FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002.pdf

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0001

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

This is a special Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). AFRL/AFOSR recognizes the importance of diversity of thought in scientific and technological discovery and is therefore initiating the Basic Research National Science Portal (NSP) Initiative. The NSPs are designed to capitalize on the demonstrated excellence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities/ Minority Serving Institutions/ Tribal Colleges (HBCU/MSI/TCs) and build their research capacity while stimulating and accelerating scientific projects addressing critical Department of the Air Force (DAF) identified areas. The NSPs will create partnerships with the participating institutions in achieving mutually beneficial results.

This FOA is a pilot for the NSPs and is intended to (1) attract faculty and students to conduct cutting-edge basic research in the technical areas listed in Section 1, (2) build capacity needed to support this research and (3) attract students to pursue studies leading to STEM careers, including in government, the defense industry, and academia.

AFRL/AFOSR anticipates making at least three (3) awards of $750,000 to $1,500,000 per year per award for a maximum of three years. Awards will be in the form of project grants. All funding projects are based on availability of funds.

Proposers are encouraged to confer with the designated AFRL/AFOSR Program Officer(s) prior to submitting a full proposal. We will evaluate proposals using an internal review panel. AFRL/AFOSR reserves the right to select and fund all, some, or none of the proposals from one, two, or all the topics below.

White papers briefly summarizing the proposing institution’s ideas are encouraged but not required.

Submit white papers to our whitepaper portal, which is linked below. The topic points of contact (POCs) will coordinate to provide feedback to white papers.

The proposals will need to include a data management plan, outlining how samples and data collected in the program will be stored and managed. This includes but is not restricted to issues such as:

standards for data and metadata collection, content and format, data archiving, database management, and data sharing within, outside the awardee and beyond the lifetime of the grant. This precondition is modeled on the National Science Foundation Data Management Plan requirement (e.g., https://nsf.gov/eng/general/ENG_DMP_Policy.pdf).

https://nsf.gov/eng/general/ENG_DMP_Policy.pdf

Hyperlinks have been embedded within this document and appear as underlined, and or blue- colored words in the midst of paragraphs. The reader may “jump” to the linked section within this document by “clicking” (CTRL + CLICK, or CLICK).

SUMMARY FUNDING OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION

1. FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY NAME

Air Force Office of Scientific Research 875 North Randolph Street, STE 325, Room 3112 Arlington, VA 22203

2. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TITLE

Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 National Science Portal Pilot (NSPP)

3. ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE

Amendment

4. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002

5. CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NUMBER

12.800 Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program

6. KEY DATES

Pre-proposal inquiries and questions must be received in writing by electronic mail to the address(es) listed under section G.2. of this FOA not later than 14 April 2023 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered.

The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions via public posting no later than COB on 21 April 2023.

White papers must be received by submitting to https://community.apan.org/wg/afosr/p/submitawhitepaper by 01 May 2023 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

Anticipated Schedule of Events * Event Date Time

Questions Regarding Eligibility and Technical Requirements ** 4/14/2023

Pre-proposal inquiries or questions posted to grants.gov 4/21/2023

White Papers Due (not required but strongly recommended) 5/1/2023 5:00 PM Eastern Time https://community.apan.org/wg/afosr/p/submitawhitepaper

Notifications of Initial Evaluations of White Papers* 5/15/2023

Proposals Due Date 6/12/2023

*These dates are estimates as of the date of this announcement.

**Questions submitted after the Q&A deadline may not be answered.

IMPORTANT NOTE: White Papers are OPTIONAL but strongly recommended.

White papers should minimally articulate:

1. An initial list of members of the proposed team with a complete bio or CV for each (CVs and/or bios will not count against page limit). Each Bio/CV must include all publications by the proposed member.

2. Current & Pending Support (no page limit; will not count against page limit): Applicants are required to provide information on all current and pending support for ongoing projects and proposals, including subsequent funding in the case of continuing contracts, grants, and other assistance agreements. Applicants shall provide the following information of any related or complementary proposal submissions from whatever sources (e.g., AFOSR, Federal, State, local or foreign government agencies, public or private foundations, industrial or other commercial organizations).

3. The main technical components of the proposed research and how it aligns with the goals of the solicitation.

4. The specific proposed activities with a demonstrated understanding of the basic science needs.

Government will respond on white paper determination before COB on 15 May 2023.Proposals must be received electronically through Grants.gov by 12 June 2023 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered.

We anticipate that we will notify proposers of selection or non-selection for award no later than 28 August 2023.

