The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $320 million allocation to advance scientific research and technology development through university and industry projects across the nation.
The department selected a total of 217 projects to receive funding. These initiatives cover a range of topic areas, including:
- Materials Science and Engineering.
- Plasma and Fusion Science.
- Nuclear and Particle Physics.
- Chemical and Molecular Sciences.
- Quantum Information Science and Advanced Computing.
- Advanced Sensors and Materials for Nuclear Reactors and Nuclear Nonproliferation Compliance.
- Cross-Disciplinary Conferences and Workshops.
Materials science and engineering will target development of materials that include advanced alloys, metal-organic frameworks, two-dimensional materials and high-performance polymer materials. These solutions will have the potential for high impact results in energy storage, microelectronics, quantum information science and structural components.
Plasma and fusion science revolve around utilizing high-temperature plasmas to develop fusion energy. Qualifying projects will study plasma confinement, stability, turbulence and plasma-material interactions in relevant devices.
Nuclear and particle physics will focus on the study of the fundamental structure of matter, including into the strong nuclear force, nuclear reactions, properties of exotic nuclei and searches for dark matter and new physics.
Chemical and molecular sciences will investigate core aspects of chemistry and molecular interactions. Projects will direct their efforts toward exploring electron transfer processes, the behavior or molecules at interfaces and enhancing efficiency of chemical conversions.
Quantum information science and advanced computing initiatives will expand research efforts into quantum algorithms, quantum chaos theory and quantum entanglement. The results of these projects will contribute to new paradigms for computing, sensing and communications via quantum mechanics.
For nuclear reactor advanced sensor and materials initiatives, projects will primarily develop advanced sensors, augmented reality for nuclear reactor operator training, advanced cladding for nuclear fuel and better detection solutions for monitoring nuclear nonproliferation compliance.
Additional funding will support scientific meetings designed to endorse collaboration and coordination between early-career scientists.
All projects will directly contribute to advancing cutting-edge solutions that address essential science and technology needs. Lasting up to five years, each initiative will help meet national energy, economic and security needs.
Photo by Edward Jenner from Pexels
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