The U.S. Department of Energy has named North Carolina State University to lead three Genesis Mission projects aimed at using artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite discovery in the fields of high-performance computing, cybersecurity and astrophysics.

DOE’s Genesis Mission is focused on accelerating scientific productivity in the United States. Initial project recipients were announced by DOE July 22.

“NC State has a deep bench of research experience in AI development, application and integration,” says Krista Walton, vice chancellor for research and innovation at NC State. “By leading three Genesis Mission awards, NC State is helping the nation develop the tools needed to thrive in the post-AI era while applying the technology safely to push the boundaries of scientific discovery.”

The three Genesis Mission projects being led by NC State are Phase I projects. These projects all have budgets under $1 million and are designed to be conducted in less than one year. Successful Phase I projects will be eligible for larger Phase II awards in future funding cycles.

Michela Becchi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State, is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that seeks to make next-generation computing hardware more accessible to scientific researchers. The project will develop an AI-powered programming framework that helps generate, debug, and optimize code for emerging AI accelerators—specialized processors originally designed for artificial intelligence that have the potential to benefit demanding scientific and engineering applications beyond AI. Becchi’s collaborators are Sheng Di and Bogdan Nicolae of Argonne National Laboratory.

Xiaorui Liu, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State, is the lead PI on a project focused on defending agentic AI against adversarial attacks. The project will focus on automated scientific AI workflows, with the goal of detecting and preventing attacks that can corrupt results, produce false conclusions, or leak data. The project is being done in collaboration with Fnu Suya and Mahshid Ahmadi of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Hui Liu of Michigan State University, and Xinxia Peng of Depict Bio.

Gail McLaughlin, Distinguished University Professor of Physics at NC State, is the PI on a project that will embed AI techniques within large-scale simulations of neutron star mergers and supernovae to model physical processes that are too complex for traditional simulations. The project will deliver new insights into the cosmic origin of the elements and the role of neutrinos in astrophysical explosions. The project is being conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Pennsylvania State University; the University of Notre Dame; the University of California, Berkeley; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

NC State is also partnering on two additional Genesis Mission projects, both of which relate to nuclear energy. One Phase I project is led by Texas A&M and focuses on using AI to assess and document reactor safety to support human review processes. NC State’s lead on that project is Xu Wu, an associate professor of nuclear engineering.

The second award – dubbed the Prometheus project – is the only Phase II project awarded in this initial round of the Genesis Mission initiative and is receiving $60 million in funding over three years. The Prometheus project is led by Idaho National Laboratory and focuses on accelerating the deployment of nuclear power infrastructure. NC State researchers collaborating on the Prometheus project include Xu; Abhinav Gupta, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering; and Kevin Han, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and Edward I. Weisiger Distinguished Scholar.

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