NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250001 Amendment 2.pdf

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Fiscal Year 2025

This is a special Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, hereafter generally referred to as “we, us, our, or AFOSR”. AFOSR recognizes that future areas of research may not fall within its existing portfolio structure and has initiated the Director’s Research Initiative (DRI) to stimulate research activity in specific areas of importance to AFOSR.

AFOSR anticipates making at least four (4) awards of approximately $200,000 to $750,000 per year per award for a maximum of three years. All funding projects are based on availability of funds.

Proposers are encouraged to confer with the designated AFOSR Program Officer(s) (PO) or International Program Officer(s) (IPO) prior to submitting a full proposal. We will evaluate proposals using an internal review panel. AFOSR reserves the right to select and fund all, some, or none of the proposals from one, two, three, or all the topics below. Please see the topic descriptions, which can be found in the Program Description.

White papers briefly summarizing the proposing institution’s ideas are strongly encouraged but not specifically 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

NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250001 DRI NOFO FINAL

Please review the entire announcement for full details of this funding opportunity.

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).

Table of Contents

A. BASIC INFORMATION

1. Federal Awarding Agency Name

2. Funding Opportunity Title

3. Announcement Type

4. Funding Opportunity Number

5. Assistance Listing Number

6. Funding Details

7. Key Dates

8. Executive Summary

9. Agency Contact Information

B. ELIGIBILITY

1. Eligible Applicants

2. Cost Sharing

3. Other

C. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Bio-Agile Energy

2. Metamaterials

3. Electrochemistry

4. Space Architectures

D. APPLICATION CONTENT AND FORMAT

1. Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions

2. The Application as a Whole

3. Components Pieces of the Application

4. Information You Must Submit If Selected for Possible Award

E. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND DEADLINES

1. Address to Request Application Package

2. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)

3. Submission Instructions & Grants.gov Application Registration

4. Application Submission and Receipt Procedures

5. Submission Dates and Times

6. Intergovernmental Review

7. Funding Restrictions

8. Other Submission Requirements

F. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. Criteria

2. Review and Selection process

3. Disclosure of Administrative Processing by Contractor Personnel

4. Security Risk Review

5. No Guaranteed Award

G. AWARD NOTICES

1. Selection Notices

2. Award Notices

H. POST-AWARD REQUIREMENTS AND ADMINISTRATION

1. Administration and National Policy Requirements

2. Reporting

I. OTHER INFORMATION

1. Ombudsman

2. Grants and Contracting Officer Authority

3. Funding Opportunities

A. BASIC INFORMATION

1. Federal Awarding Agency Name Air Force Office of Scientific Research 875 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203

2. Funding Opportunity Title Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Directors’ Research Initiative (DRI)

3. Announcement Type Initial Announcement. Note that although this is a one-time opportunity, it is anticipated that this could be a recurring funding opportunity.

4. Funding Opportunity Number NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250001 – Amendment 2

*This amendment changes the proposals due date, as well as the notification for selection of award. Please see below for applicable dates

5. Assistance Listing Number

12.800 Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program

6. Funding Details AFOSR intends to fund a minimum of four (4) awards, in the amount of $200,000 to $750,000 per year, for a maximum of three (3) years. The expected value of each award is anticipated to be $600,000 to $2,250,000. The total amount of funding available for this initiative, for fiscal year 2025, is $2,300,000.

7. Key Dates Pre-proposal inquiries and questions, regarding white papers and the submission of those white papers, must be received in writing by electronic mail to the address(es) listed under section A.9.a. of this NOFO not later than 16 JAN 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions via public posting, or individual responses, no later than COB on 24 JAN 2025.

White papers must be received by submitting to https://community.apan.org/wg/afosr/p/submitawhitepaper by 31 JAN 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. White paper evaluation is meant to initially assess the https://community.apan.org/wg/afosr/p/submitawhitepaper capability of a proposed effort and is NOT a selection process. White papers must be no more than 3 pages in length. References and CV/bios will not count against the page limit. White papers should minimally articulate:

a) An initial list of members of the proposed team with a short bio or CV for each (CVs and/or bios will not count against page limit)

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

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

Government will respond on white paper determination before COB on 14 FEB 2025.

