One Year Into Genesis Mission, DOE Targets a Decade of Faster Research

The Energy Department’s Genesis Mission marked its first year by turning its attention toward an ambitious goal: doubling the productivity and impact of America’s research and development enterprise within the next decade, CIO Dawn Zimmer said Friday.

The Genesis Mission, which uses artificial intelligence and advanced computing to accelerate scientific discovery, is entering a new phase focused on translating its growing investments, research partnerships, and infrastructure into measurable scientific breakthroughs.

“It’s not simply about building larger supercomputers,” Zimmer said at the AI Summit in Tysons, Virginia. “This is about figuring out what scientists and engineers can do with all of the technology that we’re handing to them, and that’s where it gets very exciting. It’s figuring out the problems that are out there and how fast can we solve them.”

The department anticipates faster simulations, shorter experimental cycles and scientific results that can be validated and applied more quickly. Many of these efforts are helping address major challenges the nation is currently facing, such as power grid capacity and critical infrastructure security.

One example already underway is the GridFM 2.0 project, which uses advanced simulations to analyze the nation’s power grid and identify ways to improve its capacity and resilience. The initiative, led by Brookhaven National Laboratory, is intended to help researchers better understand how to strengthen the grid against storms and other extreme weather events.

During its first year, the Genesis Mission has attracted significant interest from the research community. The department received approximately 5,000 applications in response to its first research funding announcement, said Zimmer. That is about twice the amount it had ever received for similar efforts.

Following the second round of award announcements in October, the inaugural cohort now features 297 projects across 369 participating institutions nationwide.

The department evaluated proposals based not only on scientific and technical merit, but also on whether AI could accelerate the proposed research. Zimmer’s office used its internal analytics tool, Quanta, to help organize and prioritize the applications.

Part of the Genesis Mission includes developing the American Science Cloud, a secure platform connecting computing resources, scientific instruments, and research findings. Zimmer described the vision as an “internet of science,” where researchers can build on one another’s work and share data across institutions.

“The possibilities are endless when you start taking it to that kind of scale,” she said. “Where … you build something and I build something, and then we start collaborating across this scientific internet, and who knows what problems we can solve.”

Establishing that connected ecosystem has been challenging. Bringing together national laboratories, universities and industry partners created complex cybersecurity and access-management considerations. The department’s response was to develop a shared, federated security architecture bringing together security leaders from across the department and establishing a dedicated CISO for the Genesis Mission.

Moving forward, Zimmer said DOE’s priority is demonstrating that the technology and infrastructure can produce meaningful results. The next several years will test how far the initiative can push the pace of American research.