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Basic Research Needs for Inverse Methods for Complex Systems under Uncertainty

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2583339· OSTI ID:2583339
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13];  [14];  [2];  [7];  [11];  [2];  [12];  [1] more »;  [2] « less
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  3. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
  4. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States)
  5. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  6. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  7. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  8. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  9. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  10. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  11. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  12. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  13. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
  14. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
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Inverse problems, which aim to infer unknown properties of a system using experimental and observational data, are central to addressing many of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) most critical scientific and engineering challenges. Accurate, computationally efficient, and data-efficient solutions to inverse problems are essential for advancing DOE mission-critical science drivers, including analyzing data from large-scale experimental facilities, optimizing fusion reactor performance, accelerating materials discovery, enhancing geophysical imaging, improving wildfire predictions, and enabling autonomous systems and digital twins. However, these problems are becoming increasingly complex, often involving nonlinear, highdimensional, and interconnected systems and models that span multiple physics and scales, while relying on data with varying quantity, quality, and information content. Compounding these challenges is the uncertainty inherent in DOE-relevant systems, where errors in inputs, noise in data, incompleteness of data, and discrepancies between models and reality constrain the accuracy and precision of solutions. At the same time, the convergence of recent scientific computing trends—scientific machine learning, artificial intelligence, and computing advances such as exascale computing—is creating unprecedented opportunities for tackling these challenges. The cross-cutting nature of inverse problems, combined with their growing complexity and rapidly evolving data and algorithmic demands, strongly motivates the formulation of a prioritized research agenda to maximize their capabilities and impact. In response to this need, DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program in the Office of Science convened the Workshop on Basic Research Needs for Inverse Problems for Complex Systems Under Uncertainty in June 2025. This workshop brought together experts across disciplines to identify grand challenges and major opportunities in the field. Through collaborative discussions, the workshop defined transformative research directions aimed at addressing the mathematical, statistical, and computational challenges posed by inverse problems under uncertainty. As a result of these efforts, four priority research directions (PRDs) were identified to guide future research and development in this area. These PRDs, summarized below, represent a roadmap for advancing the foundational science and mathematics of inverse problems, enabling robust, scalable, and uncertainty-aware solutions that are critical for DOE applications.

Research Organization:
US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States). Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
OSTI ID:
2583339
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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