Efficient and selective synthesis of chemical fuels from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide is a grand challenge for 21st century energy technology. Achieving rapid progress in this area requires accelerated discovery of mechanisms, materials, integration strategies, and device architectures designed for selective catalysis, light capture and conversion, charge transport, and product separation. The current mission of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) is to accelerate progress in mechanisms, materials, and integrated prototype designs for selective and efficient conversion of carbon dioxide to chemical fuels. In this talk, recent progress accomplished by JCAP will be discussed including discoveries that build upon our previous experience with hydrogen generation via photoelectrochemical water splitting. JCAP's experience with both carbon dioxide reduction and water splitting form a testbed for accelerated discovery, beginning with at the science frontier and culminating in team-oriented development of testbed prototype devices. The structure and achievements of JCAP and related Hub-level research from a materials perspective will be introduced.