Pre-proposal inquiries and questions must be received in writing by electronic mail to the address(es) listed under section A.9.a. of this NOFO not later than 19 FEB 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions via public posting, or individual responses, no later than COB on

28 FEB 2025.

Proposals must be received electronically through Grants.gov by 14 MAR 2025 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 01 JUN 2025. We anticipate awards to be made by 15 JUL 2025, barring delays.

8. Executive Summary This Director’s Research Initiative NOFO will fund topics that are of interest to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, as well as areas of interest to the United States Space Force. The theme for this initiative is Energy for Agility. Discovery science is needed today to achieve the energy resources required for the future integrated employment of Air and Space Forces, for power generation and optimization, and resilience to exposure.

In the coming decades, we are expecting to witness groundbreaking innovations in energy generation (in traditional methods, nuclear methods, and alternative methods of fuel and power), mobile energy storage, and power distribution that will change the way we think about energy for our Air and Space systems.

Regardless of the selection of power generation and power requirements of a system, power system engineering should push beyond reliance on electrical engineering power conditioning concepts, and applied mathematical methods are required to create foundational competency to optimize power efficiency that take into account system activities with variable durations, purposes, and environments. A rigorous coupling between kinetics, mechanics, and electrochemistry is required for the discovery of next generation batteries.

The convergence of major advancements in precision multi-material manufacturing, high fidelity functional material simulation, full linkages between component-operational-campaign level modeling, self-learning artificial intelligence, and advanced platform and propulsion designs will lead to revolutionary changes in system design processes and will enable rapid revolutionary system optimization. Increased activities in space will bring new exposures to radiation from, for example, space and mobile energy/power sources together with extreme environments. This creates new demands for protecting systems, such as needs for protective coatings or gear, radiation hardening, or multi-functionality of materials, electronics, and systems. Questions will likely arise around human exposure and protection, as agile energy may create localized extreme environments and novel exposure challenges. Advances in fundamental chemistry, fundamental biology, or computational sciences may prompt novel opportunities in the convergence of biosciences with unconventional energy concepts.

This NOFO seeks proposals that will push the science of energy in many forms for agile future technologies.

9. Agency Contact Information

a) Technical Inquires and Questions

You should submit your questions in writing by electronic mail to the Program Officer responsible for your topic(s) of interest from Section C. Program Description.

You should include the announcement number in the subject line of your email.

The technical contacts for this announcement by program description, are as follows:

SECTION PROGRAM

DESCRIPTION

PROGRAM OFFICER(s)

C.1.a Bio-Agile Energy Optimization

Dr. Jennifer Talley, Dr. Bennett Ibey, & Major Travis Tubbs

C.2.a Time Materials/Time Interfaces

Dr. Arje Nachman

C.3.a Controlling Reactivity at Electrochemical Interfaces

Dr. Michael Berman

C.4.a Collaborative Resource Sharing for Proliferated

Space Architectures

Dr. Justin Koo, Dr. Andrew Sinclair, & Dr. Michael Yakes

If you submit a question via telephone call, fax message, or any other means, you may not receive a response.

Topic 1: Bio-Agile Energy Optimization

DR. JENNIFER TALLEY, AFOSR/RTB

Email: jennifer.talley.1@us.af.mil

DR. BENNETT IBEY, AFOSR/RTB

Email: bennett.ibey@us.af.mil

MAJ TRAVIS TUBBS, AFOSR/IOS

Email: travis.tubbs@spaceforce.mil

Topic 2: Time Materials/Time Interfaces

DR. ARJE NACHMAN, AFOSR/RTB

Email: arje.nachman@us.af.mil

Topic 3: Electrochemical Interfaces

DR. MICHAEL BERMAN, AFOSR/RTB

Email: michael.berman@us.af.mil

Topic 4: Proliferated Space Architectures

DR. JUSTIN KOO, AFOSR/RTA

Email: justin.koo@us.af.mil

DR. ANDREW SINCLAIR, AFOSR/RTB

Email: andrew.sinclair@us.af.mil

DR. MICHAEL YAKES, AFOSR/RTB

Email: michael.yakes@us.af.mil

b) General Inquires and Questions You must send all general questions and inquiries about this announcement by email.

