Statement of
Raymond L. Orbach
Director of the Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy
Before the
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
U.S. Senate

March 12, 2003

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today about the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 budget request. I am deeply appreciative of your support for basic research, Mr. Chairman, and the support we have received from the other Members of this Subcommittee. I am confident that our FY 2004 request represents a sound investment in our Nation’s future. Through this budget we will strengthen core research programs, increase operating time at major scientific user facilities, and expand our capabilities for the future.

This budget requests $3,310,935,000 for the FY 2004 Science appropriation, an increase of $47,059,000 over FY03 (see Figure 1), for investments in: Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Biological and Environmental Research (BER), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES), High Energy Physics (HEP), Nuclear Physics (NP), Science Laboratories Infrastructure, Safeguards and Security, Workforce Development and Science Program Direction.

These investments in basic research directly support the work of more than 8,000 researchers and students at more than 250 universities and at DOE’s national labs. In addition, another 18,000 researchers annually take advantage of the major scientific user facilities operated on behalf of the Nation. The Office of Science is the steward of 10 national laboratories, which conduct and collaborate on the multi-disciplinary research that is essential to providing sustained progress toward the most difficult scientific questions and to ensuring that our Nation is able to respond rapidly in times of need.

These researchers will advance the frontiers of nanoscale science; pursue the key questions at the intersection of physics and astronomy identified by the National Academy of Sciences; develop the knowledge base for bringing genomes to life with the potential to harness microbes and microbial communities to improve energy production and environmental remediation; advance the goals of the Administration’s Climate Change Research Initiative and the National Energy Policy; begin negotiations to participate in the international fusion project - ITER; develop a new generation of computing architecture to identify and address performance bottlenecks in existing and planned systems; and bring the full potential of scientific computation to bear on the Department’s scientific problems.

The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences, providing approximately 40 percent of all federal funds in this area over the past decade. It is also the steward, and by far the principal funding agency, of the nation’s research programs in high energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences, as well as being the Federal government’s largest source of support for materials and chemical sciences. The Office of Science also supports unique or critical pieces of U.S. research in scientific computation, climate change, geophysics, genomics, and the life sciences.

Research projects supported by the Office of Science are selected on the basis of peer review and evaluation for quality, relevance and performance as emphasized in the President’s Management Agenda and R&D Investment Criteria. These diverse and multidisciplinary programs rely upon the advice of the scientific community in developing daring and innovative research directions and facility capabilities. As a result, the program oversees one of the strongest research portfolios in the world – a strategic investment in the future technological strength and agility of the Nation.

The Council on Competitiveness noted in its report Competitiveness 2001, Strengths, Vulnerabilities and Long Term Priorities, that, “Given the rising bar for competitiveness, the United States needs to be in the lead or among the leaders in every major field of research to sustain its innovation capabilities.” Beginning with the impact on technology development of scientific discoveries in chemistry and electromagnetism at the end of the 19th century, scientific discovery has become the source of new technologies that are critically important to economic progress, energy and national security. We are in a period of rapid technological change. Advances in computing, communications and scientific instruments – many of them developed by SC – have transformed our society including the conduct of science. As a result, there are new scientific opportunities today that promise revolutionary technologies to come.

FY 2004 SCIENCE PRIORITIES

The FY 2004 request supports major research programs that respond to DOE priorities and will contribute to the strength and vitality of the national research enterprise. Many of these research programs are conducted jointly with other Federal agencies and are illustrative of the wide array of scientific talent and resources that DOE brings to bear on critical national challenges:

- Enter negotiations with representatives of the European Union, Japan, Russia and other international partners on construction and operation of a burning plasma experiment - the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

- Continue to build on its leadership in high performance computing and networking to bring the full potential of scientific computation to bear on the Department’s scientific and technical challenges. It will initiate a Next Generation Computer Architecture program to identify and address performance bottlenecks in existing and planned systems.

- Continue construction of the Spallation Neutron Source, proceed with construction of three Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs) and initiate work on two others. These NSRCs—located at national laboratories in New York, Tennessee, Illinois, New Mexico and California—will provide scientists with an unmatched set of tools to design and build complex nanoscale materials.

- Exploit its unique capabilities at the intersection of the physical sciences, the life sciences and scientific computation to continue and expand its effort to understand how the instructions embedded in genomes control the development of organisms, with the goal of harnessing the capabilities of microbes and microbial communities to help us to produce energy, clean up waste, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

- Initiate a Laboratory Science Teacher Professional Development program for K-14 teachers in science and mathematics. Teachers will be competitively selected for a 4-8 week mentoring program by both scientists and master teachers at a national laboratory, followed by both additional 1 week mentoring visits and long term continuing support.

