I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2950 

To provide for a fundamental research program for the application of advanced computing practices to materials science challenges at the Department of Energy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2021 

Mr. WEBER of Texas (for himself and Mr. LUCAS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To provide for a fundamental research program for the application of advanced computing practices to materials 

science challenges at the Department of Energy, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Computing Advance5 ments for Materials Science Act’’ or the ‘‘CAMS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS AND CHEMISTRY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 303 of the Department of 

3 Energy Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18641) 

4 is amended by— 

5 (1) redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 

6 subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 

7 (2) inserting after subsection (c) the following: 

8 ‘‘(d) COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS AND CHEM9 ISTRY.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall support 

11 a program of fundamental research for the applica12 tion of advanced computing practices to foundational 

13 and emerging research problems in chemistry and 

14 materials science. 

15 ‘‘(2) COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS AND CHEM16 ISTRY SCIENCE CENTERS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the 

18 activities authorized under paragraph (1), the 

19 Director shall select and establish up to four 

20 computational materials and chemistry science 

21 centers to develop open-source, robust, and vali22 dated computational codes and user-friendly 

23 software, coupled with innovative use of experi24 mental and theoretical data, to enable the de25 sign, discovery, and development of new mate26 rials and chemical systems including chemical 


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1 catalysis research and development. These cen2 ters shall also focus on overcoming challenges 

3 and maximizing the benefits of exascale and 

4 other high performance computing systems. 

5 ‘‘(B) SELECTION.—The Director shall se6 lect centers under paragraph (1) on a competi7 tive, merit-reviewed basis. The Director shall 

8 consider applications from the National Labora9 tories, institutes of higher education, multi-in10 stitutional collaborations, and other appropriate 

11 entities. 

12 ‘‘(C) DURATION.—A center established 

13 under this subsection shall receive support for 

14 a period of not more than 5 years, subject to 

15 the availability of appropriations. 

16 ‘‘(D) RENEWAL.—Upon the expiration of 

17 any period of support of a center under this 

18 paragraph, the Director may renew support for 

19 the center, on a merit-reviewed basis, for a pe20 riod of not more than 5 years. 

21 ‘‘(E) TERMINATION.—Consistent with the 

22 existing authorities of the Department, the Di23 rector may terminate an underperforming cen24 ter for cause during the performance period. 

25 ‘‘(3) MATERIALS RESEARCH DATABASE.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

2 support the development of a web-based plat3 form to provide access to a database of com4 puted information on known and predicted ma5 terials properties and computational tools to ac6 celerate breakthroughs in materials discovery 

7 and design. 

8 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM.—In carrying out this 

9 paragraph, the Director shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) conduct cooperative research with 

11 industry, academia, and other research in12 stitutions to facilitate the design of novel 

13 materials; 

14 ‘‘(ii) leverage existing high perform15 ance computing systems to conduct high16 throughput calculations, and develop com17 putational and data mining algorithms for 

18 the prediction of material properties; 

19 ‘‘(iii) advance understanding, pre20 diction, and manipulation of materials; 

21 ‘‘(iv) strengthen the foundation for 

22 new technologies and advanced manufac23 turing; and 

24 ‘‘(v) drive the development of ad25 vanced materials for applications that span 


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1 the Department’s missions in energy, envi2 ronment, and national security. 

3 ‘‘(C) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this 

4 section, the Director shall leverage programs 

5 and activities across the Department.’’. 

6 (b) FUNDING.—Out of funds authorized to be appro7 priated for the Basic Energy Sciences program of the Of8 fice of Science at the Department of Energy, there shall 

9 be made available to the Secretary to carry out activities 

10 under this subsection $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal 

11 years 2022 through 2031. 

Æ 


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