Your questions will generally be consolidated with other questions and posted on grants.gov so everyone gets the same information. We may provide an individual response by email if your question does not apply to everyone else.

JULIA CARRICO, AFOSR/RBKR1

Grant and Contracting Officer Julia.carrico@us.af.mil mailto:jennifer.talley.1@us.af.mil mailto:bennett.ibey@us.af.mil mailto:travis.tubbs@spaceforce.mil mailto:arje.nachman@us.af.mil mailto:michael.berman@us.af.mil mailto:justin.koo@us.af.mil mailto:andrew.sinclair@us.af.mil mailto:michael.yakes@us.af.mil mailto:Julia.carrico@us.af.mil

B. ELIGIBILITY

1. Eligible Applicants

a) Qualified and Responsible United States and Foreign Educational & Non-Profit Institutions You are eligible to submit an application if you are a qualified and responsible educational institution in the United States, and abroad, as defined at 10 U.S.C. 2194.

Educational institution means a local educational agency, college, university, or any other nonprofit institution dedicated to improving science, mathematics, and engineering education. We especially encourage international institutions located in South America to apply for topics relevant to their specific regions. No other entities are eligible to submit applications under this competition. However, lead proposals may include participation of for-profit companies through the use of subawards or subcontracts, whichever is determined appropriate in accordance with requirements under 2 CFR 200.331. We review your application, proposal, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 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) HBCU/MI, Tribal College and University Applicants Encouraged

Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions (HBCUs/MSIs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities are encouraged to submit research proposals and join others in submitting proposals. However, no funds under this announcement are reserved or otherwise set-aside for any specific entity type. The Air Force will only use the F.1. Criteria for proposal selection.

c) University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs)

University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) are eligible to submit proposals under this announcement unless their Department of Defense UARC contract precludes the application.

d) Ineligible Entities

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

(i) Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs)

(ii) Individual persons or people

(iii) Federal agencies (to include Military Educational Institutions)

(iv) For-profit institutions https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2023-title10/USCODE-2023-title10-subtitleA-partIII-chap111-sec2194 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR031321e29ac5bbd/section-200.331 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2023-title41/USCODE-2023-title41-subtitleI-divsnB-chap23-sec2313 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2023-title41/USCODE-2023-title41-subtitleI-divsnB-chap23-sec2313 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-C/section-200.205 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CFR-2011-title32-vol1/CFR-2011-title32-vol1-sec22-410 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CFR-2011-title32-vol1/CFR-2011-title32-vol1-sec22-410

2. Cost Sharing Cost sharing or cost 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 H.1.e. Acknowledgment of Research Support on all materials created or produced under our awards. The H.1.f. 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 We expect research funded by this announcement will be fundamental. We expect public dissemination of research results if you receive an award. This is a basic requirement for unclassified research results. We intend, 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 OUSD, AT&L Memorandum, “Public Access to Department of Defense-Funded Research” dated 09 Jul 2014.

We follow DoD Instruction 5230.24 and DoD Instruction 5230.27 policies and 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 or Contracting Officer’s advice and consent. All exclusions must be authorized or required by law and must cite a valid legal authority.

You must provide a copy of all peer-reviewed publications developed or produced from research conducted with Air Force and Space Force funds to our Program Officer.

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

https://discover.dtic.mil/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/memo_public_access_kendall_20140709.pdf https://discover.dtic.mil/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/memo_public_access_kendall_20140709.pdf https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/523024p.pdf?ver=2020-06-12-112557-280 https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/523027p.pdf?ver=2019-04-04-095230-883

c) Disclosure of Conflict of Commitment and 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.

(i) General Requirement for Disclosure: 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 subrecipient you include in your proposal.

You must provide enough information for us to evaluate your disclosure. We may have to ask you more questions if we need more information.

At our discretion, we may ask you for a conflict-of-interest mitigation plan after you submit your proposal. Your plan is subject to our approval.

(ii) 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.

C. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The DRI NOFO seeks to fund research of interest to the Air and Space Forces. Specifically, it will focus on the theme of Energy for Agility and will work with institutions of higher education or other non-profit institutions (hereafter referred to as “universities”). The topic areas that we seek to support with this NOFO are independent from those described in our open Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) (Research Interests of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research) and do not fall completely within any one research program. We seek to 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 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/010422-NSPM-33-Implementation-Guidance.pdf support multidisciplinary research efforts, creating synergies to speed DoD-relevant research and development.

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).

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.

The schedule for this announcement is given in A.7 Key Dates.

In Fiscal Year 2025, we seek proposals in four (4) topic areas. These specific topics include bio-agile energy, space architectures, metamaterials, and electrochemistry. Specifics are as follows.

1. Bio-Agile Energy

Title: Understanding Bio-Agile Energy Optimization in Resource Restricted Environments

Background: Deployment of autonomous systems in space represents critical challenges including repair, resupply, and survival in the ultimate of extreme environments Energy management of resources within a system is of highest importance as it directly relates to long term survivability. Space, unlike Earth, has a harsher and more variable environment in temperature, light levels, radiation, pressure and hydration. These environmental stresses and the inability to rapidly resupply spacecraft point to the need to optimize space systems well beyond typical engineered systems on earth.

Many biological systems live at the cusp of resource depletion and have evolved advanced strategies for energy harvesting/storage/usage and waste mitigation to enable survival in the most austere environments. These agile energy adaptations exist at many scales (molecule to tissue to organism to ecosystem). A space-based technology, of living or non-living components, is both a material-based system at the molecular level and an ecosystem in its functioning.

In this topic, we seek to advance the understanding of how certain biological systems, like those persisting under extreme resource-deprivation, manage energy/resource limitations and the potential application to space assets and components. Certain Earth environments have restricted solar access, limited carbon-based resources, limited trace nutrients and changes in atmospheric contents; examples include deep terrestrial, deep ocean, extreme altitude, etc. South America by itself contains many of these locations such as the high-altitude deserts, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, acidic hot springs, and hypersaline lakes, along with Antarctica’s subzero temperatures and high UV radiation. It is through the bio-agility that evolved to optimize energetics in those environments can that inform our autonomous living and nonliving space systems both in orbit and potentially on other planetary bodies. We draw a parallel between a space-based technology that must upcycle, recycle, and mitigate waste to that of a biological system that maintains homeostasis. We believe breakthroughs in engineering co-design optimization, strategies for resupply/recycling, and waste management in space-based systems should be bio-informed at all scales from components (e.g., microchips) to autonomous systems (e.g., satellites). Unlike in terrestrial extreme environments where things can be infinitely adaptable, a space-based mutating biological system will need a built-in fail-safe to safely harness the power of biological adaptation.

Objective: Explore biological systems that survive in resource restricted environments with a focus on energy production, storage, waste stream (energy loss) management for efficiency. This objective is distinct from extremophile discovery or the creation of extreme living materials, instead focuses on modeling of energetics in biotic/abiotic systems containing extremophiles for space applications.

Research Concentration Areas:

1. Investigate and/or model energy cycling through biosystems as control systems including:

a. Identify novel adaptations due to resource limitations to include intentional redundancy and agile responses in energy source/input.

b. Identify novel energy generation mechanism(s) in extreme environments

c. Track energy loss /recovery in natural systems under austere conditions

d. Identify novel repair mechanism(s) guided by external stress

2. Model energy transfer in the biological system with specific focus on the influence of external environmental stresses.

3. Model how uncertainty in biological systems provides robustness naturally to control systems.

Anticipated Resources: We anticipate 2-4 awards of $180K - $375K/year for three

(3) years, and we highly encourage collaboration between North and South American institutions. We also highly encourage budgeting for travel between the continents for collaboration, field and lab research, and technical exchange. Southern Office of Aerospace Research and Development (SOARD) will facilitate hosting workshops in 3 different extreme environments in South America (SA) inviting awarded researchers in the USA and SA, extremophile researchers in SA, as well as the Spanish Network of Extremophile Microorganisms.