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

SUMMARY FUNDING OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. SUMMARY

2. BACKGROUND

3. OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH CONCENTRATION AREAS

4. TECHNICAL DETAILS OF PROPOSED RESEARCH

a. Access to DoD Resources

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

a. Covered Educational Institutions

b. Ineligible Entities

2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING

3. OTHER

a. Acknowledgment of Support and Disclaimer Requirements

b. Expectation of Public Dissemination of Research Results

c. Representation for Tax Delinquency, Felony Conviction and Internal Confidentiality Agreements

d. Conflict of Interest

e. Research Personnel Facility Access Requirements and Restrictions…………………………20

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. ADDRESS TO REQUEST APPLICATION PACKAGE

2. CONTENT AND FORM OF APPLICATION SUBMISSION

a. Pre-proposal Inquiries and Questions

b. The Application as a Whole

c. Proposal Format

d. Proposal Length

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 6

e. No Confidential or Proprietary Information

f. Electronic Form and Proposal Attachments

3. GRANTS.GOV APPLICATION SUBMISSION AND RECEIPT PROCEDURES

a. Electronic Delivery

b. How to Register to Apply through Grants.gov

c. How to Submit an Application to AFOSR via Grants.gov

4. COMPONENT PIECES OF THE APPLICATION

a. SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance

b. Representation for Tax Delinquency, Felony Conviction, and Internal Confidentiality Agreements

c. SFLLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Form

d. Certification Regarding Lobbying Form

e. R&R Other Project Information Form

f. R&R Publicly Releasable Project Summary / Abstract

g. Project Narrative

h. Bibliography and References Cited

i. R&R Senior / Key Person Profile Form

j. R&R Budget Form

k. R&R Sub award Budget Form

l. Budget Justification

m. R&R Project / Performance Site Locations Form

n. Data Management Plan (Required)

o. R&R Personal Data Form

5. INFORMATION YOU MUST SUBMIT IF SELECTED FOR POSSIBLE AWARD

6. UNIQUE ENTITY IDENTIFIER (UEI), CAGE, AND SYSTEM FOR AWARD

MANAGEMENT (SAM)

a. SAM Registration Required

b. SAM Exemption or Exceptions Not Available Under This Announcement

c. Questions about SAM Registrations and Updates

d. Consequences of Non-Compliance with SAM Registration Requirements

7. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES

a. Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions Deadline

b. How Submission Time for Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions is Determined

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c. Effect of Missing Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions Deadline

d. Proposal Submission Deadline

e. How Proposal Submission Time is Determined

f. Grants.gov Tracking Number is Application Receipt

g. Effect of Missing the Proposal Submission Deadline

8. INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVIEW

9. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS

a. Proposal Preparation Costs

b. Air Force Office of Scientific Research No-cost Extension (NCE) Policy

c. Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements--Representation

d. Other Submission Requirements

E. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. CRITERIA

a. Principal Evaluation and Selection Criteria

b. Additional Evaluation and Selection Criteria

2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

a. Merit-based, Competitive Procedures

b. Cost Analysis for Reasonableness and Realism

3. DISCLOSURE OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING BY CONTRACTOR

PERSONNEL

4. NO GUARANTEED AWARD

F. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

1. SELECTION NOTICES

a. Electronic Notification

b. Selection for Possible Award Does Not Authorize Work

2. AWARD NOTICIES

a. Federal Award Document

b. Electronic Federal Award Distribution

3. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS

a. Reporting of Matters Related to Recipient Integrity and Performance

b. Agency Review of Risk Posed by Applicants

c. Cross-Cutting National Policy Requirements

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d. Acknowledgment of Research Support

e. Disclaimer Language for Research Materials and Publications

f. Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements

g. DoD Research and Development General Terms and Conditions

h. Conditions of Award for Recipients Other Than Individuals

i. Minimum Record Retention Requirements

4. REPORTING

a. Monitoring and Reporting Program Performance

b. Technical Performance Report Format

c. Department of Defense (DD) Form 882 Report of Inventions and Subcontracts

d. Standard Form (SF) 425 Federal Financial Report

e. Electronic Payment Requests and Electronic Payment

f. Property Reports

g. Other Reports

h. Electronic Submission of Reports

G. AGENCY CONTACTS

1. TECHNICAL INQUIRES AND QUESTIONS

2. GENERAL INQUIRIES AND QUESTIONS

H. OTHER INFORMATION

1. OMBUDSMAN

2. GRANTS AND CONTRACTING OFFICERS AUTHORITY

3. ADDITIONAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 9

A. Program Description

The Basic Research National Science Portals (NSPs) seek to accelerate DoD critical scientific areas and flood the United States with diverse STEM talent by capitalizing on the demonstrated excellence of Historically Black Colleges and Universities/ Minority Serving Institutions/ Tribal Colleges (HBCU/MSI/TCs) and building their research capacity in critical research areas. The topic areas that we seek to support with this FOA are independent from those described in our open Broad Agency Announcement (Research Interests of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research) and do not fall completely within any one research program. We seek to support multidisciplinary research efforts, creating synergies to speed DoD-relevant research and development.

