History
The EFRC program commenced in 2009; 46 Centers were selected based on scientific peer review and funded at $2-5 million per year for a five-year initial award period. Altogether, the DOE Office of Science invested $777 million in the first five years, of which $277 million were from one-time American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. An open recompetition of the program in 2014 resulted in four-year awards to 32 centers, 22 of which are renewals of existing EFRCs and 10 of which are new EFRCs for an additional investment of $400 million. In 2016, DOE added 4 new four-year centers to accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to support the Department’s environmental management and nuclear cleanup mission for an investment of $40 million. An open recompetition in 2018 resulted in 42 awards for a total of $380 million: 11 two-year extensions of existing EFRCs, 9 four-year renewals of existing EFRCs, and 22 four-year awards for new EFRCs. A targeted competition in environmental management, microelectronics, polymer upcycling, and quantum information science in 2020 resulted in 10 awards for a total of $100 million: 2 two-year extensions of existing EFRCs, 2 four-year renewals of existing EFRCs, and 6 four-year awards for new EFRCs. The 2022 recompetition targeted advanced manufacturing, energy storage, environmental management, hydrogen, microelectronics, nuclear, quantum information science, separations, solar, and the subsurface. 16 new four-year centers, 17 four-year renewal, and 10 two-year extension awards to existing centers were made for an anticipated total of $420 million. In 2024, a targeted competition in advanced manufacturing, including polymers and co-design of materials and processes to revolutionize fabrication science for microelectronics and quantum information science, and environmental management of nuclear waste tanks resulted in 10 awards for an anticipated total of $118 million: 3 two-year extensions of existing EFRCs, 5 four-year renewals of existing EFRCs, and 3 four-year awards for new EFRCs. The 63 non-renewing EFRCs appear in the History pages.
| Years | Lead Institution | Director(s) | Center Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-2024 | Northwestern University | Bartosz Grzybowski (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Samuel I. Stupp (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2024) | Non-Equilibrium Energy Research Center (NERC) (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science (CBES) (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2024) |
| 2009-2024 | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | Morris Bullock | Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis (CME) |
| 2009-2024 | Pennsylvania State University | Daniel Cosgrove | Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation (CLSF) |
| 2018-2024 | Johns Hopkins University | Collin Broholm | Institute for Quantum Matter (IQM) |
| 2018-2024 | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | Joel Moore | Center for Novel Pathways to Quantum Coherence in Materials (NPQC) |
| 2018-2024 | Stanford University | Jennifer Dionne (8/1/2018 - 12/12/2022); Shanhui Fan (12/13/2022 - 7/31/2024) | Photonics at Thermodynamic Limits (PTL) |
| 2018-2024 | Stanford University | Anthony Kovscek | Center for Mechanistic Control of Water-Hydrocarbon-Rock Interactions in Unconventional and Tight Oil Formations (CMC-UF) (8/1/2018-7/31/2022); Center for Mechanistic Control of Unconventional Formations (CMC-UF) (8/1/2022 - 7/31/2024) |
| 2018-2024 | Stony Brook University | John Parise | A Next Generation Synthesis Center (GENESIS) |
| 2018-2024 | University of California, Los Angeles | Sarah Tolbert | Center for Synthetic Control Across Length-scales for Advancing Rechargeables (SCALAR) |
| 2018-2024 | University of Utah | Darryl Butt (8/1/2018 - 5/31/2023); Milind Deo (6/1/2023 - 7/31/2024) | Multi-scale Fluid-Solid Interactions in Architected and Natural Materials (MUSE) |
| 2009-2014 | Argonne National Laboratory | Christopher L. Marshall | Institute for Atom-efficient Chemical Transformations (IACT) |
| 2009-2014 | Arizona State University | Devens Gust | Center for Bio-Inspired Solar Fuel Production (BISfuel) |
