DOE Office of Science Selects 65 Promising Researchers for Early Career Research Awards

Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science announced today that 65 scientists from across the nation have been selected for five-year awards under the Office's Early Career Research Program. The five-year awards are designed to bolster the nation's scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work.

The research awards also aim at providing incentives for scientists to focus on mission research areas that are a high priority for the Department of Energy and the Nation.

Applicants direct their proposals to one of the DOE Office of Science's six major program offices: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics.

Awardees were selected from a pool of about 1,150 university- and national laboratory-based applicants. Selection was based on peer review by outside scientific experts.

To be eligible for an award, a researcher must have received a Ph.D. within the past ten years and be (1) an untenured, tenure-track assistant or associate professor at a U.S. academic institution or (2) a full-time employee at a DOE national laboratory. Research topics were required to fall within the specific topics described in the Fiscal Year 2011 Early Career Research Program Funding Announcements (http://science.energy.gov/early-career/).

This is the second year of a planned annual program.

Projects announced today are selections for financial award. The final details for each award are subject to final grant and contract negotiations between DOE and the awardees.

A list of selectees, their institutions, and abstracts of their research projects is available at http://science.energy.gov/early-career/