TECHNICAL TOPIC DESCRIPTIONS
OFFICE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Program Area Overview
1. Use of Cellulosic Biomass to Produce Biofuels
a) Handling and Preprocessing of Ensiled (Wet) Biomass
b) Densification/Granulation of Dry Biomass
c) Fermentation/Biochemical Conversion
d) Distributed Biomass Pyrolysis and Bio-oil Upgrading/Thermochemical Conversion
2. Solar Energy
a) Monitoring and Self-Diagnosing PV Systems, Components and Modules
b) PV (Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film) Manufacturing Diagnostics
c) Non-Inverter Balance-of-System Components and Net-Metering Technologies
d) Non-Cell Concentrator Photovoltaic System Components
3. Hydrogen Delivery and Production
a) Off-Board Hydrogen Bulk Storage
b) Hydrogen Liquefaction
c) Hydrogen Compression
d) Hydrogen Production
4. Wind Energy Reliability and Cost Reduction
a) Smart Wind Grid Integration Systems
b) Wind Turbine Health Monitoring Systems
c) Wind Turbine Operating and Control Systems (Sensors and Actuators)
d) Advanced Manufacturing and Assembly Techniques for Wind Energy Systems
5. Technologies Related to Hybrid Electric Vehicles with Special Emphasis On Plug-In Hybrids
a) New Materials to Improve the Performance of Lithium-Ion Batteries in HEV and PHEV Applications
b) Improved Lower Cost Electrode Materials for Electrochemical Capacitors
c) Technologies to Address Problems Associated with Internal Heating in Capacitors
d) Technologies Associated with Advanced Motors
6. Alternative Feedstocks to Chemicals
a) Coal to Chemicals
b) Cellulose-Based Biomass to Chemicals
c) Tar Sands and Heavy Oil to Chemicals
Additional Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Topics may be found under #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, and #12.
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
Program Area Overview
7. Chemical Reactions and Separation Processes for Bio-refinery Applications
a) New Chemical Catalysts and Biocatalysts
b) Process Intensificiation
c) Alternative Reaction Media
d) Separation Process to Reduce or Eliminate Distillations
a) Heterogeneous Catalysis
b) Homogeneous Catalysis
c) Reactive Separations
9. Separation Process Technologies for Manufacturing
a) Distillation
b) Adsorption
c) Advanced Dewatering
d) Recycling Automotive and Truck Materials
10. Nanotechnology Applications for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
a) Nanomaterials for Industrial and Building Applications
b) Nanotechnology Applications in Electrons, Sensors, and Controls
c) Nanotechnology Applications in Renewable Energy Conversion
d) Nanotechnology Applications in Energy Storage
11. Advanced Cooling Technology
a) Buildings Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
b) Vehicular Air Conditioning
c) Industrial Process Refrigeration
d) Utility and Industrial Heat Exchangers
12. Solid State Lighting
a) SSL Products Made from Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs
b) SSL Products Made from Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)
c) Off-Grid SSL Products
d) Contributing SSL Technology
13. Neutron and Electron Beam Instrumentation
a) Neutron Facilities
b) Electron Beam Microcharacterization Facilities
14. Technology to Support National Scientific User Facilities
a) Synchrotron Radiation Detectors
b) Beam Diagnostic Instrumentation
c) Technologies for the Development of High Power Mercury Spallation Targets
d) Instrumentation for Ultrafast X-ray Science
15. Accelerator Technologies for Present and Future Accelerator Facilities
a) Accelerator Modeling and Control
b) Radio Frequency (RF) Devices and Components
c) Superconducting Technology for Accelerators
d) Advanced Sources for Accelerators
16. Materials for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems
a) Advanced Radiation Resistance Ferritic-Martensitic Alloys
b) Advanced Refractory, Ceramic, Ceramic Composite, or Coated Materials
a) Hydrogen Production from Coal
b) Potential for Sequestration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Enhanced Methane Recovery in Coalbeds
c) Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Enhancement through Infiltration Fabrication Techniques
d) Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) Catalyst Development
Program Area Overview
18. Coal Gasification and Combustion Technologies
a) High Temperature Heat Recovery Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC)
b) Novel Concepts in Industrial Gasification
c) Novel Concepts In Hydrogen Production and Process Intensification
d) Hydrogen and Syngas, Novel Concepts in Liquid Fuels Production and Process Intensification with Carbon Management
19. Advancements in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Balance-of-Plant and Turbine Performance and Sub-Systems for Performance Enhancements
a) 1 to 5 kWe Diesel Reformer
b) Evolved Designs for High-Power, Low Cost, High Performance Fuel Cell Power Conditioning Systems
c) Innovative Cooling Approaches
d) Increasing Performance of Gas Turbine Exhaust Systems
20. High Performance Materials for Long Term Fossil Energy Applications
a) Surface Modification of Alloys for Ultrasupercritical Coal-Fired Boilers
b) Sealing Technology for Gas Separation Devices
c) Computational Tools for Materials Development
21. Environmental Innovations for Fossil Energy Applications
a) Development of Technologies to Reduce Freshwater Use and Consumption in Coal-Fired Power Plants
b) Novel Technologies for Sequestering Mercury in Flue Gas Desulfurization Solids Under Disposal or Beneficial Use Environments
c) Novel Approaches for Monitoring the Condition of Advanced Power Plants
22. Oil and Natural Gas Technologies
a) CO2 Flooding
b) Methane Hydrates
23. Climate Control Technology for Fossil Energy Applications
a) Breakthrough Performance Improvements on Supporting Systems for Post Combustion CO2 Capture
b) Advanced Monitoring Technologies for Geologic CO2 Sequestration
Additional Fossil Energy Topic may be found under #17.
