Engineering Environmental Resiliency (EER)
NSF supports fundamental engineering research on environmental resiliency, including resource and energy recovery, benign manufacturing, waste reduction and circular economy systems, contaminant fate and transport, nanomaterial-environment interactions, and engineered detection/response to pathogens and toxins.
⚑ Proposals whose main goal is earth systems belong in NSF Geosciences, not EER. · Proposals focused on human behavior or social responses belong in NSF Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, not EER. · No deadline stated. · NSF may involve partnerships with federal agencies, industry, international groups, and others, but the notice does not make partnership mandatory.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 90 strong | technical depth: central; funds basic research |
| IPPRA | 45 partial | portfolio topics: environment, energy (primary); social/behavioral work is none; funds basic research; capped at 45 (limited social-science role) |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 15 none | deep-tech content; no commercialization signal |
Description
The Engineering Environmental Resiliency (EER) program supports fundamental research to advance resource and energy conservation and recovery, and to safeguard the natural environment and human health. Better use of domestic resources will help make U.S. manufacturing and energy systems more resilient and secure. EER projects advance artificial intelligence; biotechnology; quantum science and engineering; nanoengineering; microelectronics; and other national priorities.
EER supports research that transforms biotechnology and manufacturing to create domestic sources of energy; engineered chemical, biological, and/or geo-physical processes may be involved. The program supports studies on the sustainability of benign manufacturing. EER supports the development of innovative technologies that minimize or re-use waste discharges to soil, water, and air by closing resource loops. EER also supports research on sustainable recycling and management of waste materials and critical minerals. EER supports studies on life cycle assessment, materials flow analysis, and AI modeling to advance the circular economy.
EER research encompasses the chemistry, biochemistry, transport, and fate of nutrients and contaminants of emerging concern in air, water, soil, and sediments. It also includes the biochemical reactivity of pollutants in the built environment. EER welcomes ideas that grow fundamental and quantitative understanding of how nanomaterials and nanosystems interact with biological and environmental media. The program also supports research on engineered systems that safeguard health and quality of life 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 human behavior or social responses to environmental issues are a better fit for the NSF Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.
Partnerships: To speed discovery and innovation, NSF partners with federal agencies, industry, international groups, and others. Current opportunities are at NSF ENG Partnerships.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: U.S. National Science Foundation <grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · National Science Foundation conventions SEE AN NSF EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — National Science Foundation's document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.
| 2026-07-07 | 4 docs | Developing low-cost distributed sensors and community reporting protocols for ea |
| 2026-07-07 | 4 docs | Developing low-cost distributed sensors and community reporting protocols for ea |
Legacy IPPRA LLM assessment (v2.0, for comparison)
38/100 · gpt-5.4-mini · 2026-07-06
This is primarily a fundamental engineering/environmental systems program focused on technical research in resource recovery, waste reduction, contaminants, and rapid pathogen/toxin detection. IPPRA’s strongest match is limited because the notice explicitly says proposals centered on human behavior or social responses to environmental issues belong elsewhere; the social, policy, or communication component is not a named part of this program. NSF grants are generally open to public universities, so eligibility is not a barrier, but the fit is only tangential for a research institute centered on human dimensions of risk and policy.
Legacy scoring history
| 2026-07-06 | 38 | gpt-5.4-mini | This is primarily a fundamental engineering/environmental systems program focused on technical research in resource recovery, waste reduction, contaminants, and rapid pathogen/toxin detection. IPPRA’s strongest match is limited because the notice explicitly says proposals centered on human behavior or social responses to environmental issues belong elsewhere; the social, policy, or communication component is not a named part of this program. NSF grants are generally open to public universities, so eligibility is not a barrier, but the fit is only tangential for a research institute centered on human dimensions of risk and policy. |
| 2026-07-06 | 34 | gpt-5.4-mini | This is primarily a fundamental engineering/environmental science program on waste, contaminants, circular economy, and sensing, so IPPRA would usually be at most a tangential or methods-oriented partner. There is some overlap with environmental policy and crisis/health protection through human health safeguards and rapid pathogen/toxin detection, but the notice explicitly says projects centered on human behavior or social responses belong in SBE rather than EER. NSF is a public-university-eligible sponsor, so eligibility is not a barrier, but the fit remains weak-to-partial for IPPRA. |