Andrew Christlieb part of team awarded DOE Genesis Mission grant
Andrew Christlieb, MSU Research Foundation Professor of Mathematics with appointments in the Departments of Mathematics and Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, is part of a team of researchers that has been awarded a $750,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genesis Mission.
The project, Weak-Form Agentic Digital Twins for Real-Time Control of Magnetically Confined Fusion Systems Under Sparse Observation, was one of 278 Phase I projects awarded. The award supports a partnership between MSU, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and is led by the University of Colorado Boulder.
According to the project abstract, the team is developing a physics-constrained digital twin for the plasma boundary — a live AI model that runs alongside a fusion reactor, interprets sparse and noisy sensor data as it arrives, and issues control decisions fast enough to keep the plasma safe. The AI learns directly from live observations, discovering the equations that govern the plasma’s behavior and identifying the parameters that describe its current state. It also remains explainable so operators can verify what the AI is doing, and honestly reports how confident it is in every prediction.
Beyond fusion, the AI framework could extend to other high-stakes decision systems, such as spacecraft and power grids.
Designed to double America’s scientific productivity, the Genesis Mission brings together DOE’s world-class scientific capabilities, advanced AI, high-performance computing, and the nation’s leading researchers to transform how scientific discovery is conducted and strengthen American leadership in science and technology.
