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Grants / Department of Energy / Office of Science

DE-FOA-0002635: Opportunities in Frontier Plasma Science

Closed Closed April 15, 2022 Opportunity DE-FOA-0002635

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Genesis Mission Graduate Fellowship Pilot (DE-FOA-0003673). Status: Closes January 12, 2027 (66 days left). It is in our archive of Office of Science notices from 2022.

Office of Science offered grants of up to $120,000 (at least $20,000) to any type of organization. It expected to make about 50 awards worth $6.0 million in total. Applications closed on April 15, 2022.

From the official notice on Grants.gov, last changed March 24, 2022. Checked November 7, 2026.

Key dates

PostedJanuary 13, 2022
DeadlineApril 15, 2022
Archived by Grants.govMay 8, 2022

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to any type of organization.

All types of domestic applicants are eligible to apply, except nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.Due to limited funding, foreign applicants are not eligible to apply under this FOA.Federally affiliated entities must adhere to the eligibility standards below:1. DOE/NNSA National LaboratoriesDOE/NNSA National Laboratories are eligible to submit applications under this FOA and may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a lead applicant, funding will be provided through the DOE Field-Work Proposal System and work will be conducted under the laboratory’s contract with DOE. No administrative provisions of this FOA will apply to the laboratory or any laboratory subcontractor. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward will be removed from the prime applicant’s award and will be provided to the laboratory through the DOE Field-Work Proposal System and work will be conducted under the laboratory’s contract with DOE. Additional instructions for securing authorization from the cognizant Contracting Officer are found in Section VIII of this FOA.2. Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCsNon-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are not eligible to submit applications under this FOA but may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward may be removed from the prime applicant’s award and may be provided through an interagency agreement to the FFRDC’s sponsoring Federal Agency. Additional instructions for securing authorization from the cognizant Contracting Officer are found in Section VIII of this FOA.3. Other Federal AgenciesOther Federal Agencies are neither eligible to submit applications under this FOA nor to be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application.

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Is this a realistic fit?

What the grant funds

The DOE SC program in Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) hereby announces its interest in receiving new applications from U.S. researchers to carry out frontier plasma science research on one or more of the collaborative research facilities (CRFs) and initiatives supported by FES General Plasma Science (GPS) program. These include the Big Red Ball (BRB) and Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) experiments at the Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory (WiPPL) at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW-Madison), the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) in the Basic Plasma Science Facility (BaPSF) at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), the DIII-D Frontier Science Initiative at General Atomics (GA), the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment (MDPX) at the Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL) at Auburn University, the low-temperature Plasma Research Facility (PRF) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the Princeton Collaborative Research Facility (PCRF) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Interested principal investigators (PIs) must have already responded to the separate call for proposals from one or more of these facilities and been allocated experimental runtime to carry out their project. The goal of this FOA is to increase participation and productivity of the GPS program supported CRFs and initiatives. U.S. PIs may seek travel funds and/or seed funding for short-term projects (1-2 years in duration) to carry out frontier plasma science research on these facilities. The funding may include travel support, small FTE support for the PI to supervise, as well as support for students or postdoctoral researchers involved in the experiment and/or validation work. Full-term research projects seeking three or more years of funding are outside the scope of this FOA and must be submitted in response to other announcements.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Who has won Office of Science Financial Assistance Program grants before

From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Office of Science Financial Assistance Program (81.049) awarded $7.7 billion across 6,205 grant awards, an average of $1.2 million per award.

Largest recipients, fiscal 2021 to 2025
RecipientStateAwardsAmount
Michigan State University FoundationMichigan84$573 million
General AtomicsCalifornia30$495 million
University of Wisconsin SystemWisconsin101$275 million
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts118$238 million
University of IllinoisIllinois61$201 million

Top states: California ($1.5 billion), Michigan ($707 million), Massachusetts ($509 million), Illinois ($461 million), New York ($445 million).

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, DE-FOA-0003673, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.

Questions people ask

Is DE-FOA-0002635 still open?

No. It closed on April 15, 2022. A newer notice is open: DE-FOA-0003673, closes January 12, 2027 (66 days left).

Who can apply for Opportunities in Frontier Plasma Science?

Office of Science accepted applications from any type of organization. The notice adds further conditions, so read its eligibility section.

What is the deadline for Opportunities in Frontier Plasma Science?

Closed April 15, 2022. Applications are no longer accepted; the program's newer notices are on this page when there are any.

How much funding is available?

Awards of up to $120,000 each. About $6.0 million in total across about 50 awards.

Who has won Office of Science Financial Assistance Program grants before?

The largest recipients over five fiscal years were Michigan State University Foundation, General Atomics, University of Wisconsin System. The program made 6,205 awards worth $7.7 billion in that time.

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