Northwestern projects receive Genesis Mission funding
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission has selected four projects with ties to Northwestern University for Phase I funding. The national initiative aims to build the world’s most powerful scientific platform with a goal to double the productivity and impact of American research and innovation within a decade.
Recipients gathered today (July 22) in Washington, D.C., for the Genesis Mission Summit and official launch of the initiative’s first cohort.
Northwestern-affiliated projects include efforts to discover materials for fusion energy, design electronics for quantum technologies and develop a more sustainable way to manufacture plastics from captured carbon.
“In this crucial moment for American innovation transformed by AI, Northwestern’s researchers are rising to meet the charge,” said Mung Chiang, president of Northwestern. “The Genesis Mission provides even greater opportunity for our researchers to contribute impactful scientific advancement for the benefit of our nation and society. Having three proposals funded by the inaugural round of Genesis Mission is another reflection of Northwestern faculty’s research excellence.”
With Phase 1 funding, project teams will design, develop and test AI-enabled research workflows to explore new approaches to scientific discovery. The goal is to determine whether integrating AI with scientific investigation can accelerate discovery, improve predictive capabilities, enhance experimentation and generate new scientific insights, while establishing a foundation for future investment.
“The Genesis Mission is an important framework for advancing the future of AI-enabled energy research in the United States,” said Sumit Dhar, Northwestern’s interim vice president for research. “We are proud that Northwestern researchers will help shape this historic initiative as members of its inaugural cohort. Their selection reflects the high quality and depth of science being conducted at Northwestern as well as the strength of our critical partnership with Argonne National Laboratory.”
Here are the four projects.
A step toward viable fusion energy
Led by Randall Q. Snurr, one team will search for new materials capable of separating lithium isotopes, a critical step toward enabling the future of fusion energy. Although fusion promises abundant clean energy, it depends on a scarce lithium isotope to produce fuel.
“The scientific principles behind lithium isotope separation are understood, but the materials landscape remains largely unexplored,” Snurr said. “By combining physics-based simulation, machine learning and carefully targeted experiments, we hope to move beyond isolated discoveries and create a systematic way to identify materials with the performance needed for a viable domestic fusion fuel cycle.”
Snurr is the John G. Searle Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. Northwestern’s co-investigators are Omar K. Farha, Filip Formalik and Justin M. Notestein.
Systems for quantum tech
McCormick’s Jie Gu will contribute to an Argonne-led project to develop AI-enabled tools for designing electronic systems that can operate at temperatures near absolute zero for quantum technologies and advanced scientific instruments. Gu will incorporate superconducting elements into commercial chip fabrication processes to investigate how they might improve performance of cryogenic complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits.
“CMOS is the workhorse of modern electronics and understanding how to get the most out of it at cryogenic temperatures is essential,” said Gu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. “What excites me about this project is the opportunity to explore what becomes possible when you combine strong CMOS design with the unique capabilities that superconducting materials offer, all within a single commercial chip platform.”
Converting captured carbon into polyethylene
Led by Edward “Ted” Sargent, another project will use AI to coordinate a new manufacturing process for converting captured carbon into polyethylene, one of the world’s most widely used plastics. Today, industry makes polyethylene through an energy-intensive process that uses fossil-fuel-derived hydrocarbons. Replacing hydrocarbons with captured carbon could reduce both fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.
“The Genesis Mission creates an opportunity to connect artificial intelligence directly with the physical process of scientific discovery,” Sargent said. “By bringing computation, experimentation and advanced scientific infrastructure into a shared workflow, we have the potential to investigate important problems with a speed and level of precision that previously were not possible.”
Sargent is the Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at McCormick and executive director of the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy.
Identifying better quantum-computing strategies
Weinberg’s Ian Low will contribute to an Argonne-led project to develop an AI-enabled framework to identify efficient quantum-computing workflows for simulating protons and neutrons, the particles that form atomic nuclei. Predicting how these strongly interacting particles behave remains a fundamental challenge in physics and is essential to understanding the structure of ordinary matter.
“Quantum computing and quantum simulation could open new ways to investigate the universe at its most fundamental level,” said Low, a professor of physics and astronomy. “Realizing that potential will require combining AI with scientific expertise to identify quantum-computing strategies that are both efficient and physically meaningful.”
Read more about the Genesis Mission and each project at the Office for Research.
