Department of Energy (DOE) - Emerging Technology Policy Careers (2024)

Overview

The Department of Energy (DOE) manages national energy policy, sponsors scientific research, and maintains the nuclear arsenal alongside the DOD. It plays a crucial role in funding and policy related to science, technology, and national security. The DOE is the largest US government funder of physical science research, most of which is conducted through DOE-operated national laboratories.

DOE has actively funded research into AI and computing for decades, especially in its national labs. The labs operate some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, which are used for AI research and large-scale training runs, among other things. Via its Office for Critical and Emerging Technology and other components, the DOE also plays an important role in AI policy. The Biden Administration’s October 2023 Executive Order on AI assigned significant responsibilities to DOE, including in AI talent development and technical AI evaluations to protect against threats from weapons of mass destruction or to critical infrastructure.

Background on DOE

• Government context: the Department of Energy (DOE) is one of 15 executive departments in the US government; the Secretary is a member of the US president’s cabinet and National Security Council
• Main activities: oversees national energy policy and production, sponsors science research (the largest non-life-science funder and second-largest science budget after National Institutes of Health), and maintains the nuclear stockpile in coordination with DOD
• Budget: small-to-mid-sized compared to other executive departments ($148.68 billion annually, 1.25% of the federal budget in 2023 — though this largely reflects influx from the Inflation Reduction Act for a Loan Programs Office, which massively increased DOE’s budget in FY 2022-2024. The DOE’s annual budget will likely return closer to FY21 levels of around $61 billion.)
• Staff: 14,382 employees (quite small relative to the budget), though this number is misleading given DOE’s heavy reliance on ~95,000 contractors—many of whom work at DOE laboratories around the country
• Brief history: DOE was created under the Carter Administration in response to the 1970s oil crisis in the US, when it became a national priority to secure energy independence from OPEC—both through domestic fossil fuel production and by sourcing clean energy alternatives. There was also an increasing need to better regulate and promote private sector nuclear energy development. DOE combined prior agencies, including the Federal Energy Administration and the Energy Research and Development Administration. Over its history it has broadened the scientific fields it works on.

Organizational structure

DOE is headed by a Secretary of Energy, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Other senior leadership positions are also politically appointed, such as the Deputy Secretary, Chief of Staff, Under Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and heads of the offices that directly report to the Secretary or Deputy Secretary.

DOE is organized into five main offices, labeled S1 to S5¹:

1. Office of the Secretary of Energy (S1)
2. Office of the Deputy Secretary of Energy (S2)
3. Office of the Undersecretary for Infrastructure (S3)
4. Office of the Undersecretary for Science and Innovation (S4)
5. Office of the Undersecretary of Nuclear Security (S5)

The Secretary (S1) and Deputy Secretary (S2) oversee the Department, with S3, S4, and S5 reporting to them. S1 and S2 also oversee 21 smaller offices listed on the right of the org chart. Many—though not all—of these smaller offices have administrative functions, such as finance (Office of the Chief Financial Officer) or legal (Office of the General Counsel).

DOE also oversees 17 national laboratories that produce federally-funded research (see map). Management of these labs is headed by different parts of the DOE org chart. The Office of Science (located in S4) oversees 10 of the labs, while the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (S5) oversees 3 labs, including Los Alamos.The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) supports DOE’s only government owned and operated laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

Much of DOE’s work and budget is dedicated to the funding and production of scientific research. Similar to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), DOE funds both in-house research, taking place within DOE and its labs, and external research conducted by outside organizations, such as universities.

The DOE and AI policy

DOE has been involved in AI research for decades, notably by funding machine learning and other AI research in its national labs. It also has a long history of regulating dual-use technology through its oversight over nuclear research and weapons stockpiles. Some experts expect DOE to play a significant role in AI policy given both its research investments and its unique position at the intersection of domestic science/technology policy and national security.

In 2019, DOE established the Office for Artificial Intelligence and Technology (AI) to coordinate AI efforts across the labs and the Department. In 2023, DOE replaced this office with the Office for Critical and Emerging Technology (CET), following President Biden’s October 2023 Executive Order on AI (EO). The EO requires DOE to:

1. establish a pilot program for AI talent development with the goal of training 500 new researchers by 2025,
2. write a report on AI’s potential to improve the electric grid and permitting processes,
3. develop tools to apply AI foundation models to basic and applied science,
4. develop DOE evals and testbeds for AI to evaluate the risk of outputs that could pose nuclear, chemical, biological, critical infrastructure, and energy-security threats.

