Discovery science and engineering innovation institutes
In general
The Secretary shall establish distributed, multidisciplinary institutes (referred to in this section as “Institutes”) centered at National Laboratories to apply fundamental science and engineering discoveries to technological innovations relating to—
the missions of the Department; and
the global competitiveness of the United States.
Topical areas
The Institutes shall support scientific and engineering research and education activities on critical emerging technologies determined by the Secretary to be essential to global competitiveness, including activities relating to—
sustainable energy technologies;
multiscale materials and processes;
micro- and nano-engineering;
computational and information engineering; and
genomics and proteomics.
Partnerships
In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall establish partnerships between the Institutes and—
institutions of higher education—
to train undergraduate and graduate science and engineering students;
to develop innovative undergraduate and graduate educational curricula; and
to conduct research within the topical areas described in subsection (b); and
private industry to develop innovative technologies within the topical areas described in subsection (b).
Grants
In general
Merit-based selection
The selection of Institutes under paragraph (1) shall be—
merit-based; and
made through an open, competitive selection process.
Term
Review
The Secretary shall offer to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences under which the Academy shall, by not later than 3 years after
review the performance of the Institutes under this section; and
submit to Congress and the Secretary a report describing the results of the review.