UC “AI Science at Scale” Summit Showcases Landmark Innovations
On June 11, 2026, the University of California (UC) convened leaders from across the UC system in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the first annual AI Science at Scale summit. The summit was planned in anticipation of growing Department of Energy (DOE) investments in frontier AI, which crystallized in the Genesis mission, which seeks to accelerate scientific discovery using artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and the DOE’s national laboratory system.
Backed by an $18 million investment of management fee income generated from UC’s stewardship of Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LANL and LLNL), AI Science at Scale provided grants to UC researchers, effectively reinvesting in the DOE’s scientific enterprise. From a competitive pool representing thousands of researchers across the UC system, four elite, multi-campus project teams were selected to present their breakthroughs in AI-driven genomics, quantum materials discovery, geothermal energy, and integrated data platforms.
“We established the AI Science at Scale pilot because we anticipated the Department of Energy’s massive strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence,” said June Yu, vice president of UC National Laboratories. “By reinvesting our management fee income into this initiative, we ensured that as the DOE officially rolls out the Genesis mission, the University of California and our national laboratory partners already have the integrated research teams and the talent pipeline in place to tackle the nation’s most complex scientific and security challenges.”
The summit drew heavy attendance from senior laboratory leadership, including LANL deputy director for science, technology, and engineering Pat Fitch, numerous associate lab directors, and Don Haynes, senior director for LANL’s National Security Artificial Intelligence Office. The presence of triad and lab leadership underscored the alignment between UC’s academic engines and the rapid deployment of frontier AI models on the world’s most powerful supercomputers, including El Capitan and Tuolumne.
“First, a huge thank you to UC for making this investment and doing so on a short timeline with the full inclusion of priorities and opportunities with LLNL and LANL”, said Fitch said at the opening of the summit. “Second, the value and impact of multi-campus, multi-lab teams really shines, especially through the excitement of students, postdocs, and faculty.”
The four selected project teams, led by principal investigators from UC San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego, are not merely researching AI; they are building the foundational architecture for the future of American scientific competitiveness. By training sequence-to-function models, leveraging AI foundation models to predict subsurface physics, and utilizing integrated data ecosystems, the teams are operating at the bleeding edge of discovery.
“For over eighty years, LANL and the University of California have joined to apply cutting edge science and technology in the national interest,” said Don Haynes. “The AI Science at Scale program continues that collaboration, and I was thrilled to learn about the advances made in these important applications of AI and to witness the excitement and passion exhibited by the students and postdoctoral fellows.”
IGCC co-director Neil Narang, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara, who currently serves as interim associate vice president at UC National Labs, was on the ground at the event. Narang leads IGCC’s postdoctoral fellowship on security and technology, a collaboration with the national labs, which support cutting-edge research on a range of emerging technologies, including AI.
Says Narang: “Maintaining U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence requires a scale of collaboration that very few institutions can deliver. This summit made one thing crystal clear: the University of California’s systemwide intellectual firepower, combined with the capabilities of our national labs, makes UC the premier, indispensable partner to execute the DOE’s Genesis mission.”
About the UC Office of the National Laboratories
The UC Office of the National Laboratories stewards an 80-year history of unparalleled public service to the nation through the management and operation of three U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories: LANL, LLNL, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Comprising 10 campuses and 6 academic health centers, UC is widely recognized as the number one public research university system in the world. Generating nearly $8 billion in annual research revenues, the UC ecosystem boasts an unmatched concentration of intellectual talent, including over 70 Nobel laureates and hundreds of National Academy members. This immense scale, prestige, and proven operational excellence make UC the ultimate partner for the federal government’s most critical scientific and security missions.
For more information regarding the AI Science at Scale initiative and the University of California’s national laboratory partnerships, please visit the UC Office of the National Laboratories.
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