Outstanding U.S. Doctoral Students selected for Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Research Program

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science has selected 79 PhD students from 56 universities and 29 states for the prestigious Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program.

SCGSR prepares doctoral candidates for careers of critical importance to the Office of Science’s mission of transforming our understanding of nature and advancing the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. Participants receive world-class training and access to state-of-the-art facilities, expertise, and resources at DOE's national laboratories.  

“SCGSR is a unique opportunity for the next generation of scientists to gain hands-on knowledge and train with our best minds at the DOE national labs,” said Harriet Kung, Acting Director of the DOE Office of Science. “Providing this experience will help DOE secure the nation’s status at the forefront of discovery and innovation.” 

Awardees were selected from a wide pool of graduate applicants. Selections were based on merit review by external scientific experts. 

SCGSR awardees work on research projects to address critical energy challenges at national and international scales. Projects in this cohort span six Office of Science research programs, including those in artificial intelligence, quantum information science, microelectronics, fusion energy sciences, and accelerator science. Awards were made through the SCGSR program’s second of two annual solicitation cycles for Fiscal Year 2024. 

Graduate students currently pursuing PhD degrees in areas of physics, chemistry, material sciences, biology, geology, planetary sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer or computational sciences that are aligned with the mission of the Office of Science are eligible to apply to the SCGSR program. Research projects are expected to advance the graduate awardees’ overall doctoral research and training while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the DOE national laboratories. 

Since 2014, the SCGSR program has provided about 1,300 U.S. graduate awardees from 170 universities in 48 states, District of Columbia., and Puerto Rico with supplemental funds to conduct part of their thesis research at DOE national laboratories in collaboration with DOE national laboratory scientists.

A list of the 79 awardees for this selection, their institutions, host DOE laboratory/facility, and priority research areas of projects can be found at the SCGSR Awards and Publications page.