EXPRESS: 2023 Exploratory Research for Extreme Scale Science | DE FOA 0002950

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002950

EXPRESS: 2023 Exploratory Research for Extreme Scale Science (DE-FOA-0002950) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) funding opportunity aimed at early-stage, high-risk/high-reward basic research in scientific computing. The core purpose is to stimulate ideas that could reshape how extreme-scale science is done as computing technologies and the surrounding software and data ecosystems undergo disruptive change. Rather than funding incremental improvements to established lines of work, this program is positioned to support unconventional approaches that build foundational knowledge and new paradigms that can guide future extreme-scale capabilities.

A central theme of the opportunity is that extreme-scale science is being transformed on multiple fronts at once: scientific applications are evolving, algorithmic approaches are changing, architectures are becoming more heterogeneous, and the overall computing ecosystem is increasingly shaped by massive datasets, scientific machine learning, and AI. The FOA explicitly calls out emerging and nontraditional computing platforms, including neuromorphic and quantum systems, and emphasizes that meaningful progress will require innovation in paradigms, methods, and conceptual frameworks that can fully exploit these technologies. In practical terms, applicants are expected to propose research that generalizes beyond a single domain science use case, focusing instead on broadly applicable insights, abstractions, or techniques that can influence many areas of computational science.

The FOA identifies three specific topic areas where DOE is seeking exploratory projects. Topic A, Modeling Future Supercomputing Systems, is oriented toward new ways of understanding and predicting how next-generation supercomputers will behave, especially as architectures become more complex, heterogeneous, and constrained by factors like energy, memory movement, and interconnect performance. Topic B, Programming Techniques for Computational Physical Systems, targets advances in programming models, tools, and methodologies that make it more effective to implement and run computational science and engineering workloads on emerging platforms, with an emphasis on techniques that can scale and adapt as hardware and software stacks shift. Topic C, Quantum Algorithms across Models, focuses on quantum computing from an algorithmic perspective, particularly approaches that can span or connect different models of quantum computation and potentially broaden the usefulness of quantum methods for scientific workloads.

From an applicant eligibility standpoint, the opportunity is broadly open to most applicant types, with one notable exclusion: 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that have engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995 are not eligible. The FOA also lays out how federally affiliated entities can participate. DOE/NNSA National Laboratories may apply as leads or partners; if selected as a lead, funding is handled through DOE’s Field-Work Proposal system under the lab’s existing DOE contract, and standard FOA administrative provisions do not apply to the lab or its subcontractors. If a lab is proposed as a subrecipient under a university or other prime applicant, the lab portion is carved out and provided separately through the Field-Work Proposal system. Non-DOE/NNSA Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) are also eligible as leads or partners, typically funded through interagency agreements with their sponsoring federal agency. Other federal agencies may apply as well, again typically via interagency agreements, whether participating as prime applicants or as subrecipients.

DOE also highlights a strong interest in broadening participation in the ASCR research portfolio. While it does not restrict eligibility to any particular group, it encourages submissions led by, or including partners from, EPSCoR states that are underrepresented in ASCR, and encourages applications led by individuals from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. This emphasis is framed as part of DOE’s ongoing commitment to diversity of investigators and institutions, with program policy factors playing a role in selection decisions.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity under the Office of Science (CFDA 81.049) within the science and technology / R&D activity category. The original application closing date listed is April 19, 2023. The award ceiling is $500,000 per award (as stated in the source data). The overall thrust of the call is to fund exploratory research that can meaningfully influence the direction of extreme-scale scientific computing, particularly work that anticipates and helps navigate the shift toward heterogeneous platforms, AI-enabled scientific workflows, and emerging computing models such as neuromorphic and quantum systems.

• The Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "EXPRESS: 2023 Exploratory Research for Extreme Scale Science" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-02-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-04-19. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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