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The DOD Selects 2023-2024 Minerva-USIP Peace and Security Dissertation Fellows
The Department of Defense today announced the 21 awardees of the 2023-2024 Minerva-U.S. Institute of Peace’s “Peace and Security Dissertation Fellowship,” providing fellowships of up to $20,000 to doctoral candidates who show great potential to advance policy and practice in the peacebuilding and security fields.
Since 2017, the Minerva Research Initiative, a DoD-sponsored, university-based social sciences program focused on research of particular relevance to U.S. national security, has joined with the U.S. Institute of Peace’s (USIP) Peace Scholar Fellowship program to award non-residential fellowships to students enrolled in U.S. universities. The awards support doctoral research related to broad concerns in conflict management and peacebuilding, including security and stability. More than 113 applicants from 66 U.S. universities applied for the 2023-2024 awards.
“These awards complement the efforts of USIP’s Peace Scholar Fellowship Program to expand support for advanced graduate students and create opportunities for ongoing engagement,” said Dr. David Montgomery, DoD’s director of social science. “We are proud of the doctoral candidates being funded through this collaboration and look forward to seeing their projects develop.”
The 2023-2024 Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellows include:
2023-24 Minerva-Funded Peace and Security Scholars
- Haley Allen DeMarco (Yale University), “Staffing the Secret Police: Security Personnel in Authoritarian Argentina”
- Salah Ben Hammou (University of Central Florida), “The Varieties of Civilian Praetorianism and the Politics of Post-Coup Trajectories”
- Tessa Devereaux Evans (Cornell University), “More of a Threat Than Guns: The Determinants of Insurgent Gender Governance”
- Myung Jung Kim (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign), “Negotiating Justice, Rebel Sponsorship, and War Outcomes in the Shadow of International Criminal Prosecution”
- Enrico Antonio La Viña (University of California, Davis), “Vigilantism From Above: Democratic Backsliding and State Repression in the Philippines”
- Emily Myers (Duke University), “Rethinking Rebel-Civilian Ties in Civil War”
- Miryam Nacimento (City University of New York – The Graduate Center), “Coca Growers and Peasant Cultures: Explaining the Impact of Coca Prohibition on Peasant Identities in Colombia”
- Ilayda Onder (Pennsylvania State University), “Cooperation, Rivalry, and Tactical Diffusion in Militant Networks”
- Ana Paula Pellegrino (Georgetown University), “The State That Forges Organized Criminal Groups”
- Beenish Pervaiz (Brown University), “Old Wars, New Tools: How Alliance Politics Shapes Vertical Nuclear Proliferation and Technological Diffusion in Pakistan and India”
- Erika Ricci (University of Central Florida), “The Militancy Cycle: Exploring Violent Extremism Through the Italian Red Brigades”
- Natan Skigin (University of Notre Dame), “Punitive Solidarity: How Victims’ Narratives Shape Civic Engagement and Accountability in Drug Wars”
- Madeleine Stevens (University of Chicago), “Annihilating ‘Subversion’ and Dehumanizing ‘Delinquents’: Enforced Disappearance from the Cold War Through the War on Terror”
- Angie Torres-Beltran (Cornell University), “The Political Consequences of Violence Against Women (Non-stipendiary fellowship)”
2023-24 USIP-Funded Peace Scholar Fellows
- Alana Ackerman (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), “Refugees Without Refuge: Persecution and Displacement Across Borders in South America”
Shahab ud Din Ahmad (John Hopkins University), “Conflict and Late State Formation in Colonial Peripheries: Discretionary Rule and Informality on the Afghan Frontier (1955-2018)” - Amanda Blewitt (New York University), “‘Living Peace’ in a Violent Environment: Local and Everyday Peacebuilding in Honduras”
- Frieder Dengler (American University), “System Encounters: Rules of Inter-State Conduct in Early Modern Sino-European Relations”
- Sky Kunkel (Purdue University), “The Local Effects of UN Peacekeeping (Non-stipendiary fellowship)”
- Laura Mendez Carvajal (Kent State University), “‘Self-help’ Discourse in Foreign Aid and Inequality: Peasants’ Agency in Rural Colombia”
- Rebecca Wai (University of Michigan), “It Takes More Than a Village: How Refugee-Host Cooperation Promotes Peace and Economic Development”
The competition for the 2024-25 cohort opens in September 2023. Visit the Peace Scholar Fellowship Program on USIP’s website to see the 2024-25 request for applications.
