The vision of the Iowa NSF EPSCoR project “Harnessing Energy Flows in the Biosphere to Build Sustainable Energy Systems” is to establish Iowa as a leader in the world-wide transition in energy supply from mining subsurface (fossil) energy stores to harnessing renewable energy flows in the biosphere. The mission is to achieve organizational excellence, enhance Iowa’s research infrastructure, and prepare a diverse STEM educated workforce needed to advance Iowa’s competitive position in renewable energy and energy utilization. The research program is organized into four research platforms – BioEnergy, Wind Energy, Energy Utilization, and Energy Policy – and a Broader Impacts platform. Each of the five platforms has two or more Planks that focus on specific aspects of the platform and has identified various Strategic Priorities (goals) to focus efforts over this five-year project; these platforms and their Strategic Priorities (SP) are outlined in Section 4 and the numbers correspond to the strategic priorities articulated in the strategic plan that was updated and approved by NSF on March 5, 2014.