Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) The mission of the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D) is to support U. S. national and nuclear security objectives in reducing global
credit:
nuclear security threats through the innovation of unilateral and multi-lateral technical capabilities to detect, identify, and characterize:
1) foreign nuclear weapons programs, 2) illicit diversion of special nuclear materials, and 3) global nuclear detonations.
Section 313 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 (H.R.
1105, P.L.
111-8) created the Integrated University Program (IUP).
DNN R&D is one of the three participants in this program and is continuing a nuclear science and engineering program, including nuclear security, to support multi-year research projects.
The role of Institutions of Higher Education (IHE; as defined in Section III.A.
of the FOA) for nuclear security research and development is to innovate and develop some of the most challenging basic aspects of new technology and methods.
Once these basic aspects have been proven at the IHE level, the DOE/NNSA National Laboratories and/or National Security Sites/Complexes can fulfill their unique role to perform mission-specific research and development that improves on capabilities until they are either adopted by operational enterprises or transitioned into private industry for commercialization.
Transparently and effectively linking these IHE and DOE/NNSA National Laboratory and/or National Security Sites/Complexes roles represents the core of how DNN R&D proposes to meet its objectives.
The intent of this FOA is to award TWO separate five-year cooperative agreements to consortia of accredited IHEs to allow them to receive and administer funds for student and faculty research, fellowships, and scholarship funding awarded by DOE/NNSA, DNN R&D.
Each cooperative agreement will be awarded to a consortium of IHEs which will include the participation of DOE/NNSA National Laboratories and/or National Security Sites/Complexes as a consortium-member(s).
Individual consortium-member IHEs shall make specific contributions and shall receive specified portions of the funding.
The consortium may include student and research fellows and must have a long-term objective of building expertise in nuclear nonproliferation detection.
Research results should be incorporated readily into IHE curricula.
Students, faculty, and researchers must be able to work unencumbered while moving across what are now organizational and bureaucratic boundaries of the academic and governmental facilities engaged in the consortium, while properly protecting critical information and materials.
The consortium should establish reciprocal arrangements between the lead IHE and other IHEs as well as relationships with appropriate DOE/NNSA National Laboratories and/or National Security Sites/Complexes.