Award

Arlington, VA – The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced $179 million in funding awards to 25 teams that participated in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) competition. The winning teams, which represent 57 academic institutions nationwide, will receive five-year grants” contingent upon satisfactory research progress and the availability of funds” to pursue basic research that spans multiple scientific disciplines.

Since its inception in 1985, the tri-Service MURI program has convened teams of investigators with the hope that collective insights drawn from research across multiple disciplines could facilitate the advancement of newly emerging technologies and address the Department’s unique problem sets. Complementing the Department’s single-investigator basic research grants, the highly competitive MURI program has made immense contributions to both national defense and society at large. Notable achievements include advances in twisted 2D heterostructures for possible applications as infrared/microwave detectors; development of new theories, algorithms, and protocols to speed synthesis of novel materials, including energetics, for DoD; and atomic and molecular self-assembly projects that have opened new possibilities for nano-manufacturing. These and other innovative technological advances from the MURI program help drive and accelerate current and future military capabilities and find multiple applications in the commercial sector.

“The science and engineering challenges we face today are highly complex and often intersect more than one scientific discipline,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). “MURIs acknowledge these complexities by supporting teams whose members have diverse sets of expertise as well as creative and different approaches to tackling problems. This cross-fertilization of ideas can accelerate research progress to enable more rapid R&D breakthroughs and hasten the transition of basic research finding to practical application. It’s a program that embodies of DoD’s legacy of scientific impact.”

For the FY 2021 competition, the Army Research Office, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Office of Naval Research solicited proposals in 26 topic areas important to DoD and the Military Services. From a merit-based review of the 298 proposals received, a panel of experts narrowed the proposals to a subset from which the 25 finalists were selected. The click here to download the list of winning teams.

Read More

The Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded $20.8 million in grants to 15 university-based Minerva Research Initiative (Minerva) faculty teams to support research in the social and behavioral sciences.

Minerva supports basic research that focuses on topics of particular relevance to U.S. national security. Through its network of faculty investigators, Minerva also strengthens the department’s connections with the social science community and helps DOD better understand and prepare for future challenges, including National Defense Strategy priorities such as great power competition.

“We live in a dynamic world, and many of the challenges we face are social or have social elements,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). “The knowledge and methodologies generated by Minerva teams are fundamental to understanding how social forces shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the United States.”

The 15 faculty teams were selected following a merit-based competition among approximately 180 applicants within Minerva’s nine topics of interest. Research proposals were peer-reviewed and selected in conference between OUSD(R&E) and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy to identify proposals that make foundational contributions to basic social science and align with the National Defense Strategy.

The Minerva Research Initiative is jointly administered by the Basic Research Office in OUSD(R&E) and the Strategy and Force Development Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, in partnership with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research. More information on the Minerva Research Initiative is available at their website.

1. Power Projection and Subversion via Malign Influence Campaigns on Social Media: Comparing Effects of Cognitive Biases and Cultural Values on Information Operations by Russia in Europe And China in Latin America
Topic Area: Power, Deterrence, and Escalation Management
Principal Investigator: Scott Atran, University of Oxford
2. Multi-Level Models of Covert Online Information Campaigns
Topic Area: Models and Methods for Understanding Cover Online Influence
Principal Investigator: Kathleen Carley, Carnegie Mellon University
3. Automated Early Warning System for Cyber Intrusion Detection
Topic Area: Automated Cyber Vulnerability Analysis
Principal Investigator: Richard Carley, Carnegie Mellon University
4. Algorithmic Personalization and Online Radicalization: A Mixed Methods Approach
Topic Area: Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Ethics, and Social Interactions
Principal Investigator: Brian Ekdale, University of Iowa
5. The Ethics of Warfighter Participation in the Development and Testing of AI-Driven Performance Enhancements
Topic Area: Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Ethics, and Social Interactions
Principal Investigator: Nicholas Evans, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
6. Complex Linkages, Ambivalent Ties: Global Security and Economic Interdependence in the 21st Century
Topic Area: Economic Interdependence and Security
Principal Investigator: Erik Gartzke, University of California, San Diego
7. Total War: Multi-Agent Network Theory of Connective Action in a Cross-Domain Coupled World
Topic Area: Multi-Domain Behavioral Complexity and Computational Social Modeling
Principal Investigator: Neil Johnson, George Washington University
8. Automatically Measuring Phishing Victim Susceptibility from Publicly Available Information
Topic Area: Automated Cyber Vulnerability Analysis
Principal Investigator: Keith Jones, Texas Tech University
9. Conceptualizing Hierarch and Resilience in Great Power Politics
Topic Area: Peer/Near-peer Statecraft, Influence, and Regional Balance of Power
Principal Investigator: Marlene Laruelle, George Washington University
10. Analyzing Effects of Sanctions on International economic Interdependencies Using Hybrid Input/Output Analysis
Topic Area: Economic Interdependence and Security
Principal Investigator: Lincoln Pratson, Duke University
11. Maritime Law Enforcement in the Indo-Pacific: Building Capacity to Confront Militia Groups and Maritime Crime
Topic Area: Economic Viability, Resilience, and Sustainability of Logistics Infrastructure
Principal Investigator: Brandon Prins, University of Tennessee
12. Economic Viability, Resilience, and Sustainability of Logistics Systems in Post-Conflict Zones
Topic Area: Economic Viability, Resilience, and Sustainability of Logistics Infrastructure
Principal Investigator: Adam Rose, University of Southern California
13. Fusing Narrative and Social Cyber Forensics to Understand Covert Influence
Topic Area: Models and Methods for Understanding Covert Online Influence
Principal Investigator: Scott Ruston, Arizona State University
14. Measuring China’s Political Influence along the Belt and Road
Topic Area: Economic Interdependence and Security
Principal Investigator: Jacob Shapiro, Princeton University
15. Growing Chinese Economic Power and the Exacerbating Effects of U.S. Economic Interdependence
Topic Area: Economic Interdependence and Security
Principal Investigator: Shade Shutters, Arizona State University

For information:
DOD Awards $20.8M in Grants for Projects to Support Research in Social and Behavioral Science

The George F. Linsteadt Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer is named after Mr. George F. Linsteadt, a pioneer and champion of the Department of Defense Technology Transfer (DoD T2) program. Through this award, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) recognizes professionals who embody the vision and spirit of Mr. Linsteadt and his proactive legacy in the shaping of the DoD’s T2 community, and highlights initiatives that have had a significant impact on the DoD T2 program. These award recipients have performed extraordinary work to transfer technology developed in the defense laboratories in collaboration with partners in the public and private sectors.

Technology transfer is vital to the Department’s mission of developing new technologies and promoting technology commercialization as the U.S. military seeks to maintain its technological advantage. DoD T2 efforts also help ensure the Nation’s investment in innovative research is transferred from defense laboratories to the American people.

Current Awardee:

The Department of Defense has selected the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) Technology Transfer Program (TTP) as the winner of the 2020 George F. Linsteadt Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer for for developing an innovative pipeline for technology transfer through open source software (OSS). This development not only advances ongoing NSA programs but also has potential commercial applications, including collaboration with small businesses, that support the Nation’s economic development.

Please visit here and here for more information about NSA’s technology transfer program and OSS releases.

For information on past winners:
2019 Award
2018 Award
2017 Award