Through its annual Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0000584, entitled ?Support of Advanced Coal Research at U.S. Colleges and Universities?, the University Coal Research (UCR) Program supports the Department of Energy?s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) mission by supporting long-term, high-risk meritorious fundamental research that advances the science of coal technologies at U.S. colleges and universities. Since its inception in FY1979, the UCR Program has maintained three objectives, to be achieved simultaneously, which are: (1) sustain a national university program of research in energy and environmental science and engineering related to coal through innovative and fundamental investigations pertinent to coal conversion and utilization; (2) to maintain and upgrade the coal research capabilities and facilities of U.S. colleges and universities; and (3) to support the education & training of our next generation of scientists and engineers.