This FOA is a pilot for the NSPs and is intended to (1) attract faculty and students to conduct cutting-edge basic research in the technical areas listed in Section 1, (2) build capacity needed to support this research and (3) attract students to pursue studies leading to STEM careers, including in government, the defense industry, and academia.

Basic and applied research are defined in the DoD Financial Management Regulation:

Basic research is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. It is farsighted high payoff research that provides the basis for technological progress (DoD 7000.14-R, vol. 2B, chap.

5, para. 050201.B).

Applied research is systematic study to understand the means to meet a recognized and specific need. It is a systematic expansion and application of knowledge to develop useful materials, devices, and systems or methods. It may be oriented, ultimately, toward the design, development, and improvement of prototypes and new processes to meet general mission area requirements. Applied research may translate promising basic research into solutions for broadly defined military needs, short of system development. This type of effort may vary from systematic mission-directed research beyond that in Budget Activity 1 to sophisticated breadboard hardware, study, programming and planning efforts that establish the initial feasibility and practicality of proposed solutions to technological challenges. It includes studies, investigations, and non-system specific technology efforts. The dominant characteristic is that applied research is directed toward general military needs with a view toward developing and evaluating the feasibility and practicality of proposed solutions and determining their parameters. Applied research precedes system specific technology investigations or development. Program control of the applied research program element is normally exercised by general level of effort. Program elements in this category involve pre-Milestone B efforts, also known as Concept and Technology Development phase tasks, such as concept exploration efforts and paper studies of alternative concepts for meeting a mission need (DoD 7000.14-R, vol. 2B, chap. 5, para. 050201.C).

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Detailed descriptions and the government point(s) of contact can be found below. The descriptions are intended to provide the applicant a frame of reference and are not meant to be restrictive to the possible approaches and component solutions to achieving the goals of the topic and the program. Innovative ideas addressing these research topics are highly encouraged.

Proposals from an investigator team from multiple university departments and universities are warranted to assemble the expertise necessary to address the topics. Teams are also highly encouraged to leverage industry collaborations, where appropriate, to demonstrate an ability to develop solutions that can be eventually applied to a specific application.

Proposals shall name one Principal Investigator (PI) as the responsible technical point of contact. Similarly, one institution shall be the primary awardee for the purpose of award execution. The PI shall come from the primary institution. The relationship among participating institutions and their respective roles, as well as the apportionment of funds including sub-awards, if any, shall be described in both the proposal text and budget.

Concurrent with this FOA, is a stand-alone Fiscal Year 2024 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). DURIP is designed to improve the capabilities of accredited United States (U.S.) institutions of higher education to conduct research and to educate scientists and engineers in areas important to national defense, by providing funds for the acquisition of research equipment or instrumentation. Proposers to this NSPP FOA are strongly encouraged to submit the instrumentation portion of the proposal to the DURIP FOA. If interested in applying to the DURIP FOA, please visit Grants.gov and search for announcement number FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0005 or go direct via this link:

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=346064

Please note that the DURIP awards follow a specific timeline that might not overlap perfectly with this NSPP FOA. If you anticipate that the delivery of the equipment necessary to enhance your research ability will be hindered by the DURIP timeline, please consider it and discuss with the research topic chief. This solicitation is research focused and the purchase of equipment should in no way deter you from achieving your research goals.

The schedule for this announcement is given in Section B, Award Information.

In fiscal year 2023, we seek proposals in three topic areas: Directed Energy, Fluid Surface Material Interaction and Data, Models: Machine Learning for Scientific Discovery. Each is described in the following section.

1. Directed Energy Topic: Extreme Light, Heat and Sound: New Vistas in Controlling Brillouin, Raman, and Thermal Instabilities in Novel Lasing Materials

Background: Our understanding of the complex interaction of light and matter has dramatically advanced in the last decade. With applications as diverse as remote sensing, manufacturing, high-https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=346064

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 11 precision metrology, and directed energy, the next-generation of high-power and high-energy lasers must manage the nonlinear interactions of light, sound, and heat to produce spatially and temporally coherent sources of bright light across the electromagnetic spectrum. This is a highly multi-scale and multi-physics problem which needs researchers from disciplines such as material science, physics, mathematics, atomic spectroscopy, and engineering. We seek proposals to advance our knowledge of the nonlinear instabilities, such as Brillouin, Raman, and Thermal/Transverse Mode, as well as in the instability’s impact in next-generation novel lasing materials. Stand-alone experimental, theoretical, or simulation proposal are acceptable and mixed theory, simulation, and experimental proposals are encouraged.

The Department of the Air Force routinely requires robust high-power and high-energy laser systems with highly consistent output to perform various missions, including long-range sensing, additive manufacturing including in-orbit systems, and long-range directed energy sources that combine range with the deep magazine of a laser system. These requirements create requirements for materials that can support both high peak and average power operations with narrow linewidth and good spatial beam quality across the range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This effort is particularly focused at extending and enhancing our understanding of nonlinear laser instabilities to new wavelengths and lasing materials. It is anticipated that co-designing the material system with aspects of instability control will speed the development of new lasers for a wide variety of U.S. Air and Space Forces missions.