The Minerva Research Initiative is jointly administered by the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering 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. To learn more about Minerva’s partnership with USIP, visit https://minerva.defense.gov/Programs/US-Institute-of-Peace-Collaboration/.
DOD Announces 2023 Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative Fellows
The Department of Defense today announced the 2023 class of the Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative (LUCI).
LUCI fellows are accomplished researchers within defense laboratories who seek to collaborate 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. Each awarded LUCI project will be eligible to receive up to $200,000 per year for three years.
The selection process for this competitive fellowship engaged program officers from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force; leaders from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering’s Basic Research Office; and technical experts from supporting defense contractors. From 57 white papers, evaluators chose 19 that demonstrated the potential for creative, high-impact research in topic areas critical to the DoD. After an interview phase, the BRO selected the following 12 projects, with 18 total principal investigators from the Service laboratories, as the Department’s 2023 LUCI cohort:
| Principal Investigator | Topic | Project Title | Collaborator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer Olson (Air Force Research Laboratory) | Quantum Information Science | Micro-Optical Cavities for Scalable Coherent Coupling | Monika Schleier-Smith; Jon Simon (Stanford University) |
| Steven Rodriguez (Naval Research Laboratory) | Applied Math | Low-Dimensional Manifold Discovery from Unstructured Data of Meshless Multiphysics | Steven Brunton (University of Washington) |
| Meagan Small and Jordan Baumbach (Army Research Laboratory) | Fundamentals of Bio-engineering | Evolution of Fungal Enzymes for Degradation of Polymeric Materials | Ahmad Khalil (Boston University) |
| Mulugeta Haile (Army Research Laboratory) | Other | Biomimetic Vestibular Physical Reservoir Computing as a Universal Stability Controller for Nonlinear Dynamical Systems | Ying-Cheng Lai (Arizona State University) |
| Ibrahim Boulares and Owen Vail (Army Research Laboratory) | Materials | Beyond the 2D Limit: Band Engineered Control of Exciton Condensates in Coupled van der Waals Systems | Philip Kim (Harvard University) |
| Tanya Tschirhart (Naval Research Laboratory) | Fundamentals of Bio-engineering | Connecting Electron Flow and Gene Expression in Cells for Multi-Channel Electrogenetics | Caroline Ajo-Franklin (Rice University) |
| James Delehanty (Naval Research Laboratory) | Cognitive Neuroscience | Nanoscale Sensors and Actuators for Advanced Measurement and Control of Neuronal Cell Function In Vivo | Rafael Yuste (Columbia University) |
| Corey Trahan and Mark Loveland (Army Research Laboratory) | Networks/ Artificial Intelligence | Modeling Coastal Hydrodynamics Using Neural Operators | George Karniadakis (Brown University) |
| William Kennedy and Dass Chandriker (Air Force Research Laboratory) | Materials | Circularly Polarized Lasers Using Intrinsically Chiral Hybrid Perovskite Crystals | Nick Kotov (University of Michigan) |
| Patrick Callahan and Keith Knipling (Naval Research Laboratory) | Materials | Understanding the Deformation Behavior of Refractory High Entropy Alloys | Mitra Taheri (Johns Hopkins University) |
| Blair Connelly and George de Coster (Army Research Laboratory) | Materials | Deconvolution of Topological Photocurrents: Ultrafast Spin Flips Without Uncertainty | Mercedeh Khajavikhan; Demetrios Christodoloudis (University of Southern California) |
| Manoj Kolel-Veetil (Naval Research Laboratory) | Other | AI/ML-Assisted Advancement of Degradation Science of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) on 2-Dimensional Nanoconfining Substrates | Surya Kalidindi (Georgia Institute of Technology) |
Administered out of the BRO, the LUCI program fosters collaboration between DoD laboratory scientists and DoD-funded university scientists in priority defense research areas including applied mathematics, cognitive neuroscience, engineering biology, novel materials, quantum information science, and manufacturing science.