Research Topic Chiefs:

Dr. Jennifer Talley, AFOSR/RTB, jennifer.talley.1@us.af.mil, 703.696.7336 Dr. Bennett Ibey, AFOSR/RTB, bennett.ibey@us.af.mil, 703.965.5327 Major Travis Tubbs, AFOSR/IOS, travis.tubbs@spaceforce.mil Dr. Frederick Leve, AFOSR/RTB, frederick.leve@us.af.mil, 703.696.9730

Please email all topic chiefs with any technical inquiries you may have.

2. Metamaterials

Title: Time Metamaterials/Time Interfaces

Background: Over the past two decades, electromagnetics research has witnessed the rise of artificially structured materials with ad-hoc properties that can vastly surpass those found in natural materials. These metamaterials rely on the engineering of microscopic resonant elements at length scales smaller than the wavelength of light so as to guide, absorb, or steer light at will. Hence, they leverage both the intrinsic optical properties of mailto:jennifer.talley.1@us.af.mil mailto:bennett.ibey@us.af.mil mailto:travis.tubbs@spaceforce.mil mailto:frederick.leve@us.af.mil their constituents, and the emergent response dictated by their subwavelength geometry.

Current metamaterials, however, suffer from stringent limitations such as limited bandwidth of operation and vulnerability to optical losses. This is due to their temporal invariance, and consequent energy-conserving nature. Moreover, increasing technological demand is placed on our ability to produce radiation over new frequency bands. To tackle these challenges, the metamaterials community should start exploring the temporal dimension as a new degree of freedom for electromagnetics.

Objective: Pursue basic research in the behavior of light in time-varying metamaterials.

The latter exhibits not only interesting dualities with their spatial counterparts, but also enables entirely new effects not available in conventional photonic structures. Interesting phenomena arise at time interfaces, which consist of a sudden change in the properties of the material within which the waves are traveling. To be effective, this change must be much faster than the temporal dynamics of the involved signal. In this way, an electromagnetic pulse can, for example, be “sculpted” upon colliding with a suitably tailored auxiliary pulse, which will thereby “chisel away” or amplify certain portions of the signal. In this scheme, the entire pulse is shaped synchronously, effectively using the auxiliary pulse to “mold light with light”. These offer opportunities to control and interact with electromagnetic waves in new ways.

Research Concentration Areas: In this initiative, PIs will develop and employ rigorous analytical and numerical models to investigate the microscopic non-equilibrium physics behind energy exchanges in time-varying metamaterials and use these insights to report new paradigms for extreme frequency manipulation and pulse shaping and to explore new implementations of time metamaterials for high-power electromagnetics. As an exciting demonstration of these concepts, the PI will explore the idea of efficient frequency up-conversion. Coherent control of temporal scattering can enable frequency translation with unitary efficiency at (in principle) zero energy cost and high speed. It is anticipated that this phenomenon achieves a “perfect” trading of energy between photon number and energy per photon, whereby a fixed amount of energy carried by a distribution of photons of a certain frequency is redistributed to a different distribution of photons at a new frequency, with identical energy content. Phenomenologically, this can be achieved as the presence of two identical counterpropagating electromagnetic waves creates a standing-wave, whereby all the energy is periodically exchanged between the electric and the magnetic fields. By applying a time-interface which changes the dielectric permittivity of the host material at the instant when all the energy is stored in the magnetic field, the frequency of the wave is converted with unitary efficiency, while the total electromagnetic energy is conserved as the change in dielectric constant cannot affect the magnetic fields, where all the energy is contained. PIs will explore the application of these concepts to realize time-metamaterials relevant for the following application:

Amplification: Can users employ time-metamaterials to realize amplification and energy exchanges in the context of high-power sources?

Wireless power transfer: Wireless power transfer on a variety of length and power scales has become of interest for solving logistical challenges. The state-of-the-art for converting RF to DC power is the diode rectifier, which has a number of loss mechanisms which make it difficult to achieve high efficiencies including impedance matching, device parasitics, and harmonic generation, which may by reduced or limited by understanding and implementing the physics developed through these efforts.

Anticipated Resources: It is anticipated that awards under this topic will be no more than $200,000 per year for three (3) years, supporting this research. Exceptions warranted by specific proposal approaches should be discussed with the topic chief.