Objective: In this effort, we seek to identify both mechanisms and materials that can be used to produce high-power/energy coherent sources of electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths of interests for such uses as directed energy missions, manufacturing, and long-range remote sensing, imaging, and ranging. Figures of merit such as high-power/energy output, narrow linewidth, and high beam quality can all be enhanced through mitigation and control of phenomena such as Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS), Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS), and Transverse Mode Instability (TMI).

Techniques that develop new advanced materials and exploit novel spatial and temporal pumping are especially encouraged under this call.

Research Concentration Areas: Suggested research areas include, but are not limited to:

1. Novel theoretical approaches to modeling multi-scale laser-matter instabilities.

2. Modeling and engineering of novel pumping schemes for instability control

3. Identification of specific materials features that promote or inhibit instability grown (examples include intrinsic material phonon energy, scattering losses, etc)

4. Assessment of laser system design using novel materials

5. Development of novel laser-quality materials

5. Construction and laboratory demonstration of novel lasing systems

6. Verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification of novel lasing systems

Anticipated Resources: It is anticipated that awards under this topic will total an average of $1.5M per year for 3 years supporting up to five faculty researchers. Exceptions warranted by specific proposal approaches should be discussed with the Program Officers during the white paper phase of the solicitation. All funding projects are based on availability of funds.

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 12

AFOSR Topic Chief:

Primary: Dr. John Luginsland (john.luginsland@us.af.mil)

2. Fluid Surface Material Interaction Background: The fundamental flow physics at the interface between a fluid (air) and material surface drive the physics governing many important macroscopic phenomena including laminar-to-turbulent transition, drag, flow separation and reattachment, and heat transfer. Numerous studies (see references section) on flow texturing (e.g., riblets), surface porosity, and “architected” materials (phononic, resonant, meta-, etc.) have opened new and unexplored paths to control fluid-structure interactions.

Fundamental understanding at a basic research level from the microscopic to macroscopic perspectives in both fluid physics and material science is needed to address this topic.

Advances in material science and manufacturing have developed engineered surfaces and textures that suggest smooth, rigid surfaces may not be the ideal interface for an air vehicle. Engineered material surfaces with functional surface properties (e.g., riblets or porosity) can provide superior performance in a number of engineering areas such as reduced drag and turbulent transition delay. Additionally, non-rigid surfaces with functional sub-surface structures have been shown in limited cases to respond to the local flow unsteadiness and to delay the growth of instabilities. Challenges remain in understanding how an engineered surface finish, or sub-surface phononic structure, can couple to the fluid dynamics and improve performance. There is very limited understanding in how heterogeneity in texture scale, or inhomogeneity in spatial distribution, or porosity and permeability affect the very near wall flow. Moreover, there is only a nascent understanding for how sub-surface phononic structures can couple to turbulent flow unsteadiness. This close-coupled interaction requires a need for collaboration between the materials science, manufacturing, and structures communities with the fluid physics and aerodynamics communities. These advances in materials and manufacturing now make it possible to imagine bespoke surfaces with textures and sub-structures tailored to interact with the wall bounded flows. This topic will help lay the scientific foundation for an air vehicle of the future wherein the surface and subsurface structure will vary around the vehicle and will passively manage the flow in each location to achieve the desired level of performance.

The topic, by definition, is multidisciplinary as it requires expertise of material and manufacturing scientists, fluid physicists, and fluid dynamists with expertise in experimental, analytical, and numerical approaches across all disciplines. Without this multidisciplinary effort with emphasis on basic research, the vision of this topic would not be realized. Laboratory and flight demonstrations have shown the favorable interaction of engineered surfaces to reduce drag and delayed transition.

However, the vision supported by this topic aims to uncover the physical interaction observed so it can be leveraged, modeled, and, ultimately, incorporated into air vehicle designs.

Objectives: To make foundational advancements in our understanding and predictive capabilities of fluid-material interfaces to enable the development of novel surface treatments, architected subsurface structures, and/or metamaterials to improve air vehicle performance over a broad range of flight conditions. The research should exploit advances in flow field measurement capabilities, emerging concepts in digital manufacturing, passive meta-surface/structure design, and sophisticated data-driven analysis.

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Research Concentration Areas: Suggested research areas include, but are not limited to:

(1) fluid physics research focused on wall-bounded shear flows over novel surface interfaces (i.e., porosity/patterning/texturing) and architected materials.

(2) materials and manufacturing research and development focused on resonant/metastable/metamaterials and their coupling to fluid interactions.

(3) elucidation of the effect of scale (i.e., Reynolds number), imposed pressure gradients and surface curvature, and three-dimensionality (i.e., finite span wing) on the fluid-surface interactions over a range of flow field conditions (angle of attack, unsteadiness, etc.)

