More S&T Foundations News
Department of Defense Announces 2025 Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative Fellows
The Department of Defense (DoD) announced the class of 2025 Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative (LUCI) fellows today. Twenty accomplished researchers from defense laboratories make up the class of 2025 LUCI fellows.
The LUCI fellows will partner with prominent DoD-funded academic researchers – either recipients of the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship or principal/co-principal investigators under the Multi-Disciplinary University Research Initiative – on projects eligible to receive up to $200,000 per year for three years.
The LUCI program, administered out of the basic research office, fosters collaboration between DoD laboratory scientists and top university scientists funded by the DoD in priority defense research areas including applied mathematics, cognitive neuroscience, engineering biology, novel materials, quantum information science, and manufacturing science.
“The LUCI fellowship is an investment that empowers our scientists to push the boundaries of discovery while building strong ties with the academic community,” said Dr. Jean-Luc Cambier, director of technical research programs in the Basic Research Office. “It provides our researchers with a unique opportunity to engage in exploratory research, pursuing transformative ideas that strengthen the department’s scientific foundation and drive future innovation.”
The selection process for the fellowship involved program officers from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, senior leadership from the Basic Research Office within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and technical experts from partnering defense contractors. Out of 59 initial white papers, evaluators short-listed 22 proposals demonstrating strong potential for innovative, high-impact research.
Following a rigorous interview phase, the Basic Research Office selected 14 projects, represented by 20 principal and co-principal investigators from the military service laboratories, as the department’s 2025 LUCI cohort:
| Principal Investigator(s) | Topic | Project Title | Collaborator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anesia Auguste (Air Force Research Laboratory) | Soft Materials and Multiscale Structures | Understanding the Interaction of Mesogen Alignment in On-demand Processes | Jennifer Lewis (Harvard University) |
| Alexander Pankonien and Philip Buskohl (Air Force Research Laboratory) | Other Fields of Research | Augmented Autoencoders for Interpretable Physical Reservoir Design | Kunihiko Taira (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Maxwell Gregoire (Air Force Research Laboratory) | Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials | Cooling the Internal and External Degrees of Freedom of Levitated Microparticles | Peter Pauzauskie (University of Washington) |
| Jason Soares and Jordan Whitman (U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center) | Fundamentals of Bio-engineering | Exploring Host-Microbiome Interaction Phenomena Through Integrated in Vitro Human Gastrointestinal Co-Culture Models | David Kaplan (Tufts University) |
| Anthony Fragoso (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center) | Networks and Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Automated Test Generation for Arctic AI and Autonomy | Richard Murray (California Institute of Technology) |
| Eunice Paik and Christopher Kuhs (Army Research Laboratory) | Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials | Alter-fast Dynamics: Optical Studies of Engineered Altermagnetism | Chang-Beom Eom (University of Wisconsin) |
| Michael Swift (Naval Research Laboratory) | Quantum Information Science | Quantum Embedding for Quantum Defects in Wide-Band-Gap Semiconductors | Chris Van de Walle (University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Noam Bernstein and Edwin Antillon (Naval Research Laboratory) | Materials Science | Atomistic Mechanisms of Hysteresis in Shape Memory Materials | Richard James (University of Minnesota) |
| Joseph Fiordilino (Air Force Research Laboratory) | Applied Mathematics and Computational Science | Atmospheric Propagation of High-Power Structured Laser Beams | Greg Gbrur (University of North Carolina) |
| Paula Chen (Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake) | Networks and Artificial Intelligence | Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Multi-Agent Differential Games | George Karniadakis (Brown University) |
| Kenneth McClain and Benjamin Harvey (Naval Air Warfare Center) | Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials | Conferring the Magnetic Anisotropy of Lanthanide Single-Molecule Magnets to Coupled Magnetic Nanomaterials | Michael Crommie (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Adam Dunkelberger (Naval Research Laboratory) | Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials | Highly Anisotropic Materials for Tailored Nonlinear Optical Responses | Joshua Caldwell (Vanderbilt University) and Tony Heinz (Stanford University) |
| Alexander Efros and John Lyons (Naval Research Laboratory) | Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials | Engineered Heusler Compound Heterostructures and Superlattices | Christopher Palmstrøm (University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Kirubel Teferra (Naval Research Laboratory) | Applied Mathematics and Computational Science | Multiscale, Multifidelity Models for Control and Optimization in Additive Manufacturing | Kaushik Bhattacharya (California Institute of Technology) |
To learn more about LUCI, visit https://basicresearch.defense.gov/Pilots/Laboratory-University-Collaboration-Initiative/.
