Secure Energy Opportunities

The Secure Energy Initiative (SEI) invites proposals for seed funding of interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary projects that advance energy security through integrated technical, institutional, and social solutions. The Secure Energy Initiative (SEI) organizes its activities around four technical focus areas ("Pillars") and two enabling themes ("Crosscuts"). Across all focus areas, SEI emphasizes collaboration with organizations and communities that will ultimately use, regulate, or benefit from energy technologies and practices. This approach accelerates the translation of research into deployable solutions that improve energy security.

SEI seed funding is intended to support activities that position teams for larger externally funded projects and deployment-oriented initiatives. The program is intended to generate preliminary results, partnerships, data, tools, and implementation pathways that increase competitiveness for external funding opportunities.

SEI seed funding should be used to support use-inspired projects that advance the deployment, adoption, operation, and societal integration of secure energy systems. Basic research components are welcome when clearly connected to longer-term energy security outcomes and pathways to implementation.

Energy Security. For purposes of the SEI, energy security refers to ensuring availability of energy that is affordable, accessible, reliable, and resilient under both normal and disrupted conditions. Energy security challenges may involve technical, economic, social, behavioral, regulatory, supply chain, workforce, or policy dimensions.

Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Projects. Interdisciplinary projects integrate expertise, methods, or perspectives from multiple academic disciplines. Transdisciplinary projects build on interdisciplinary collaboration by integrating academic and stakeholder knowledge to develop actionable solutions that extend beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries and address complex societal challenges.

Stakeholder Engagement. Stakeholder engagement refers to substantive interaction with organizations or groups affected by, responsible for, or positioned to implement proposed solutions. Stakeholders may include industry, utilities, communities, government agencies, regulators, workforce organizations, and other end users.

Engagement may include problem identification, project co-design, data sharing, evaluation, implementation planning, or other activities that improve the likelihood of real-world adoption and impact.

A project that integrates approaches from multiple disciplines but employs stakeholder engagement only for problem identification would be considered interdisciplinary. A project that utilizes stakeholder engagement at a deeper level would be considered transdisciplinary. Projects demonstrating meaningful participation by industry, community, utility, government, or regulatory partners are strongly encouraged. Both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary projects are eligible for funding, but projects demonstrating meaningful stakeholder participation throughout the research process may be more competitive under the transdisciplinary integration criterion.

Funded projects should contribute to:

• Accelerating adoption of energy technologies
• Integrating technical innovation with social and institutional systems
• Strengthening alignment among industry, communities, utilities, and policymakers
• Positioning Kansas as a living laboratory for energy systems
• Building scalable pathways to external funding and deployment

Solution-Oriented: Proposed projects shall be structured to solve pressing problems related to energy security in the State of Kansas and the Great Plains region. National and international relevance is encouraged.

Outcome-Driven: Proposed projects shall explicitly address at least one aspect of energy security as defined by the SEI: affordability, accessibility, reliability, and resilience.

Foundation-Based: Engagement is foundational to the SEI because successful energy technologies depend not only on technical performance, but also on adoption, trust, institutional support, workforce readiness, and regulatory feasibility. Social, institutional, and behavioral barriers are primary constraints when it comes to transforming energy systems regardless of technology.

Proposed projects shall include meaningful engagement with at least one industry partner, community partner, or government/regulatory partner. Priority consideration will be afforded to proposed projects that include the following aspects:

• Stakeholder co-design and participatory research
• Community outreach and trust-building
• Policy and regulatory engagement
• Risk and science communication

Pillar-Anchored: Proposed projects shall be anchored in at least one SEI pillar, with priority consideration afforded to projects that demonstrate clear cross-pillar linkages.

Descriptions of each pillar are provided below.

1. Advanced Nuclear Systems

This pillar focuses on the science, engineering, and deployment challenges associated with advanced nuclear energy systems, recognizing nuclear as a critical component of reliable, low-carbon energy. Importantly, advanced nuclear energy deployment is an adoption challenge, requiring attention to public trust, regulatory frameworks, and community acceptance.

