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U.S. Appropriations and Recovery Acts Lead to New Facilities, More Awards At a time when many government agencies are facing budget cuts, both the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) received substantial budget increases and allotments of the recent economic stimulus money. For the materials research community, these increases mean new research facilities, higher award success rates, more graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, funding for mid-scale instrumentation, and large-scale equipment upgrades. The fiscal year 2009 budget for the DOE Office of Science increased nearly 19% over the fiscal year 2008 budget in the Omnibus Appropriations Act for 2009 (Appropriations Act), passed in March. The Office of Science received an additional $1.6 billion in economic stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), signed into law by President Obama in February. The Appropriations Act provides $100 million to the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) for the establishment of 30 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs). The EFRCs will focus on meeting the basic research needs for a secure energy future, as identified by the 12 BES Basic Energy Needs workshops that have taken place since 2003. In May, DOE requested $100 million to continue funding the centers in the next fiscal year. An additional $100 million is planned for each of the following three years to fund the 30 EFRCs at $2–$5 million per year for the full five-year award. An additional 16 EFRCs will be established and forward-funded for all five years by $277 million in economic stimulus money from the Recovery Act. In total, BES plans to invest $777 million in the 46 EFRCs and nearly 1800 senior investigators, postdoctoral candidates, students, and technicians over the next five years. The 46 centers were announced in April 2009, and were chosen from among 260 applications. For a detailed breakdown of the centers, see www.er.doe.gov/bes/EFRC.html. The Recovery Act also includes over $800 million for research, infrastructure, and construction projects at the DOE Office of Science National Laboratories. The largest single allocation, $150 million, was made to Brookhaven National Laboratory to accelerate construction of the National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II). The stimulus funding will substantially reduce the cost risks and schedule risks for the project according to Aesook Byon, deputy project director for the NSLS-II. Additional allotments were made to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 480

for construction of the Advanced Light Source User Support Building, to Oak Ridge National Laboratory for an advanced materials and chemistry research facility and new equipment at the Spallation Neutron Source, and to the DOE Nanoscience Research Centers for equipment upgrades and new tools, among others. For a detailed breakdown, see www. energy.gov/news2009/7083.htm. Other areas that will benefit from the funding increases include core research by students, postdoctor