DOD Awards $43 Million to U.S. Universities to Purchase Equipment for Defense-Related Research
The Department of Defense today announced awards totaling $43 million to 112 university researchers under the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). The grants will support the purchase of major equipment at 64 institutions across 28 states in Fiscal Year 2025, helping them augment current and introduce new capabilities in defense-relevant research areas.
One of the Department’s strategic investments in the United States’ scientific ecosystem, the DURIP program equips universities to perform state-of-the-art research that boosts the nation’s technological advantage, while ensuring that the future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce remains second to none. This year’s awards will fund equipment and instrumentation to accelerate basic research in such DoD-priority areas as quantum computing, photonics, human performance, autonomy, and the design, development, and characterization of novel materials.
“DURIP awards build vital research infrastructure, advancing the exploration of novel ideas and upholding the cutting-edge capabilities of our academic institutions,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “This funding helps guarantee the enduring scientific excellence of our universities, nurtures the development of the next STEM workforce, and catalyzes scientific innovations that will revolutionize military capabilities in the years ahead.”
Administered through a merit-based competition by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, and Office of Naval Research, the highly competitive annual program seeks specific proposals from university investigators conducting foundational science and engineering research with implications for national defense.
Awards made by the military service research offices are subject to successful completion of negotiations with the academic institutions.
The list of winning proposals can be downloaded here.
About USD(R&E)
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The USD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the U.S. military’s technological advantage. Learn more at www.cto.mil or visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre.
DOD Announces 2024 Vannevar Bush Fellows to Pursue Breakthrough Research
The Department of Defense today announced the selection of 11 university scientists and engineers to fill the 2024 class of the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF), the DoD’s flagship single-investigator award for basic research.
Named for Dr. Vannevar Bush, who played a monumental role in shaping the defense research enterprise as the director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development after World War II, the VBFF nurtures high-risk and innovative ideas that push scientists toward breakthrough discoveries.
The department will support the 2024 class with up to $33 million to explore the frontiers of knowledge and advance transformative, fundamental research at their respective universities.
“The Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship is more than a prestigious program. It’s a beacon for tenured faculty embarking on groundbreaking ‘blue sky’ research,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “Through this fellowship, DoD empowers some of the nation’s most talented researchers to pursue ambitious ideas that defy conventional boundaries. The outcomes of VBFF-funded research have transformed entire disciplines, birthed novel fields, and challenged established theories and perspectives.”
The 2024 awardees will join an elite group of approximately 50 fellows conducting basic research for the DoD. Their research spans a wide range of disciplines, including materials science, cognitive neuroscience, quantum information sciences, and applied mathematics. Beyond their individual research endeavors, fellows leverage the unique opportunity to collaborate directly with DoD laboratories, fostering a valuable exchange of knowledge and expertise.
“By contributing their insights to DoD leadership and engaging with the broader national security community, they enrich collective understanding and help the United States leap ahead in global technology competition,” said Nair.
The Basic Research Office sponsors the VBFF while the Office of Naval Research manages the grants. For the fiscal year 2024 competition, the department received 170 white papers, from which panels of experts invited 27 proposals, for a final recommendation of 11 fellows. Each fellow will receive up to $3 million over a five-year fellowship term to pursue cutting-edge fundamental research projects.
For more information, visit https://basicresearch.defense.gov.
