The National Science Foundation's Office of International Science and Engineering awarded a $249,987 Project Grant to the President and Board of Trustees of Santa Clara University (SCU) to support U.S. participation in the planning phase of a global research and training center. The planned center, co-led by SCU and Concordia University in Canada, aims to create a platform for collaborative investigation, innovation, and education towards a user-centric energy economy for grid-interactive communities. Key focus areas include enabling mechanisms and technologies to increase community acceptance, stakeholder benefits, and provider/consumer interaction of clean energy. The design phase will investigate critical applications, new theories and frameworks, clean energy market architectures, and grid edge technologies to advance scientific knowledge and engineering solutions for more equitable, affordable, flexible, and reliable access to clean energy supplies globally. The project will also provide special programs to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility among multi-sector stakeholders.