science.osti.gov

The physical sciences are the branches of science that study non-living matter and energy—chiefly physics, chemistry, astronomy, and Earth science, along with cross-cutting fields like materials science and computational science. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science supports them because it describes itself as the Nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences, funding fundamental work that underpins energy technologies, computing, and materials. This explanation covers what the physical sciences include, how they relate to other fields, and why DOE treats them as a core mission.

What counts as a physical science

The defining feature is the subject matter: non-living systems, the forces and particles that make them up, and the energy involved. That separates the physical sciences from the life sciences, which study living organisms, though the two overlap heavily at the molecular and atomic scale.

Cross-cutting areas—materials science, nanoscience, and computational modeling—sit between these branches and often draw on several at once.

How the physical sciences relate to other fields

The boundaries are porous rather than sharp. Chemistry and physics meet biology in biochemistry and biophysics; Earth science overlaps with environmental and biological research; engineering applies physical-science findings to build devices and systems.

A useful way to think about it: the physical sciences supply the underlying rules and materials knowledge, while engineering and the life sciences apply or extend them. A new battery material, for instance, starts as a chemistry and physics question about how ions move through a solid, then becomes an engineering problem about manufacturing it at scale.

Why the DOE Office of Science supports physical sciences

The Office of Science frames its mission around supporting fundamental scientific research for energy, and it identifies itself as the Nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. That role shows up in its program structure, which is organized around large research areas rather than around specific technologies:

• Basic Energy Sciences (BES) — foundational work on materials, chemistry, and energy-related science
• High Energy Physics (HEP) and Nuclear Physics (NP) — the structure of matter and the forces that govern it
• Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) — plasma and fusion science
• Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) — the computing and modeling tools that physical-science research depends on
• Biological and Environmental Research (BER) — where physical and life sciences intersect

The logic is that basic research in these areas produces the knowledge and tools that later enable energy technologies, advanced computing, and new materials. The Office of Science also runs workforce programs, including Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) efforts, to build the pipeline of people who do this work.

What this looks like in practice

The Office of Science's own promoted research stories illustrate the range of physical-science questions it funds:

• Using machine learning to help computer models simulate ocean waves more accurately in less time
• Studying how and where microbes die in soil, and how that influences residues, organic matter, and soil health
• Investigating how hops and jumps help lithium ions flow faster in a solid-state battery material, with superionic compounds as a possible route to faster, safer charging
• Developing an ultrafast sample replenishment system to make X-ray free electron lasers brighter

These examples show the pattern: a fundamental question about matter, energy, or a natural system, often with an eventual connection to energy or computing applications.

Where to go next

If you want to explore funding, programs, or announcements, the Office of Science site organizes them under its program areas (ASCR, BES, BER, FES, HEP, NP, and others) and publishes funding opportunities and special announcements, including early-career awards and fellowship programs. Start from the program that matches your discipline, or browse the funding opportunities listing for current calls.

We Energies 是一家为美国威斯康星州和密歇根州上半岛提供能源服务的公用事业公司，主要业务包括向威斯康星州和密歇根上半岛部分地区供电，并在威斯康星州提供天然气和蒸汽服务。如果你住在上述区域，需要办理开户、账单、节能或安全事务，可以通过 We Energies 官网的 My Account 和对应服务页面处理。具体服务可用性取决于你的地址属于电力、天然气还是蒸汽服务区。

服务范围：你所在地区属于哪种服务

We Energies 的服务按能源类型和地区划分，官网导航中明确列出了以下服务入口：

此外，官网还提供面向企业的 Business services and programs，以及建筑项目相关的 Building projects 入口。

判断方法：如果你不确定自己属于哪种服务，可以查看账单上的服务类型，或通过官网的 Start, stop or move energy service 入口按地址查询。电力服务和天然气服务的办理流程不同，蒸汽服务（District Energy）通常集中在特定区域。