The 2024 Class of Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellows:
| Name | Institution | Research Topic |
| Houman Owhadi | California Institute of Technology | Computational Hypergraph Discovery, a Framework for Connecting the Dots |
| Domitilla Del Vecchio | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Analog Epigenetic Cell Memory: Biology and Engineering |
| James Speck | University of California, Santa Barbara | Beyond the Band Minima: High Energy Electron Dispersion, Physics, and Technology |
| Mehrdad Jazayeri | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | An Embodied Neuroscience for Cognition and Emotion |
| Andrew Cleland | University of Chicago | Building a Phonon-Based Quantum Computer |
| Emilia Morosan | Rice University | Correlated Topological Materials in a “New Light” |
| Joseph Heremans | Ohio State University | Polarization Caloritronics |
| Xiaodong Xu | University of Washington | Realizing Non-Abelian Anyons |
| Themistoklis Sapsis | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Generative Active Modeling Along Unstable Dynamics for Capturing Unprecedented Extreme Events |
| Oleg Gang | Columbia University | Evolving Materials |
| Cristopher Niell | University of Oregon | Neural Circuits and Computations in the Octopus Visual System |
DOD Invests $40 Million to Establish Research Centers of Excellence at Minority-serving Institutions
Oct 17, 2023
The Department of Defense today announced the establishment of four new research centers of excellence at minority-serving institutions of higher education, as part of its Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-serving Institutions Research and Education Program.
Selected through a merit-based competition, the awardees and their academic partners will conduct research over a five-year period in technology areas critical to the Department’s drive for Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control: advanced computing and software, future-generation wireless technology, integrated sensing and cyber, and renewable energy generation and storage.
The awards total $40 million and will enhance research programs and capabilities in critical scientific and engineering disciplines, while expanding HBCU’s and MII’s capacity to participate in DoD research programs and activities. These awards will also increase the number of graduates in STEM fields, including those from under-represented minorities, which is critically important to the Department’s mission.
“These COEs will boost the Department’s ability to conduct transformative research in areas that are vital to safeguarding national security. We look forward to them contributing stimulating ideas and innovations that could lead to the development of novel technologies and methodologies,” said DOD HBCU/MI Program and Outreach Director Evelyn Kent. “Establishing the centers at minority-serving institutions also strengthens the STEM pipeline by improving the skillsets of future scientists and engineers, preparing them for careers that will help advance the Department’s research enterprise.”
The COEs were awarded based on a merit review by a panel of experts. DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory will make the awards to four winning institutions.
The four awardees are:
- Arizona State University – Center of Excellence in Future Generation Wireless Technology (FutureG): Arizona State University and collaborator Ohio State University will investigate FutureG network challenges and opportunities, including multiple-input/multiple-output and waveform designs, physical-layer and signal processing technologies, distributed control and machine learning algorithms, and innovative security mechanisms.
- Florida International University – DoD Center of Excellence for Integrated Renewable Energy and Energy Storage: Florida International University will partner with Pennsylvania State University to provide solutions that improve DoD’s operational readiness through modern renewable energy generation systems, seamlessly integrated with energy storage.
- Georgia State University – DoD Center of Excellence in Advanced Computing and Software: In partnership with Duke University, Georgia State University will perform research in several key areas, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, natural language processing, efficient deep neural networks, human-AI teaming and security, and trust and explainability in AI and machine learning systems.
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Research and Education Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-serving Institutions (Integrated Sensing and Cyber): Virginia Polytechnic Institute along with Pennsylvania State University will research and develop integrated sensing and cyber technologies that can operate at the intersection of cyberspace, electronic warfare, radar, and communications in highly contested environments.
DoD Announces Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Awards
The Department of Defense awarded $17.6 million to 27 collaborative academic teams under the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR). DEPSCoR is a capacity-building program designed to strengthen the basic research infrastructure at institutions of higher education in underutilized states and territories.
“The Department of Defense’s science and technology mission relies on an ecosystem of creative and insightful researchers in every state,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of DoD’s Basic Research Office. “DEPSCoR aims to increase the number of academics pursing research in DoD-relevant areas, while enhancing the science and engineering capacity of their institutions into the long term.
“It is crucial that we build a Department of Defense research infrastructure that strategically uses the research capabilities found across the country.”
Today’s awards follow two Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 competitions – the DEPSCoR Research Collaboration competition and the DEPSCoR Capacity Building competition.
The DEPSCoR Research Collaboration competition is open to tenured and tenure-track faculty members with appointments in the 37 states and territories eligible to compete for DEPSCoR funds. This competition helps introduce potential researchers to DoD’s unique research needs and its supporting research ecosystem. Each collaborative team pairs a principal investigator new to the DoD research enterprise with a mentor who has previously worked with the department.
DoD received more than 80 white papers for the FY 2023 Research Collaboration competition, from which subject matter experts in the Military Services selected the final 25 collaborative teams. Principal investigators from universities in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin will lead these teams. Each team will receive up to $600,000 over a three-year period of performance to pursue science and engineering research relevant to DoD.
