Announcements

December 12, 2023: Nominations for the 2024 Distinguished Scientist Fellows Opportunity closed 5:00 PM ET, Monday, December 11, 2023. Selection announcements will be published on this page once available.

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An outgrowth of immense investment in scientific research initiated by the U.S. Government during World War II, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 17 National Laboratories have served as leading institutions for scientific innovation in the United States for more than seventy years. They address large-scale, complex research and development challenges with a multidisciplinary approach that places an emphasis on translating basic science to innovation.

The establishment of a Distinguished Scientist opportunity to develop, sustain, and promote scientific and academic excellence in Office of Science (SC) research through collaborations between institutions of higher education and national laboratories was authorized by the America COMPETES Act, and was first awarded to five Distinguished Fellows in 2019. This program is an effort to strengthen support for the National Laboratory system and to provide senior National Laboratory scientists with access to an opportunity and honor similar to some that are available to senior, distinguished scientists outside the National Laboratory structure.

The DOE SC will seek nominations for SC Distinguished Scientist Fellows Program biennially. This opportunity will be awarded on a competitive basis to particularly eminent and accomplished senior DOE National Laboratory scientists and will consist of $1 million in direct funding over three years, to be devoted to a project or projects of the recipient’s choosing in support of the program’s mission. When nominations are open, each of the 17 DOE National Laboratory Directors are invited to nominate no more than two scientists from their respective institutions whose research has a record of sustained scientific excellence and funding in research that is supported by at least one of the six Office of Science programs: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics.