Environmental Engineering | PD 20 1440

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) What is this NSF funding opportunity?

This opportunity is the National Science Foundation (NSF) Environmental Engineering program, Funding Opportunity Number PD 20-1440. It supports potentially transformative, fundamental research that protects human health and ecological systems by improving how we understand and control pollution in air, water, and soil.

2) What kinds of research does the Environmental Engineering program prioritize?

The program prioritizes interdisciplinary research that applies chemical, biological, and physical science and engineering principles to understand pollution and to develop prevention, mitigation, and remediation strategies. A core emphasis is building a strong, mechanistic understanding of pollutant fate, transport, and biogeochemical reactions in the environment.

3) What is meant by a "mechanistic understanding" in this program?

In this context, mechanistic understanding refers to explaining how and why pollutants move through air, water, and soil, and how they transform through biogeochemical reactions. NSF frames this as foundational knowledge that enables effective pollution prevention, mitigation, and remediation.

4) What are the three main objectives of the program?

The Environmental Engineering program is organized around three core objectives:

• Prevention/minimization/reuse: Research that reduces pollution at the source by preventing, minimizing, or reusing solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges, including closing resource loops and reducing waste generation.
• Mitigation after release: Research that reduces environmental and human-health impacts after releases occur, including smart, adaptive, or reactive strategies and amendments that intentionally manipulate environmental conditions to reduce harm.
• Remediation: Research that cleans up contaminated environments using engineered chemical, biological, and geophysical processes.

5) Are environmental microbiology, chemistry, or geophysics topics a good fit?

They can be a strong fit when the work is clearly tied to protecting human and ecological health and aligns with the program goals (prevention, mitigation, and/or remediation) with a mechanistic focus on biogeochemical reactivity or treatment efficiency.

6) What are NSF's highlighted interest areas for this program?

NSF highlights several major interest areas (not exhaustive), including:

• Building a future without pollution or waste: Innovative biogeochemical processes that reduce waste production and waste valorization approaches that extract useful resources from waste streams to close the resource loop.
• Sustainable water supply and protection: New biogeochemical processes to remove, transform, or prevent contaminants in surface and groundwater; recovery of water, nutrients, and other resources from wastewater, saline waters, or brines; and smart, adaptive management of watersheds and urban water systems to maintain or improve water quality.
• Environmental chemistry, fate, and transport: Studies of nutrients and contaminants of emerging concern across air, water, soils, and sediments, including transport/reactivity, environmental forensics, and experiments bridging molecular, continuum, and field-scale modeling with real-world observations.
• The built environment: Understanding biogeochemical reactivity in built systems to improve health outcomes; technologies improving outdoor and indoor air quality; and research on how drinking water/wastewater chemistry and microbial communities influence (or are influenced by) water quality and human health.

7) Does NSF limit proposals only to the listed interest areas?

No. NSF notes the interest-area list is not exhaustive. However, proposals still need to clearly align with the program's scope and priorities, especially the mechanistic emphasis on pollutant fate/transport and biogeochemical reactions tied to protecting health and ecosystems.

8) What topics are explicitly routed to other NSF programs rather than Environmental Engineering?

NSF provides boundaries to help route proposals appropriately:

• Chemical or physical separation processes (e.g., reverse osmosis, membrane distillation, filtration concepts) are directed to the Interfacial Engineering program.
• Fundamental, quantitative understanding of nanomaterials and nanosystems behavior should go to the Nanoscale Interactions program.
• Mainly in vitro, molecular-level environmental chemistry is better suited for Environmental Chemical Sciences.
• Industrial ecology, green engineering, or ecological and earth systems engineering should be submitted to Environmental Sustainability.

9) What kinds of proposals are discouraged and may be returned without review?

Proposals that mainly emphasize materials development, sensors, or monitoring without digging into mechanisms of biogeochemical reactivity or treatment efficiency are discouraged and may be returned without review. NSF also notes misaligned proposals can be returned without review.

10) Why does NSF recommend contacting the program director before submitting?

NSF recommends contacting the program director if there is uncertainty about program fit or if the idea falls outside the explicitly listed interest areas. This is especially important because NSF can return proposals without review if they are misaligned with the program.

11) What does NSF want to see in terms of novelty and impact?

Submissions should clearly explain what is novel and potentially transformative relative to prior work, why the project advances engineering science, and what success could mean for societal and/or industrial impacts. NSF states that, at minimum, the novelty or transformative potential must be stated in the Project Summary.

12) Is there a fixed deadline for this opportunity?

No. The opportunity is open to eligible applicants without a fixed deadline, and proposals are accepted anytime.

13) How long are typical awards for unsolicited proposals in this area?

Awards for unsolicited proposals in the CBET directorate are typically up to three years.

14) What budget levels are typical for single-investigator awards?

Budgets for single-investigator awards often support one graduate student (or equivalent) and up to one month of PI time per year, according to the solicitation summary provided.

15) What if a project needs a larger-than-typical budget?

Larger budgets are more common for multi-investigator projects. If a budget is unusually large, NSF indicates it should be discussed with the program director in advance.

16) Does the program encourage CAREER proposals?

Yes. NSF encourages CAREER proposals. The information provided notes CAREER projects are five-year in duration, and Engineering CAREER proposals are typically due in July.

17) Are conference, workshop, or supplement requests supported?

Yes. The program entertains conference, workshop, and supplement requests.

18) Are RAPID, EAGER, or GOALI proposals allowed under this program?

Yes. The program also entertains RAPID and EAGER proposals and GOALI proposals (which connect fundamental research with translational outcomes). The information provided notes that RAPID, EAGER, and certain other requests require prior discussion with the program director.

19) What compliance rules apply to submissions?

Proposals must comply with the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). Noncompliant submissions will be returned without review.

20) What is the broader organizational home for this program?

The Environmental Engineering program is housed within the Environmental Engineering and Sustainability cluster, alongside the Nanoscale Interactions and Environmental Sustainability programs.