MIT researchers are set to play a major role in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission, with 15 collaborative projects selected for funding under Genesis Phase I. The DOE announced the initial group of projects Wednesday during its Genesis Summit in Washington.
The funding is not yet final. According to the source article, research funding to MIT remains pending while negotiations toward award agreements are completed for each project.
What Genesis Mission is trying to build
The Genesis Mission is a national initiative focused on creating “the world’s most powerful integrated science discovery platform.” Its approach is to bring together AI, supercomputing, quantum systems, and advanced scientific instruments in research programs designed to speed progress in energy, scientific discovery, and national security.
In Phase I, the emphasis is not only on promising scientific ideas. Teams are expected to demonstrate research workflows that combine AI with scientific investigation, then rigorously evaluate whether those approaches have scientific merit.
That makes the first phase a proving ground. The DOE is looking for projects that can show a credible path toward transformative capabilities at scale, and those efforts may be considered for further Genesis Mission funding.
Why collaboration is central
The selected Genesis Mission projects are collaborative by design. Teams must include expertise from academia, industry, and/or the national laboratories, reflecting the scale of the scientific and technical problems the initiative is targeting.
MIT’s role spans both project leadership and participation in projects led elsewhere. Six selected projects are to be led by MIT principal investigators, while MIT researchers are expected to participate in another nine selected projects led by other institutions, companies, and labs.
Ian A. Waitz, MIT’s vice president for research, framed the program as a way to connect universities, industry, and U.S. national laboratories around national priorities. He said MIT researchers are proud to lead and contribute to Genesis Mission projects in vital research areas.
Where MIT will lead
The six MIT-led projects cover a broad technical range, from rare earth elements and fracture models to quantum sensing, nanostructures, fusion research, and particle physics data applications.
- AI-Driven Discovery of Electrochemical Separation Methods for Rare Earth Elements, led at MIT by Martin Bazant of the Department of Chemical Engineering, ChemE, Chevron Professor in Chemical Engineering and professor of mathematics.
- AI for Learning Missing Constitutive Structure in Fracture Models, led at MIT by Laurent Demanet of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, professor of applied mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and co-director of the MIT Center for Computational Science and Engineering.
- AI-Driven Quantum Sensing for Precision Tests of Fundamental Physics, led at MIT by Ronald Garcia Ruiz of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science, LNS, associate professor of physics and Thomas A. Frank (1977) Career Development Professor.
- Multi-Agent Inverse Design of Block Polypeptoids Into Hierarchical Nanostructures, led at MIT by Brad ley Olsen of ChemE, Alexander and I. Michael Kasser (1960) Professor.
- CATALYST: Core Accelerated Trajectories with Augmented Learning bY Sim-to-experiment Transfer, led at MIT by Cristina Rea of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, principal research scientist and division head for data science.
- Multi-Modal and Multi-Facility Application of the FM4NPP Foundation Model: Silicon Trackers and Electron Colliders, led at MIT by Gunther Roland of LNS, professor of physics and division head for experimental nuclear and particle physics.
Taken together, these projects show how the Genesis Mission is applying AI across both experimental and computational science. Some efforts focus on discovering or designing materials and separation methods. Others aim to improve models, sensing systems, or research workflows for complex scientific facilities.
Where MIT will contribute
MIT researchers are also expected to participate in nine projects led by other organizations. Those projects include work with GE Vernova Advanced Research Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Texas A&M University, Purdue University, Northeastern University, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LBNL.
Among them are projects on generative engineering for rotating blade design, superconducting polychronous computation near criticality, autonomous precision facilities, expedited discovery from high-complexity EIC data streams, MXene memristors for 3D compute-in-memory systems, intelligent lab discovery, water-energy security, HLW repository design and analysis, and digital twins for fusion magnet systems.
MIT leads named in those projects include Faez Ahmed, Karl Berggren, Ronald Garcia Ruiz, Philip Harris, Ju Li, Haruko Wainwright, and Holger Witte. Their home areas include the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Research Laboratory of Electronics, LNS, the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, NSE, and MIT’s Bates Research and Engineering Center.
What comes next
The DOE’s next step is award negotiation for the selected projects. Only after those agreements are completed would the research funding move forward as described.
DOE Under Secretary Darío Gil SM ’00 PhD ’03 said in the DOE’s announcement that the response to the Genesis Mission application process shows that America’s scientific community is ready to rethink how discovery happens. He said the program brings together leading researchers, institutions, and technology partners to build the next generation of scientific capability.
For MIT, the selection places researchers across engineering, science, mathematics, physics, chemical engineering, nuclear science and engineering, and related laboratories into a national effort built around AI-enabled scientific workflows. The results of Phase I will help determine which approaches show enough promise for possible further Genesis Mission funding.