Identifying and Applying Engineering With Nature® (EWN) Solutions to Inland Locations of the Central United States | W81EWF 21 SOI 0010

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81EWF 21 SOI 0010

The grant opportunity, titled "Identifying and Applying Engineering With Nature (EWN) Solutions to Inland Locations of the Central United States" (Funding Opportunity Number W81EWF 21 SOI 0010), is a Department of Defense effort managed through the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and aligned with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering With Nature initiative. It is offered as a discretionary cooperative agreement under CFDA 12.630 (Science and Technology and other Research and Development). The posted award ceiling is $750,000, with one award expected. The opportunity was created March 11, 2021, and originally closed May 10, 2021. The work is described as CESU-funded, indicating it is intended to be carried out within a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units framework, with eligibility listed broadly as "Others" subject to the additional eligibility details in the full notice.

At its core, the project is meant to build a coordinated research-and-development and demonstration pipeline for nature-based and nature-inspired engineering approaches in inland environments of the Central United States, especially the Great Plains and other agricultural regions. The program is explicitly focused on understanding and addressing interconnected system drivers that shape inland water and infrastructure outcomes, including agricultural processes, inland rivers and reservoir water quality, weather and climate extremes, and the energy-water nexus. The structure is phased: Year 1 is intended to stand up the program foundation and deliver early outputs, while Years 2 and 3 (if funded) would scale the enterprise, deepen the research portfolio, and broaden partnerships and engagement activities.

The first major requirement (Objective 1) is to establish a collaborative EWN research and development enterprise focused on inland systems in the Central U.S. This objective is about prioritizing and then launching a set of coordinated, multidisciplinary R&D projects that expand the existing EWN portfolio into inland contexts. The solicitation lays out specific topic areas the project set should cover: identifying EWN opportunities in the Great Plains region; applying EWN in agricultural landscapes and sectors; developing EWN solutions for hydrologic challenges in inland rivers and reservoirs; evaluating how weather extremes and climate change affect EWN project performance and resilience; assessing water-quality benefits (direct or indirect) attributable to EWN interventions; and exploring EWN opportunities where water management and energy systems intersect. The emphasis is not simply on individual studies, but on building a suite of projects that collectively target clear endpoints that advance EWN science and practice. In Year 1, the expectation is that USACE EWN researchers and the selected team will initiate roughly 3 to 5 EWN R&D projects, with an eye toward producing transferable methods, tools, and lessons that can be adopted more widely.

The second requirement (Objective 2) is to identify and actively pursue field-demonstration projects, recognizing that real-world demonstrations are essential to validating and refining EWN solutions. These demonstrations are framed as applied research projects that connect the technical work from Objective 1 to on-the-ground implementation, monitoring, and learning. A key feature is that demonstrations should expand collaboration beyond the core award team and USACE researchers to include additional partners, which could include local, state, regional, or other stakeholders depending on the site and problem. The notice gives an illustrative example: a pilot EWN demonstration designed to address hydrologic challenges in inland rivers and reservoirs. Demonstration selection is expected to be deliberate and systems-based, considering constraints and opportunities at the basin or system level and weighing factors such as environmental conditions, partner collaboration, feasibility for monitoring and modeling, access to informative existing or newly collected data, public interest, and contributions of collaborative funding. The Year 1 deliverable target is to identify and actively pursue 2 to 3 field demonstration projects.

The third requirement (Objective 3) is to launch and operate a communication platform that improves public communication and accelerates knowledge sharing across the EWN network. This objective treats communication as a core workstream rather than an afterthought, with an expectation of timely and regular delivery of products and engagement activities that support EWN strategic outcomes for public benefit. The solicitation lists a broad set of acceptable products, including workshops and symposia, news stories, videos or documentaries, graphics, case study reporting, technical notes, and peer-reviewed journal articles. The selected team is expected to work closely with EWN leadership and researchers to produce most, and potentially all, of these outputs. The Year 1 production targets are specific and measurable: at least two workshops or symposia, one video, two to three technical notes, and two journal articles. These products are also positioned as vehicles for education and outreach, suggesting the program values both practitioner uptake and broader public understanding.

In terms of the team profile, the opportunity is clearly designed for a multidisciplinary group capable of integrating natural sciences, engineering, and applied monitoring/modeling. The notice signals that a competitive application would bring expertise spanning agricultural science and engineering, biogeochemistry, stream and wetland restoration, numerical modeling, water-quality monitoring, ecosystem restoration, and hydrodynamics and sediment transport modeling. It also calls for demonstrated experience designing and implementing Engineering With Nature strategies in inland settings, conducting ecological monitoring and modeling of restoration projects, integrating human-use benefits into infrastructure planning and delivery, advancing beneficial use of dredged sediment where relevant, quantifying benefits derived from restoration efforts, and modeling riverine and reservoir systems. Taken together, the opportunity is best understood as an effort to build a sustained, collaborative pipeline that moves from concept and analysis to field validation and then to products that support technology transfer and broader adoption of EWN approaches across inland waters of the Central United States.

• The Department of Defense, Engineer Research and Development Center in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Identifying and Applying Engineering With Nature® (EWN) Solutions to Inland Locations of the Central United States" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.630.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 11, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 10, 2021. (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 $750,000.00 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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