42 U.S.C. § 18642 (THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE)
§ 18642. Advanced scientific computing research
(a) In general
As part of the activities authorized under section 7139 of this title, the Director shall carry out, in coordination with academia and relevant public and private sector entities, a research, development, and demonstration program—
(1) to steward applied mathematics, computational science, and computer science research relevant to the missions of the Department and the competitiveness of the United States;
(2) to develop modeling, simulation, and other computational tools relevant to other scientific disciplines and to the development of new energy technologies and other technologies;
(3) to advance computing and networking capabilities for data-driven discovery; and
(4) to develop advanced scientific computing hardware and software tools for science and engineering.
(b) Omitted
(c) High-performance computing and networking research
(1) Director
The Director shall support research in high-performance computing and networking relevant to energy applications, including modeling, simulation, and advanced data analytics for basic and applied energy research programs carried out by the Secretary.
(2) Coordination
The Under Secretary for Science shall ensure the coordination of the activities of the Department, including activities under this section, to determine and meet the computational and networking research and facility needs of the Office of Science and all other relevant energy technology and energy efficiency programs within the Department and with other Federal agencies as appropriate.
(d) Applied mathematics and software development for high-end computing systems and computer sciences research
(1) In general
The Director shall carry out activities to develop, test, and support—
(A) mathematics, statistics, and algorithms for modeling complex systems relevant to the missions of the Department, including on advanced computing architectures; and
(B) tools, languages, programming environments, and operations for high-end computing systems (as defined in section 5541 of title 15).
(2) Portfolio balance
(A) In general
The Director shall maintain a balanced portfolio within the advanced scientific computing research and development program established under section 976 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16316) 1 that supports robust investment in—
(i) applied mathematical, computational, and computer sciences research needs relevant to the mission of the Department, including foundational areas that are critical to the advancement of energy sciences and technologies and new and emerging computing technologies; and
(ii) associated high-performance computing hardware and facilities.
(B) Exascale ecosystem sustainment
(i) Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that the Exascale Computing Project has successfully created a broad ecosystem that provides shared software packages, novel evaluation systems, and applications relevant to the science and engineering requirements of the Department, and that such products must be maintained and improved in order that the full potential of the deployed systems can be continuously realized.
(ii) Sustainment
The Secretary shall seek to sustain and evolve the ecosystem described in clause (i) to ensure that the exascale software stack and other research software will continue to be maintained, hardened, and otherwise optimized for long-term use on exascale systems and beyond and reliable availability to the user community.
(e) Advanced computing program
(1) In general
The Secretary shall establish a program to develop and implement a strategy for achieving computing systems with capabilities beyond exascale computing systems. In establishing this program, the Secretary shall—
(A) maintain foundational research programs in mathematical, computational, and computer sciences focused on new and emerging computing needs within the mission of the Department, including post-Moore’s law computing architectures, novel approaches to modeling and simulation, artificial intelligence and scientific machine learning, quantum computing, edge computing, extreme heterogeneity, including potential quantum accelerators, and distributed high-performance computing;
(B) retain best practices and maintain support for essential hardware, applications, and software elements of the Exascale Computing Program that are necessary for sustaining the vitality of a long-term capable software ecosystem for exascale and beyond; and
(C) develop a Department-wide strategy for balancing on-premises and cloud-based computing and scientific data management.
(2) Report
Not later than 1 year after August 9, 2022, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on the development and implementation of the strategy described in paragraph (1).
(f) Guidance on mitigation of bias in high-performance computing capabilities
In leveraging high-performance computing systems for research purposes, including through the use of machine learning algorithms for data analysis and artificial intelligence, the Secretary shall issue, and ensure adherence to, guidance for the Department, the National Laboratories, and users as to how those capabilities should be employed in a manner that mitigates and, to the maximum extent practicable, avoids harmful algorithmic bias.
(g) Architectural research in heterogeneous computing systems
(1) In general
The Secretary shall carry out a program of research and development in heterogeneous and reconfigurable computing systems to expand understanding of the potential for heterogeneous and reconfigurable computing systems to deliver high performance, high efficiency computing for Department mission challenges. The program shall include research and development that explores the convergence of big data analytics, simulations, and artificial intelligence to drive the design of heterogeneous computing system architectures.
(2) Coordination
In carrying out the program described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure coordination between research activities undertaken by the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program and materials research supported by the Basic Energy Sciences program within the Office of Science.
