Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G22AS00107

Opportunity Information: Apply for G22AS00107

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G22AS00107) is a discretionary USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) financial assistance program offered as a cooperative agreement, meaning the project is expected to involve active collaboration with USGS staff rather than being a hands-off award. It is issued under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) framework, specifically the Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast CESU. CESUs are partnership networks designed to connect federal agencies with universities, nonprofits, and other research organizations to deliver research, technical support, and education tied to natural resource and ecosystem management. Because this opportunity is routed through the CESU program, eligibility is limited to organizations that are already participating partners in the Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast CESU.

The purpose of the award is to support research on how coastal communities remain stable or become destabilized as climate-driven coastal hazards intensify, with emphasis on hazards like shoreline erosion and flooding that are expected to worsen with sea level rise and changing storm patterns. The core idea is to better understand the dynamics of “community stability” in populated coastal areas by combining hazard science with socioeconomic responses, especially the ways housing markets and development patterns react to increasing risk. This positions the work at the intersection of coastal hazards, risk assessment, and human systems, aiming to produce insights that can improve forecasting, planning, and long-term resilience strategies.

The research objectives laid out by USGS cover several connected workstreams. First, the project is expected to model how coastal housing markets respond to sea level rise and erosion, which can include examining property values, buyer and seller behavior, shifting demand, and how perceptions of risk translate into economic signals and development outcomes. Second, the opportunity calls for novel methods to quantify the stability of populated coastal systems, suggesting an interest in innovative metrics or analytical approaches that go beyond traditional hazard exposure maps and instead capture how communities adapt, persist, or decline under repeated hazard pressure. Third, the award emphasizes future coastal hazard assessments, meaning forward-looking analyses that project where and how hazards may evolve over time, potentially integrating scenarios of sea level rise, storm frequency, shoreline change, and inundation to identify emerging risk patterns.

In addition to research and analysis, the grant has clear expectations for scholarly and practical outputs. Recipients are expected to write and submit papers to peer-reviewed journals, indicating that publication-quality methods and results are a priority. The project also requires participation in meetings with the USGS coastal hazards team, which are intended to align research strategy, troubleshoot technical or coordination issues, and support the publication and dissemination of results. This meeting requirement reinforces the cooperative nature of the award and signals that USGS anticipates ongoing involvement in shaping the work and ensuring it connects to broader agency priorities.

Key administrative details include an award ceiling of $475,000 and a listed original closing date of 2021-12-31, with the opportunity created on 2021-11-30. The funding activity category is Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and the CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 15.808. Overall, the opportunity is aimed at a CESU-affiliated research partner capable of doing interdisciplinary coastal risk research, producing publishable science, and working closely with USGS to translate results into usable knowledge for understanding and responding to climate-driven coastal hazards.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-11-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-12-31. (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 $475,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G22AS00107

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