The DEPSCoR Capacity Building competition supports the strategic objectives of institutes of higher education (either individually or in partnership with others) in DEPSCoR-eligible states and territories, enhancing their competitiveness as research and development centers.
DoD received over 15 white papers for the FY 2023 Capacity Building competition, from which DoD subject matter experts selected the two finalists. The executive offices at Louisiana Tech University and University of Tulsa will lead the selected teams. Each team will receive up to $1.5 million over a two-year period of performance to pursue capacity-building activities that will help them achieve basic research excellence in areas relevant to DoD.
Click here for the list of winning Research Collaboration teams:
https://media.defense.gov/2024/Mar/19/2003415937/-1/-1/1/FY23_DEPSCOR_AWARDEES.PDF
About USD(R&E)
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The USD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the U.S. military’s technological advantage. Learn more at www.cto.mil, follow us on Twitter @DoDCTO, or visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre.
Department of Defense Announces Fiscal Year 2024 University Research Funding Awards
The Department of Defense today announced $221 million in awards for basic defense-related research projects as part of the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. At an average award amount of $7.5 million over five years, these competitive grants will support 30 teams located at 73 U.S. academic institutions, subject to satisfactory research progress and the availability of funds.
“The science and engineering challenges we face today are highly complex and cross disciplinary,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “The MURI program acknowledges these complexities by supporting teams whose members have diverse sets of expertise as well as creative scientific approaches to tackling problems.
“This cross-fertilization of ideas can accelerate research progress to enable more rapid scientific breakthroughs and hasten the transition of basic research funding to practical applications. The program is a cornerstone of DoD’s basic research portfolio and a strong contributor to its legacy of scientific impact.”
Since its inception in 1985, the Department’s MURI program has allowed teams of investigators from multiple disciplines to generate collective insights, facilitating the growth of cutting-edge technologies to address the Department’s unique challenges.
The highly competitive program, which complements the Department’s single-investigator basic research grants, has made immense contributions to current and future military capabilities and produced numerous commercial sector applications.
Notable MURI achievements include breakthroughs in cold-atom quantum methods with potential applications in quantum sensing and communication, as well as advances in pulsed magnetic field propagation and Doppler radar detection leading to new detection physics for landmines.
The Fiscal Year 2024 competition identified six topics that received an additional $1.5 million each over the five-year award term specifically to support the participation of historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions (HBCU/MIs). Seven proposals selected across the six topics will receive support for HBCU/MI participation on the MURI projects.
The Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Office of Naval Research solicited Fiscal Year 2024 proposals in 25 topic areas of strategic importance to the Department. After a merit-based review of 276 white papers, a panel of experts narrowed the pool to a subset of 102 full proposals, from which the 30 final awards were selected. The list of winning teams can be downloaded here.
About USD(R&E)
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The USD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the U.S. military’s technological advantage. Learn more at www.cto.mil, follow us on Twitter @DoDCTO, or visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre.
DOD Awards $161 Million to Universities to Purchase Equipment Supporting Defense-Relevant Research
DURIP is a strategic investment through which the DOD champions the country’s scientific ecosystem. The program equips universities to perform state-of-the-art research that boosts the United States’ technological edge, while ensuring that the future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce remains second to none. This year’s awards will accelerate basic research in areas the National Defense Science and Technology Strategy prioritizes, including quantum computing and quantum networks, bioelectronics, hypersonics, autonomy, and the design, development, and characterization of novel materials.
“DURIP awards build vital research infrastructure, advancing the exploration of knowledge and upholding the cutting-edge capabilities of our academic institutions,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of basic research in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, whose mission is to continuously advance technological capabilities and innovation within the DOD. “This funding underpins the enduring scientific excellence of our universities, nurtures the development of the next STEM workforce, and catalyzes scientific innovations that will lead to unprecedented military capabilities in the years ahead.”
The program is administered through a merit competition by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, and Office of Naval Research, and seeks specific proposals from university investigators conducting foundational science and engineering research relevant to national defense.
Awards made by the military service research offices are subject to successful completion of negotiations with the academic institutions.
The list of winning proposals can be downloaded here.