance and Prevention -
(1) Bioengineering and Technology,
(2) Separations, Mass Transport, and Interfacial Phenomena,
(3) Fluid and Thermal Transport processes, and
(4) Breakthroughs in Control Systems for Energy Conservation or Transportation Technologies.

Environmentally Benign Systems and Design, Manufacturing, Processing, and Industrial Ecology for Sustainable Product / Services Realization -
(1) Life-Cycle Assessment,
(2) Green Design and Materials Cycles, and
(3) Environmentally Benign Manufacturing.

Sustainable Construction Processes -
(1) Environmentally Conscious Construction Processes, and
(2) Disaster Management for a More Sustainable Environment.

NSF and EPA are providing funds for fundamental and applied research in the physical and biological sciences and engineering that will lead to environmentally benign methods for industrial processing, manufacturing, and construction. The competition addresses technological environmental issues of design, synthesis, processing, and the production, use, and ultimate disposition of products in continuous and discrete manufacturing industries.

The full impact of construction work requires characterization, quantification, and improvement. Examples of possible research in this area include: real-time sensing and monitoring of construction processes to reduce defects and the resulting additional wastes and emissions; equipment substitution, technology innovation, or energy recovery for reduced energy requirements and air emissions; novel materials handling processes that improve energy and material use efficiently; novel construction connections and reinforcement technologies that facilitate deconstruction and material reuse rather than demolition.

Projects with fresh ideas that are "on the cutting edge" and that are "high-risk / high payoff" are encouraged. Projects also will be considered that show the potential to change research infrastructure by developing teams, using systems approaches, and / or introducing new ways of conducting research.

NOTE: Prior to submitting proposals, we recommend that Principal Investigators contact the relevant NSF Program Director(s), via email, to determine the current degree of general interest in the technical or project area. EPA generally does not recommend contacts prior to proposal submission.

ALSO NOTE: This solicitation calls for all proposals to have an Impact Statement included in the Abstract, in addition to all relevancy comments in the Body of the proposal. Any proposals that do not contain the Impact Statement will be returned without review.

TSE FY 2001 - 2003 Proposal and Grant Summary

In FY 2001 (the most recent previous competition), the TSE Program received a total of 218 TSE proposals. Of these, 39 were awarded in FY 2001 and FY 2002, for an overall success rate of 18%. Grants awarded, by both NSF and EPA, are posted on the web as indicated below in the Award Grants links.

For FY 2003, the TSE program received a total of 254 proposals. Of these, 20 have been awarded by NSF to date, and EPA awards are pending. The success rates will be posted at a later date.

TSE Award Grants

Information on past and current TSE award grants is provided below.

Fiscal Year | 1995 through 2000 | 2001 - 2002 | 2003 |

Questions ?

Please feel free to contact Dr. Robert Wellek < rwellek@nsf.gov >, at NSF, if you have any general questions concerning the TSE Program.

Questions concerning specific technical areas should be addressed to the appropriate NSF Program Officer(s) listed below.

NSF Program Officers

NSF FY 2003 TSE Program Contacts
Bioengineering and Environmental Systems Division - BES Nicholas Clesceri nclescer@nsf.gov Environmental Engineering Fred Heineken fheineke@nsf.gov Biochemical Engineering James Lee jlee@nsf.gov Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology Thomas Waite twaite@nsf.gov Environmental Engineering
Chemistry Division - CHEM Katherine Covert kcovert@nsf.gov
Civil and Mechanical Systems Division - CMS Richard Fragaszy rfragasz@nsf.gov Geomechanics and Geotechnical Systems Miriam Heller mheller@nsf.gov Information Technology & Infrastructure Systems
Chemical and Transport Systems Division - CTS T. J. Mountziaris tmountzi@nsf.gov Particulate and Multiphase Processes Michael Plesniak mplesnia@nsf.gov Fluid Dynamics and Hydraulics Geoffrey Prentice gprentic@nsf.gov Separation and Purification Processes Glenn Schrader gschrader@nsf.gov Catalysis & Biocatalysis Richard N. Smith rnsmith@nsf.gov Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Robert Wellek rwellek@nsf.gov Interfacial, Transport and Thermodynamics
Design, Manufacturing, and Industrial Innovation Division - DMII Julie Chen jchen@nsf.gov Engineering Design Delcie Durham ddurham@nsf.gov Engineering Design Jan Twomey jtwomey@nsf.gov Manufacturing Enterprise Systems
Materials Research Division - DMR Joseph Akkara jakkara@nsf.gov Andrew Lovinger alovenge@nsf.gov
Electrical and Communications Systems Division - ECS Paul Werbos pwerbos@nsf.gov Control, Networks, & Computational Intelligence

EPA Program Coordinator and Program Officers

EPA FY 2003 TSE Program Contacts
Stephen Lingle lingle.stephen@epa.gov Environmental Engineering Research Division Director Barbara Karn karn.barbara@epa.gov Environmental Engineering Research Division

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