The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $37 million in funding for 52 projects to 44 institutions to build research capacity, infrastructure and expertise at institutions historically underrepresented in DOE’s Office of Science portfolio, including Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs). Through the Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiative, the Office of Science is supporting mutually beneficial relationships between MSIs/ERIs and partnering institutions to perform basic research in applied mathematics, biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geoscience, isotope research, materials science and physics.
“FAIR is an essential capacity-building initiative that will broaden the impact of DOE and the Office of Science in tackling critical and pressing scientific questions and challenges,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M Granholm. “To reach our scientific goals, we need all voices represented at the table, including those who have been historically excluded from critical scientific conversations. This funding will help students and academic institutions expand their research portfolios and spur future scientific discovery, creating a top-notch workforce to advance American competitiveness.”
Of the 44 awardee institutions, 43 are ERIs and 25 are identified by the U.S. Department of Education as MSIs, including eight Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), six Historically Black Colleges and Universities, two Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), one Tribal College and University, and eight that are both HSIs and AANAPISIs.
Argonne awardees include:
- Brahim Mustapha, Intra-Beam Scattering and Beam Cooling for Circular Modes, partner Northern University
- Franck Cappello and Bogdan Nicolae, Enabling Computational Storage using Data-Tasks and Asynchronous I/O, partner Illinois Institute of Technology
- James Osborne, Entanglement Estimation for Quantum Computing: Theory, Algorithms, and NISQ-level Verification, partner Texas Tech University
- Wenqian Xu, Controlling Densification-Induced Structural transformations in Metal-Organic Frameworks for Size-Selective Separations, partner Illinois Institute of Technology
- Lin Chen, Photocatalyzed Degradation and Chemical Recycling of Polymers Using Visible Light Photo-oxidation Catalysts, Northeastern Illinois University
- Di-Jia Liu, Solution-based Synthesis of Structurally Well-defined Carbon Nanobuds and Their Energy Applications, partner Prairie View A&M University
- Sang Soo Lee, Inhibition of Impurity Adsorption and Nucleation, partner City University of New York, CUNY – Queens College
- Chris Benmore, Development of Containerless HTXRD Technique for In Situ Materials Characterization in Extreme Environments, partner University of Missouri (Rolla) (Mo. Univ of Sci and Tech)
- Valentine Novosad, Macroscopic quantum states in antiferromagnets: Bose-Einstein condensation of anti-ferro-magnons, partner University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
- Andrew Hearin, Accelerating Dark Energy Science from Emission-Line Galaxy surveys and participation of women and underrepresented minority groups in Midwest, partner Missouri University of Science and Technology
Projects focus on a diverse range of topics in fundamental research in support of DOE’s mission. This funding will expand the talent pool that will further the Department’s missions, transform our understanding of nature and catalyze scientific discoveries that can lead to technical breakthroughs. The projects were selected by competitive scientific peer review under the DOE FAIR Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Total funding is $37 million for projects lasting up to 3 years in duration. The list of projects and more information can be found on the FAIR website.
Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.
