The Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) — established on September 4, 1986 — provides valuable, independent advice to the Department of Energy on the Basic Energy Sciences program regarding the complex scientific and technical issues that arise in the planning, management, and implementation of the program. BESAC's recommendations include advice on establishing research and facilities priorities; determining proper program balance among disciplines; and identifying opportunities for interlaboratory collaboration, program integration, and industrial participation. The Committee primarily includes representatives of universities, national laboratories, and industries involved in energy-related scientific research. Particular attention is paid to obtaining a diverse membership with a balance of disciplines, interests, experiences, points of view, and geography. BESAC operates in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA, Public Law 92-463; 92nd Congress, H.R. 4383; October 6, 1972) and all applicable FACA Amendments, Federal Regulations and Executive Orders.
Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC)
Highlights
![Left: A beam of electrons generates vibrational waves in a crystal lattice that are then reflected by quantum dots. Right: Generated vibrations are more easily reflected by abrupt, sharp interfaces of materials than by diffuse ones.](/-/media/bes/mse/images/highlights/2024/Pan.png?h=544&w=936&la=en&hash=81D974DD9F233DF01E8D309EE95F0DC678891544B46662F7DB2526F988CF0EB3)
![Map of resistivity as a function of the charge carrier density (x axis) and current density (y axis) in bilayer graphene. Superconductivity occurs in the dark blue region in the bottom graph and is turned off by a magnetic field (upper graph).](/-/media/bes/mse/images/highlights/2024/Lau.png?h=585&w=755&la=en&hash=7285F5EC9F31AEB45925BE84BDE40D84E4EC9077A7BD7DC70718DA8F2C848B27)
![Artist’s representation of the formation pathway of vacancy complexes for spin-based qubits in in the silicon carbide host lattice and to the right the associated energy landscape.](/-/media/bes/mse/images/highlights/2024/Galli.png?h=305&w=558&la=en&hash=51068A2B50D49F7645028BF91FBB4203441ACD23C445EFA4E07EDDE84B6965DD)
![Left: Nickel ions in Ni2Mo3O8 (spheres inside center of polygons) form a honeycomb lattice of tetrahedral (green) and octahedral (blue) polygons. Right: Excitations of the magnetism from the tetrahedral polygons form a neutron scattering pattern (orange).](/-/media/bes/mse/images/highlights/2024/Dai.png?h=424&w=876&la=en&hash=1DF4C89EE885981F2CF5992A7B7D2E81FBA60376FA01F737B29BCE266859887D)
![Depiction of the newly discovered magnetic order of nickel spins (arrows) in nickel monosilicide as revealed by neutron diffraction (background) for the two sites of nickel (spheres).](/-/media/bes/images/highlights/2024/NiSi_BES-DOE.jpg?h=3382&w=2553&la=en&hash=CA2489BD62715C4003D6E8BBDDCE11D75C128C509549A243339DDFBEA647CFCB)
![Infrared laser light (red beam) illuminates the surface of ZrSiSe and mixes with electron oscillations enabled by an atomic force microscope (silver cone), propagating light as ray-like structures that guide the light through the interior (blue zig-zag).](/-/media/bes/mse/images/highlights/2024/Metals-Light.jpg?h=729&w=1106&la=en&hash=2853B967300B383F67444C4629C684061696AB9F86DA5E08CE1F8AF50E30215F)