The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the auspices of the Office of Research and Development (ORD), National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), and its partners (see Background section for specific names) invite submissions under the 3rd Annual P3 Award: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability. P3 is the next step beyond P2 – pollution prevention – and focuses on the three components of sustainability: People, Prosperity, and the Planet. The P3 Award will be given to the winner(s) of a national, intercollegiate design competition among interdisciplinary student teams for their research, development, and design solutions to the scientific, technical, and policy challenges of sustainability. The Brundtland Commission has defined sustainability as “…meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, 1987) The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to select innovative design proposals for support to compete for the P3 Award. Note: The competitors for the P3 Award itself and a subsequent award for further development and demonstration (Phase II) will be limited to those selected to receive support as a result of the competition under this RFA (Phase I). Additional instructions for the Phase II proposals can be found below in the section entitled “Instructions for Phase II proposals”. This RFA represents the third National P3 Award competition. The projects funded through the first and second competitions can be viewed at http://www.epa.gov/ncer/P3/. For more information on how to apply please visit: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2006/2006_p3.html#Synopsis