“We are delighted to contribute to the Department’s core mission by supporting a science and technology workforce that can excel in basic research, shape innovative research directions, and access the most advanced work under way in the broader scientific community,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office. “LUCI allows our lab scientists to pursue necessary high-risk research by giving them time to develop long-term ideas while tapping the creative energy and innate curiosity of university partners.”
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 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.
The DoD Announced Awards of $20K each for the 2021-2022 Cohort of the Minerva-USIP Peace and Security Dissertation Fellows
The Department of Defense Minerva Research Initiative is pleased to announce the 2021-2022 cohort of the Minerva-USIP Peace and Security Dissertation Fellows. In partnership with the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship program, over 115 applicants from 88 U.S. universities applied for this prestigious award. Those chosen for the Peace and Security Scholar Fellowship show great potential to advance the peace building and security fields and to positively influence policy and practice.
Since 2016, the Minerva Research Initiative has joined with the U.S. Institute of Peace to award non-residential fellowships to students enrolled in U.S. universities, supporting careers in research, teaching, and policy making. Minerva Research Initiative fellowships support basic research contributions related to broad concerns of conflict management and peace building, including security and stability.
“The Minerva-USIP Peace and Security pre-doctoral awards support young researchers at a crucial time in their careers and encourages them to think through how their work can broadly influence security challenges around the world,” remarked Dr. David Montgomery, Director of the Minerva Research Initiative. “We are proud of the doctoral candidates being funded through this collaboration with the U.S. Institute of Peace and look forward to seeing their projects develop.”
The 2021-2022 Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellows include:
Minerva-Funded Minerva-USIP Peace and Security Scholars
- Peyman Asadzade (Arizona State University), “Diplomatic Support for Protest Movements: Causes, Effectiveness, and Consequences.”
- Nejla Asimovic (New York University), “Growing Closer or Further Apart: Exposure to Social Media in Post-Conflict Societies.”
- Zenobia Chan (Princeton University), “Affluence without Influence? Understanding Positive Economic Statecraft and Influence in International Politics.”
- Jiwon Kim (Stanford University), “Security, Identity, and Minority Politics: Explaining Ethnic Mobilization in Post-conflict Elections.”
- Casey Mahoney (University of Pennsylvania), “How Friends Fight: International Alliances, Military Technology, and Intra-Alliance Bargaining in the Shadow of Conflict.
- Aidan Milliff (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), “Seeking Safety: The Cognitive and Social Foundations of Behavior During Violence.”
- Dijana Mujkanovic (University of Pittsburgh), “Conflict Prevention and Transformation: A Study of the Effects of Contact between Ethnic Groups in Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina.â€
- Paul Orner (University of Southern California), “The Logics of Chinese Strategy: How the PRC Undermines American Security Partnerships.”
- Faizaan Qayyum (University of Illinois “” Urbana-Champaign), “Dis-placemaking: Ethnicization of Afghan lives in Quetta, Pakistan.”
- Mashal Shabbir (American University), “Rebelling Against the Rebellion: Explaining the Magnitude of Insurgent Group Disintegration.”
- Aaron Stanley (City University of New York), “Local Conceptions and Perceptions of Legitimacy in Post-Conflict States.”
- Olivia Woldemikael (Harvard University), “South-South Migrants, Refugees, and Hosts: Lessons of Tolerance from Uganda and Colombia.”
The Minerva initiative has a unique relationship between Research and Policy within DoD. As such, leadership across the department collaborate to identify and support basic social science research issues in need of attention and then integrate those research insights into the policy-making context. In doing this, the leadership team closely works with the program managers within the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research.
Please join us in congratulating these distinguished Ph.D. candidates on this accomplishment.
About OUSD(R&E)
The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) is responsible for the research, development, and prototyping activities across the Department of Defense. OUSD(R&E) fosters technological dominance across the DoD, ensuring the unquestioned superiority of the American joint force. Learn more at www.cto.mil or follow us on Twitter: @DoDCTO.
