The Department of Energy (DOE) announced Tuesday that $293 million in research funding is available through its Genesis Mission for interdisciplinary teams using novel artificial intelligence (AI) models and frameworks to address national scientific challenges.
DOE outlined those 26 priority challenges last month, which span the department’s science, energy, and national security missions. They include scaling biotechnologies, accelerating fusion energy, discovering quantum algorithms, harnessing nuclear data and research, realizing quantum systems for discovery, and achieving AI-driven autonomous laboratories.
The department’s request for applications is open to teams from DOE’s national laboratories, industry groups, and academia, the department said in a press release.
DOE will distribute funding over phases, with initial funding ranging from $500,000 to $750,000 to support a nine-month project period. Phase two awards will range from $6 million to $15 million over a three-year project period, DOE said.
Teams can apply directly to either phase one or two in fiscal year 2026. Successful phase one teams will be eligible to compete for larger phase two awards in the future, the department added.
“The Genesis Mission has caught the imagination of our scientific and engineering communities to tackle national challenges in the age of AI,” said Darío Gil, the DOE under secretary and Genesis Mission director. “With these investments, we seek breakthrough ideas and novel collaborations leveraging the scientific prowess of our National Laboratories, the private sector, universities, and science philanthropies.”
The Trump administration launched the Genesis Mission last year as a department-wide initiative to harness AI across DOE’s science, energy, and national security programs to accelerate scientific discovery, modernize critical infrastructure, and strengthen U.S. economic and technological leadership.
Last month, Gil explained that by addressing the 26 challenges prioritized under the Genesis Mission, researchers could help modernize and secure the nation’s power grid and digitize eight decades of nuclear research into a searchable resource to guide future energy and security strategy.
Phase one applications and phase two letters of intent are due April 28, 2026. Applications for phase two are due May 19, 2026, according to DOE.