The University of California is a crucial partner in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission, a historic effort to develop AI-enabled scientific workflows designed to accelerate breakthroughs in energy, discovery science and national security.
DOE announced its first round of awards July 22. Of 278 projects nationwide, 40, or 15 percent, are led by UC investigators, including faculty at seven UC campuses and scientists at the UC-affiliated Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories — with UC campuses and labs partnering on many more projects. These awards will address some of the nation’s most pressing energy, scientific and engineering challenges, including nuclear energy, critical mineral extraction, chip design and commercial fusion energy.
Funded projects will gain access to DOE’s AI agent frameworks, advanced AI models and software made available through industry partners, as well as high-performance computing resources already available across DOE’s National Laboratories and partner facilities. These capabilities will enable researchers to rapidly design, test and refine new approaches to accelerate scientific discovery.
“The University of California is proud to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy to advance the Gensis Mission for the benefit of every American,” said UC Vice President for Research and Innovation Theresa Maldonado. “UC’s world-class scientists and facilities offer unmatched potential to achieve DOE’s goals for energy, discovery and national security.”
“UC’s three affiliated national laboratories are recognized as premier partners to the Department of Energy in executing the important goals of the Genesis Mission,” said UC National Laboratories Vice President June Yu. “Projects funded by the Genesis Mission continue a tradition of exceptionally talented scientists at UC national labs achieving breakthroughs in fields that are vital to the nation’s strength and competitiveness, including AI, supercomputing, quantum systems and nuclear energy.”
The Genesis Mission aligns with UC’s systemwide strategic focus and leadership in nuclear energy, advanced computing, quantum science and artificial intelligence. Through its Artificial Intelligence Science at Scale initiative, the UC Office of the President (UCOP) is funding three multicampus teams of UC researchers to develop new AI approaches in genomics, quantum materials discovery and geothermal energy, with an additional team focused on integrated data platforms. In June 2026, UCOP, in partnership with Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, held it first AI Science at Scale Summit in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The UC Initiative for Fusion Energy, also funded by UCOP, supports two teams of UC scientists to accelerate progress toward a future powered by abundant, stable, zero-carbon fusion energy.
View all the projects funded through the Genesis Mission.
