WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the National Science Foundation (NSF), announced two funding opportunities for up to 10 grants, totaling up to $32 million, for research on the design of safer chemicals. These two Requests for Applications (RFAs), which focus on sustainable chemical design and assessment of the lifecycle impacts of chemicals from production to disposal, will support research to create chemicals that are safer for people and the environment.

The research resulting from these two solicitations, “Networks for Sustainable Molecular Design and Synthesis” and “Networks for Characterizing Chemical Life Cycle,” will enhance cooperation among the chemical sciences, materials research, geosciences, engineering, and biomedical and public health communities. The two RFAs are now open for submissions.

The design solicitation requests applications from trans-disciplinary research teams who want to replace toxic and expensive chemicals with greener, safer alternatives. These safer chemical design processes could, for example, consume less water, generate less waste, or use less energy than current practices. 

The chemical lifecycle solicitation seeks research to further the understanding of chemicals (including nanomaterials) throughout the lifecycle at the systems and molecular levels.

For more information on the RFAs, visit http://epa.gov/ncer/rfa/.