- Exploit the capabilities of the world’s finest set of research facilities in particle physics to attempt to find the answers to questions about matter and energy at the most fundamental level. What gives elementary particles their great variety of masses? Are there extra dimensions of space beyond the three we know? Why is there so little antimatter in the universe when we expect equal amounts of each were created in the Big Bang? What is the Dark Energy that causes the recently observed acceleration in the expansion of the universe and comprises fully two thirds of the mass and energy budget of the universe? What were the properties of the early universe before quarks and gluons condensed into protons and neutrons?

SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Office of Science can trace its roots to the original legislation creating the Atomic Energy Commission in 1947, which had a charter to use fundamental research in nuclear physics and other physical sciences towards “…improving the public welfare, increasing the standard of living, strengthening free competition in private enterprise, and promoting world peace.” More than five decades later, the Office of Science can point to an extraordinary and diverse array of scientific discoveries that have led to dozens of Nobel Prizes, a draft map of the Human Genome, the creation of “Bucky Balls,” discovery of the quark structure of matter and the “Accelerating Universe,” major breakthroughs in medical diagnoses and nuclear medicine, and providing tools that allow researchers to “see” at the atomic and subatomic scales, to simulate complex interactions and to collaborate across great distances.

That history of discovery (which is documented on the Office of Science website, www.er.doe.gov/feature_articles_2001/June/Decades/index.html) continues to this day, with major accomplishments in the past year that are the result of our long-term, high-risk, multidisciplinary research and strong management practices.

Two achievements in 2002 stand out as representative of the scope and magnitude of the research sponsored by SC. First is a technological miracle–restoring sight to the blind–being developed through an extraordinary marriage of biology and the physical sciences. The combination of diverse scientific disciplines such as these is a hallmark of Office of Science research and a particular strength of the DOE national laboratories. But realizing this remarkable technology also relies on the unique capabilities of industry (Second Sight, located in Santa Clarita, Calif.) and academia (the Doheney Eye Institute at the University of Southern California and North Carolina State University) in partnership with the national laboratories. In this project, specially designed MEMs (microelectro-mechanical systems) electrodes are positioned on the retinas of patients who have been blinded by disease, enabling them to convert light to electrical pulses that are received by the brain. Today’s prototype enables a formerly blind patient to distinguish light from dark. Tomorrow’s technology has the potential to restore almost full sight to the 200,000 people in the U.S. who are blinded every year by macular degeneration. This miracle of science is possible due to the long-term commitment of dedicated teams of scientists supported by DOE.

The second was the award of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physics shared by Raymond Davis, Jr., whose sublime experiments led to the capture of solar neutrinos, proving that fusion provides the Sun’s energy and leading to the creation of an entirely new field of research: neutrino astronomy. Davis did his groundbreaking work while a researcher at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is home to multiple Nobel Prize recipients. This is the most recent of the Nobel Prizes that have been awarded to DOE-supported scientists.

In its announcement, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said of Davis’s accomplishment: “This year’s Nobel Laureates in Physics have used these very smallest components of the universe (neutrinos) to increase our understanding of the very largest: the Sun, stars, galaxies, and supernovae. The new knowledge has changed the way we look upon the universe.”

SCIENCE PROGRAMS

ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

FY 2002 Appropriation - $150.2M; FY 2003 Request - $166.6M; FY 2004 Request - $173.5M

The Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program underpins DOE’s ability to accomplish its mission through scientific computation. The ASCR program supports research in applied mathematics, computer science and high-performance networks and provides high-performance computational and networking resources to enable the advancement of the leading edge science that the DOE mission requires. ASCR delivers the power of advanced scientific computation and networking to the wide array of scientific disciplines supported by SC.

In FY04, ASCR will embark on research to identify, address and correct bottlenecks that presently constrain DOE’s capabilities in modeling and simulation. A research portfolio in Next Generation Computer Architecture will be initiated to assess novel computer architectures and their prospects for achieving optimal performance for cutting-edge scientific simulations.

