Senate Priorities for Basic Research

Leland Cogliani, Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee

On June 27, 2013, the Senate Appropriations Committee completed its bill on energy and water related appropriations, which includes funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Committee reaffirmed the highest science priorities: (1) the discovery and design of new materials for the generation, storage, and use of energy, (2) better understanding of microorganisms and plants for improved biofuels production, and (3) the development and deployment of more powerful computing capabilities to take advantage of modeling and simulation to advance energy technologies and maintain U.S. economic competitiveness. Specifically, the Committee significantly increased funding for the exascale initiative to deploy the first exascale system by 2022 and maintain a highly skilled workforce to design and use next generation computing platforms to advance the nation’s energy and national security needs.

Abstract Author(s): Leland Cogliani