Engineering Research Centers
The NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) program supports convergent research, education, and technology translation at U.S. universities that will lead to strong societal impacts.
Each ERC has interacting foundational components that go beyond the research project, including engineering workforce development at all participant stages, a culture of diversity and inclusion where all participants gain mutual benefit, and value creation within an innovation ecosystem that will outlast the lifetime of the ERC.
Since the program's start in 1985, NSF has funded 75 ERCs throughout the United States. NSF supports each center for up to 10 years. This investment has led to many successes:
- more than 200 spinoff companies,
- more than 850 patents,
- more than 13,500 total bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees to ERC students, and
- numerous research outcomes enabling new technologies
Over the years, the ERC program has adapted to meet the nation's future workforce and technological needs. In late fiscal year (FY) 2020, NSF launched the 4th generation of centers, known as Gen-4 ERCs.
Funding opportunitiesNSF has funding opportunities for prospective and current centers:
- Gen-4 Engineering Research Centers (ERC)
- Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers (ERC)
- Dear Colleague Letter: Opportunity for Active EFRI and ERC Awardees to Apply for Supplemental Funding through the Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) Program
As of August 2020, NSF supports 18 ERCs in advanced manufacturing, energy and environment, health and infrastructure.
| Year Started |
Award Number |
Acronym | Center |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2020 | 1941524 | ASPIRE | Center for Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification Utah State University in partnership with Purdue University, University of Colorado, and University of Texas at El Paso ASPIRE seeks to create sustainable, equitable, and widespread electrification of vehicles by creating low-cost, ubiquitous, and worry-free charging. |
| FY 2012 | 1160483 | ASSIST | Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies North Carolina State University in partnership with Florida International University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Virginia ASSIST harnesses nanotechnology to improve global health by enabling correlation between personal health and personal environment and by empowering patients and doctors to manage wellness and improve quality of life. |
| FY 2020 | 1941543 | ATP-Bio | Center for Advanced Technologies for Preservation of Biological Systems University of Minnesota in partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital; University of California, Berkeley; and University of California, Riverside ATP-Bio aims to stop biological time by designing methods to cryogenically cool, hold, and re-warm living materials without harm, extending our ability to bank and transport them. |
| FY 2015 | 1448501 | CBBG | Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics Arizona State University in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology, New Mexico State University, and the University of California, Davis CBBG employs or mimics natural biological processes and materials to engineer the ground in ways that reduce infrastructure development lifecycle costs and impacts while mitigating natural hazards and environmental degradation. |
| FY 2017 | 1648035 | CMaT | Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies Georgia Institute of Technology in partnership with the University of Georgia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Puerto Rico CMaT's vision is to enable robust, scalable, low-cost biomanufacturing of high-quality therapeutic cells to bring affordable, curative therapies against incurable chronic diseases to everyone. |
| FY 2017 | 1647837 | CELL-MET | Center for Cellular Metamaterials Boston University in partnership with Florida International University and the University of Michigan CELL-MET aims to transform cardiovascular care by combining breakthroughs in nanotechnology and manufacturing with tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, while also developing areas of expertise in education, diversity, administration, and outreach. |
| FY 2017 | 1647722 | CISTAR | Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources Purdue University in partnership with Northwestern University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Texas at Austin CISTAR's vision is to create a transformative engineered system to convert light hydrocarbons from shale resources to chemicals and transportation fuels in smaller, modular, local, and highly networked processing plants. |
| FY 2020 | 1941583 | CQN | Center for Quantum Networks University of Arizona in partnership with Harvard University, MIT, and Yale University CQN aims to create the first quantum network with fully error-corrected quantum connectivity over local and global scales by developing key quantum technologies and new functional building blocks that connect quantum processors. |
| FY 2020 | 1941529 | IoT4Ag | Center for the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture University of Pennsylvania in partnership with Purdue University; University of California, Merced; and the University of Florida IoT4Ag seeks to ensure food, energy, and water security with new systems to increase crop production while minimizing energy and water use and environmental impacts of agricultural practices. |
| FY 2012 | 1160494 | NASCENT | Center for Nanomanufacturing Systems for Mobile Computing and Energy Technologies University of Texas at Austin in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Houston, and the University of New Mexico NASCENT is creating high throughput, reliable, and versatile nanomanufacturing systems that will revolutionize future-generation mobile computing and energy devices. |
| FY 2015 | 1449500 | NEWT | Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Systems Rice University in partnership with Arizona State University, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Yale University NEWT develops high-performance and easy-to-deploy water treatment systems that will broaden access to clean drinking water from a variety of unconventional sources and enable industrial wastewater reuse at off-grid locations. |
| FY 2011 | 1028725 | CNT | Center for Neurotechnology University of Washington in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and San Diego State University The CNT seeks to identify the engineering principles of neural movement control and sensory processing to enable a new generation of robust, adaptive, closed loop, sensorimotor devices that interact with human nervous systems. |
| FY 2015 | 1449548 | POETS | Center for Power Optimization for Electro-Thermal Systems University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in partnership with Howard University, Stanford University, and the University of Arkansas POETS is improving the electric power density available in tightly constrained mobile environments by integrating novel 3-D cooling circuitry, power converters, and algorithms for smart power management. |
| FY 2017 | 1648451 | PATHS-UP | Center for Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for Underserved Populations Texas A&M University in partnership with Florida International University, Rice University, and the University of California, Los Angeles PATHS-UP is changing the paradigm for the health of underserved populations by developing revolutionary, cost-effective technologies and systems at the point-of-care. |
| FY 2011 | 1041895 |
QESST | Center for Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies Arizona State University in partnership with the California Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Delaware, the University of Houston, and the University of New Mexico QESST seeks to transform the existing electricity generation system, making it sustainable, ubiquitous, and multifunctional, by developing photovoltaic and quantum energy converters, which fundamentally alter how energy is used. |
| FY 2011 | 1028968 | ReNUWIt | Center for Re-Inventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure Stanford University in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines, New Mexico State University, and the University of California, Berkeley ReNUWIt advances new strategies for urban water systems, enabled by technological advances and informed by a deeper understanding of institutional frameworks, to achieve more sustainable solutions to urban water challenges. |
| FY 2012 | 1160504 | TANMS | Center for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems University of California, Los Angeles in partnership with California State University, Northridge; Cornell University; Northeastern University; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Texas at Dallas TANMS works to engineer a revolution in miniature electromagnetic electronics through development of a new class of nanoscale multiferroic materials. |
| FY 2011 | 1041877 (co-funded by Department of Energy) |
CURENT | Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks University of Tennessee-Knoxville in partnership with Northeastern University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Tuskegee University CURENT is developing a nation-wide transmission grid that is fully monitored and dynamically controlled for high efficiency, high reliability, low cost, better accommodation of renewable sources, full utilization of storage, and responsive load. |