Research Topic Chief:

Dr. Arje Nachman, AFOSR/RTB, arje.nachman@us.af.mil, 703-696-8472

3. Electrochemistry

Title: Energy for Agility - Controlling Reactivity at Electrochemical Interfaces

Background: Energy agility in military systems in air and space requires methods of energy storage and transduction that can be easily transported, relatively lightweight, and release their energy quickly on demand. Many systems such as batteries, fuel cells, and electrosynthesis or electrocatalysis of chemical fuels can store and release energy via electrochemical transformations at electrodes. The fundamental processes that underpin and control the important physical, chemical, and materials behavior in many of these systems occur at liquid-solid interfaces, which can be quite complex due to, for example, the evolving nature of the interface, large interfacial electric fields, ion diffusion and mobility, and solvent reorganization and dynamics. Studies and simulations of processes occurring at the electrical double layer that forms at the solid-liquid interface comprise an exciting area of frontier research that has the promise to greatly impact many of these energy technologies. Emerging ab initio and statistical molecular-level simulation methods capable of describing chemical transformations at complex interfaces, and new experimental probes of these interfaces can create a qualitatively new and important way to address this regime. These new molecular-level diagnostic and simulation tools can help provide a better understanding of reaction mechanisms and factors controlling overpotential and selectivity in electrochemical processes, model electron and proton transfer at surfaces, and elucidate the effects of interfacial fields and solvent dynamics at electrochemical double layers. By understanding and controlling processes at the electrical double layer, we hope to be able to affect the kinetic rates, selectivity, and energy efficiency of electrochemical processes and improve the performance of many of mailto:arje.nachman@us.af.mil these energy-related systems. This improved rational design of electrochemical processes that couples kinetics, mechanics, and electrochemistry can lead to new battery systems and greatly enhance numerous energy storage and utilization methods.

Objective: We seek the development and concerted application of new molecular-level methods to predict and/or control the rates of electrochemical processes at solid/liquid interfaces. In particular, methods that can better simulate, measure, or control the properties of the electrical double layer to affect the kinetics of reactions are of particular interest.

Research Concentration Areas: Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Development and application of molecular simulation methods to identify the dynamic behavior of solvent motion and reorganization at and around electrodes and identifying their effects on electrochemical and electrocatalytic processes.

2. Studies of the real-time kinetic and dynamic behavior occurring at solid-liquid interfaces and electrochemical double layers in electrochemical processes.

3. Development of design principles for controlling specific kinetic parameters of electrochemical reactions by tuning the electrochemical environment and applied electric fields/voltage.

Anticipated Resources: It is anticipated that awards under this topic will be no more than $200,000 per year for three (3) years, supporting this research. Exceptions warranted by specific proposal approaches should be discussed with the topic chief.

Research Topic Chief:

Dr. Michael R. Berman, AFOSR/RTB, michael.berman@us.af.mil, 703-696-7781,

4. Space Architectures

Title: Collaborative Resource Sharing for Proliferated Space Architectures

Background: Rapidly maturing space-to-space mega-constellation satellite communications along with early demonstrations of space-to-space power beaming, are emphatically demonstrating the feasibility of resource sharing among satellite constellations. Fortunately, continued rapid progression of multiple existing technology areas (for example, high power/efficiency visible and IR lasers/optics and lightweight solar power generation) are likely to incrementally advance delivered capabilities in these technology areas. However, deliberate attempts to integrate multiple resources sharing strategies and uncover synergistic new capabilities from deliberate collaborative proliferated architecture design have been relatively poorly studied. We believe that opportunities exist for a paradigm shift towards more robust resource sharing proliferated architectures – extending across shared communications, power transfer, momentum mailto:michael.berman@us.af.mil transfer, thermal management, etc. – and exploiting the vast new set of capabilities enabled by these new architectures.

Objective: This research concentration area seeks proposals which identify and address underlying basic research questions pertinent to collaborative resource sharing in vacuum or near-vacuum environments. This includes both potential breakthroughs which may impact future hardware as well as exploring the new capabilities emerging from collaborative resource sharing deliberately integrated into future proliferated space architectures. Fundamental limitations anticipated by the proposed hardware/architecture design should be explored to highlight new areas for future innovation.