In FY04, the ASCR program will continue to develop the underlying mathematical algorithms, software building blocks and infrastructure for the “Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing,” (SciDAC) program. SciDAC is an Office of Science research endeavor to produce the scientific computing, networking and software that DOE researchers will need for sustained progress at the scientific forefront in areas of strategic importance to the Department. The scope of the SciDAC program will be extended to include new activities to address the urgent need for a quantitative understanding of matter at the nanoscale.

The ASCR program will also maintain the vitality of its basic research efforts in applied mathematics, computer and computational science, and network research to bolster the foundation for continued success in advancing scientific frontiers through computation.

In FY04, the Genomes to Life research activities in partnership with Biological and Environmental Research will be expanded to include new research in the applied mathematical sciences that will enable new computational techniques for the study of regulatory networks and metabolic pathways for microbial systems.

Finally, in FY04, ASCR will provide high performance computing and networking resources at the levels needed to meet Office of Science needs. The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, as a result of an enhancement in FY03, will be operated at 10Tflops to meet the computational needs of nearly 2,400 users. ESnet will be operated to provide state-of-the-art network services and capabilities to DOE-supported researchers nationwide to collect, analyze, visualize and distribute large-scale scientific data sets.

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES

FY 2002 Appropriation - $979.6M; FY 2003 Request - $1,019.2M; FY 2004 Request - $1,008.6M

The Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program is a principal sponsor of fundamental research for the Nation in the areas of materials sciences and engineering, chemistry, geosciences, and bioscience as it relates to energy. This research underpins DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security; advances energy related basic science on a broad front; and provides unique user facilities for the U.S. scientific community.

In FY04, construction will proceed on three Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs), project engineering design will be initiated on the fourth NSRC, and a Major Item of Equipment will be initiated for the fifth and final NSRC. NSRCs are user facilities for the synthesis, processing, fabrication, and analysis of materials at the nanoscale. The five NSRCs will be located strategically at national laboratories across the country in New York, Tennessee, Illinois, New Mexico, and California. These facilities, in conjunction with existing user facilities at these national laboratories, will provide a strikingly unique suite of forefront capabilities where the Nation's leading scientists can design and build complex nanoscale materials all in one place.

The five NSRCs will be the Nation's critical focal points for the development of the nanotechnologies that will revolutionize science and technology. They will provide state-of-the-art nanofabrication equipment and quality in-house user support for hundreds of visiting researchers. The Centers will provide an environment for research of a scope, complexity, and disciplinary breadth not possible under traditional individual investigator or small group efforts. As such, the DOE Centers will be the training grounds of choice for the top graduate students and elite postdoctoral associates who will lead the future of scientific research.

A high priority in FY04 is continued construction of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to provide the next-generation, short-pulse spallation neutron source for neutron scattering. The project, which is to be completed in June 2006, is on schedule and within budget with over half of the work completed as of the end of FY02. At the end of FY04, construction of the SNS will be 80% complete.

BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

FY 2002 Appropriation - $554.1M; FY 2003 Request - $484.2M; FY 2004 Request - $499.5M

Today, we have unprecedented opportunities to use advances in biology, computation, engineering, physics, and chemistry, to develop new solutions for challenges in energy, the environment, and health. The Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program is bringing these diverse fields together at DOE laboratories, universities, and private research institutes to find innovative approaches to address DOE challenges.

In FY04, the Genomes to Life program continues to develop novel research and computational tools that, when combined with our genomics, structural biology, and imaging research provide a basis to understand and predict responses of complex biological systems. Other BER efforts in the Life Sciences include Human Genome research and DNA sequencing and Low Dose Radiation research.

BER contributions to the President’s Climate Change Research Initiative include research in climate modeling, atmospheric composition, and regional impacts of climate change. Carbon cycle research will work toward understanding what fraction of carbon dioxide emissions are taken up by terrestrial ecosystems. New in FY04 are ecological research efforts to begin to bridge the knowledge gap between molecular level effects and the responses of entire ecosystems to natural and human-induced environmental changes.

A key challenge in Environmental Remediations Science is to understand the subsurface environment and to then develop innovative options for clean up and protection. In FY04, BER research will continue to develop new cleanup strategies, including bioremediation of metals and radionuclides and the treatment and disposal of high-level radioactive wastes stored in large underground tanks. The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory is maintained at the leading edge of computational capabilities for enhanced modeling of environmental and molecular processes.

Because of DOE’s diverse capabilities across a range of scientific disciplines, BER Medical Applications research will continue to provide the medical community with novel devices and technologies to detect, diagnose, and treat disease. One example is research that will develop the capability to detect genes as they are turned on and off in any organ in the body with enormous impacts in developmental biology and the diagnosis of disease.

FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES

FY 2002 Appropriation - $241.1M; FY 2003 Request - $257.3M; FY 2004 Request - $257.3M

The Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program leads the national research effort to advance plasma science, fusion science, and fusion technology—the knowledge base needed for an economically and environmentally attractive fusion energy source. The National Energy Policy states that fusion power has the long-range potential to serve as an abundant and clean source of energy and recommends that the Department develop fusion. It is the consensus of fusion researchers worldwide that the next frontier in the quest for fusion power is the creation and study of a sustained, burning (or self-heated) plasma. The Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) has concluded that the fusion program is ready to proceed and has recommended joining the ongoing negotiations to construct the international burning plasma experiment, ITER, a strategy endorsed by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences. Following these recommendations, and an Office of Science reviewed cost estimate for the construction of ITER, the Administration decided to join the ITER negotiations.

To be successful, the ITER negotiations must resolve not only citing of the project and an agreed-upon financial and procurement arrangement, but also satisfactory management and oversight arrangements. In these negotiations, the U.S. will strive for a robust management structure and an oversight program based on the principles of equity, accountability and transparency to ensure both the success of the project and the best use of taxpayer dollars.

In light of the Administration decision to join the ITER negotiations, many elements of the fusion program that are broadly applicable to burning plasmas will now be directed more specifically toward the needs of ITER, while some longer range technology development activities will be curtailed. The majority of existing and proposed program elements, however, already contribute to tokamak science, thereby providing a strong base for our future contributions to and ability to benefit from ITER.

Four areas characterize the FES program activities for FY04 and beyond. These are Burning Plasmas, which will include our efforts in support of ITER; Fundamental Understanding, which includes theory, modeling, and general plasma science; Configuration Optimization, which includes experiments on advanced tokamaks, advanced magnetic configurations, and inertial fusion concepts, as well as facility operations and enabling R&D; and Materials and Technology, which includes fusion specific materials research and fusion nuclear technology research. Integrated progress in all of these thrust areas is required for ultimate success in achieving a practical fusion energy source.

The FY04 budget supports a balanced fusion science program. The FY04 budget request supports research in alternate confinement concepts, to include the final design and initial fabrication of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment facility at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, facility upgrades and an increase in facility operations, research in inertial fusion energy and basic plasma science, as well as a focus on the use of high- end computational simulation.

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS

FY 2002 Appropriation - $697.4M; FY 2003 Request - $725.0M; FY 2004 Request - $738.0M

The High Energy Physics (HEP) program provides over 90% of the Federal support for the Nation’s high energy physics research. This research seeks to understand the nature of matter and energy at the most fundamental level, as well as the basic forces that govern all processes in nature. High energy physics research requires accelerators and detectors utilizing state-of-the-art technologies in many areas including fast electronics, high speed computing, superconducting magnets, and high power radio-frequency devices. Until 2007, when Europe’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is scheduled to begin operations, the U.S. is the primary world center for HEP research. In FY04, the HEP program will concentrate on facility utilization, including direct support for researchers, as well as incremental facility upgrades.

In FY04, the Fermilab Tevatron Collider Run II will be in full swing. The Run II program will enable many advances and discoveries at the energy frontier, including: possible discovery of the long-sought Higgs particle, thought to be the key to understanding why particles have mass; providing even greater information about the heaviest known particle, the top quark, discovered at Fermilab in 1995; possible discovery of an entirely new class of particles that have been predicted, by many theories, to be present in Run II data; or unfolding of the as yet undiscovered space-time dimensions that have been postulated to complete the unification of fundamental interactions. A series of planned upgrades to the Tevatron accelerator complex, the major detectors, and computing facilities will continue in FY04 in order to enable a vigorous physics program that will maintain Fermilab’s scientific leadership through the end of the decade. The NuMI/MINOS project, scheduled for completion in September 2005, will provide a world-class facility to study neutrino properties and make definitive measurements of neutrino mass differences.

Building on the outstanding performance of the B-factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), the HEP program will increase support for operation of the B-factory in FY04 to break new ground in exploring the source and nature of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the B-meson system. The upcoming round of experimental results may provide evidence for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Incremental upgrades are also planned in FY04 for the accelerator to improve physics output and for the computing capabilities to cope with high data volumes.

