(16a) Division Director Update on the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Division of NSF: Programs and Opportunities

The mission of the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division of NSF’s Directorate for Engineering is to support innovative research and education in the fields of chemical engineering, biotechnology, bioengineering, and environmental engineering, and in areas that involve the transformation and/or transport of matter and energy by chemical, thermal, or mechanical means. CBET research and education investments contribute significantly to the knowledge base and to the development of a 21st century workforce for major components of the U.S. economy, including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, forest products, metals, petroleum, natural gas, food, textiles, energy utilities, alternative energy sources, microelectronics, and other sectors. Support for environmental research encompasses pollution prevention and remediation as well as life-cycle analysis.

The Division has four clusters of core programs for unsolicited proposals. The Chemical Process Systems (CPS) cluster of programs in CBET supports research seeking innovations in catalytic design, reaction engineering, multiphase chemical separations processes, molecular thermodynamics, process control and design, and sustainable energy conversion. The four programs are Catalysis, Interfacial Engineering, Electrochemical Systems, and Process Systems, Reaction Engineering, and Molecular Thermodynamics. The Transport Phenomena Cluster at CBET supports fundamental research on the transport of mass, momentum, energy, and species. There are four core programs in this cluster: Fluid Dynamics, Particulate and Multiphase Processes, Combustion and Fire systems, and Thermal Transport Processes. Research proposals supported by these core programs span across several disciplines including Chemical, Mechanical, Aerospace, Petroleum, and Environmental Engineering. The Engineering Biology and Health (EBH) cluster of programs in CBET supports a diverse research portfolio, ranging from nano-scale molecular design to macroscale assistive device development. Core programs in the EBH cluster include Cellular and Biochemical Engineering, Biosensing, Biophotonics, Engineering of Biomedical Systems, and Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering. The Environmental Engineering and Sustainability (EES) Cluster is organized around three core programs: 1) Environmental Engineering, 2) Environmental Sustainability, and 3) Nanoscale Interactions.