(h) Energy efficient computing program
(1) In general
The Secretary shall support a program of fundamental research, development, and demonstration of energy efficient computing and data center technologies relevant to advanced computing applications, including high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and scientific machine learning.
(2) Execution
(A) Program
In carrying out the program under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall—
(i) establish a partnership for National Laboratories, industry partners, and institutions of higher education for codesign of energy efficient hardware, technology, software, and applications across all applicable program offices of the Department, and provide access to energy efficient computing resources to such partners;
(ii) develop hardware and software technologies that decrease the energy needs of advanced computing practices, including through data center codesign;
(iii) consider multiple heterogeneous computing architectures in collaboration with the program established under subsection (g), including neuromorphic computing, persistent computing, and ultrafast networking; and
(iv) provide, as appropriate, on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis, access for researchers from institutions of higher education, National Laboratories, industry, and other Federal agencies to the energy efficient computing technologies developed pursuant to clause (i).
(B) Selection of partners
In selecting participants for the partnership established under subparagraph (A)(i), the Secretary shall select participants through a competitive, merit review process.
(C) Report
Not later than 1 year after August 9, 2022, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on—
(i) the activities conducted under subparagraph (A); and
(ii) the coordination and management of the program under subparagraph (A) to ensure an integrated research program across the Department.
(i) Energy Sciences Network
(1) In general
The Secretary shall provide for upgrades to the Energy Sciences Network user facility in order to meet the research needs of the Department for highly reliable data transport capabilities optimized for the requirements of large-scale science.
(2) Capabilities
In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure the following capabilities:
(A) To provide high bandwidth scientific networking across the continental United States and the Atlantic Ocean.
(B) To ensure network reliability.
(C) To protect the network infrastructure from cyberattacks.
(D) To manage transport of exponentially increasing levels of data from the Department’s National Laboratories and sites, user facilities, experiments, and sensors.
(E) To contribute to the integration of heterogeneous computing frameworks and systems.
(j) Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
(1) In general
The Secretary shall support the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship program in order to facilitate collaboration between graduate students and researchers at the National Laboratories, and contribute to the development of a diverse and inclusive computational workforce to help advance research in all areas of computational science relevant to the mission of the Department, including quantum computing.
(2) Funding
Of the funds authorized to be appropriated for the Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for carrying out activities under this subsection—
(A) $15,750,000 for fiscal year 2023;
(B) $16,537,500 for fiscal year 2024;
(C) $17,364,375 for fiscal year 2025;
(D) $18,232,594 for fiscal year 2026; and
(E) $19,144,223 for fiscal year 2027.
(k) Authorization of appropriations
Out of funds authorized to be appropriated for the Office of Science in a fiscal year, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the activities described in this section—
(1) $1,126,950,000 for fiscal year 2023;
(2) $1,194,109,500 for fiscal year 2024;
(3) $1,265,275,695 for fiscal year 2025;
(4) $1,340,687,843 for fiscal year 2026; and
(5) $1,420,599,500 for fiscal year 2027.
(Pub. L. 115–246, title III, § 304, Sept. 28, 2018, 132 Stat. 3145; Pub. L. 117–167, div. B, title I, § 10104(a), Aug. 9, 2022, 136 Stat. 1433.)
heading: Editorial Notes
heading: References in Text
text: Section 976 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, referred to in subsec. (d)(2)(A), enacted section 16316 of this title and amended section 5523 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade.
heading: Codification
text: Section is comprised of section 304 of Pub. L. 115–246. Subsec. (b) of section 304 of Pub. L. 115–246 amended sections 16316 of this title, sections 5541 and 5542 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, and provisions set out as a note under section 5501 of Title 15.
heading: Amendments
text: 2022—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 117–167, § 10104(a)(1), (2), added subsec. (a) and redesignated former subsec. (a) as (b). Former subsec. (b) redesignated (c).
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 117–167, § 10104(a)(1), (3), redesignated subsec. (b) as (c), designated existing provisions par. (1) and inserted heading, and added par. (2). Former subsec. (c) redesignated (d).
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 117–167, § 10104(a)(1), (4), redesignated subsec. (c) as (d) and amended it generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The Director shall carry out activities to develop, test, and support—
“(1) mathematics, models, and algorithms for complex systems and programming environments; and
“(2) tools, languages, and operating systems for high-end computing systems (as defined in section 5541 of title 15).”
Subsecs. (e) to (k). Pub. L. 117–167, § 10104(a)(5), added subsecs. (e) to (k).