| 2009-2014 | Columbia University | James Yardley | Re-Defining Photovoltaic Efficiency Through Molecule Scale Control (RPEMSC) |
| 2009-2014 | Cornell University | Hector D. Abruna | Energy Materials Center at Cornell (emc2) |
| 2009-2014 | Donald Danforth Plant Science Center | Richard Sayre (8/2009 - 9/2011); Jan Jaworski (10/2011 - 7/2014) | Center for Advanced Biofuel Systems (CABS) |
| 2009-2014 | General Electric Global Research | Grigorii Soloveichik | Center for Electrocatalysis, Transport Phenomena and Materials for Innovative Energy Storage (CETM) |
| 2009-2014 | Idaho National Laboratory | Dieter Wolf (9/2009 - 5/2010); Todd Allen (6/2010 - 7/2014) | Center for Materials Science of Nuclear Fuel (CMSNF) |
| 2009-2014 | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Michael Nastasi (8/2009 - 11/2011); Amit Misra (12/2011 - 7/2014) | Center for Materials at Irradiation and Mechanical Extremes (CMIME) |
| 2009-2014 | Louisiana State University | James Spivey | Center for Atomic-Level Catalyst Design (CALCD) |
| 2009-2014 | Michigan State University | Donald T. Morelli | Revolutionary Materials for Solid State Energy Conversion (RMSSEC) |
| 2009-2014 | National Renewable Energy Laboratory | Alex Zunger (8/2009 - 5/2011); William Tumas (6/2011 - 7/2014) | Center for Inverse Design (CID) |
| 2009-2014 | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | G. Malcolm Stocks | Center for Defect Physics in Structural Materials (CDP) |
| 2009-2014 | Princeton University | Chung K. Law | Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center (CEFRC) |
| 2009-2014 | Sandia National Laboratories | Jerry Simmons (8/2009 - 10/2011); Michael E. Coltrin (11/2011 - 7/2014) | EFRC for Solid State Lighting Science (SSLS) |
| 2009-2014 | Stanford University | Fritz Prinz and Stacey Bent | Center on Nanostructuring for Efficient Energy Conversion (CNEEC) |
| 2009-2014 | University of Arizona | Neal R. Armstrong | Center for Interface Science: Solar Electric Materials (CISSEM) |
| 2009-2014 | University of California, Los Angeles | Vidvuds Ozolins | Molecularly Engineered Energy Materials (MEEM) |
| 2009-2014 | University of California, Santa Barbara | John Bowers | Center for Energy Efficient Materials (CEEM) |
| 2009-2014 | University of Massachusetts | Thomas P. Russell and Paul Lahti | Polymer-Based Materials for Harvesting Solar Energy (PHaSE) |
| 2009-2014 | University of Michigan | Peter F. Green | Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion (CSTEC) |
| 2009-2014 | University of South Carolina | Kenneth Reifsnider | Heterogeneous Functional Materials Center (HeteroFoaM) |
| 2009-2014 | University of Southern California | P. Daniel Dapkus | Center for Energy Nanoscience (CEN) |
| 2009-2014 | University of Texas, Austin | Paul Barbara (8/2009 - 10/2010); Xiaoyang Zhu (11/2010 - 5/2012); Peter Rossky (6/2012 - 7/2014) | Understanding Charge Separation and Transfer at Interfaces in Energy Materials (CST) |
| 2009-2014 | University of Virginia | T. Brent Gunnoe | Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalization (CCHF) |
| 2009-2018 | Brookhaven National Laboratory | Seamus Davis (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Peter Johnson (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2018) | Center for Emergent Superconductivity (CES) |
| 2009-2018 | California Institute of Technology | Harry Atwater (8/1/2009-1/30/2015); Ralph Nuzzo (2/1/2015 - 7/31/2018) | Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI) |
| 2009-2018 | Carnegie Institution of Washington | Ho-kwang Mao (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Russell Hemley (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2018) | Energy Frontier Research in Extreme Environments (Efree) |
| 2009-2018 | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | Donald DePaolo | Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (NCGC)(8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014);Center for Nanoscale Controls on Geologic CO2 (NCGC)(8/1/2014 - 7/31/2018) |
| 2009-2018 | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Victor Klimov | Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics (CASP) |