(4) understanding of the effects of engineered surfaces and/or surfaces texturing on surface obstacles and features such as cavities, protuberances, corners, etc.

(5) development of models and tools that will lead to engineering approaches for design.

(6) understating the complex 3D topologies spanning multiple length scales in polymers and metals.

Anticipated Resources: It is anticipated that awards under this topic will range approximately $750,000 to $1,500,000 per year per award for a maximum of three years supporting up to five faculty researchers. Exceptions warranted by specific proposal approaches should be discussed with the Program Officers during the white paper phase of the solicitation. All funding projects are based on availability of funds.

AFOSR Topic Chiefs:

Primary: Dr. Gregg Abate (gregg.abate@us.af.mil) Additional: Dr. Douglas Smith (douglas.smith.82@us.af.mil) Lt. Col. Matthew Krisak (matthew.krisak@us.af.mil)

Please email all topic chiefs with any technical inquiries you may have, but address your proposal to the primary topic chief.

References:

1. G. D. Bixler and B. Bhushan. Fluid drag reduction with shark-skin riblet inspired microstructured surfaces. Advanced Functional Materials, 23(36):4507–4528, 2013.

2. M. Itoh, S. Tamano, R. Iguchi, K. Yokota, N. Akino, R. Hino, and S. Kubo. Turbulent drag reduction by the seal fur surface. Physics of Fluids (1994-present), 18(6):065102, 2006.

3. J. Jimenez, M. Uhlmann, A. Pinelli, and G. Kawahara. Turbulent shear flow over active and passive porous surfaces. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 442:89–117, 2001.

4. M. I. Hussein, S. Biringen, O. R. Bilal and A. Kucala, "Flow stabilization by subsurface phonons," Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences , vol. 471, no. 2177, p. 20140928 , 2015.

mailto:gregg.abate@us.af.mil mailto:douglas.smith.82@us.af.mil mailto:matthew.krisak@us.af.mil

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 14

5. Caleb J. Barnes, Carson L. Willey, Kevin Rosenberg, Albert Medina and Abigail T. Juhl.

"Initial Computational Investigation Toward Passive Transition Delay Using a Phononic Subsurface," AIAA 2021-1454. AIAA Scitech 2021 Forum. January 2021.

6. Efstathiou, C., & Luhar, M. (2020). Turbulent boundary layers over streamwise-preferential porous materials. arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.00182.

7. Chavarin, A., Efstathiou, C., Vijay, S., & Luhar, M. (2020). Resolvent-based design and experimental testing of porous materials for passive turbulence control. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.08779.

8. Dynamic Roughness for Manipulation and Control of Turbulent Boundary Layers: An Overview. Beverley J. McKeon, Ian Jacobi, and Subrahmanyam Duvvuri. AIAA Journal 2018 56:6, 2178-2193

3. Data, Models: Machine Learning for Scientific Discovery Background: The recent advances in computational algorithms and high-performance computing platforms have made computational science and engineering (CSE) an essential and enabling field for modeling, simulation, and design of complex engineering systems. These computational advances along with dramatic improvement of sensor technologies providing data and machine learning techniques for data-driven modeling have resulted in emergence of a new discipline called “Scientific Machine Learning (SciML).” While the use of machine learning techniques utilizing data from experiments or simulations has been prevalent in certain scientific communities (e.g., material science), SciML as a multidisciplinary field using scientific computing, machine learning and mathematical modeling has flourished in many physical and engineering sciences. In these areas where SciML is used for discovery, the existing machine learning techniques which are application agnostics are not suitable since the models should respect or incorporate physical laws or other known knowledge constraints of the specific field. Also, in many scientific areas the available data could be high-dimensional, noisy, multiscale, and heterogenous. Issues such as interpretability and robustness of these data-driven techniques in the context of scientific discovery must be seriously addressed as they are essential to the task of reliable scientific modeling. In the past few years, the framework of Physics-Informed Machine Learning, (PIML) or using the computational power of Deep Neural Networks, the Physics-Informed- Neural Networks (PINNs) has changed and influenced the landscape of SciML. But this influential framework is still under active development and refinement to respond to some of the fundamental questions remaining in SciML: given partial information about the physics or constraints in the model, and noisy, sparse data, how we can develop reliable and predictive models. So, even with this early promise of SciML, there are key challenges that remain and should be addressed by the computational math and domain scientists. Since SciML as a hybrid (data, physics-based) predictive modeling field is multidisciplinary, this topic in this area presents an excellent opportunity for enhancing the research capabilities within the HBCU/Mis Universities which have strong mathematics and data science departments and allows these researchers in close collaboration with science and engineering departments to fundamentally transform the engineering and science research at these institutions.

