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The Transport Phenomena (TP) program supports fundamental research to understand, model, and control the transport of mass, momentum, energy, and species across multiple scales. Innovative TP research supports advances in artificial intelligence; manufacturing; biotechnology; microelectronics; energy generation, extraction, and utilization; nuclear energy; quantum science and engineering; and other national priorities. TP projects involve experiments, theory, and/or computational modeling. They aim to improve understanding and to create novel analytical techniques. While projects focus on fundamental principles, they also have a clear vision of how research outcomes will benefit applications in engineering. TP supports research on the dynamics of single- and multiphase systems. Special interests include flow separation, transition to turbulence, drag reduction, cavitation, instabilities, and reactive flows. The program encourages research on the connection between dynamics at the microscale and material and flow properties at the macroscale. Fluids of interest include liquids, gases, suspensions, emulsions, granular materials, active fluids, biological fluids, colloids, aerosols, bubbles and drops, and fluids with surfactants. TP supports research on physicochemical phenomena at the interfaces between fluids and between fluids and solids. These phenomena include adsorption and desorption of nanoparticles and surfactants; bulk and interfacial rheology; wetting and capillarity phenomena; electrokinetics; flow in porous media; and directed and self-assembly of particles. TP su...

Society relies on chemical processes to turn raw materials into useful products. The Chemical Process Systems (CPS) program invests in fundamental research on chemical and biochemical processes to make them more efficient, sustainable, and resilient. New CPS technologies for manufacturing, biotechnology, critical minerals, energy, food, and other national priorities will help make the U.S. more competitive and secure. Research supported by the CPS program covers the full breadth of chemical and biochemical process innovation. It spans reaction engineering and molecular thermodynamics; reactor design; catalysis; electrochemical systems; separations; and process design. The program encourages proposals that connect the molecular scale to process and plant scales. The CPS program explores active-site structure and function, reaction mechanisms, in situ and operando characterization, durability, and device-level integration. Microreactors, membrane and catalytic reactors, atmospheric plasmas, and other novel configurations are of interest. The program supports research in catalysis and electrochemical systems to produce, use, and store energy, to reduce waste, to process polymers, and to synthesize fuels and chemicals. This includes process and materials innovation to support the nuclear fuel cycle. The CPS program also targets chemical and biological separations that are efficient and scalable. Research includes the design of membranes, sorbents, and specialized interfaces. Advances can be used in gas separations, the recovery of critical minerals, bioprocessing, and protein a...

The Engineering Biological and Biomedical Systems (EBBS) program expands our understanding of biological and physiological systems, and it helps improve human health. For U.S. leadership in biotechnology, the engineering of biology is required at every scale. Engineering is needed for sensing biomarkers to making proteins to restoring functions of the body. In EBBS, fundamental mechanistic insights are combined with experimental and computational techniques. This approach helps develop platforms, devices, organisms, tissues, and processes that bring new understanding and control of biological functions. EBBS supports studies of mechanisms that drive the behavior of microbial populations and cells, and of therapeutic cells and tissues. This includes discovering the underlying engineering principles that are needed to capture the responses of biological systems and bioreactors. It also includes the creation of novel biosensing platforms and new optical imaging and modulation strategies. Research that enables the design of biological systems to sense and respond to novel stimuli is welcome. Similarly, projects leading to insight into tissue changes or injury, and to systems that imitate or restore the functions of tissues or organs are encouraged. Projects that advance rehabilitation engineering through new theories and approaches are supported by the EBBS program. Fundamental engineering research driven by the needs of persons with disabilities is encouraged. The EBBS program expands what is possible in biomanufacturing; research may advance biotechnology and/or health. EBBS....

The Engineering Environmental Resiliency (EER) program supports fundamental research to advance resource and energy conservation and recovery, and to safeguard the natural environment and human health. Better use of domestic resources will help make U.S. manufacturing and energy systems more resilient and secure. EER projects advance artificial intelligence; biotechnology; quantum science and engineering; nanoengineering; microelectronics; and other national priorities. EER supports research that transforms biotechnology and manufacturing to create domestic sources of energy; engineered chemical, biological, and/or geo-physical processes may be involved. The program supports studies on the sustainability of benign manufacturing. EER supports the development of innovative technologies that minimize or re-use waste discharges to soil, water, and air by closing resource loops. EER also supports research on sustainable recycling and management of waste materials and critical minerals. EER supports studies on life cycle assessment, materials flow analysis, and AI modeling to advance the circular economy. EER research encompasses the chemistry, biochemistry, transport, and fate of nutrients and contaminants of emerging concern in air, water, soil, and sediments. It also includes the biochemical reactivity of pollutants in the built environment. EER welcomes ideas that grow fundamental and quantitative understanding of how nanomaterials and nanosystems interact with biological and environmental media. The program also supports research on engineered systems that safeguard health a...