Chu announces $1.2 Billion in new funding for science

Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced $1.2 billion in new science funding during a visit to Brookhaven National Laboratory . The money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act --more commonly known as the stimulus bill--and will be used for major construction, laboratory infrastructure, and research efforts sponsored across the nation by the DOE Office of Science, which runs the department’s science portfolio. Another $371 million in additional funding will be announced later.

“Leadership in science remains vital to America’s economic prosperity, energy security, and global competitiveness,” said Chu at a lunchtime press conference. “These projects not only provide critically needed short-term economic relief but also represent a strategic investment in our nation’s future. They will create thousands of jobs and breathe new life into many local economies, while helping to accelerate new technology development, renew our scientific and engineering workforce, and modernize our nation’s scientific infrastructure.”

The money will mainly be directed to the 10 national laboratories run by DOE. The package also provides substantial support for both university- and DOE-based researchers, working on problems in fields ranging from particle and plasma physics to biofuels, solar energy, superconductivity, solid-state lighting, electricity storage, and materials science, among others.

The news came days after the Obama administration announced that current BP chief scientist Steve Koonin will serve as undersecretary of science at DOE. He would replace Ray Orbach once the position receives Senate confirmation.

Included among the approved projects are the following:

• $150 million to accelerate ongoing construction on the National Synchrotron Light Source-II at Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, New York.
• $123 million for major construction, modernization, and needed decommissioning of laboratory facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); and Brookhaven National Laboratory .
• $65 million to accelerate construction of the 12-Billion Electron Volt Upgrade of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) in Newport News, Virginia.
• $277 million for Energy Frontier Research Centers , to be awarded on a competitive basis to universities and DOE National Laboratories across the country. These centers will accelerate the transformational basic science needed to develop plentiful and cost-effective alternative energy sources and will pursue advanced fundamental research in fields ranging from solar energy to nuclear energy systems, biofuels, geological sequestration of carbon dioxide, clean and efficient combustion, solid-state lighting, superconductivity, hydrogen research, electrical energy storage, catalysis for energy, and materials under extreme conditions.
• $90 million for other core research, providing support for graduate students, postdocs, and PhD scientists across the nation.
• $69 million to create a national scale, prototype 100-gigabit per second data network linking research centers across the nation.
• $330 million for operations and equipment at Office of Science major scientific user facilities, including ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source ; the Nanoscale Science Research Centers , located at five national laboratories nationwide; the ARM Climate Research Facility ; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory ; and Linac Coherent Light Source at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SNAL).

In addition, the Recovery Act funding provides $125 million for needed infrastructure improvements across nine DOE national laboratories: Ames Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory , Brookhaven National Laboratory , Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, LBNL , ORNL , PNNL , SNAL , and TJNAF .

Paul Guinnessy

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