Announced by President Trump less than six months ago, the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission is now up and running, and it’s moving quickly. The effort to accelerate AI for science and engineering has already made hundreds of millions of dollars available for projects. But interested parties should act fast, as the phase one deadline for applying for a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is at the end of the month.
The DOE formally announced its Genesis Mission Request for Application (RFA) on March 17. Dubbed “Transforming Science and Energy with AI,” the DOE is making $293.76 million available for research projects exploring the use of AI in science and engineering among government labs, universities, industry partners, and non-profit organizations.
The DOE has highlighted more than two dozen national challenges that it wants to tackle in the areas of advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear energy, and quantum information science. It’s ready to fund efforts to use AI to tackle science and engineering topics with titles like “Discovering Quantum Algorithms with AI” and “Scaling the Biotechnology Revolution.” You can read the full list of 26 challenges in the Genesis Mission National Science and Technology Challenges document.
“The goal is to double the productivity and impact of science and engineering within a decade,” Rian Bahran, the DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for nuclear reactors, said during an introductory webinar last week. “That’s the level of ambition the Genesis Mission executive order and direction has provided to us.”
During the March 26 presentation, titled “Genesis Mission: Request for Applications (RFA) Webinar,” Bahran and his colleague Bindu Nair, the associate director of the Basic Energy Sciences Program, provided some practical information for researchers who are interested in applying for government funding as part of the Genesis Mission.
Genesis Mission researchers can apply for phase one and phase two projects. In phase one, the government is offering to fund teams with between $500,000 to $750,000 over a period of nine months. Phase one projects that pan out may move on to phase two, which awards teams from $6 million to $15 million over a three-year project period. Researchers can also directly apply for phase two funding if the project is sufficiently fleshed out.
Parties that are interested in proposing a phase one project must submit their application by midnight Eastern Time on April 28. The application does not have to be long; a five-page document will suffice, Nair said. Parties that are interested in proposing a phase two projects are asked (but not required) to mail a letter of intent by 5 p.m. ET on April 28, with the final deadline for an application three weeks later. The DOE is still nailing down some of the details for phase two projects.
There are restrictions on who can apply for a Genesis Mission FOA. In phase one, each proposal must include a representative from two out of three categories: A DOE or National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) National Laboratories; a for-profit institution or industrial partner; and an institution of higher education or non-profit organization. “You have to have two out of the three,” Nair said. “We’re hoping for actually all three.” All three categories are eligible to serve as lead institutions. Other federal agencies and international entities can also be partners in projects, but they cannot be lead institutions, per the DOE requirements.
The 26 National Challenges of the Genesis Mission’s “Transforming Science and Energy with AI” RFA
There are no letters of intent or pre-applications for phase one projects, Nair said. “The first time we will hear from you is when you submit to us your full awards,” she said.
Phase one projects are staffed by small teams of three to four principle investigators who have “come together to design and demonstrate a clear and tangible research workflow that incorporates AI with concrete evaluation of the potential for AI advantage,” Nair said. “What that means is that we need you to tell us how you want us to measure you, that you have demonstrated, or that you are on a path to demonstrating AI advantage, and then show us where in your research or technology development workflow AI is supporting you.”
The DOE wants phase one researchers to pick one area to focus on and stick to it. Researchers should not apply for multiple awards with the same general research. PIs for one project cannot be PIs on another project, although senior investigators can be part of multiple projects. There’s no limit on the number of projects a lab, university, company, or non-profit organization can be involved in.
Phase two projects are composed of much larger teams, consisting of up to 20 investigators and perhaps crossing into multiple focus areas. While the DOE would like phase two projects to stem from phase one projects, it’s willing to accept phase two projects right away for projects that are demonstrating AI advantage. “I will remind you that phase two proposals are hard,” Nair said. “The barrier is higher. So if you are unsure, we recommend that you actually put forward a phase one proposal.”
The DOE is asking phase one submitters to describe the resources they’ll need to complete the work, including computing, networking, and data resources. While the RFA is not an application for computing resources, the DOE would like to know what will be needed. Preferably, the researchers will bring their own computing resources to bear on the project.
“We will try to help you also if you are selected,” Nair said. “But…we expect our computing and data storage resources to be oversubscribed, so we’re not going to promise anything. We will do the best we can to allocate as we can.” Phase one proposals do not need a data management plan, but phase two projects are required for phase two applications.
The Genesis Mission Consortium is also going to play a role in the DOE’s research projects, including by contributing computing power, AI tokens, technical expertise, and other support. The DOE is counting on Genesis Mission Consortium to connect industry and academic organization with the DOE and NNSA labs, to catalize data flows, and promote novel data applications. Research groups do not need to be members of the Genesis Mission Consortium under this RFA, and participation in the RFA does not grant them membership in the consortium.
The DOE is holding a series of webinars to discuss the specific research its interested in pursuing. There have been four webinars so far, and three more are planned, with the next one occurring April 7 at 2 p.m. ET. You can see the full list of Genesis Mission webinars here.
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