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY,
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Program Area Overview
24. Advanced Technologies for Nuclear Energy
a) New Technology for Improved Nuclear Energy Systems
Additional Nuclear Energy Topics may be found in #16 and #35a
Program Area Overview
25. Nuclear Physics Electronics Design and Fabrication
a) Advances
in Digital Electronics
b) Circuits
c) Advanced
Devices and Systems
d)
Manufacturing and Advanced Interconnection Techniques
26. Nuclear Physics Particle and Radiation Detection Systems, Instrumentation and Techniques
a). Advances in Detector and Spectrometer Technology
b) Technology for Rare Particle Detection
c) Large Band Gap Semiconductors, New Bright Scintillators, Calorimeters, and
Optical Elements
d) Nuclear Targets and High-Radiation Environment Beam Transport Components
27. Nuclear Physics Accelerator Technology
a) Materials
and Components for Radio Frequency Devices
b) Design and
Operation of Radio Frequency Beam Acceleration Systems
c)
Particle Beam Sources and Techniques
d)
Accelerator Control and Diagnostics
28. Nuclear Physics Software and Data Management
a) Large Scale Data Storage
b) Large
Scale Data Processing and Distribution
c) Large
Scale Data Archiving and Maintenance
d)
Distributed Processing
Program Area Overview
29. High Energy Physics Data Acquisition and Processing
a) High-Speed Electronic Instrumentation
b) Large Scale Analysis Computer Systems
c) Distributed Collaborative Infrastructure and Distributed Data Management and
Analysis Frameworks
d) Simulation and Modeling Techniques and Systems
30. Accelerator Technology for International Linear Collider
a) Superconducting Radiofrequency Systems
b) Beam Instrumentation and Feedback Systems
c) Magnet and Fast Kicker Technology
d) Polarized RF Photocathode Sources and Accelerator Magnet Technology
31. Advanced Concepts and Technology for High Energy Accelerators
a) New Concepts for Acceleration
b) Novel Device and Instrumentation Development
c) Inexpensive High Quality Electron Sources
d) Computer Software for Control Systems and Advanced Accelerator Modeling
32. Radio Frequency Accelerator Technology for High Energy Accelerators and Colliders
a) Radio Frequency Acceleration Structures
b) Radio Frequency Power for Linear Accelerators
c) New Concepts or Components for Pulsed Power Modulators and Energy Storage
33. High-Field Superconductor and Superconducting Magnet Technologies for High Energy Particle Colliders
a) High-Field Superconductor Technology
b) Superconducting Magnet Technology
34. High Energy Physics Detectors
a) Particle Detection and Identification Devices
b) Detector Support and Integration Components
Additional High Energy Physics Topic may be found under #35c.
OFFICE OF SCIENCE ( Joint Topic with Nuclear Energy, Biological and
Environmental Research. High Energy Physics, and Advanced Scientific Computing
Research)
35. Advanced Computational Methods for Applied Science and Engineering
a) Computational Methods for Nuclear Energy and Technology
b) Computation Bio-Informatics
c) Computational Methods for Petascale Physics
d) Computational Methods for Modeling Subsurface Flow and Transport
OFFICE OF ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH
Program Area Overview
36. Numerical Software Maintenance
a) Numerical Software Maintenance, Versioning, and Distribution
b) Scaling Mathematical Tools and Libraries to Petascale
37. Scientific Visualization and Data Understanding
a) Scientific Visualization and Management
b) Petabyte-Scale Data Transformation, Discovery, and Distribution
38. High Performance Networks
a) High-Speed Network Provisioning Tools and Services
b) High-Speed Network Security Systems
39.
