President Trump’s 2019 Federal Budget proposal calls for shutting down the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics over the next three years.
The Department of Energy budget proposal would gradually ramp down the federal contribution to the high-energy laser facility by 2021. The laboratory was formed in 1970 and is used in research projects including the search for fusion power.
Facility Director Michael Campbell says on the facility’s website that he’s travelling to Washington Tuesday to meet with federal and other officials in an effort to reverse the decision.
The lab employs about 350 people.