Continued U.S. participation in the LHC project at CERN is a high priority in FY04. The U.S. contributions to the LHC accelerator and the ATLAS and CMS detectors are on schedule and within budget for the scheduled start-up date of 2007. Focus of this effort will begin to shift in FY04 from construction to pre-operations for the U.S.-built detector components and to developing the software and computing infrastructure necessary to exploit LHC physics.

Non-accelerator experimentation is a growing part of HEP research and offers many exciting opportunities for the future. Progress continues on particle astrophysics experiments and R&D in partnership with NASA. Collaborations on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and the Large Area Telescope (LAT), part of the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission, will be engaged in full detector fabrication and assembly in FY04. The SuperNova Acceleration Probe (SNAP) will begin fabrication of detector prototypes in support of a 2006 Conceptual Design. These experiments are working toward solving key mysteries in astrophysics and cosmology, including dark energy, high energy gamma ray sources, and antimatter in space, all of which play a role in the story of the origin and fate of the Universe. Other non-accelerator experiments are located at ground level, such as the Pierre Auger project and the Supernova Cosmology Project, or deep under ground, such as neutrino detectors.

In addition, the program continues to support advanced technology R&D in FY04 geared toward future accelerators, including a high-energy, high-luminosity Linear Collider. In January 2002, the HEPAP Subpanel on Long Range Planning stated that such a collider should be the highest priority of the U.S. HEP program.

NUCLEAR PHYSICS

FY 2002 Appropriation - $350.6M; FY 2003 Request - $382.4M; FY 2004 Request - $389.4M

The Nuclear Physics (NP) program supports fundamental nuclear physics research, providing about 90% of Federal support for this field. NP research advances our knowledge of the properties and interactions of atomic nuclei and nuclear matter in terms of the fundamental forces and particles of nature. It also supports the scientific knowledge-base, technologies and trained manpower that are needed to underpin DOE’s missions for nuclear-related national security, energy, and the environment.

The NP program seeks answers to questions in three broad areas. (1) The basic constituents of nuclei, the neutrons and protons (nucleons) are themselves each composed of three quarks and the gluons that “carry” the strong force between them. Yet, these quarks are “confined” and cannot be found individually in nature. Understanding this confinement and the transition from a nucleon to quark description of nuclear structure is a central question of the field. (2) The early universe, up to a millionth of a second after the “Big Bang,” is believed to have been a soup of quarks and gluons, a quark-gluon plasma. Creation of microcosms of this primordial matter in the laboratory is now being attempted in order to answer how the universe evolved at the very beginning of time. (3) The chemical elements are believed to have been created in stars and supernovae explosions, yet the nuclear reactions involved in this process involve nuclei far from the naturally occurring ones on earth. To answer how the elements were made (nucleosynthesis) requires producing exotic radioactive nuclear beams. Understanding the dynamics of supernovae also requires understanding the properties of the elusive neutrino which can only be detected in massive detectors.

In FY04, the NP program will focus on enhancing the operations of the program’s user facilities, especially the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), so as to bring all operating facilities to about 83 percent of optimal utilization. This will increase beam hours for research by about 5 percent over the FY03 Request. Nuclear Theory, new Low Energy instruments, and increased support to non-accelerator research such as neutrino experiments are also strongly supported.

In addition to increased operations at RHIC, FY04 funding will support an aggressive experimental program with the newly completed G0 detector at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) to begin to map out the strange quark contribution to the structure of the nucleon. The MIT/Bates research program with the BLAST detector is being initiated in FY03 with completion planned in FY04. The two Low Energy user facilities (ATLAS and HRIBF) will also increase running schedules in FY04 for nuclear structure and astrophysics studies.

In FY03-05, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) will make sensitive measurements of the flux and spectra of solar neutrinos. Neutrino oscillations are evidence that neutrinos have mass, an observation that forces a re-evaluation of the existing Standard Model of particle physics.

SCIENCE LABORATORIES INFRASTRUCTURE

FY 2002 Appropriation - $37.1M; FY 2003 Request - $42.7M; FY 2004 Request - $43.6M

The Science Laboratories Infrastructure (SLI) program plays a vital role in enabling the continued performance of world-class research at the Office of Science laboratories by funding line item construction projects to maintain the general purpose infrastructure (GPI) and the clean up and removal of excess facilities. In FY04, SLI will support six ongoing projects and one new start - seismic safety and operational reliability improvements at SLAC. Excess Facilities Disposition (EFD) will continue disposition of both contaminated and non-contaminated excess facilities, resulting in reduction of costs and risks while freeing-up valuable land. The FY04 Budget Request also includes funding for the Oak Ridge Landlord subprogram.

