The Office of National and Homeland Security (ONHS) has transitioned from the Physical Sciences Area to the Lab Directorate, reporting to the Deputy Lab Director for Research. The Office will build the Lab’s national security research vision as well as research portfolio related to the nation’s security agencies, including the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and the intelligence community.
To this end, the ONHS’s program manager, John Valentine, and deputy program manager, Millie Firestone, are coordinating the Lab’s response to selected high-priority calls for proposals.
For example, there is an annual proposal cycle for DoD’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) to address DoD’s environmental challenges. This cycle recently kicked off with SERDP’s release of its FY22 Call for Proposals and associated Statements of Need (SONs).
In the past, PIs might apply to these calls because they heard about these opportunities or knew someone who had been funded. In recent years, the Energy Technologies Area (ETA) has received an award from ESTCP per year while the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) typically won one award per year from SERDP.
This year, ONHS worked to distribute SERDP’s call for proposals more broadly, including to divisions within the Biosciences Area (BSA) and Energy Sciences Area (ESA) whose work aligned with the call for proposals but who may not have participated in the past. ONHS also held a workshop in July for 40 Lab researchers to introduce the SERDP and ESTCP agencies, highlighting current and past Lab projects funded by these agencies as well as additional opportunities to engage with these agencies.
SERDP/ESTCP’s broad environmental mission is well-matched with many LBNL capabilities. As such, research for these agencies is an outstanding example of how LBNL leverages its core DOE-developed capabilities to contribute to the national security mission of the US government. ONHS believes that SERDP/ESTCP research at LBNL could grow substantially and is focused on making this happen.
Following the workshop, John and Millie also created working groups to develop research topics relevant to these agencies, as well as to begin to build small teams addressing a range of topics that might emerge as Statements of Need. The coming SERDP and ESTCP calls for proposals, for example, include calls for research on alternative non-toxic materials and environmental remediation technology, both areas in which the Lab has extensive expertise.
Part of the relationship building with these agencies involves making them aware of the Lab’s capabilities. Toward this end, Millie and John have helped coordinate poster presentations showcasing BSA’s EcoPOD research capabilities and JBEI’s plastics upcycling research work at the SERDP and ESTCP Virtual Symposium, Nov 30-Dec 4.
For more information about the SERDP and ESTCP calls for proposals (the first of which are due in early January), visit https://www.serdp-estcp.org/ and the Strategic Partnerships Office’s opportunities database, and contact ONHS@lbl.gov.