A funding opportunity for early career researchers in universities and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories is available from the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER). The purpose of the DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program is to support the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and to stimulate research careers in the areas supported by the Office of Science.

The Early Career Research Program recently released a funding opportunity announcement:

• DE-FOA-0001761 for university researchers, and
• LAB 17-1761 for DOE national laboratory researchers.

Under this announcement, BER is seeking Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences research in the following area:

Atmospheric Processes: Atmospheric research within BER is focused on improving physical understanding of atmospheric processes that impact the Earth’s energy budget (https://asr.science.energy.gov/). Applications are sought that will improve fundamental process-level understanding of the atmospheric system through analysis of BER observational data. Applications must focus on one or more of the following atmospheric processes: aerosol formation, growth, or removal; secondary organic aerosol processes; aerosol-cloud interactions; boundary layer processes that impact cloud formation, microphysical properties, or lifetime; convective cloud processes; ice or mixed phase microphysical processes; or radiative transfer processes.

The primary observational data used in the proposed research must be from one or more BER-supported user facilities, including the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Research Facility, Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), or from BER-supported field activities. Complementary laboratory studies, instrument development, or additional small-scale field activities may be included as part of the proposed work, but must directly tie to existing BER-supported observations.

• Pre-applications Due Date: January 25, 2018, 5 p.m. Eastern time
• Applications Due Date: April 4, 2018, 5 p.m. Eastern time

More details on eligibility, pre-application requirements, and full application requirements are contained within the relevant funding announcements. It is the responsibility of the applicant to determine their eligibility for the funding announcement, to include sufficient information in the pre-application to enable evaluation of responsiveness to the terms of the announcement, and to follow all guidelines and requirements in the announcement.

Send any inquiries regarding this announcement to the technical contact for the Atmospheric Processes topical area, Sally McFarlane.