账户管理：注册、登录与常用操作

We Energies 的在线账户功能集中在 My Account 中，官网提示使用该功能需要启用 JavaScript 的浏览器。

注册与登录：

• 已有账户：点击 Sign In 登录
• 新用户：点击 Sign Up 注册

登录后可以访问能源账户，管理服务、查看账单和办理相关事务。

开始、停止或迁移服务： 通过 Services & Programs 下的 Start, stop or move energy service 入口办理。这适用于搬家、新开户或终止服务的场景。办理前建议准备好地址和服务类型信息。

账单与缴费：查看、付款与援助

账单相关功能集中在 Payment & Billing 板块，官网列出了以下入口：

• Payment options：查看可用的付款方式
• Billing options：账单选项设置
• Rates：了解费率信息
• Payment arrangements and energy assistance：付款安排和能源援助
• Reading your energy bill：如何阅读你的能源账单
• Reading your electric meter：如何读取电表

如果你遇到缴费困难，可以查看 Payment arrangements and energy assistance 页面，了解付款安排和援助项目。官网还提到“New payment options”已扩展，以更好地满足用户需求，具体选项需在 Payment options 页面确认。

节能与安全：日常事务处理

节能与返利

Ways to Save 板块提供以下资源：

• Energy-saving tips：节能技巧
• Rebates and programs：返利和项目
• Home energy calculators：家庭能源计算器
• Energy audits：能源审计
• Energy management services：能源管理服务
• Business savings：企业节能

这些工具可以帮助你评估用能情况并寻找节省空间。返利和项目的具体资格和金额需在对应页面确认。

紧急情况处理

官网 Safety 和 Emergencies 板块列出了以下紧急联系方式：

此外，官网还提供户外安全、室内安全、儿童安全、电力安全基础、天然气安全基础、客户自有天然气管道、挖掘前呼叫等安全主题页面。

防诈骗提醒

官网在显著位置提示“Beware of scammers”，建议了解警告信号以保护自己。如果你接到可疑电话或邮件，可以通过官网的防诈骗页面核实。

常见问题

我住在威斯康星州，但不确定是电力还是天然气服务？ 查看你的账单或通过 Start, stop or move energy service 按地址查询。两种服务的办理入口和费率不同。

如何查看我的账单？ 登录 My Account 后，通过 Payment & Billing 下的 Reading your energy bill 了解账单结构，或直接查看账单页面。

遇到停电怎么办？ 先在线查看停电状态或报告停电，或拨打 800-662-4797。如果看到掉落的电线，保持距离并拨打 911 或 800-662-4797。

缴费有困难怎么办？ 查看 Payment arrangements and energy assistance 页面，了解付款安排和能源援助项目。

如何节能？ 从 Energy-saving tips 开始，结合 Rebates and programs 和 Home energy calculators 评估你的用能情况。

The Office of Science (SC) is the U.S. Department of Energy's program office for fundamental research, and it describes itself as the nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. If you are a researcher, university, national laboratory, or company trying to understand where DOE basic-science funding comes from and which program fits your work, SC is the place to start. Its scope runs from computing and physics to biology, fusion, and workforce training, and its funding opportunities are announced publicly on science.osti.gov.

What the Office of Science does

SC supports fundamental scientific research for energy. That framing matters: the work it funds is basic and physical-sciences oriented rather than applied energy deployment or regulation. The office also runs programs aimed at preparing a highly skilled workforce and at connecting small businesses to research funding.

Main research programs

The program structure is the clearest way to figure out whether your topic belongs at SC. Each program covers a distinct research domain:

Two additional efforts sit alongside the research programs:

• Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) — supports preparation of a highly skilled workforce.
• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) — channels funding to small businesses.

If your work is applied rather than fundamental, or fits a mission area outside physical sciences, check whether another DOE office is the better fit before investing time in an SC application.