Advances in the national labs

DOE has a long history of driving advances in earlier AI technologies (before machine learning) and in computing, including supercomputers. Many national labs have been involved in AI-related research, including (but not limited to) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

One of DOE’s most notable AI-related efforts involves investment in supercomputing. In 2018, ORNL announced the procurement of the world’s most advanced supercomputer (Summit) in partnership with IBM. Since then, ANL has also partnered with Intel to train the second-largest supercomputer, Aurora on language and scientific data to produce AuroraGPT.Other research on neural network architectures, learning methodologies, AI applications, and AI’s societal impacts are underway at various other labs. More information about how the national labs are involved in research on emerging technologies can be found in our national labs and FFRDC guide.

DOE offices working on AI (policy)

There are several DOE offices and components that those interested in AI and policy may find professionally relevant, including (not necessarily comprehensive):

1. Office of the Undersecretary for Science and Innovation (S4): S4 oversees 10 of DOE’s national labs and is the epicenter of R&D in the Department (org chart on p. 142)
   1. Office of Critical and Emerging Technology (CET): created in 2023 and headed by Helena Fu (also DOE’s Chief AI Officer), mandated to oversee and coordinate DOE work on a wide range of emerging technology (from AI and biotech to quantum computing)
   2. Office of Science (SC): largest funder of fundamental physical science research with a budget of $8.1 billion
      1. Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR): funds much of the supercomputing work specifically at the Office of Science labs, predominantly Oak Ridge, Argonne, and Berkeley
      2. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E): advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment (similar to other ARPAs in DOD and the Intelligence Community) (org chart on p. 8)
2. Office of the Undersecretary of Nuclear Security (NNSA – S5): NNSA is a semi-autonomous nuclear security vertical of DOE; well set-up to liaise between industry and the national security establishment (org chart on p. 174)
   1. Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC): super-computing program run by the NNSA to simulate, test, and maintain the US nuclear stockpile; parallel to ASCR (see above)
   2. Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN): works to prevent nuclear proliferation; investing in a venture called “STEEL THREAD” to develop foundation models and assess trustworthiness to assist with nonproliferation efforts
3. Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM): largest contributor, through in-house and external research, to DOE’s AI Use Case Inventory at over 70% of the more than 180 projects listed.
   • Research and Innovation Center (NETL – RIC): leverages science-based models, AI, and machine learning (AI/ML) methods, data analytics, and high-performance computing to accelerate applied technology development for clean, efficient, and affordable energy production and utilization.

Working at DOE

DOE hires applicants from a wide range of backgrounds, ranging from law and consulting to science, technology, and academia. The national labs employ a lot of scientists (often with STEM degrees) but they also offer many policy-oriented “analyst” roles. Advantages of working for the national labs include being able to work nationwide (since the labs are spread out all over the country), earning more than employees in government agencies, and (sometimes) getting a security clearance. Also, after working at a national lab for several years, there are often opportunities to transition into government.

One common path to working at DOE is its ORISE STEM Internships and Fellowships. Interns and fellows are placed in offices around the Department, and many are able to transition into full-time jobs afterward. Another great early-career opportunity is the NNSA Graduate Fellowship Program (NGFP) run by Pacific Northwest National Lab and sponsored by the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

To find open positions at DOE, visit USAJOBS filtering for “Department of Energy”, and check out its Careers page, which may include postings not listed on USAJOBS. You can also follow DOE on LinkedIn to stay updated about their activities and new job postings. If you’re looking for DOE internships, fellowships, and other early-career opportunities, check out the Federal Internship Finder and the USAJOBS Federal Internship Portal, and filter for “Department of Energy”.

If you want to apply, check out our federal agency application advice section for guides to USAJOBS, federal resumes, interviewing for federal positions, and more.

Further reading

• 2023 AI use case inventory, DOE
• Testimony of Helena Fu Director, Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies, U.S. Department of Energy, House Committee on Energy & Commerce (December 2023)
• AI Risk Management Playbook, Department of Energy
• AI for Science, Energy, and Security Report, Argonne National Lab (May 2023)

Footnotes

Other agency profiles