The Department of Energy plans to award $27.6M in grants supporting data science research efforts to speed up discovery capabilities in material sciences and chemistry. DOE said Wednesday that it intends to use the research projects to comprehend chemical properties and related processes that may support the creation of superconductors, alloys and approaches in material synthesis and chemical separation.
âThe rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other data science techniques is creating new opportunities for advances in chemistry and material sciences,â said Rick Perry, secretary of DOE.
Perry added the initiative will help uncover discoveries that may affect U.S. energy and technological capacities. The agency will pick five national laboratories and 14 universities through a competitive peer review process with the Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Additionally, DOE will obligate $16.5M from fiscal year 2019 funds for the program.