Research Concentration Areas: Research foci may include, but are not limited to:

1. Breakthrough insight into DC-to-photon generation – potential research investigation may inform a future of new, high efficiency, thermally stable, large aperture, short wavelength photon sources.

2. Novel schemes for photon-based momentum/energy transfer – direct energy capture (e.g., photoelectric / thermoelectric / rectification) and/or combined strategies for power/momentum sharing (e.g. open-cavity lasers) are encouraged.

3. Innovative strategies to tackle extreme thermal management challenges inherent to high power lasers and monochromatic energy extraction –new materials and topologies (including meta-surfaces) to enable passive and/or active thermal regulation strategies under extreme photon fluxes conditions.

4. Exploration of new capabilities (e.g. plane changes or orbit raising of a single satellite through interaction with the constellation) and constraints of networked energy and momentum transfer.

Successful proposals will tackle the challenges associated with tightly integrated sharing across multiple resource types and identify/quantify meaningful synergies from the proposed proliferated space architecture designed explicitly for collaborative resource sharing. Research ideas in the spirit of this research concentration area that has not specifically outlined above are also encouraged.

Anticipated Resources: This topic will accept single and/or multi-investigator proposal up to $750,000 per year for three (3) years. Exceptions warranted by specific proposal approaches should be discussed with the topic chiefs.

Research Topic Chiefs:

Dr. Justin Koo, AFOSR/RTA, justin.koo@us.af.mil, 703-696-8568 Dr. Andrew Sinclair, AFOSR/RTB, andrew.sinclair.2@us.af.mil, 703-696-1141 Dr. Michael Yakes, AFOSR/RTB, michael.yakes@us.af.mil, 703-835-6716

Please email all topic chiefs with any technical inquiries you may have.

mailto:justin.koo@us.af.mil mailto:andrew.sinclair.2@us.af.mil mailto:michael.yakes@us.af.mil

D. APPLICATION CONTENT AND FORMAT

1. Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions

You are encouraged to contact the Program Officer listed in section A.9.a. Technical Inquires and Questions before you submit your proposal.

If you need help with general matters, you should contact the individual listed in A.9.b.

General Announcement Questions.

Your pre-proposal inquiries and questions should be submitted not later than 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time on 19 FEB 2025. AFOSR may not be able to answer questions received later. This is discussed more in section E.5.a. 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.

2. The Application as a Whole You must submit your proposal electronically through Grants.gov. We will not accept or evaluate any proposal submitted by any means other than through Grants.gov. 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 may submit a proposal for one or more topics, or for a specific portion of a topic.

You may submit different proposals on any number of topics, or different proposals on the same topic. We may not make awards in every topic area. You must mark your application with the announcement number.

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

• We require the forms and attachments in bold text with all applications

• Some applications require the attachments in italics

• We provide more instructions in D.3.a. Component Pieces of the Application

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

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

18. If applicable, SF- LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities

Per instructions in H.1.c.

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 and/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.

a) Proposal Format

(i) Paper Size – 8.5 x 11-inch paper

(ii) Margins – 1 inch

(iii) Spacing – Single, 1.5, or 2.0-line spacing

(iv) Font – Times New Roman or Garamond, 10, 11, or 12point

(v) 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 limitations. The pages of proposals exceeding the page limit may not be included in the evaluation.

(vi) Attachments – Electronic Portable Document Format (PDF)

(vii) Content – As described below

b) Proposal Length No more than twenty-five (25) single-sided pages. This page count includes the following sections: Project Summary/Abstract, the Project Narrative, and the Bibliography & References. You must not include elaborate brochures, reprints, or presentations beyond those sufficient to present a complete and effective proposal.

AFOSR will not consider more than the maximum number of pages in its evaluation;

however, not all pages are counted. This list below is intended to help you understand how to calculate your page count.

