July 22, 2026 – Lehigh University researchers received two funding awards from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genesis Mission, a national initiative uniting national labs, industry, academia and philanthropy to harness AI for breakthroughs in energy dominance, discovery science and national security.
The projects, led by Hongyi Li , Eugenio Schuster and Tariq Rafiq , will improve flood- and water-level prediction and enable progress toward safe nuclear fusion energy. The awards were announced during the Genesis Mission summit in Washington, D.C. on July 22, 2026. Lehigh’s two Phase 1 awards were among 278 projects selected and Lehigh was one of 41 universities leading two or more projects.
"Lehigh's faculty have long done outstanding research at the intersection of AI and energy and we are excited that two proposals from our faculty will be supported by this critical new program,” said Nathan Urban, Lehigh provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “This support reinforces the importance of our investments in our centers for Advancing Community Electrification Solutions and in Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience, and highlights the role that Lehigh is playing in advancing innovation needed to create the secure, stable and resilient energy infrastructure that is the foundation of American economic competitiveness."
Advances in Energy and AI
Li, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and faculty member in the Center for Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience (CAT), will lead the project “RIVER-AI: Reservoir-Groundwater Interactions for River Flow Variability, Energy, and Resilience with AI.” Li's research team, including CAT faculty Brian Davison, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Ethan Yang, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, seeks to develop a hybrid AI-physics modeling platform that improves prediction of river flows critical to energy systems by accounting for the "memory" of reservoirs and groundwater. Current hydrologic models inadequately represent and predict how water storage, reservoir operations, groundwater and human management decisions interact.
“Through RIVER-AI, our team will combine AI with physics-based modeling to improve predictions of floods, droughts and water availability for energy infrastructure, beginning here in the Delaware River Basin (where Lehigh University is located) and laying the groundwork for broader national impacts,” Li said. “This award strengthens Lehigh University’s growing leadership in AI-enabled catastrophe modeling and resilience by advancing trustworthy prediction of water-energy risks and resilience.”
The “REACT: Reactor Exhaust And Core Twin — Multi-fidelity AI Predictions for Safe, Integrated, and High-Performance Control” project will be led by Rafiq, research associate professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, and Schuster, professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics. Both co-direct Lehigh’s Plasma Control Laboratory.
The project aims to accelerate the realization of reactor-scale fusion energy by developing an AI-enabled digital twin that integrates core plasma performance with edge plasma exhaust management in real time. Led by Lehigh University in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Columbia University, the project addresses a major challenge in fusion engineering: the inability of existing modeling frameworks to simultaneously optimize plasma performance while protecting reactor components under extreme operating conditions.
“The REACT project allows us to leverage decades of our team's expertise in physics-based modeling and real-time tokamak control, fusing it with cutting-edge AI capabilities enabled by the Genesis Mission,” Schuster said. “By developing AI-driven digital twins for integrated plasma core and exhaust control, this award accelerates our mission to enable safe, predictable and high-performance fusion energy.” The award also serves as a powerful catalyst to expand Lehigh’s research footprint and strategic impact in nuclear energy technologies as key pillars of our nation's clean energy future, he said.
Leveraging Legacy and Innovation
Lehigh’s energy innovation research stretches back more than 50 years, including its Energy Research Center , founded in 1973 to bridge the gap between academic research and solutions to energy challenges. Lehigh’s Center for Advancing Community Electrification Solutions (ACES), established in 2025, brings an interdisciplinary approach to transforming how communities power their futures through affordable, reliable electrification.
Building on 15 years of research in the field, the Center for Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience (CAT) was founded in 2024 at Lehigh University to provide an interdisciplinary home for the scientific and educational activities of scholars working on catastrophe modeling and resilience as applied to natural disasters and health-related threats.
Lehigh is a leader in the thoughtful and ethical application of artificial intelligence, empowering students and researchers to leverage AI to enhance learning, accelerate research and improve operational effectiveness. Active AI research spans computer science, healthcare, business, robotics, materials science and more.
Lehigh became a nationally recognized R1 university in 2025, signalling the highest level of research activity awarded by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
Historic Mission Accelerates Discovery
The goal of the Genesis Mission Phase I RFA awards is to identify promising pathways toward transformative scientific capabilities and establish a foundation for future investment and scale.
Selected projects represent:
278 awards: 87 led by DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) National Laboratories, 168 led by universities, 19 led by companies, and 4 led by nonprofit organizations.
342 participating institutions: 16 DOE and NNSA National Laboratories, 142 universities, 157 companies, 13 nonprofit organizations, and 14 other institutions.
Project teams will design and demonstrate research workflows that integrate AI with scientific investigation, while rigorously evaluating whether those approaches can accelerate discovery, improve predictive capabilities, enhance experimentation or generate new scientific insights.
“America has no shortage of bold ideas or talented scientists, and the response to the Genesis Mission proves that,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “The 278 projects selected today represent the very best of our nation’s scientific enterprise. The remarkable number of high-quality proposals we received demonstrates that America’s innovation pipeline is strong, and it points to even greater opportunities for future investment and continued expansion of the Genesis Mission portfolio.”
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About Lehigh University
Founded in 1865, Lehigh University is a premier residential research university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. With nearly 8,000 students (~5,900 undergraduates and ~1,900 graduate students) and a distinguished faculty, Lehigh combines the academic rigor of a larger research institution with the close-knit community of a smaller college. Lehigh’s five colleges — Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, and Health — offer nationally recognized programs, while the university’s commitment to innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration and experiential learning prepares graduates to lead in an increasingly complex world. Learn more at www.lehigh.edu .
About the Genesis Mission
The Genesis Mission is a historic national initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is building the world’s most powerful integrated science discovery platform. By uniting government, industry, academia, and philanthropy, it is accelerating breakthroughs in energy, scientific discovery, and national security through a new platform that combines AI, supercomputing, quantum systems, and advanced scientific instruments. Learn more at https://www.energy.gov/undersecretaryforscience/genesis-mission/genesis-mission .
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Amy White , director of media relations, Lehigh University, abw210@lehigh.edu , (610) 758-6656