The University of California has allocated $8 million in research grants to support advances in fusion energy, according to an announcement made on November 12, 2025. The funding is part of the UC Initiative for Fusion Energy and will be distributed through two $4 million grants over three years. The recipients include faculty from five UC campuses and scientists at the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories, which are managed by the university.
This initiative aims to accelerate research in nuclear fusion, a process that powers the sun and produces minimal waste without emitting greenhouse gases. Fusion uses hydrogen as fuel, one of the most abundant elements in the universe. Efforts to reproduce this reaction on Earth have been ongoing for decades due to its potential impact on energy production and national security.
In 2022, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved a significant milestone by reaching fusion ignition—a reaction that produced more energy than it consumed. This achievement has since been repeated multiple times at the facility.
Federal and state leaders have prioritized fusion energy development. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright highlighted nuclear fusion as a key technological breakthrough needed to drive American innovation and address growing energy demands while maintaining global competitiveness.
California also sees fusion energy as essential for meeting its clean energy targets. In October 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation providing $5 million in state funding for research aimed at commercializing fusion technology, with plans for a pilot project by the 2040s.
University of California scientists have played a major role in advancing nuclear fusion research alongside federal agencies and industry partners. Current priorities identified by the UC Initiative for Fusion Energy include developing materials capable of withstanding extreme conditions inside reactors, improving diagnostic tools for monitoring reactions, and creating sustainable fuel sources for future power plants.
“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 UC Vice President of Research and Innovation Theresa Maldonado. “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.”
UC National Laboratories Vice President June Yu added: “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.”
Industry partners also expressed support for these investments. Anantha Krishnan of General Atomics stated: “As an industry leader in fusion energy development with a history of productive collaboration with UC…General Atomics is excited to see the university make these meaningful, strategic investments toward solving the field’s most pressing scientific and engineering challenges…California is the frontier of America’s fusion energy development…the UC Fusion Energy Initiative is exactly the kind of program that will extend that leadership into the next decade and beyond.”
The first funded project—Center for Fusion Energy: Materials and Diagnostics for Extreme Conditions (MDeC)—is led by Farhat Beg at UC San Diego with collaborators from several campuses as well as Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) https://www.lanl.gov/ and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) https://www.llnl.gov/. This team will focus on developing advanced materials able to endure intense radiation environments found inside reactors using manufacturing tools available at both LANL and LLNL.
A second grant supports work led by Penghui Cao at UC Irvine aiming to create durable alloys resistant to radiation damage through multiscale modeling techniques powered by artificial intelligence (AI). This group includes researchers from Los Alamos National Lab https://www.lanl.gov/, Lawrence Livermore National Lab https://www.llnl.gov/, as well as multiple University of California campuses including Berkeley https://www.berkeley.edu/.
The University of California has managed three Department of Energy laboratories—including LANL and LLNL—for over 90 years as part of its public service mission.
