U.S. Department of Energy’sU.S. Department of Energy’sOffice of ScienceOffice of Science

U.S. Department of Energy’sU.S. Department of Energy’sOffice of ScienceOffice of Science

BERAC MeetingBERAC MeetingAmerican Geophysical UnionAmerican Geophysical Union

Jerry ElwoodJerry ElwoodActing Associate Director of Science Acting Associate Director of Science

for Biological and Environmental Researchfor Biological and Environmental Research

November 30, 2007November 30, 2007

State of BERState of BER

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

FY 2008 Operating Status – déjà vu all over again:FY 2008 Operating Status – déjà vu all over again:

Operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) until at least Dec. 14, 2007; year-long CR possible

CR allows continuation of ongoing activities under terms and conditions of FY 2007 appropriations; spending rate is constrained

Doesn’t allow new program starts or cancellations of existing programs

Does allow new starts of projects in existing programs

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

BER FY 2007 Appropriation, FY 2008 Request, BER FY 2007 Appropriation, FY 2008 Request, and FY 2008 House and Senate Marks:and FY 2008 House and Senate Marks: BER FY 2007 Appropriation, FY 2008 Request, BER FY 2007 Appropriation, FY 2008 Request, and FY 2008 House and Senate Marks:and FY 2008 House and Senate Marks:

B/A dollars in thousands

FY 2007 Appropriation $479,184

President’s FY 2008 Request: $531,897

House mark $581,897

Senate subcommittee mark $605,320

CR constrains funding at FY 2007 appropriation

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Staff: Associate Director position

– Search closed, applications of candidates certified as eligible in hands of selecting official

Two vacant Division Director positions – Life and Medical Sciences, Environmental Remediation Sciences

Filling Division Director positions contingent on first filling AD position

Biological and Environmental ResearchBiological and Environmental ResearchBiological and Environmental ResearchBiological and Environmental Research

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Departures: Mike Viola – moved to private sector Shirley Derflinger – retired

New Hires: Elizabeth (Libby) White – Human Subjects Protection

program Susan Gregurick – Computational Biology Patrick Glynn – manager of Bioenergy Research Centers Terry Jones – Administrative Assistant for Environmental

Remediation Sciences Division

Staff changes in BERStaff changes in BERStaff changes in BERStaff changes in BER

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Support of Scientific Focus Areas (SFAs): Portfolio of BER-funded program research at a lab that takes

advantage of unique scientific capabilities, strategic focus, flexibility, and administrative resources of National Labs

Retains use of and reliance on rigorous merit review Focus on team-based research efforts

Intent is to:1. strengthen and broaden BER-funded scientific and technical

contributions made by DOE labs2. provide greater flexibility to BER and Labs to rapidly address new

scientific and technical challenges as they arise, and3. enable BER to help Labs develop and sustain core competencies

that contribute to BER SFAs

Operational Changes in BER Program Operational Changes in BER Program Funding at DOE LabsFunding at DOE LabsOperational Changes in BER Program Operational Changes in BER Program Funding at DOE LabsFunding at DOE Labs

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Updates: 3 GTL Bioenergy Centers funded GTL solicitations completed in FY2007

New Analytical and Imaging Technologies for Lignocellulosic Material Degradation

Quantitative Microbial Biochemistry and Metabolic Engineering for Biological Hydrogen Production

New Genomic Strategies and Technologies for Studying Complex Microbial Communities and Validating Genomic Annotations

Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications (ELSI) of Research on Alternative Bioenergy Technologies, Synthetic Genomics, or Nanotechnologies

NAS Study of State of the Science in Nuclear Medicine – recommendations relevant to DOE undergoing internal discussion

Life and Medical Sciences:Life and Medical Sciences:Life and Medical Sciences:Life and Medical Sciences:

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

FY 2008 Solicitations:

Plant feedstock genomics for bioenergy – joint solicitation between DOE and USDA-CSREES

Nanotechnology Research Investigating Fate, Transport, Transformation, and Exposure of Engineered Nanomaterials - joint research solicitation between EPA, NSF & DOE

GTL Microbial Hydrogen Production (planned)

Life and Medical Sciences:Life and Medical Sciences:- (cont.)- (cont.)Life and Medical Sciences:Life and Medical Sciences:- (cont.)- (cont.)

