Environmental Engineering

The Environmental Engineering program, offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), supports transformative fundamental research aimed at protecting human and ecological health through engineered solutions. As part of the Environmental Engineering and Sustainability cluster, which also includes the Nanoscale Interactions and Environmental Sustainability programs, this initiative underscores NSF’s commitment to advancing interdisciplinary scientific approaches to environmental challenges. The program is administered by the Directorate for Engineering, under the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET), and is designed to address critical environmental issues through innovative engineering strategies. The overarching objective of the Environmental Engineering program is to mitigate the human and ecological impact of pollution through a variety of methods, including pollution prevention, resource recovery, and environmental remediation. Proposals should focus on closing resource loops to minimize discharges into the environment; developing smart, adaptive, or reactive technologies to mitigate contaminants; or remediating polluted environments using engineered processes. Proposals may incorporate insights from environmental microbiology, chemistry, or geophysics, provided the research is clearly tied to the goal of improving environmental and public health outcomes. Specific research themes supported by the program include developing new technologies for waste valorization and resource extraction from waste streams; innovative methods for safeguarding water quality through contaminant removal, transformation, or prevention; and advancing understanding of the fate and transport of emerging contaminants in various environmental media. Additional focus areas include improving air and water quality in the built environment and exploring the interaction between environmental chemistry and microbial communities. The program explicitly excludes proposals that focus solely on physical or chemical separation processes without addressing biogeochemical reactivity, or on environmental monitoring technologies without treatment insights. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year. There is no specific deadline, but all proposals must adhere to the guidelines outlined in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG). For proposals involving novel areas or those outside clearly listed scopes, NSF strongly encourages principal investigators to consult with program directors to ensure alignment before submission. Special grant mechanisms, such as RAPID, EAGER, and GOALI, are also considered under this program and must be discussed with NSF staff prior to submission. Proposals for conferences, workshops, and supplements are permitted and likewise require prior communication. While the program welcomes standard three-year unsolicited proposals, it also supports submissions under the prestigious CAREER program for early-career faculty, which carries a five-year award period and has a firm annual deadline in July. The program does not have a publicized award cap or floor, but most single-PI proposals support one graduate student and one month of PI salary annually. Budget sizes must be discussed with a program director if they significantly exceed norms. The opportunity is open to a broad set of applicant organizations, provided they fall within NSF’s standard eligibility criteria for research grants. For questions, applicants may contact Program Director Chenyang S. Jiang at [email protected] or call (703) 292-7858. As of now, there is no specified deadline, and proposals may be submitted year-round. This ongoing, open-call format facilitates continuous engagement and encourages high-quality, transformative environmental engineering research. Interested applicants should regularly review NSF updates and ensure compliance with all submission policies to avoid rejection without review.