To learn more, visit the US Institute of Peace Collaboration webpage.
DoD Awards $46 Million in University Research Equipment Awards
Arlington, VA – The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced awards to 144 university researchers totaling $46 million under the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). These grants will be provided to 81 institutions across 35 states in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022.
DoD has long championed the country’s scientific ecosystem. Through DURIP, DoD supports purchases of major research equipment to augment current and develop new capabilities. This effort enables universities to perform state-of-the-art research that boosts the United States’ technological edge, while ensuring that our future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce remains second to none. This year, the awards will support equipment and instrumentation to accelerate basic research, which is relevant across the department to include the design, development, and characterization of novel materials, quantum computing and quantum networks, bioelectronics, hypersonics, autonomy and more.
“DURIP awards provide essential research infrastructure to enable the pursuit of new knowledge and help maintain cutting-edge capabilities of our universities,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, Director, Basic Research Office, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “The awards will sustain the scientific excellence of our universities, train the next generation of STEM workforce, and facilitate scientific advances that will drive unparalleled military capabilities for our country.“
The annual DURIP award process is highly competitive. The program is administered through a merit competition jointly by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, and Office of Naval Research. The Department seeks specific proposals from university investigators conducting foundational science and engineering research relevant to national defense.
For the FY 2022 competition, the Service research offices received 685 proposals requesting $456 million in total funding. Selections made by the Service research offices are subject to successful completion of negotiations with the academic institutions.
Click Here For A List of Selected Projects
FY 2022 SMART Scholar SEED Grant Program Awardees
FY 2022 SMART Scholar SEED Grant Program Awardees
The Department of Defense (DoD) Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) program recently announced awards to 21 SMART PhD scholars as part of its competitive SMART Scholar SEED Grant program for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. The SMART Scholar SEED Grant Program awards research grants worth up to $100,000 per year for a maximum of three years to promising SMART scholars as they transition from the pursuit of their PhDs to become active Department of Defense (DoD) professionals. The grants help scholars establish foundational research/engineering projects in their areas of expertise.
A highly competitive scholarship-for-service program, SMART is one of the largest science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-focused education and workforce initiatives under DoD STEM, the Department’s comprehensive K “20 STEM education and talent development effort. SMART is empowered to make full-tuition awards during any phase of a scholar’s education in a regionally accredited U.S. university or college. The program sponsors undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral studies in 21 academic disciplines critical to national security and DoD’s future. Upon graduation, students move directly into employment at DoD facilities. Awards can be made during any phase of a scholar’s education and vary in length from a minimum of one to a maximum of five years. The service commitment is one year of DoD employment for each academic year of SMART funding. Since its inception in 2006, the program has awarded over 3,700 scholarships.
The SMART Scholar SEED Grant program aims to develop a cadre of future DoD subject matter experts who will conduct high-impact research at SMART sponsoring facilities. It provides opportunities for scholars who have pursued PhDs through the SMART program to deepen their expertise in targeted, strategically important STEM areas, allowing them to lead their own research efforts while receiving valuable mentoring within their sponsoring facilities.
The SMART Scholar SEED Grant program’s FY 2022 proposals were reviewed by a panel of science and technology experts from across the DoD Components, who evaluated them according to scientific and technical merit, relevance to the DoD mission, developmental potential, and justification of budget. The funding opportunity announcement received 39 eligible proposals, with 21 grant awardees named from across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and other DoD Components. The FY 2022 ‘garden’ of SEED grant awardees joins 20 investigators selected in FY 2021, the inaugural year of the SEED Grant program.
The mentoring of SEED Grant awardees by established members of the DOD science and technology workforce is a key component of the SEED Grant initiative. This year, to illustrate SMART’s commitment to mentoring, SEED applicants were able to request an additional $25,000 to support mentoring activities. Not only does this assist the mentor in their technical support of the SEED investigator, but it also encourages mentor-mentee activities like jointly attending conferences or program reviews that help the SEED investigator grow their network and improve their understanding of the DoD science and technology enterprise.
