Energy Department merges nuclear and particle physics programs, unsettling researchers (Science.org)
20 MAR 202611:25 AM ET BY ADRIAN CHO
The largest U.S. funder of the physical sciences—the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science—will merge its high energy physics and nuclear physics programs, the agency told scientists this week. Many researchers worry the move may signal a marginalization of both fields as, under the direction of President Donald Trump, the Office of Science pushes into artificial intelligence (AI).
Harriet Kung, the office’s deputy director of science programs, and Juston Fontaine, the office’s deputy director for operations, announced the move in an 18 March “dear colleague” email. “We are making key structural changes that reflect our vision and strategic priorities,” says the email, which includes an organizational chart showing a single program for high energy and nuclear physics, instead of the current separate programs. The other Office of Science programs—in advanced scientific computing research, basic energy science, biological and environmental sciences, and fusion energy sciences—remain the same. “We are initiating the realignment now,” the email says, “but it will be a few months before it will take effect.”
Many researchers say they were not surprised. “The rumors had been flying,” says Heidi Schellman, a high energy physicist at Oregon State University. But some, especially nuclear physicists, whose program is smaller, fear the move signals their work is being devalued. “The community as a whole is very worried,” says Nadia Fomin, a nuclear physicist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. All the physicists ScienceInsider spoke to say they expect their programs to be squeezed to help pay for Genesis, a new DOE effort to use AI to accelerate science, for which the agency recently announced $293 million in funding.
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Some researchers see a more practical motive for the reorganization: the recent losses of DOE staff under the Trump administration. “You cannot keep the same organization with much less staff,” says Young-Kee Kim, a high energy physicist at the University of Chicago. “Some consolidation is necessary.”
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more: https://www.science.org/content/article/energy-department-merges-nuclear-and-particle-physics-programs-unsettling-researchers
All this fuss over a dinky $2 billion budget, while ICE gets a $75 B supplement on top of its regular $11.25 B ....
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