Ashley Barker says American Science Cloud will link DOE labs and supercomputers for AI-driven research
May 07, 2026 | Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, Department of Energy (DOE), Executive, Federal
This article was created by AI summarizing key points discussed. AI makes mistakes, so for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Please report any errors so we can fix them. Report an error »
Ashley Barker, program director for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and operations lead for the American Science Cloud, said the platform is designed to connect supercomputers, experimental facilities and massive scientific data sets across the Department of Energy.
"The American Science Cloud is the platform that powers the Genesis mission," Barker said, describing it as a secure, scalable environment that lets researchers at the 17 DOE laboratories access computing resources, share data and collaborate more effectively.
Barker said the American Science Cloud aims to bring advanced computing and AI capabilities together with experimental facilities to form a common digital infrastructure for discovery. "By bringing all of these capabilities together, the American Science Cloud becomes this powerful digital infrastructure for scientific discovery," she said.
When asked about the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's role, Barker said the facility will integrate both Frontier — which the transcript describes as the fastest supercomputer for open science — and a next-generation AI-focused system called Lux into the platform. "Lux will bring the AI capabilities and the American Science Cloud will provide the connection to those AI capabilities to users of the Genesis mission," she said.
Barker said Frontier was among the first systems tied into the American Science Cloud and that users are already running large-scale scientific campaigns on it and using the data it produces to train AI models. She described the American Science Cloud and the Genesis mission as national initiatives led by the Department of Energy to build an advanced scientific platform.
The interview did not record a timetable for deployment or formal policy steps; Barker closed by saying she is "really excited to see how the American Science Cloud and the Genesis mission is able to accelerate scientific discovery."
"The American Science Cloud is the platform that powers the Genesis mission," Barker said, describing it as a secure, scalable environment that lets researchers at the 17 DOE laboratories access computing resources, share data and collaborate more effectively.
Barker said the American Science Cloud aims to bring advanced computing and AI capabilities together with experimental facilities to form a common digital infrastructure for discovery. "By bringing all of these capabilities together, the American Science Cloud becomes this powerful digital infrastructure for scientific discovery," she said.
When asked about the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's role, Barker said the facility will integrate both Frontier — which the transcript describes as the fastest supercomputer for open science — and a next-generation AI-focused system called Lux into the platform. "Lux will bring the AI capabilities and the American Science Cloud will provide the connection to those AI capabilities to users of the Genesis mission," she said.
Barker said Frontier was among the first systems tied into the American Science Cloud and that users are already running large-scale scientific campaigns on it and using the data it produces to train AI models. She described the American Science Cloud and the Genesis mission as national initiatives led by the Department of Energy to build an advanced scientific platform.
The interview did not record a timetable for deployment or formal policy steps; Barker closed by saying she is "really excited to see how the American Science Cloud and the Genesis mission is able to accelerate scientific discovery."
View the Full Meeting & All Its Details
This article offers just a summary. Unlock complete video, transcripts, and insights as a Founder Member.
✓
Watch full, unedited meeting videos
✓
Search every word spoken in unlimited transcripts
✓
AI summaries & real-time alerts (all government levels)
✓
Permanent access to expanding government content
30-day money-back guarantee
