Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee Energy and Water Development Subcommittee hearing on the Energy Department's restructuring of the FutureGen program on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 8, 2008. FutureGen is an initiative to equip multiple new clean coal power plants with advanced carbon capture and storage technology. (UPI Photo/Roger L. Wollenberg)

WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- The Department of Energy is calling on U.S. colleges and universities to propose new projects to enhance the long-term use of coal.

Officials said the announcement marks the start of the 30th year of the department's University Coal Research program -- its longest-running student-teacher research grant project.

Since the program's inception in 1979, nearly 1,765 students have received hands-on research experience investigating long-term solutions for clean and efficient use of coal, officials said.

This year, the program will make available $2.4 million to fund projects with a maximum of $300,000 per project. Each 36-month project will involve one or two colleges or universities.

Research proposals are being sought in three areas of interest: computational energy sciences, material science and novel materials for sensing or monitoring in extreme environments of fossil energy systems.

Proposals are due by June 10. The National Energy Technology Laboratory, which implements the program for the Energy Department, will name the winning projects in December.