Source: AAAS, 2018
AAU urges Congress to provide $6.6 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science in FY19.
The Department of Energy is the leading source of federal investment in basic physical science research, providing nearly 47 percent of total funding. In fields such as high energy and nuclear physics, nuclear medicine, heavy element chemistry, plasma physics, and magnetic fusion, DOE is the primary government sponsor. In addition to the physical sciences, DOE plays a key role in ensuring continued U.S. leadership in other fields of scientific research including the biological sciences, computing, and engineering.
AAU also recommends $375 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) which supports high-risk, high-reward research that the private sector will not conduct. Since 2009, ARPA-E has funded more than 400 potentially transformational energy technology products including:
- A one-megawatt silicon carbide transistor the size of a human fingernail;
- Microbes that use hydrogen and carbon dioxide to create more energy efficient fuels for transportation; and
- A compressed air system that significantly improves energy storage.