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 15

Objective: The objective of this topic is to bring together experts from applied and computational mathematics, statistics, optimization, and machine learning to team with domain scientists in a field of the team’s choosing to develop a comprehensive and rigorous framework for developing machine learning and computational algorithms to utilize available data and knowledge about the system to perform model discovery, predictive simulation, and analysis tools for complex systems. The possible scientific domains include materials, environmental and life sciences, chemistry, or physics.

Research Concentration Areas: Given the wealth of research in Neural Networks computing and some foundational work in SciML, the motivation behind this topic is not to just use existing codes and ideas to new unexplored physical sciences, but to give an opportunity to the participating teams to explore and develop new mathematical and computational frameworks that could enhance existing methodologies for scalable, predictive modeling. To reach this goal, one of the key concentration areas should be Uncertainty Quantification to account for different sources of uncertainty (data, models, parameters), model fidelity quantification in the case of reduced order modeling, or multi-fidelity models and errors and uncertainties due to neural network computing (if NNs are used for computing). Issues such as computational cost, training cost, scalability, formulation of proper computing architectures (as in neural networks or other computing networks) should be seriously considered.

Depending on the particular scientific field, developing benchmark problems and checking the efficiency and accuracy of the methods on these benchmark problems will be quite beneficial. Also, while the methods developed are application-aware, generalizability and applicability of the methods to other scientific and engineering fields should be explored and addressed.

Anticipated Resources: It is anticipated that awards under this topic will total an average of $1.5M per year for 3 years, supporting up to six faculty researchers. Exceptions warranted by specific proposal approaches should be discussed with the Program Officers during the white paper phase of the solicitation. All funding projects are based on availability of funds.

AFOSR Topic Chiefs:

Primary: Dr. Fariba Fahroo (fariba.fahroo@us.af.mil) Additional: Dr. Ali Sayir (ali.sayir.1@us.af.mil)

Please email all topic chiefs with any technical inquiries you may have, but address your proposal to the primary topic chief.

4. TECHNICAL DETAILS OF PROPOSED RESEARCH

The proposal submission process has two stages:

• Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a white paper; and

• Applicants must submit a proposal through Grants.gov.

Prospective awardees are encouraged to submit white papers to minimize the labor and cost mailto:fariba.fahroo@us.af.mil mailto:ali.sayir.1@us.af.mil

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 16 associated with the production of detailed proposals that have very little chance of being selected for funding. Based on an assessment of the white papers, the responsible Research Topic Chief will provide informal feedback notification to the prospective awardees to encourage or discourage submission of proposals. The Research Topic Chief may also, on occasion, provide feedback encouraging re-teaming to strengthen a proposal.

A strong proposal should outline, as specifically as possible, the technical details of the proposed research. In addition, proposals should articulate how research goals align with the research topic being addressed. Because of the breadth of research that spans our challenge categories, it is anticipated that groups that submit proposals will include researchers of diverse technical perspectives and technical backgrounds. Finally, efforts integrating a variety of approaches are preferred to those using a single approach, especially as these may provide increased opportunities for technology transfer.

a. Access to DoD Resources

Proposals may request access to AFRL facilities or DoD high performance computing resources in order to conduct the proposed research. Proposals should make this request in accordance with the instructions given in the D.4.g. Project Narrative section of this announcement. If authorized, there is no cost to the research for these resources.

Applicants are advised that routine access of educational institution researchers to AFRL buildings and facilities is limited to U.S. citizens. Individuals eligible for access are subject to background checks.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Through this competition, AFOSR intends to award approximately $12 million, subject to the availability of funds. Awards will be in the form of project grants.

AFOSR expects projects to be completed within the three-year performance period. Requests for no-cost extensions will not be automatically granted. Any such request must be fully justified and submitted sufficiently in advance of the end of the performance period for AFOSR to give it due consideration and determine whether to approve or deny the request. Applications for renewal or supplemental awards will not be considered under this FOA.

Typical annual funding per grant will range from $750,000 to $1.5M per year. Any proposer wishing to submit a proposal outside of this range should discuss their research plan with the relevant Program Officer during the whitepaper phase of this FOA. The total amount of funding and resources made available to fund a successful proposal may vary based on the quality of proposals received and funds availability.

The anticipated period of performance is a three-year base period.

AFOSR reserves the right to select and fund for award all, some, part, or none of the proposals

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 17 received. There is no guarantee of an award.

Awards are made under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 4001 in the form of grants, or cooperative agreements. We rely on discretionary appropriated funds for this program. We select what kind of award instrument we can use based on requirements in the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act 31 U.S.C. 6301 – 31 U.S.C. 6308. We discuss regulations, terms, and conditions that generally apply to our awards in Section F. Federal Award.

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

a. Covered Educational Institutions

You are eligible to submit an application and be the submission team lead if you are a Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions (HBCUs/MSIs) or Tribal College and University.