Research may include:

• Nuclear materials, radiochemistry, and fuel cycles
• Reactor instrumentation, monitoring, and safety systems
• Risk assessment and operational reliability
• Used fuel management and waste disposition
• Integration of advanced reactors (e.g., SMRs, microreactors) with industrial and regional energy systems
• Advanced reactor modeling and simulation (e.g., thermal hydraulics, multiphysics)
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital twins for nuclear systems

Proposed projects should emphasize:

• Community-informed siting and deployment
• Regulatory pathways and public acceptance
• Integration with industrial or data center loads
• Demonstration of technologies that enhance reactor safety, operational efficiency, and deployment readiness

2. Grid Integration and Reliability

This pillar addresses the operation, modernization, and resilience of electric power systems, with a strong emphasis on utility-centered system integration. Given that utilities act as system integrators and gatekeepers, successful projects must align with real-world utility constraints and decision-making structures.

Research may include:

• Grid stability, resilience, and infrastructure modernization
• Integration of baseload (e.g., nuclear) and intermittent renewable resources
• Energy storage and load balancing
• Smart grids, power electronics, and grid-edge technologies
• Utility planning, operations, and regulatory interactions
• Development of policy guidelines for data center regulations

Proposed projects should emphasize:

• Resilience strategies aligned with utility operations
• Infrastructure modernization and planning tools
• Energy storage integration

3. Grid-Independent Systems

This pillar focuses on distributed, decentralized, and end-use energy systems, where adoption, affordability, and user behavior determine successful deployment.

Research may include:

• Bioenergy, hydrogen, and alternative fuels
• Industrial process heat and waste heat recovery
• Rural and agricultural energy systems
• Islanded microgrids and off-grid applications
• Transportation energy systems and electrification

Proposed projects should emphasize:

• Local decision-making and community-level deployment
• Behavioral, economic, and trust barriers to adoption
• Solutions tailored to rural and distributed contexts

4. Advanced Manufacturing & Supply Chain

This pillar supports the industrial backbone of energy systems, ensuring that technologies can be produced, deployed, and sustained at scale.

Research may include:

• Manufacturing processes for nuclear, grid, and energy components
• Supply chain resilience and risk management
• Domestic production capacity and industrial ecosystems
• Quality assurance and regulatory compliance in energy manufacturing
• Integration of energy systems with regional economic development

Proposed projects should emphasize:

• Scaling deployment beyond prototypes
• Strengthening regional and national supply chains
• Aligning manufacturing with energy system needs and workforce capabilities

Crosscutting: Proposed projects shall substantively incorporate at least one SEI crosscut. Descriptions of each crosscut are provided below for reference.

1. Workforce Development

This crosscut focuses on building the human capital required to deploy, operate, and sustain future energy systems at scale. Given projected energy system growth and transformation, workforce development is a critical bottleneck and enabling factor for all pillars.

Activities may include:

• Workforce training, reskilling, and upskilling programs
• Development of certifications, micro-credentials, and curricula
• K–12, community college, and university pathway development
• Industry-informed training aligned with emerging technologies
• Strategies to address workforce gaps across nuclear, grid, and manufacturing sectors

2. Digital Engineering

This crosscut enables system-wide integration, efficiency, and decision-making through advanced digital tools.

Research may include:

• Modeling and simulation of energy systems
• Digital twins for infrastructure and operations
• Data analytics, AI/ML, predictive tools, physics-informed machine learning, and digital twins
• Cybersecurity for critical energy systems
• Cyber-physical systems integration

Digital engineering is viewed as a force multiplier across all pillars, enabling:

• Improved system performance
• Faster innovation cycles
• Better operational and planning decisions

Strong proposals will:

• Focus on adoption and implementation, not just technology development
• Address social license, trust, and behavioral barriers
• Align with utilities and institutional decision-makers
• Strive for scalable and transferable solutions
• Deliver decision-support tools or actionable insights
• Demonstrate speed, coordination, and integration
• Potential to position the team for competitive external funding

Proposals will be evaluated on:

1. Novelty and significance of the proposed approach
2. Potential for adoption and impact in Kansas
3. Contribution to energy security outcomes (improving energy affordability, accessibility, reliability, and/or resilience)
4. Alignment with SEI Pillars, Crosscuts, and Engagement Foundation
5. Likelihood of project success
6. Strength of transdisciplinary integration
7. Quality of industry and other stakeholder engagement
8. Scalability to large, consortium-level projects