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

GTL Strategic Plan — first draft release planned for February 2008:

Updating of the GTL Roadmap released July 2005, to include:

Science & Technology Objectives, Science Hallmarks

Program Integration of Research Centers, Scientific User Facilities, National Laboratory SFAs, university grants and awards

Coordination with other BER divisional programs (CCRD & ERSD), Inter/Intra-Agency programs

Alignment of GTL Program Goals Against DOE Missions and Long Term Measures

Opportunities for New Elements and Topics with Increasing Emphasis

Grand Challenges

Life and Medical Sciences:Life and Medical Sciences:- (cont.)- (cont.)Life and Medical Sciences:Life and Medical Sciences:- (cont.)- (cont.)

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

DOE Joint Genome Institute

Prokaryotes

White Rot Fungus

Poplar

Current output:40 Gb/year

Termite Hind Gut

Some bioenergy-related genomescompleted in 2007

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii(photosynthetic alga)

Pichia stipitis(ethanol fermentation)

Sorghum bicolor(biomass feedstock)

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Climate Change Research:Climate Change Research:

Updates:Strategic Planning: Draft plan to be revisited and modified as

needed, depending on outcomes of BERAC workshop on Scientific Grand Challenges in Climate Change Research

Key commitments: Completed two of the three CCSP Synthesis

and Assessment Reports (SAP 2.1 and 4.5) for which DOE is responsible; SAP 3.1 nearly complete

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Climate Change Research: - contClimate Change Research: - cont

FY 2007 Solicitations Completed: ARM Science Atmospheric Science

Pending Solicitations: Abrupt climate change modeling Integrated assessment research

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Climate Change Science Program StatusClimate Change Science Program Status

Center for Biological Diversity, et al case against CCSP for failure to comply with Global Change Research Act (GCRA) provisions

Executive Branch decided not comply with court’s decision rather than appeal

Court retains jurisdiction over CCSP until provisions are satisfied

Case involves CCSP failure to submit a revised Strategic Plan to Congress every three years, and to satisfy global change assessment provisions of Section 106 of the GCRA

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Court case against CCSP:Court case against CCSP:Court case against CCSP:Court case against CCSP:

Court ordered CCSP to…

Publish a revised summary of proposed CCSP Strategic Research Plan in Federal register for public comment by March 1, 2008 and submit revised summary to Congress no later than 90 days thereafter.

Produce a scientific assessment that satisifies Section 106 of the GCRA by May 31, 2008

CCSP agencies have responsibility to satisfying the court order

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Environmental Remediation Sciences Division (ERSD):Environmental Remediation Sciences Division (ERSD):

Solicitations 117 proposals submitted to Notice 07-18. Awards subject to

budget availability.Scientific Focus Area (SFA) Development at the Labs: Lab SFA plans progressing. Four Labs already operating under

the new funding format. SFA Plans due to ERSD on January 30, 2008. Program plans to

be peer-reviewed and revised in FY2008. Implemented in FY2009.

ERSD-EM-20 Collaboration ERSD working collaboratively with EM-22 to coordinate the

research program with long-term basic science needs of the EM cleanup program.

BERAC COV ERSD COV Chaired by Mike Hochella, January, 2008

Office of Science

U.S. Department of Energy

Environmental Remediation Sciences Division (ERSD): - cont.

Environmental Remediation Sciences Division (ERSD): - cont.

EMSL 10th anniversary this year. EMSL Research featured on 7 journal covers in FY 2007 EMSL scientist, Alice Dohnalkova receives 2007

Diatome Award for work done on EMSL’s Membrane Biology Grand Challenge.

EMSL user Julia Laskin receives a PECASE award.EMSL Supercomputer New $24M supercomputer to be fully operational in

September 2008. HP is the vendor. >4,500 quad core processors, >160 teraflops peak

performance. Optimized for molecular-level computation in support of DOE’s missions.

EMSL Capital Equipment Acquisition $4.5M Field emission TEM in FY2008 President’s

request to be a major capability for studying chemical transformations under real temperature and pressure conditions.

Major acquisition effort planned for FY2009-2013.