The Office of Science makes extensive use of peer review and federal advisory committees to develop general directions for research investments, to identify priorities, and to determine the very best scientific proposals to support.
The programs it supports represent the largest and most active computer science research effort within the U.S. federal government.
The ASCR supports the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), which interconnects more than 40 DOE sites at speeds up to 100 gigabits per second.
Its current focus is on sequencing the genomes of microbes, microbial communities, fungi, plants, and other organisms.
[7] Environmental efforts include research on the global carbon cycle and possible mitigation of the impacts of climate change.
The Office of Science climate change research program is now the third largest in the U.S.[4] The Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) organization supports efforts to expand the fundamental understanding of plasma physics and the knowledge needed to develop a fusion energy source.
Nuclear Physics and Fusion Energy Sciences budgets were relatively static through most of the period, but had substantial increases in fiscal 2009.
[11] The increase in the Fusion budget reinstated the U.S. contribution to ITER, which was reduced significantly in the previous year.