Q: What is your vision for the Office of Science? This is a mission-driven agency, so we have missions [from DOE] we’re obligated to carry out. Within that, my top goal is to make sure that across everything we do, we are realizing the best possible support for the science. And a big part of that is realizing as much as possible the appropriations requested for fiscal year 2023, and then getting as close to the authorized levels in CHIPS and Science as possible.
Another key priority is ensuring that Washington, D.C., policymakers and everybody we interact with knows what the Office of Science does and why it matters for the nation's economic advancement, global competitiveness, and everything else. Q: In recent years, DOE has initiated multiple cross-cutting efforts to try to get the Office of Science’s notoriously “stovepiped” research programs to collaborate. Some people complain these initiatives soak up resources. Does the Office of Science have too many cross-cutting efforts? A lot of these cross-cutting initiatives address timely, critical societal or scientific challenges that we have to address.
Q: Improving equity and inclusion has been a difficult challenge—especially in physics. How can the agency best expand its reach? It’s extremely important that we’re addressing as many pieces of this issue as possible. For example, for many years, there have been efforts to recruit students [from diverse backgrounds].