Types of funding opportunities

SC's announcements show the range of what it funds. Recent examples listed on the site include:

• Early career awards — the Department of Energy awarded $96 million to 67 early career scientists.
• Genesis Mission — a graduate fellowship to advance American scientific leadership, plus new Genesis Mission awards to advance super intelligence for science.
• Quantum — a Request for Application (RFA) for the DOE Quantum Genesis Q Competition.
• AI and science — an RFA for the Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI.
• Neutron sources — a Dear Colleague Letter in which FES solicits applications from private companies, universities, and/or national laboratories exploring volumetric neutron sources.

These examples illustrate three different entry points: individual early-career awards, large mission-oriented competitions, and program-specific solicitations such as the FES neutron-source letter.

How to find and pursue funding

1. Go to the Office of Science site at science.osti.gov.
2. Open the Funding Opportunities page (linked from the special announcements area) to see current solicitations.
3. Identify the program whose focus matches your research — for example, FES for fusion or neutron-source work, ASCR for computing.
4. Read the specific announcement for eligibility and application requirements. Note that some opportunities are open to private companies, universities, and national laboratories, while others target individuals or small businesses.
5. Prepare your application against the requirements in that announcement, not against a general SC template.

The site's "View All Funding Opportunities" link is the single entry point for current solicitations, so start there rather than searching program pages individually.

Choosing the right track

• Academic or laboratory researcher in a physical-sciences field → look at the relevant research program (ASCR, BES, BER, FES, HEP, NP) and its solicitations.
• Early-career scientist → watch for early career award announcements.
• Small business → SBIR/STTR is the designated route.
• Educator or workforce program → WDTS is the relevant program.
• Work tied to AI, quantum, or a named mission → check the Genesis Mission and Quantum Genesis announcements, which have their own RFAs.

One practical caution: eligibility differs by announcement. The FES neutron-source letter, for instance, explicitly invites private companies, universities, and national laboratories, while other calls may be narrower. Confirm eligibility in the specific notice before preparing a submission.

Basic research is scientific work aimed at expanding knowledge of how nature works, without the immediate goal of creating a product or solving a specific practical problem. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science describes itself as the Nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences, funding fundamental scientific research for energy. That combination—curiosity-driven science plus a long-term energy mission—is the core reason the office exists and why it funds fields like physics, chemistry, materials science, and computing.

What counts as basic research

A project is generally basic research when its primary output is new understanding rather than a new device, process, or service. The practical test is what the researchers are trying to produce:

• Basic research — answers "how does this work?" Examples: how ocean waves behave under different conditions, how and where microbes die in soil and what that means for organic matter, how lithium ions move through a solid-state battery material.
• Applied research — takes that understanding and targets a specific need, such as a faster-charging battery chemistry.
• Development — turns applied results into working products, prototypes, or deployed systems.

These are not hard walls. A single program can move from one to the next, and basic findings often become useful in ways nobody predicted at the start.

Why the DOE Office of Science funds it

The Office of Science supports fundamental research in the physical sciences for energy. Its role as the largest federal supporter of basic research in the physical sciences means it funds the underlying science that other institutions, companies, and agencies later build on. The logic is that energy, computing, and materials challenges are too broad and too long-horizon for any single industry to carry alone, so the government funds the foundational layer.

Its programs reflect that scope, including:

• Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
• Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
• High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Nuclear Physics (NP)

Each of these is a domain where fundamental questions come before applications. Fusion energy, for instance, depends on understanding plasma behavior long before a commercial reactor exists.

How basic research turns into applications

The path from a basic result to a real-world use is usually indirect and slow. Consider the examples the Office of Science highlights:

• Machine learning approaches that help computer models simulate ocean waves more accurately and in less time—useful for climate and coastal modeling.
• Evidence for durable soil organic matter, which matters for soil health and carbon storage.
• Superionic compounds that could enable solid electrolytes in batteries, allowing faster and safer charging.
• An ultrafast sample replenishment system for an X-ray laser oscillator, aimed at making X-ray free electron lasers brighter.

