Competition for a Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric and Marine Studies | NOAA OAR CIPO 2020 2006294

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA OAR CIPO 2020 2006294

This funding opportunity, issued by the Department of Commerce through NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), seeks proposals to establish a single Cooperative Institute (CI) focused on Atmospheric and Marine Studies for the Southeast Region. The award will be made as a cooperative agreement, meaning the selected institute is expected to work closely with NOAA scientists and programs rather than operating as a stand-alone grantee. The intent is to create a sustained, regionally anchored research and operations partnership that strengthens NOAA's ability to observe, understand, and apply environmental information across interconnected systems.

A central goal of the proposed CI is to coordinate the deployment of instruments and the collection, management, and quality control of data that feed major elements of global and regional observing systems. In practical terms, NOAA is looking for an institute that can help build an integrated, end-to-end observing and data pipeline for the Southeast, spanning everything from field measurements to validated datasets that can be distributed and used by researchers, forecasters, resource managers, and other decision-makers. The emphasis on "end-to-end" signals that the institute is expected to contribute not only to gathering data, but also to ensuring those data are checked, curated, interoperable, and delivered in ways that support real use cases.

The scope of science and services is intentionally broad, reflecting how climate, weather, and ocean conditions interact with water resources, coastal dynamics, fisheries, and habitat health. NOAA describes priorities that include improving the collection and use of climate, weather, water, ocean, coastal marine, fishery, and habitat information. These capabilities are meant to support studies of climate variability and climate change, severe weather, and challenges in water and resource management, across spatial scales from local communities to regional basins and even global linkages. The CI is therefore positioned as a hub that helps connect observing assets and datasets to the questions people need answered, such as how changing ocean and atmospheric patterns affect coastal risk, marine ecosystems, and resource decisions.

Geographically, the institute is expected to serve the broader Southeast Region and incorporate expertise across several connected sub-regions: the Gulf of Mexico, the Southeastern United States, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic. That regional framing matters because the observing needs, hazards, and ecological and economic systems in these areas are tightly linked, and NOAA is looking for an organization that can integrate knowledge and capabilities across those boundaries. Collaboration with NOAA scientists is explicitly part of the model, and proposed activities can span multiple disciplines and programmatic areas as long as they contribute to the overarching mission of improved observation, data stewardship, and applied understanding.

A major additional component is workforce development. NOAA highlights that the CI should help grow and train the next generation of scientists, with a particular emphasis on building a diverse talent pipeline. The institute is expected to provide hands-on opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers to participate in NOAA-related research and activities, which typically implies structured mentoring, experiential learning embedded in ongoing projects, and pathways that prepare early-career researchers to work at the interface of research, observations, and public service.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity under CFDA 11.432, using a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument. NOAA anticipates making one award, with an award ceiling listed at $310,000,000, indicating a potentially large, long-term institute-scale partnership. The opportunity was created on November 6, 2019, with an original closing date of January 6, 2020. Eligibility is listed as "Others" with further clarification referenced in the full notice, which commonly means the competition may be open to a defined set of institutions such as universities, nonprofit research organizations, or consortia, subject to the specific eligibility language in the notice.

Overall, the opportunity is designed to stand up a flagship regional Cooperative Institute that strengthens observing and data systems in the Southeast, improves the usability and impact of environmental information across climate-to-coasts domains, deepens NOAA research collaboration, and builds a practical training environment for students and postdoctoral scientists who will form the future workforce in atmospheric, oceanic, and coastal science and management.

• The Department of Commerce in the environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Competition for a Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric and Marine Studies" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.432.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 06, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 06, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $310,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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