Developing an Engineering With Nature® (EWN) Approach for Resilience Through Military Installation and Community Engagement | W81EWF 21 SOI 0019

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81EWF 21 SOI 0019

This Department of Defense (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) funding opportunity supports a cooperative agreement to build and apply an Engineering With Nature (EWN) approach that strengthens resilience for both military installations and the surrounding civilian communities that share interconnected systems. EWN is framed as the deliberate integration of natural processes and engineered solutions to produce economic, environmental, and social benefits at the same time. The core idea behind the grant is that modern resilience challenges, especially those tied to climate change and natural hazards, cannot be handled well by engineering alone or ecology alone; instead, the opportunity is looking for a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that blends the two in a practical and cost-effective way, while also improving how institutions and communities plan and work together.

The primary project aim is to increase resilience in community development by using natural infrastructure and EWN practices, with a special emphasis on the real-world connection between installation resilience and community resilience. The work is expected to be carried out through a CESU (Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units) arrangement, which is intended to help create and sustain partnerships. In practice, this means the selected team is expected to act as a connector and facilitator among military bases, local governments, regional planners, community organizations, and other stakeholders whose infrastructure is physically and socially linked. The opportunity emphasizes that resilience is not just about hardening assets; it is also about understanding vulnerabilities across systems, aligning investments, and improving the planning networks and communication pathways that determine what actually gets implemented.

A major research thrust is the development of basic and applied science that crosses engineering, environmental science, ecology, and social science. The grant calls for improved predictive understanding of how natural, social, and technological processes interact to shape resilience and vulnerability, and it explicitly wants these interactions studied across spatial and temporal scales. That includes looking at how risks and cascading failures can move through shared infrastructure such as transportation, stormwater and drainage networks, shorelines and wetlands, utilities, supply chains, and social support systems. Another central component is translating social science insights into the way resilience planning networks function, how infrastructure investment decisions get made, and how coordinated action can be improved among the many players involved.

The anticipated work is organized around five required objectives. First, the project must identify climate and natural hazard vulnerabilities affecting existing or planned infrastructure in military and adjacent community contexts, and then explore potential EWN interventions that could reduce those vulnerabilities. Second, the team must explicitly examine how interconnections between installations and surrounding communities influence resilience by characterizing both physical infrastructure linkages (shared corridors, watersheds, utilities, and facilities) and social infrastructure linkages (governance relationships, organizational networks, information flow, and trust). This objective also calls for system-level vulnerability identification and collaborative evaluation of which EWN strategies should be considered and prioritized. Third, the project must characterize system processes and support the deployment of EWN demonstration projects, including working directly with stakeholders to co-develop research questions and applied demonstrations, integrating multiple scientific disciplines, and evaluating vulnerabilities across scales. Fourth, building on the earlier research, the team must help develop test sites and pilot field projects to evaluate EWN effectiveness while also meeting immediate resilience needs; the solicitation anticipates that by the end of year one, the effort will initiate roughly three to five research and development EWN projects, with an eye toward technology transfer and broader adoption. Fifth, the project must establish and improve communication channels that advance resilience through EWN, including research on what communication methods best build relationships and trust, tools and instructional materials that expand stakeholder-to-stakeholder communication, and practical products that help communities and installations implement, operate, and maintain EWN features over time; year one is also expected to initiate about three to five R&D efforts specifically tied to improving communication and engagement.

Deliverables are expected to go beyond academic outputs and include a working communication platform that can routinely produce and distribute useful materials across the EWN network. Examples listed in the opportunity include workshops and symposia, news and outreach articles, videos or documentaries, graphics, case study reporting, technical notes, and peer-reviewed journal articles. The overall intent is a blend of research, planning, education, and implementation support that results in demonstrable projects on the ground and replicable processes that others can use.

The solicitation also signals what a competitive applicant team should bring. It highlights the importance of access to strong research facilities for resilience-related science, established outreach and engagement networks (including coastal and inland coverage, such as land-grant and sea-grant networks), and proven experience in strategic planning, community visioning, and multimedia communication. It favors teams that have worked in complex community environments where military, commercial, industrial, residential, and recreational interests overlap, and it requires the ability to provide education and training in both remote and in-person formats. Another key expectation is scalability: the selected team should be able to rapidly expand engagement and planning efforts across a region or even nationally if needed. The opportunity also places real weight on inclusive engagement, noting that participation by historically under-represented voices can improve solutions, and it specifically calls out the importance of connecting with and engaging tribal organizations.

In terms of basic grant facts, this is a discretionary science and technology / R&D opportunity administered by the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, offered as a cooperative agreement (Funding Opportunity Number W81EWF 21 SOI 0019; CFDA 12.630). The posting indicated one expected award with an award ceiling of $1,500,000. The planned period described is structured with a foundational year one focused on building the project structure and initiating early projects, with years two and three (if funded) expanding the effort into a broader portfolio of collaborative EWN projects, demonstrations, and engagement activities that jointly support military mission assurance and community-wide resilience.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- Corps of Engineers in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Developing an Engineering With Nature® (EWN) Approach for Resilience Through Military Installation and Community Engagement" 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 Jun 08, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 08, 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 $1,500,000.00 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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