None of these started as a product plan. Each began with a question about how a system behaves, and the application potential followed.

How to tell whether work is basic research

Use these questions as a quick filter:

1. What is the main deliverable? If it is new knowledge or a new measurement, it is likely basic. If it is a working device or a fix for a known problem, it is likely applied or development.
2. Who is the intended user? Basic research usually serves the scientific community first; applied work serves a specific customer or market.
3. How far is the payoff? Basic research often has no predictable timeline to application.
4. Where does the funding come from? In the U.S., basic research in the physical sciences is heavily supported through the DOE Office of Science and similar federal programs.

Where the funding comes from

The Office of Science is a primary federal source for basic research in the physical sciences. It also runs workforce and small-business programs tied to that mission, including Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), which supports preparation of a highly skilled workforce, and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR). Announcements on its site include early career awards, graduate fellowships, and requests for applications in areas such as quantum science and AI for science. Funding opportunities are posted and updated through its site, so specific deadlines and eligibility should be checked there rather than assumed.

If you are trying to classify a project or find support for one, start with the deliverable and the intended user. If the goal is understanding and the audience is the scientific community, you are looking at basic research—and the DOE Office of Science is one of the main places that funds it.

Fundamental scientific research is basic research aimed at understanding how nature works, without a specific commercial or practical application as its immediate goal. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supports it because the nation's energy mission depends on deep, long-term knowledge in the physical sciences—and DOE's Office of Science describes itself as the Nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences.

What "fundamental" means here

Fundamental scientific research asks "how does this work?" rather than "how do we sell this?" It sits at the start of a pipeline that later includes applied research, development, and deployment. A useful way to separate the stages:

The line is not always sharp. Research can begin as curiosity-driven and turn out to have obvious applications—or begin with an application in mind and still produce fundamental knowledge.

Why the Department of Energy, not just universities?

DOE's involvement follows from its mission. Energy technologies—batteries, materials, lasers, computing, fusion—rest on physics, chemistry, and biology that must be understood before they can be engineered. Supporting that underlying science is therefore part of how DOE pursues its energy goals.

The Office of Science organizes this work across program areas, including:

• Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) — computing and data science for science
• Basic Energy Sciences (BES) — materials, chemistry, and energy-relevant science
• Biological and Environmental Research (BER) — biological and environmental systems
• Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) — the science of fusion as an energy source
• High Energy Physics (HEP) — the fundamental particles and forces of the universe
• Nuclear Physics (NP) — the structure and behavior of atomic nuclei

It also runs workforce and small-business programs, such as Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR).

From funded research to real outcomes

The path from a grant to a usable technology is often long and indirect. The Office of Science's own promoted stories illustrate the range of what fundamental work can feed into:

• AI and ocean models — a machine-learning approach that helps computer models simulate waves more accurately in less time.
• Soil and carbon — evidence for durable soil organic matter, relevant to how microbes die in soil and how residues and organic matter behave.
• Solid-state batteries — superionic compounds that let lithium ions flow faster, a step toward solid electrolytes that could charge faster and more safely.
• X-ray lasers — an ultrafast sample replenishment system developed and tested for an X-ray laser oscillator, aimed at making X-ray free electron lasers brighter.

None of these began as a product launch. They began as questions about how a system behaves—and the answers became inputs to technology.

Where to go next

If you want to explore the research itself, start with the Office of Science program pages listed above, which describe each field's scope. If you are looking for support, the site's Funding Opportunities section collects current announcements and requests for applications, including Dear Colleague Letters that solicit applications from private companies, universities, and/or national laboratories. Special announcements on the site also cover early-career awards and new mission-driven fellowship and award programs.

One practical note: the site lists programs and funding opportunities, but it does not present pricing or access terms for those programs. Treat any specific eligibility, deadline, or award condition as something to confirm on the individual opportunity page rather than assume from the homepage.