EXPRESS: Randomized Algorithms for Extreme-Scale Science | DE FOA 0002497

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002497

The funding opportunity titled "EXPRESS: Randomized Algorithms for Extreme-Scale Science" (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0002497) is a discretionary grant program run by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), specifically the Office of Science within the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program. It is focused on science and technology research and development, with the goal of supporting research that could significantly advance how large-scale scientific computing is done, especially as computing moves toward extreme-scale systems where both the size of the problems and the complexity of the hardware/software environment create new bottlenecks.

At its core, the program is looking for research applications that explore potentially high-impact ideas involving randomized algorithms in scientific computing. Randomized algorithms are methods that intentionally use randomness or probabilistic techniques to speed up computations, reduce memory and communication costs, or make algorithms more robust when dealing with massive datasets and large simulations. In extreme-scale science, traditional deterministic approaches can become too slow, too communication-heavy, or too fragile as problem sizes explode and as systems become more heterogeneous and failure-prone. This opportunity is meant to encourage approaches where randomness is a feature rather than a drawback, enabling new algorithmic designs that can better match the realities of high-performance computing at scale.

The scope is broadly framed around "development and use" of randomized algorithms for scientific computing, meaning proposals could involve creating new randomized methods, adapting existing randomized techniques to scientific workloads, or demonstrating how such methods can produce real performance or capability gains in realistic extreme-scale settings. While the public description is brief, the intent is clearly to seed research that can unlock step changes in computational efficiency, scalability, or feasibility for demanding scientific applications that rely on large linear algebra, optimization, sampling, uncertainty quantification, data-driven modeling, or related computational kernels common in DOE science.

In terms of practical award details, the grant ceiling listed is $400,000 per award, and the agency anticipated making around 10 awards under this call. The opportunity was posted on March 26, 2021, with an original closing date of May 19, 2021. The CFDA (now often referenced through assistance listing terminology) number associated with this program is 81.049, which corresponds to DOE Office of Science financial assistance programs.

Eligibility is described as "unrestricted," meaning it is open to any type of applicant entity, with the caveat that applicants must still follow any additional eligibility details that might be provided in the full announcement text. In other words, universities, national laboratories, nonprofit research organizations, and private-sector entities could potentially apply, as long as they meet the standard DOE requirements and any specific conditions stated in the full FOA.

Overall, this funding opportunity is aimed at pushing forward the frontier of scientific computing by encouraging creative, high-impact research on randomized algorithmic techniques that can help scientific codes and workflows perform better and scale further on extreme-scale computing platforms.

• The Department of Energy - Office of Science, Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "EXPRESS: Randomized Algorithms for Extreme-Scale Science" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 26, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 19, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $400,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for DE FOA 0002497

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