NIST Advanced Materials Center of Excellence | 2019 NIST ADV MAT COE 01

Opportunity Information: Apply for 2019 NIST ADV MAT COE 01

The NIST Advanced Materials Center of Excellence opportunity is a discretionary, science and technology focused cooperative agreement administered by the Department of Commerce through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It supports continued operation of the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHIMAD), which functions as NISTs Advanced Materials Center of Excellence. The core purpose is to advance materials development by tightly integrating NIST measurement science expertise with cutting edge research efforts in academia and industry, with an emphasis on building practical tools and knowledge that accelerate the discovery, characterization, and deployment of advanced materials.

A key feature of this opportunity is that it is not a broad, open competition. Instead, NIST is specifically soliciting a renewal application from Northwestern University for CHIMAD. In practical terms, the eligible applicant pool is effectively limited based on the programs stated intent to renew this particular Center, which aligns with the listing that eligibility is categorized as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full announcement. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which indicates substantial involvement by NIST during the project. Rather than simply issuing funds for an independently run project, NIST researchers are expected to collaborate directly with the awardee and partners, shaping research directions, contributing technical expertise, and helping ensure that outputs align with national measurement science and standards priorities.

CHIMADs work, as described, centers on advanced materials development enabled by innovations in measurement science and by new modeling, simulation, data, and informatics tools. This points to a program that is strongly oriented toward the modern materials innovation ecosystem: generating high quality measurement methods and reference data, improving how material properties are evaluated and compared, and developing computational and data driven approaches that shorten development cycles. The explicit inclusion of modeling, simulation, and informatics suggests an emphasis on integrated computational materials engineering and materials data infrastructure, where experiments and measurements feed models, models guide new experiments, and datasets are structured so they can be reused, validated, and shared across research teams and industry.

The opportunity was created on September 26, 2018, with an original closing date of October 31, 2018. It anticipates a single award, reinforcing that this is a targeted renewal rather than a typical multi award solicitation. The notice lists an award ceiling of 0, which usually indicates that the maximum award amount is not specified in the summary fields and may be defined elsewhere in the full announcement, negotiated under the cooperative agreement, or dependent on appropriations and the approved renewal scope. The CFDA number associated with the program is 11.609, which corresponds to NIST financial assistance programs in measurement science and standards related research and services.

Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as a continuation mechanism for an established NIST academia industry partnership hub focused on hierarchical materials design. Its value proposition is the combination of (1) NIST led measurement science advances, (2) interdisciplinary collaboration across universities and industry, and (3) development of modern digital tools for materials research, including simulation and data systems. The intended outcome is a sustained Center that helps make advanced materials development more reliable, comparable, and faster, by improving how materials are measured and characterized and by strengthening the computational and data foundations that support materials innovation.

• The Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIST Advanced Materials Center of Excellence" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.609.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 26, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 31, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 2019 NIST ADV MAT COE 01

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