Scalable Systems Software for Petascale Computer Systems
a) Petascale System Software
b) Petascale File
Systems
c) Debugging and Performance Monitoring of Petascale Systems
40. High Performance Middleware
a) Scientific Data Management and Understanding
b) Scalable I/O Sub-Systems for Petascale Data Distribution
c) Scalable and Secure Services for Large-Scale Scientific Collaborations
Scalable Middleware Technologies
Additional Advanced Scientific Computing Research Topic may be found under #35d
OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Program Area Overview
41. Discovery, Search, and Communication of Textual Knowledge Resources in Distributed Systems
a) Discovering and Utilizing Knowledge Sources for Metasearch Knowledge Systems
b) Researcher-friendly Presentation of Metasearch Results
OFFICE OF DEFENSE NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION
Program Area Overview
42. Research to Support Proliferation Detection
a) Spectroscopic Quality Radiation Detection Materials Growth
b)
Radiation Detector Development from Emerging Advanced Materials
c) Technique for Fabricating Optical Quality Gradient Index Spheres
d) Compression of Registered Wide-Area High-Resolution Aerial Video
43. Research to Support Nuclear Explosion Monitoring
a) Seismic Monitoring of Nuclear Explosions
b) Radionuclide Monitoring of Nuclear Explosions
c) Space-based Monitoring of Nuclear Explosions
d) Development of COTS-In-Space Reconfigurable Processing Architectures
OFFICE OF ELECTRICITY
DELIVERY AND ENERGY RELIABILITY
Program Area Overview
44. High Temperature Superconducting Second Generation Wire
a) Effect of Filament Geometry on AC Loss
b) Low Aspect-Ratio Coated Conductors
c) Cryogenic Dielectric Materials that can be Integrated into 2G Conductors
d) Novel Ultra-Fast Techniques to Deposit Epitaxial Layers for Low-Cost 2G
Conductors
45. Power Electronics and Advanced Materials for Energy Storage
a) Wide Band Gap, High Voltage, High Frequency Switches
b) Reactive Power Supply
c) Advanced Nano-Materials for Energy Storage Applications
46. Modeling and Analysis
a) Electricity System Reliability Model
OFFICE OF BIOLOGICAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
Program Area Overview
47.
Carbon Cycle Measurements of the Atmosphere and the Biosphere
a) Sensors and Techniques for Measuring Terrestrial Carbon Sinks and Sources
b) Novel Measurements of Carbon, CO2, and Trace Greenhouse Gas
Constituents of Terrestrial and Atmospheric Media
48.
Genomes-To-Life (GTL) and Related Biotechnologies
a) Innovative Protein Production Technology in Microbes and Plants
b) Improved Technology for Transformation of Plant Cells
c) Microbe-Based Fuel Production
d) Informatics
49. Technologies for Subsurface Characterization and Monitoring
a) Mapping and Monitoring Hydrogeologic Processes in the Shallow Subsurface
b) Real-Time, In Situ Biogeochemistry Measurements in Subsurface
Sediments, Biofilms, or Groundwater
c) Improved Separation Technologies for Proteome Analyses of Subsurface
Microbial Communities
50. Atmospheric Measurement Technology
a) Measurements of the Chemical Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols
b) Instrumentation for Characterizing Atmospheric Aerosols
c) In-Situ Measurement of Cloud Properties with Large Sample Volumes
51. Medical Sciences
a) Radiopharmaceutical Development for Radiotracer Diagnosis and Targeted Molecular Therapy
b) Advanced Imaging Technologies
c) Development of Non-Photovoltaic Biological Power Sources for Implantable Devices
Additional Environmental and Environmental Research Topic may be found under #35b.
OFFICE OF FUSION ENERGY
SCIENCES
Program Area Overview
52. Advanced Technologies and Materials for Fusion Energy Systems
a) Plasma Facing Components
b) Blanket Materials and Systems
c) Superconducting Magnets and Materials
d). Structural Materials and Coatings
53. Fusion Science and Technology
a) Diagnostics for Magnetic Fusion Plasma Research
b) Components for Heating and Fueling of Fusion Plasmas and Tokamak Facility Operations
c) Plasma Simulation and Data Analysis
d) Components and Modeling Support for Innovative Approaches to Fusion
54. High Energy Density Physics for Inertial Fusion Energy
a) Beam
Generation, Compression, and Focusing
b) Fast Ignition
c) Innovative Approaches for Creating and/or Studying States of High Energy
Density
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