SAFEGUARDS AND SECURITY

FY 2002 Appropriation - $45.7M; FY 2003 Request - $43.7M; FY 2004 Request - $43.7M

Safeguards and Security reflects the Office of Science’s commitment to maintain adequate protection of cutting edge scientific resources. In FY04, Safeguards and Security will enable the Office of Science laboratories to meet the requirements of maintaining approved Security Condition 3 level mandates for the protection of assets. Integration of security into the laboratories’ systems and continued risk management are also supported. In addition, critical cyber security tools and software will be purchased to respond to the ever changing cyber threat.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

FY 2002 Appropriation - $4.5M; FY 2003 Request - $5.5M; FY 2004 Request - $6.5M

Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists supports three subprograms: Pre-College Activities such as the National Science Bowl; the Undergraduate Research Internships for undergraduate students wishing to enter science, technology and science teaching careers; and Graduate/Faculty Fellowships for K-16 teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Each of the subprograms targets a different group of students and teachers in order to attract a broad range of participants to the programs and expand the nation’s supply of well-trained scientists and engineers. Focus of this program is on the Physical Sciences and other areas of research which underpin the DOE missions and have, over the last decade, seen a marked decline in the numbers of undergraduate degrees awarded. Initiated in FY04 is the Laboratory Science Teacher Professional Development program that will provide long-term scientific community support from our National Laboratories for K-14 STEM teachers.

SCIENCE PROGRAM DIRECTION

FY 2002 Appropriation - $149.5M; FY 2003 Request - $137.3M; FY 2004 Request - $150.8M

Science Program Direction enables a skilled, highly motivated Federal workforce to manage SC’s research portfolio, programs, projects, and facilities in support of new and improved energy, environmental, and health technologies, and to provide continuous learning opportunities. Science Program Direction consists of four subprograms: Program Direction, Field Operations, Technical Information Management (TIM) and Energy Research Analyses (ERA).

The Program Direction subprogram supports Federal staff in Headquarters responsible for directing, administering, and supporting the broad spectrum of scientific disciplines. The Field Operations subprogram is the funding source for the Federal workforce in the Field complex responsible for providing business, administrative, and specialized technical support to DOE programs. The TIM subprogram collects, preserves, and disseminates the scientific and technical information of the DOE. The ERA subprogram provides the capabilities needed to evaluate and communicate the scientific excellence, relevance, and performance of Office of Science basic research programs.

As part of a restructuring effort, the Office of Science will focus on its Federal human capital in FY04 to effectively respond to the science needs of the future and to the challenge of an anticipated 50 percent turnover of retirement-eligible senior scientists over the next five years. Also in FY04, the Office of Science continues to support a corporate DOE information management system, the Electronic R&D Portfolio Management Tracking and Reporting Environment (ePME), which enables end-to-end tracking of research projects, information sharing across programs, and snapshots of the Department’s R&D portfolio. ePME will integrate with the e-Grants functions of e-Government, the Department’s e-Financial Management System, and the e-Procurement Modernization System.

CONCLUSION

The Office of Science occupies a unique and critical role within the U.S. scientific enterprise. We fund research projects in key areas of science that our Nation depends upon. We construct and operate major scientific user facilities that scientists from virtually every discipline are using on a daily basis, and we manage civilian national laboratories that are home to some of the best scientific minds in the world.

Our researchers are working on many of the most daunting scientific challenges of the 21st Century, including pushing the frontiers of the physical sciences through nanotechnology, exploring the key questions at the intersection of physics and astronomy, and opportunities at the intersection of the physical science, the life sciences and scientific computation to understand how the instructions embedded in genomes control the development of organisms, with the goal of harnessing the capabilities of microbes and microbial communities to help us to produce energy, clean up waste, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The Office of Science is also pushing the state-of-the-art in scientific computation, accelerator R&D, plasma confinement options and a wide array of other technologies that advance research capabilities and strengthen our ability to respond to the rapidly changing challenges ahead.

I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for providing this opportunity to discuss the Office of Science’s research programs and our contributions to the Nation’s scientific enterprise. On behalf of DOE, I am pleased to present this FY 2004 budget request for the Office of Science.

This concludes my testimony. I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have.

Raymond L. Orbach
Director,
Office of Science