Energy, Water, and Resource Engineering

The Energy, Water, and Resource Engineering (EWRE) program supports fundamental research to advance energy, water, and resource management and to safeguard health. Better use of domestic resources will make U.S. manufacturing, energy and water systems more efficient and secure.

EWRE supports research that creates domestic sources of energy, advances water management, and recovers resources using chemical, biological, and geo-physical processes. The program supports studies on advanced manufacturing that increase the re-use of potentially valuable secondary products by closing energy, water and resource loops. EWRE also supports research on the recycling and management of materials and critical minerals to support technological breakthrough development. EWRE supports studies on life cycle assessment, materials flow analysis, and AI modeling that incorporate novel metrics to advance the circular economy and bioeconomy. 

EWRE research encompasses the chemistry, biochemical reactivity, and transport of chemicals, nanomaterials, microbes, and other compounds in water, air, soil, and sediments. EWRE welcomes ideas that improve fundamental and quantitative understanding of how nanomaterials and nanosystems interact with biological media. The program also supports research on engineered systems that safeguard health through the accurate detection of and rapid response to pathogens and toxins in water, soil and air.

Proposals with a main goal of understanding earth systems are more appropriate for the NSF Directorate for Geosciences. Proposals that focus on buildings and cities are a better fit for the NSF Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation. 

Partnerships: To speed discovery and innovation, NSF partners with federal agencies, industry, international groups, and others. Current opportunities are at NSF ENG Partnerships.