DOE Awards $377 Million in Funding for 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers
Energy Frontier Research Centers at 16 Universities Funded by Recovery Act
Washington, DC – In a major effort to accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to build a new 21st-century energy economy, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the delivery of $377 million in funding for 46 new multi-million-dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) located at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the nation.
“As global energy demand grows, there is an urgent need to reduce our dependence on imported oil and curtail greenhouse gas emissions,” said Secretary Chu. “Meeting the challenge to reduce our dependence on imported oil and curtail greenhouse gas emissions will require significant scientific advances. These centers will mobilize the enormous talents and skills of our nation’s scientific workforce in pursuit of the breakthroughs that are essential to expand the use of clean and renewable energy.”
Of the $377 million awarded to the EFRCs, $277 million comes from funding made available through the Recovery Act with the remaining $100 million made from DOE’s FY2009 budget. The 46 EFRCs are being funded at $2-5 million per year each for a planned initial five-year period and were selected from a pool of applications received in response to a solicitation issued by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science in 2008 and announced on April 27, 2009. Selection of the EFRCs was based on a rigorous merit review process utilizing outside panels composed of scientific experts. In total, the EFRC initiative represents a planned DOE commitment of $777 million over five years. Read the full DOE press release >>
EFRCs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act include those at:
- Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)
- University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA)
- Columbia University (New York, NY)
- Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
- University of Delaware (Newark, DE)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA
- University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
- University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC)
- Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
- University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN)
- Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA)
- Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
- University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
- University of Texas, Austin (Austin, TX)
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