NOT INCLUDED IN PAGE COUNT

SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance and all attachments R&R Budget and Budget Justification attachments, R&R Other Project

Information Form, and all attachments R&R Sub award and Budget Justification attachments, R&R Senior/Key Person

Profile Form, and all attachments for the personnel Documents that support the budget or particular items of cost R&R Project/

Performance Site Locations Form Optional R&R Personal Data Form Budget related information is not included in the page count because AFOSR cannot make an award unless it can determine the cost of your proposal is reasonable and realistic and complies with 2 CFR 200 Subpart E - Cost Principles.

Not having enough information in your proposal to understand if your costs are reasonable and realistic is the most common reason awards are delayed.

c) Marking Requirements for Confidential or Proprietary Information You must not include confidential or proprietary information in your proposal. This was also discussed earlier in section C. Program Description. AFOSR will not consider your proposal if you include confidential or proprietary information or place restrictive markings on any part of your proposal. Because your proposal shouldn’t include proprietary information, there shouldn’t be a need for marking the proposal.

d) Application Form and Proposal Attachment Your application and proposal attachments must be in electronic file formats. You should use the Portable Document Format (PDF) for your attachments.

DO NOT password protect any attachments.

The website https://grants.gov/applicants/adobe-software-compatibility provides additional important instructions.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E https://grants.gov/applicants/adobe-software-compatibility

3. Components Pieces of the Application

a) SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance Form

The SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal assistance form must be your cover page.

No pages may precede the SF-424 (R&R).

Complete all required fields in accordance with the “pop-up” instructions on the SF- 424 (R&R) form. The completion of most fields is self-explanatory. You can turn on Grants.gov “Help Mode” to provide additional instructions for forms. “Help Mode” is turned on by the icon with the pointer and question mark at the top of the form.

We have special instructions for completion of several SF-424 (R&R) form fields in your application.

Our instructions are:

FIELD INSTRUCTION

2. You may leave “Applicant Identifier” blank

3. You may leave “Date Received by State” and “State Application Identifier” blank

9. You must list Air Force Office of Scientific Research as the Federal Agency if Grants.gov has not pre-populated this answer

16. You should check “No.” and “Program is Not Covered by Executive Order 12372”

17. Select “I Agree” to:

Certify that all statements in the proposal, your, and Internal

Confidentiality Agreements are true, complete, and accurate to the best of your knowledge.

See section H.1 Administrative and National Policy Requirements for more information and links to the full text of these items.

18. You must attach the completed SF-LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities if your grant amount exceeds $100,000 and have lobbying activity to disclose. See section H.1. Administrative and National Policy Requirements for more information.

b) R&R Other Project Information Form

Complete this form as indicated. You must include all necessary attachments.

http://apply07.grants.gov/apply/forms/sample/SFLLL-V1.1.pdf https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html

FIELD INSTRUCTION

1, 1a. You must address all prospective human subject involvement by answering these questions. Additional documentation pursuant to National Policy and U.S. Air Force and Space Force standards is required for all proposals with human use research or involvement.

2, 2a. You must address all prospective animal research and/or recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) involvement by answering these questions. Additional documentation pursuant to National Policy and U.S. Air Force standards is required for all proposals with animal or rDNA research or involvement.

4a. For any proposal that has an actual or potential impact on the environment, answer yes and provide the answers and attachments required for fields 4b, 4c, and 4d. Additional documentation in accordance with National Policy and U.S. Air Force and Space Force standards is required for any proposal with an actual or potential impact on the environment.

7. Attach your D.3.c. Publicly Releasable Abstract

8. Attach your D.3.d. Project Narrative

9. Attach your D.3.e. Bibliography and References Cited

10. Attach a Facilities and Other Resources description document here if you need to supplement your D.3.d.iv. Proposal

Narrative facilities and resources section.

11. You may supplement your D.3.h. Budget Justification by attaching an Equipment Justification here. Do not duplicate information included on your budget justification. If you attach an Equipment Justification, make sure you reference the attachment in your budget justification.

12. Attach the D.3.i R&R Subaward Budget Attachments Form if applicable and not attached elsewhere. You should have budgets for all subawards proposed attached within this form before attachment.

Attach all D.3.j Subaward Budget Justifications as applicable Attach your D.3.i. Data Management Plan here if applicable

c) Publicly Releasable…