The Energy Sciences Coalition (ESC), of which AAU is a member, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Mike Lee encouraging them to consider the nomination of Dr. Dario Gil as the Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Science as soon as possible.
Dear Majority Leader Thune and Chairman Lee,
On behalf of the more than 100 member organizations in the Energy Sciences Coalition (ESC), we strongly urge you to consider the nomination of Dr. Dario Gil as the Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Science as expeditiously as possible. Dr. Gil was reported favorably out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on April 30 and is still waiting for a full Senate confirmation vote.
Strong leadership for the DOE Office of Science and the broader DOE science and technology enterprise is essential. As the Under Secretary for Science, Dr. Gil will be uniquely positioned to execute the bold visions and strategies laid out by Congress and the Trump Administration for winning the artificial intelligence race, creating American jobs of the future in key energy sectors such as fusion, and staying ahead of international competition in other emerging technology areas including quantum information science, microelectronics, next-generation high-performance computing, and biotechnology.
Specifically, the Under Secretary of Science will be responsible for managing billions of dollars under the DOE Office of Science to build and upgrade research infrastructure at national laboratories and university research facilities. This includes the construction of world-class user facilities and instruments that currently support 40,000 researchers from academia, industry, and federal agencies, as well as upgrades and replacement of increasingly obsolete and unreliable support infrastructure to address growing deferred maintenance issues at DOE national laboratories. DOE Office of Science has consistently delivered these complicated and first-of-a-kind projects on time and on budget. Dr. Gil will also have oversight over most of the network of 17 DOE national laboratories, a source of competitive advantage for the nation. The new Under Secretary has the opportunity to use world-leading talent, scientific tools, and unique research facilities at these national labs to address the biggest science and technology challenges and ensure the United States can compete with foreign adversaries like China.
In addition to research infrastructure, the new Under Secretary will manage a growing research portfolio to advance scientific breakthroughs and energy technology innovations. The Office of Science has a proven model of success in discovery and innovation with more than 100 Nobel Prizes associated with DOE Office of Science research, and breakthroughs tied directly to U.S. energy technology commercialization in every energy sector, including nuclear power, energy storage, smart grid technologies, biofuels and bioproducts, geothermal, and carbon capture and storage. In the short term, there are opportunities to double down on investments in emerging technologies such as AI and quantum and new energy technologies such as fusion that can revolutionize the pace of scientific discovery, the future of work and how we produce energy. Longer term, the DOE Office of Science remains the largest federal funder of the physical sciences and has a prominent role in advancing fundamental research that plants the seeds for future innovation and discovery. Equally important, the Under Secretary will be responsible for stewarding research initiatives to attract the best and brightest scientists and engineers to critical fields of science needed for energy and national security missions.
Given the important role the DOE Under Secretary for Science plays in advancing the country’s science, energy, and national security missions, we strongly urge you to promptly consider his nomination.
Sincerely,
Leland Cogliani, Co-chair
202-289-7475
Sarah Walter, Co-chair
202-678-4000