| 2009-2018 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Marc Baldo | Center for Excitonics (CE) |
| 2009-2018 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Gang Chen | Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC) |
| 2009-2018 | Purdue University | Maureen McCann | Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio) |
| 2009-2018 | University of Notre Dame | Peter Burns | Materials Science of Actinides (MSA) |
| 2009-2018 | University of Texas at Austin | Gary Pope (8/1/2009 - 6/30/2013); Steven Bryant (7/1/2013 - 8/30/2014); Larry Lake (9/1/2014 - 7/31/2018) | Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security (CFSES) |
| 2009-2018 | Washington University in St. Louis | Robert Blankenship | Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC) |
| 2014-2018 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Robert Finley (8/1/2015 - 4/15/2015); Scott Frailey (4/16/2015 - 7/31/2018) | Center for Geologic Storage of CO2 (GSCO2) |
| 2009-2020 | Argonne National Laboratory | Michael Thackeray (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Paul Fenter (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2020) | Center for Electrical Energy Storage (CEES) (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Center for Electrochemical Energy Science (CEES)(8/1/2014 - 7/31/2020) |
| 2009-2020 | Northwestern University | Michael Wasielewski | Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center (ANSER) (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2018); Center for Light Energy Activated Redox Processes (LEAP)(8/1/2018 - 7/31/2020) |
| 2009-2020 | Stony Brook University (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Binghamton University (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2020) | Clare Grey (8/1/2009 - 6/17/2011); M. Stanley Whittingham (6/18/2011 - 7/31/2020) | NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES) |
| 2009-2020 | University of California, Berkeley | Berend Smit (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2014); Jeffrey Long (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2020) | Center for Gas Separations (CGS) |
| 2009-2020 | University of Maryland | Gary Rubloff | Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage (NEES) |
| 2009-2020 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Thomas J. Meyer (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2018); Gerald Meyer (8/1/2018 - 7/31/2020) | Center for Solar Fuels (UNC) (8/1/2009 - 7/31/2018); Alliance for Molecular PhotoElectrode Design for Solar Fuels (AMPED)(8/1/2018 - 7/31/2020) |
| 2014-2020 | Montana State University (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2018); Washington State University (8/1/2018 - 7/31/2020) | John Peters | Biological Electron Transfer and Catalysis Center (BETCy) |
| 2014-2020 | National Renewable Energy Laboratory | William Tumas | Center for Next Generation of Materials Design (CNGMD) |
| 2014-2020 | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Yanwen Zhang | Energy Dissipation to Defect Evolution (EDDE) |
| 2014-2020 | Temple University | John Perdew | Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials (CCDM) (8/1/2014 - 7/31/2018); Center for Complex Materials from First Principles (CCM)(8/1/2018 - 7/31/2020) |
| 2014-2020 | University of California, Riverside | Jing Shi | Spins and Heat in Nanoscale Electronic Systems (SHINES) |
| 2009-2022 | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Shang Dai | Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport Center (FIRST) |
| 2009-2022 | University of Delaware | Dionisios Vlachos | Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI) |
| 2014-2022 | Harvard University | Cynthia Friend | Integrated Mesoscale Architectures for Sustainable Catalysis (IMASC) |
| 2014-2022 | University of California, Riverside | Laura Gagliardi | Inorganometallic Catalyst Design Center (ICDC) |
| 2016-2022 | Florida State University | Thomas Albrecht-Schoenzart | Center for Actinide Science & Technology (CAST) |
| 2016-2022 | Ohio State University | Gerald Frankel | Center for Performance and Design of Nuclear Waste Forms and Containers (WastePD) |