PI eligibility for this competition is open only to “covered educational institutions,” which are defined as:

a. institutions of higher education eligible for assistance under Title III or V of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.); or

b. accredited post-secondary minority institutions.

Eligible applicants include community colleges or other two-year degree granting institutions meeting the definition of a “covered educational institution.”

Enrollments, accreditation, and other factors may affect an institution’s eligibility in any Given year. With the exception of HBCUs and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), an Institution must apply to the Department of Education (DoEd) each year for Title III or Title V eligibility to meet the eligibility criterion above. A copy of the DoEd letter dated April 2021 or later that certifies the institution’s eligibility for Title III or Title V assistance must be included with each application submitted under this FOA. The eligibility letter will not be included in the page limitation of the application.

If the DoEd eligibility letter is not submitted with the application, the applicant will be deemed ineligible and the application will not be considered for funding.

No other entities are eligible to submit applications under this competition. However, lead proposals may include participation of other institutions of higher education or for-profit companies through the use of subawards or subcontracts, whichever is determined appropriate in accordance with requirements under 2 CFR 200.331.

We will review your application, proposal, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title10-section4001&num=0&edition=prelim https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title31/subtitle5/chapter63&edition=prelim

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 18 designated repositories of government-wide public and non-public data, including comments you have made, as required by 41 U.S.C. 2313 and described in 2 CFR 200.205 and 32 CFR 22.410 to assess risk posed by applicants, and confirm applicants are qualified, responsible, and eligible to receive an award.

b. Ineligible Entities

None of the following entity types are eligible to submit proposals as primary award recipients under this announcement:

1) Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs)

2) Individual persons or people

3) Federal agencies (to include Military Educational Institutions)

4) For-profit institutions

5) All institutions other than Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority

Serving Institutions (HBCUs/MSIs) or Tribal College and University

2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING

Cost sharing or matching is neither required nor an evaluation criterion for proposals under this announcement. You may propose voluntary committed or uncommitted cost sharing or matching, for example, additional support for students. Any voluntary committed cost sharing amount will be included in the total award value.

3. OTHER

a. Acknowledgment of Support and Disclaimer Requirements

You must include the F.3.d. Acknowledgment of Research Support on all materials created or produced under our awards. The F.3.e. Disclaimer Language must be included on materials as required. The award document may provide additional instructions about specific distribution statements to use when you provide research materials to us. You are not eligible to submit a proposal if you cannot accept these terms.

b. Expectation of Public Dissemination of Research Results

AFOSR expects public dissemination of research results if you receive an award. This is a basic requirement for unclassified research results.

AFOSR intends, to the fullest extent possible, to make available to the public all unclassified, unlimited peer-reviewed scholarly publications and digitally formatted scientific data arising from research and programs funded wholly or in part by the DoD as described in the DoD Instruction 3200.12, “DoD Scientific and Technical Information Program (STIP).”

AFOSR follows DoD Directive 5230.24 and DoD Instruction 5230.27 policies and https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-C/section-200.205 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-32/subtitle-A/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-22/subpart-D/section-22.410 https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/320012p.pdf?ver=2018-12-17-130508-423 https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/523024p.pdf https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/523027p.pdf?ver=2019-04-04-095230-883

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 19 procedures to ensure broad dissemination of unclassified research results to the public and within the Government. The DoD Instruction 5230.27 policy and procedures allowing publication and public presentation of unclassified fundamental research results will apply to all research proposed under this competition unless the Program Officer gives you an explicit, written exclusion to these policies with the Grants Officer’s advice and consent.

All exclusions must be authorized or required by law and must cite a valid legal authority.

c. Representation for Tax Delinquency, Felony Conviction and Internal

Confidentiality Agreements

You must complete the “Representation for Tax Delinquency, Felony Conviction, and Internal Confidentiality Agreements” provided with the Grants.gov package. More specific information about this requirement is provided in section D.4.b.

Your eligibility for funding cannot be determined unless this form is received.

d. Conflict of Interest

This announcement requires that all current and pending research support, as defined by Section 223 of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act must be disclosed at the time of proposal, for all covered individuals. Such disclosure will be updated annually during the performance of any research project selected for funding, and whenever covered individual are added or identified as performing under this project. Covered Individuals are those who are listed as key personnel on proposals including but not restricted to the principal investigator or co-principal investigator.

Any decision to accept a proposal for funding under this announcement will include full reliance on the applicant’s statements. Failure to report fully and completely all sources of project support and outside positions and affiliations may be considered a materials statement within the meaning of the federal False Claims Act, and constitute a violation of law.

The funding agency may conduct a pre-award conflict of interest/conflict of commitment review of any proposal selected for funding, as defined in the National Security Strategy for United States Government-Supported Research and Development (NSPM-33). Offerors are advised that any significant conflict of interest/conflict of commitment identified may be a basis for the rejection of an otherwise awardable proposal.

