Environmental Health and Safety of Nanotechnology

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The Environmental Health and Safety of Nanotechnology program provides support to develop and test the environmental effects of nanotechnologies. Fundamental research is sought to understand, evaluate, and mitigate the impact of nanotechnology on the environment and biological systems. The program also supports research on the development and refinement of sensors and sensor network technologies that can be used to measure a wide variety of physical, chemical, and biological properties of interest in characterizing, monitoring, and understanding environmental impacts.The program emphasizes engineering principles underlying the environmental health and safety impacts of nanotechnology. Innovative methods related to production processes, waste reduction, recycling, and industrial ecology of nanotechnology are of interest. Current areas of support include:Understanding and mitigating the effects of nanotechnology and biotechnology on the environmentNanotechnology environmental health and safety impacts and applicationsPredictive methodology for the interaction of nanoparticles with the environment and with the human body, including predictive approaches for toxicityFate and transport of natural, engineered, and incidental (by-product) nanoparticlesRisk assessment and management of the effect of nanomaterials in the environmentCurrent areas of support for this program do not include biomedical and nanotoxicology topics involving clinical trials.All proposed research should be driven by engineering principles, and presented in an environmental health and safety or environmental sensor context. Proposals should include involvement of at least one engineering student.Proposals should address the novelty of the concept being proposed, compared to previous work in the field. Also, it is important to address why the novelty might be important in terms of engineering science, as well as to also project the potential impact on society and /or industry of success in the research. The information requested in this paragraph should be included, as a minimum, in the Project Summary of each proposal.The duration of unsolicited awards is generally one to three years. The average annual award size for the program is $100,000. Small equipment proposals of less than $100,000 will also be considered and may be submitted during these windows. Any proposal received outside the announced dates will be returned without review.The duration of Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program awards is five years. The submission deadline for Engineering CAREER proposals is in July every year. Please see the following URL for more information: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503214 Proposals for Conferences, Workshops, and Supplements may be submitted at any time, but must be discussed with the program director before submission. Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) replace the SGER program. Please note that proposals of these types must be discussed with the program director before submission. Further details are available in the PAPPG download..

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