Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs)
The EFRC program funds multi-institutional, interdisciplinary teams to conduct advanced basic research in energy-related sciences, integrating experiments, theory, computation, and AI/ML to tackle complex scientific challenges.
Funder: Office of Science
Due Dates: July 1, 2026
Funding Amounts: $12,000,000–$18,000,000 per award; multi-year, multi-investigator center grants
Summary: Supports multi-institutional research centers advancing transformative basic science in energy-relevant materials, chemical, geo-, and biosciences.
Description
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program, is re-competing its Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) initiative. The EFRCs are designed to bring together multidisciplinary teams of scientists from universities, DOE national laboratories, and other research institutions to address complex, energy-relevant scientific challenges that cannot be tackled by individual investigators or small groups. The centers focus on fundamental research in materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, and biosciences, with an emphasis on integrating experimental, theoretical, computational, and AI/ML approaches. The goal is to accelerate transformative advances and develop innovative tools that provide unprecedented insight into fundamental processes relevant to energy.
