The University of California (UC) has announced the allocation of $8 million in multicampus research grants to advance scientific and engineering challenges in fusion energy. The funding is provided through the UC Initiative for Fusion Energy, which will distribute two grants of $4 million each over three years. The initiative involves collaboration among faculty from five UC campuses and researchers at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories, both managed by UC.
Fusion energy, which powers the sun, does not emit greenhouse gases and produces minimal waste. It relies on hydrogen as fuel, offering a potential solution to energy and national security concerns. Efforts to replicate this reaction on Earth have received federal support for decades.
In 2022, scientists at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved a significant milestone by producing more energy from a fusion reaction than was consumed in initiating it. This achievement has since been repeated multiple times at the facility.
Federal officials continue to identify fusion energy as a strategic priority. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright highlighted nuclear fusion in his first secretarial order as a key technological breakthrough needed to drive American innovation and meet future energy demands.
California has also positioned itself as a leader in fusion research. In October 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation dedicating $5 million in state funds toward research supporting the commercialization of fusion energy, with the aim of establishing a pilot project by the 2040s.
The UC Initiative for Fusion Energy has outlined three main research areas: developing materials that can withstand extreme conditions near fusion reactions; improving tools for monitoring reactor environments; and creating self-sustaining fuel sources for reactors.
“With more engineers and scientists in fusion energy and its related fields than any other U.S. university, the University of California is in the best position to address these challenges,” said Theresa Maldonado, UC Vice President of Research and Innovation. “What’s more, bringing fusion energy to the grid will rely on disciplines beyond those focused on fusion energy production. Across its 10 campuses and three national labs, UC also offers unmatched expertise in electricity distribution and grid management, supply chains, market economics, infrastructure engineering and construction, workforce development, policy and public engagement and more.”
June Yu, Vice President of UC National Laboratories, stated: “The UC Fusion Energy Initiative sponsors innovative research, fosters new collaborations between UC faculty and national laboratory scientists, and provides unique training opportunities for UC graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The funded projects exemplify cross-disciplinary collaboration that will generate new knowledge and leverage the unique capacities and facilities at UC campuses and national labs. Research sponsored by this program will contribute significantly to areas of strategic importance to UC, the national laboratories and the American people.”
Anantha Krishnan of General Atomics commented: “As an industry leader in fusion energy development with a history of productive collaboration with UC and as the organization that operates DIII-D, a DOE fusion facility in San Diego, General Atomics is excited to see the university make these meaningful, strategic investments toward solving the field’s most pressing scientific and engineering challenges…The state’s leadership owes much to the groundbreaking work of scientists and engineers from UC campuses and affiliated national labs and DOE facilities, and the UC Fusion Energy Initiative is exactly the kind of program that will extend that leadership into the next decade and beyond.”
One grant supports work led by Farhat Beg at UC San Diego focused on developing materials capable of enduring extreme conditions within nuclear fusion reactors. The team includes partners from several other universities as well as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) . Their efforts include using advanced manufacturing methods along with artificial intelligence tools for real-time data analysis.
A second grant supports Penghui Cao’s team at UC Irvine working on predictive discovery methods for radiation-resistant alloys suitable for use inside reactors. They are employing multiscale modeling combined with machine learning techniques to speed up material selection processes.
For nearly ninety years, the University of California has played an important role managing Department of Energy laboratories such as LLNL and LANL , contributing knowledge crucial to advancing technologies like nuclear fusion.
