UTA selected for landmark DOE AI initiative
As artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role in supporting some of the nation's most advanced scientific facilities, ensuring that these systems remain trustworthy has become a critical national challenge. The University of Texas at Arlington will lead a new U.S. Department of Energy-funded project to help address that challenge.
The project—Real-Time Trust and Resilience for AI-Driven EPICS Scientific Workflows—is part of the Genesis Mission and will be led by Habeeb Olufowobi, a faculty member in UTA's Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
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.
"Artificial intelligence is transforming how scientific discoveries are made, but researchers must be able to trust the recommendations these systems produce," Dr. Olufowobi said. "Our goal is to develop practical technologies that help scientists confidently use AI in some of the world's most advanced research facilities without compromising the integrity of experiments or the reliability of scientific results. We're honored to contribute to the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission and excited to work with outstanding collaborators across academia and the national laboratories."
The goal of the Phase I RFA awards is to identify promising pathways toward transformative scientific capabilities and establish a foundation for future investment and scale. 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.
UTA’s contribution to the Genesis Mission will focus on ensuring AI systems used in scientific research remain trustworthy, resilient and secure.
"This award reflects UT Arlington's role in solving problems of national importance," said UTA President Jennifer Cowley. "Dr. Olufowobi's work will help ensure that the artificial intelligence guiding some of our country's most advanced scientific facilities can be trusted, and it will give our students hands-on experience at the forefront of AI and cybersecurity research. We're honored to be part of the official launch of the first cohort at the Genesis Mission Summit."
Cowley and Olufowobi attended the Genesis Mission Summit on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Department of Energy officially launched the initiative and recognized the inaugural cohort of funded research teams.
Many DOE facilities—including particle accelerators and advanced light sources—rely on EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System), the open-source software framework that monitors and controls complex scientific instruments.
These facilities also increasingly use AI models to help interpret data and guide control decisions in real time. If those AI models become unreliable because of failures, misconfiguration or cyberattacks, the effects can ripple directly into how experiments are conducted. These facilities support research in areas ranging from advanced materials and clean energy to high-energy physics, making the reliability of their AI-assisted operations increasingly important to scientific discovery.
"Being selected for the Genesis Mission is a testament to the exceptional caliber of UTA's research enterprise and our commitment to driving high-impact discovery," said Kate Miller, vice president for research and innovation at UTA. "We are proud to be at the forefront of this vital national effort by developing the safeguards critical to securing the next generation of pioneering scientific inquiry."
Olufowobi's team will build a real-time trust layer that continuously monitors AI model behavior, evaluates the trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs and prevents suspicious or unreliable outputs from affecting scientific operations.
The framework is designed to be low-latency and practical, with human supervision built in through explainable risk scoring, safe response policies and compatibility with EPICS environments. By providing rapid, data-driven recommendations, the goal is to help scientists use AI more safely and effectively in high-value experimental environments.
“Dr. Olufowobi’s selection for the DOE Genesis Mission reflects both the importance of this research and the strength of our department’s leadership in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and cyber-physical systems,” said Hong Jiang, chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. “This project addresses a national priority by helping ensure that AI can be deployed safely and reliably in some of the world’s most advanced scientific facilities. It also creates outstanding opportunities for two graduate students to work alongside national laboratory and academic partners on research with the potential for lasting scientific and societal impact.”
The multidisciplinary team includes collaborators from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Colorado–Colorado Springs, Washington State University and Metro State University, bringing together expertise in AI security, AI-driven scientific workflows, real-time systems and scientific control infrastructure.
Through this project, UTA will help advance the next generation of trustworthy AI technologies that strengthen the security, reliability and resilience of scientific research infrastructure while preparing students to work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and national laboratory science.
About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)
The University of Texas at Arlington is a growing public research university in the heart of Dallas-Fort Worth. With a student body of over 42,700, UTA is the second-largest institution in the University of Texas System, offering more than 180 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Recognized as a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA stands among the nation’s top 5% of institutions for research activity. UTA and its 300,000 alumni generate an annual economic impact of $28.8 billion for the state. The University has received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and has earned recognition for its focus on student access and success, considered key drivers to economic growth and social progress for North Texas and beyond.