James M. Gentile: The U.S. Department of Energy and the Power of Transformative Science

By James M. Gentile, Huffington Post

Transformative science, especially in the field of energy, may well hold the key to the future growth of the U.S. economy and arguably the fate of the world. That's why U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu's recent announcement of the first $151 million in grant funding through the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), a new entity within the Department of Energy, is so important.

Transformative science is high-risk high-reward inquiry. It's typically too preliminary to appeal to venture capitalists and too easy for short-sighted elected officials to ridicule. But it's what has historically powered the scientific and technological advances that have made the United States a global power, and it's crucial that government take the lead in this regard, especially with the U.S. economy struggling and time running short for addressing climate change.

ARPA-E was funded for the first time with $400 million, to be spent over two years, from the stimulus act, in order to pursue, in the words of the Department of Energy, "truly transformational solutions to the energy problem." Perhaps most exciting of all, the grant proposals were peer-reviewed by more than 500 top scientists recommended to the Department by university presidents across the nation.

Nearly 3700 preliminary proposals were reviewed, 300 were selected for fuller development, and 37 were funded in the first round. So many intriguing proposals were received that, with only about 1...

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