Applicants for assistance are required to comply with 2 CFR 200.318(c), Codes of Conduct, to prevent real or apparent conflicts of interest in the award and administration of any contracts by which a recipient or subrecipient purchases property or services, supported by federal funds.

1) General Requirement for Disclosure https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/523027p.pdf?ver=2019-04-04-095230-883 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/010422-NSPM-33-Implementation-Guidance.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/010422-NSPM-33-Implementation-Guidance.pdf

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 20

You and your organization must disclose any potential or actual scientific or non-scientific conflict of interest(s) to us. You must also disclose any potential or actual conflict(s) of interest for any sub recipient you include in your proposal. You must provide enough information for AFRL/AFOSR to evaluate your disclosure.

AFRL/AFOSR may have to ask you more questions if more information is needed.

At AFRL/AFOSR’s sole discretion, you may be asked for a conflict of interest mitigation plan after you submit your proposal. Your plan is subject to AFRL/AFOSR approval.

2) Scientific Conflict of Interest

Scientific collaborations on research and development projects are generally the result of close collaboration prior to the submission of applications for support.

Accordingly, virtually all of these collaborations might be considered to include a potential conflict of interest. The potential conflict is mitigated by the disclosure of these collaborations, and the list of current and pending support you provide for senior and key researchers.

You must provide a copy of all peer-reviewed publications developed or produced from research conducted with DAF funds to the AFOSR Program Officer.

You are not eligible to submit a proposal if you cannot accept these terms.

e. Research Personnel Facility Access Requirements and Restrictions

AFRL contains facilities and equipment that could be useful to the proposed research.

Access to these facilities will be restricted to US citizens.

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. ADDRESS TO REQUEST APPLICATION PACKAGE

All the application forms you need are available electronically on Grants.gov. From the “View Grant Opportunity” page, you can click on the “Application Package” tab to download the application package.

You can find the electronic application package on Grants.gov by searching for the announcement number shown on page one. Paper copies of this announcement will not be issued.

Please contact us at denise.johnson.19@us.af.mil to request a reasonable accommodation for any accessibility requirements you may have.

https://www.grants.gov/ mailto:denise.johnson.19@us.af.mil

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 21

2. CONTENT AND FORM OF APPLICATION SUBMISSION

a. Pre-proposal Inquiries and Questions

You are encouraged to contact the Program Officer listed in section G.1. Technical Inquires and Questions before you submit your proposal.

If you need help with general matters, you should contact the individual listed in G.2. General Announcement Questions.

Your pre-proposal inquiries and questions should be submitted not later than 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time on 14 April 2023. AFOSR may not be able to answer questions received later. This is discussed more in section D.7. Submission Dates and Times.

The Program Officer does not have the authority to make commitments for the government.

Grants and Contracting Officers acting within their warranted capacity are the only people authorized to make commitments for the Government.

b. The Application as a Whole

You must submit your proposal electronically through Grants.gov. AFOSR will not accept or evaluate any proposal submitted by any means other than through Grants.gov. AFOSR must receive your proposal before the D.7.d. Proposal Submission Deadline.

You must use the electronic Standard Form (SF) 424 Research and Related (R&R) Form Family, OMB Number 4040-0001. The SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal assistance form must be your cover page. No pages may precede the SF 424 (R&R).

You must mark your application with the announcement number.

A summary of what is required for a complete proposal is summarized below:

The forms and attachments in bold text are required with all applications.

Some applications require the attachments in italics.

More instructions are provided in D.4. Component Pieces of the Application.

R&R FORM, OMB No. 4040-0001 FIELD ATTACHMENT

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 22

SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance, including an authorized signature

18. Certification Regarding Lobbying Form or SF-LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Per instructions in D.4

R&R Other Project Information Form 7. Project Summary / Abstract

8. Project Narrative

9. Bibliography & References Cited

10. Facilities and Other Resources

11. Equipment

12. Other Attachments

R&R Senior / Key Person Profile Form (Expanded)

Biographical Sketch

Current & Pending Support

R&R Personal Data Form None

R&R Budget Form Budget Justification

R&R Subaward Budget Attachments Form Subaward Budget

R&R Project / Performance Site Locations Form

None

The SF 424 (R&R) must include the signature of an authorized representative from your organization. The signature is affixed electronically by Grants.gov upon submission. You are still required to submit any documentation, including disclosure of any unpaid delinquent tax liability or a felony conviction under any Federal law (see FAR 52.209-11). This signature is considered the signature for the application as a whole.

c. Proposal Format

Paper Size – 8.5 x 11-inch paper

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2023-0009 Amendment 0002 23

Margins – 1 inch Spacing – Single, 1.5, or 2.0-line spacing Font – Times New Roman or Garamond, 12 point Page Limitation – No more than twenty-five (25) single-sided pages. The cover page, table of contents, list of references, letters of support, curriculum vitae and list of on- going and pending research support are excluded from the page…