Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2025-14

• Special Announcements
• Grant Opportunity Alerts
• Recent Research Grant and Contract Awards
• In the News
• Webinars and Events
• Research Grant Opportunities
  • National Science Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Department of Defense
  • NASA
  • National Endowment for the Humanities

Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program

The Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program creates a pathway for you to advance your PhD thesis research while working at a Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory, collaborating with world-class scientists, and using state-of-the-art facilities and cutting-edge scientific instrumentation. While maximizing the impact of your own research, you will also expand your professional network and develop new opportunities for your future.

The expertise, resources, and capabilities available at DOE National Laboratories and User Facilities are a combination not found anywhere else in the country. The unique opportunity to participate in the SCGSR program supports the goal to develop a new generation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experts who are critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission.

To better understand the impact and experience of SCGSR, read our highlighted SCGSR research projects and learn about the program's robust support and history.

            This program supports university graduate students to work at DOE National Labs for fellowships of 3-12 months.

If you are interested to have your graduate students in Physics, Engineering or Computer Science work with PPPL, please let me (dhawan@njit.edu) or Shawn Chester (shawn.chester@njit.edu) know to follow up with PPPL.

Application Assistance Workshop 2: “Q&A, Application and Proposal Guidance” –
April 10, 2025, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM Eastern Time; Click here to register.

NSF: Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences

NIH: Investigator Gateway Awards for Collaborative T1D Research (R03)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: FY 25 DOD HBCU/MI Equipment/Instrumentation

NASA: Several Pending ROSES 2025 RFPs; ROSES 2024: A.52 Advanced Component Technology

National Endowment of Humanities: Humanities Initiatives

Energy selects 16 sites for AI data center construction, new energy development: The Department of Energy is moving forward with some of the Trump administration’s plans to support both artificial intelligence infrastructure development and energy production, identifying 16 public land sites for potential construction.

The advent of more AI-ready infrastructure and development of energy resources needed to generate power for that infrastructure are both tenants outlined in President Donald Trump’s January executive orders on AI and U.S. energy security. 

“The global race for AI dominance is the next Manhattan project, and with President Trump’s leadership and the innovation of our National Labs, the United States can and will win,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in the press release announcing the sites selected. “With today’s action, the Department of Energy is taking important steps to leverage our domestic resources to power the AI revolution, while continuing to deliver affordable, reliable and secure energy to the American people.”

The 16 sites span multiple states and are listed relative to nearby Energy facilities. They include: 

• Idaho National Laboratory
• Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
• Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant
• Argonne National Laboratory
• Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
• National Energy Technology Laboratory
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sandia National Laboratories
• Savannah River Site
• Pantex Plant
• Kansas City National Security Campus.

Alongside the announcement, Energy is launching a request for information to gather feedback from industry experts — specifically data center and energy developers — along with the general public on possible uses of Energy-controlled land for data center construction, operational models and economic considerations, along with other input. The RFI also states that it will collaborate with impacted local and Tribal governments to ensure the data centers are built responsibly.

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Obernolte calls on fellow lawmakers to tackle sector-specific AI regulation: Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., doubled down on his calls to advance federal artificial intelligence regulations in a sector-specific approach, as outlined in the report released by the bipartisan AI Task Force late last year. Speaking during an Information Technology Industry Council summit on Wednesday, Obernolte emphasized that sector-specific regulation serves to effectively provide guidance on safely leveraging AI systems while allowing companies to continue researching and innovating.

“If you look at the risk management framework that NIST put out last year — which has been acknowledged as probably the most useful document for analyzing the potential risk of AI deployment that's been produced anywhere in the world — what the report makes clear is that the risks of deployment are highly contextual, so it matters very much what you're going to do with the AI when you evaluate what the risks are,” he said. “And that's incredibly important, because that means that something that's unacceptably risky in one context might be completely benign in another context.”

Without a federal framework, a bevy of bills have been introduced in state legislatures to tackle AI regulation. Obernolte said that too many states passing differing rules of the road for AI technologies will hinder the U.S. goal to further innovation in AI and machine learning. More information is posted on the NextGov website.