New frontier: FSU wins federal grants for AI, quantum research - Tallahassee Democrat

New frontier: FSU wins federal grants for AI, quantum research

- Florida State University will lead four major projects for the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission.

- The four projects, worth over $2.6 million, will use AI and machine learning to address national security challenges.

- The projects focus on areas like fusion energy, quantum computing and particle physics.

Florida State University has landed the opportunity of leading four major federal projects within the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission to help the country build the world’s most powerful scientific platform.

And as the university has been on a roll of racking up federal-level awards lately, FSU President Richard McCullough explained how it all starts with the university's faculty. Understanding the federal government's top goals plays a role in the game plan, too.

"Our success in securing federal research funding begins with our faculty – pursuing bold ideas, submitting record numbers of grant proposals and tackling challenges that matter to Florida and the nation," McCullough said in a statement to the Democrat. "From health care and energy independence to national security, FSU has the talent, infrastructure and proven track record to compete for major federal investments.

"FSU has worked hard to understand the priorities of the federal government, particularly regarding the Genesis Awards," he added. "Our faculty have done an outstanding job of aligning our initiatives with these priorities and the nation’s broader national security goals. After five years of focused effort, our research strategy is beginning to deliver results, making us competitive with the nation’s leading research universities."

The contracts represent a milestone in the university's push to become a top-tier public research institution, with federal agencies increasingly turning to FSU to lead work in AI, quantum science, advanced energy and national security, all fields expected to drive future scientific and economic competitiveness.

What is the Genesis Mission?

The Genesis Mission is a federal investment that unites national labs, industries and academic institutions to accelerate research breakthroughs in areas including energy dominance, physical sciences and national security.

The U.S. Department of Energy distributed 278 awards during a July 22 summit in Washington, D.C., and the four projects awarded to FSU – which stem from the university's Department of Physics and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering – are worth over $2.6 million, according to a university spokesperson.

Prior to the project awards, FSU's Center for Advanced Power Systems was recently awarded an $88 million contract by the U.S. Navy to support the development of power and energy systems for future naval ships.

Also, the university's Colleges of Nursing and Medicine were given a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Institutes of Health to train the next generation of nurse scientists in digital health and AI.

The four projects within the Genesis Mission initiative will all use AI and machine learning to tackle complex challenges, including nuclear reaction modeling and quantum error correction.

It comes as the university has been doing research on quantum computing, which involves the use of quantum mechanics to solve complex problems at a faster speed compared to traditional computers.

Supply chain innovation, high-performance magnets and more

“From rebuilding a secure domestic supply chain for high-performance fusion magnets to paving the way for unbreakable, fault-tolerant quantum computers, these projects are highly practical solutions to real-world national security challenges," FSU Vice President for Research Stacey Patterson said in a prepared statement.

"We are incredibly proud of our faculty for securing these historic awards, which will inspire next-generation breakthroughs and solidify FSU’s role as a trusted partner in federal scientific leadership.”

Besides FSU's four awards, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, or MagLab – which is headquartered at FSU – is working on a fifth award being led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California through a partnership.

While FSU researchers are leading each of the university's four projects that were awarded, some of them are in collaboration with other researchers from institutions such as Texas A&M University, the University of Notre Dame and High Temperature Superconductors Inc., a U.S. manufacturer.

The awards are part of a "Phase One" that is set to last nine months. As researchers take on the projects, they can show the initial results of their work and apply for a second phase of funding that will likely be announced next year, according to the university.

Here are the four Genesis Mission projects being led by FSU researchers:

- AI-Powered Manufacturing of High Temperature Superconductors for Fusion Energy: A team of researchers is building an AI computer model that will help build a U.S.-owned supply chain of the technology for national energy security.

- Teaching AI to Fix Quantum Errors: Researchers will develop AI that acts as a real-time diagnostic system for quantum computers. The development will allow the team to rapidly interpret streams of indirect error signals.

- Accelerating Cosmic Discovery in Particle Physics: AI will be used to try to figure out why everything is made of matter instead of antimatter through a massive U.S. experiment called DUNE. The experiment will shoot invisible particles 800 miles through the Earth to compare observations using computer simulations.

- AI and Quantum Computing for the Next Generation of Nuclear Science: By combining AI with next-generation quantum-computing methods, researchers will try to better understand atomic nuclei and other quantum systems. The work could potentially contribute to progress in quantum technologies, clean energy and national security.

Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.