“I am impressed with the caliber of proposals that the program received, and I am especially proud of our outstanding awardees,” said Ms. Heidi Shyu the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “The 21 awards this year really highlight the type of mission-driven work DoD employees perform. They showcase the unique research that helps the DoD accomplish its overall mission to defend the Nation and promote the safety and success of its military personnel.”
To learn more about the SMART Scholarship-for-Service program and the participating DoD sponsoring facilities, visit: www.smartscholarship.org. Information on the SMART Scholar SEED Grant program can be found at: https://www.smartscholarship.org/smart.
Interested in becoming a SMART scholar? The application period for the 2022 SMART scholar cohort began August 1, 2021, and ends December 1, 2021. More information can be found on the website: https://www.smartscholarship.org/smart
| Name | Component | SMART Sponsoring Facility |
| Braden Li | Air Force | Air Force Life Cycle Management Center |
| Miriam Dennis | Air Force | Air Force Research Lab – Munitions Directorate |
| Sukrith Dev | Air Force | Air Force Research Lab – Munitions Directorate |
| Alanna Sharp | Army | Combat Capabilities Development Command – Armament Center |
| Joseph Palomba | Army | Combat Capabilities Development Center – Soldier Center |
| Jose Wippold | Army | Army Research Lab |
| Joshua Humberston | Army | Engineer Research and Development Center – Coastal & Hydraulics Lab |
| Brian Harris | Army | Engineer Research and Development Center – Costal & Hydraulics Lab |
| David Azari | Army | Army Research Analysis Center – White Sands |
| Regina Guazzo | Navy | Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific |
| Jeff Ellen | Navy | Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific |
| Anu Venkatesh | Navy | Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific |
| Shibin Parameswaran | Navy | Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific |
| Kurt Talke | Navy | Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific |
| Samuel Mellon | Navy | Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific |
| Matthew Zaber | Navy | Naval Information Warfare Center – Pacific |
| John Ellis | Navy | Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division – China Lake |
| Jean Paul Santos | Navy | Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division – Pt. Mugu |
| Samantha Koutsares | Navy | Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane |
| Ethan Evans | Navy | Naval Surface Warfare Center – Panama City |
| Natasha Krell | Other DoD | National Geospatial Intelligence Agency |
The DoD Awards $47 Million in Grants Through the NDEP
The Department of Defense (DoD), through the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)), is pleased to announce more than $47 million to 15 awardees under the National Defense Education Program (NDEP) in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), Biotechnology, and Enhanced Civics Education.
Awardees, consisting of a local education agency, institutions of higher education, and non-profits, are focused on activities related to STEM, including specific efforts geared toward biotechnology, a DoD modernization priority area. These organizations will receive a total of $43 million over three- or four-year periods, depending on the award. The goals for these awards are to (1) engage students and educators through STEM education, outreach, and workforce initiatives from early childhood through post secondary education and (2) expand biotechnology outreach and workforce development activities.
“The Department of Defense is not only developing emerging technologies but also investing in the STEM workforce pipeline, which is critical to the Department and our Nation’s security,” said Ms. Heidi Shyu, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “These recognized awardees are helping to widen the pipeline of STEM talent to ensure that the talent is diverse, providing opportunities for students of all ages and educators of all grade levels, including those in under served and underrepresented communities, military-connected students, and veterans. These programs will implement innovative approaches to STEM education and outreach while providing awareness of the Department’s STEM career pathways.”
Activities will support the DoD STEM Strategic Plan, Fiscal Year 2021–2025, and align to the 2018 Federal STEM Strategic Plan. Several of these efforts will include participation with the Department’s laboratories and military installations from across the country.
In addition, section 234 of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act required OUSD(R&E) to implement a pilot program on enhanced civics education in collaboration with the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and/or Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC). Enhanced Civics Education awardees will receive $4 million over two years to prepare the next generation to better understand the U.S. Government and their role as citizens in civic engagement.
The 15 awardees are listed by category as follows:
STEM Education, Outreach, and Workforce Development
- Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas: The primary goal of “Project Learning, Exploration, and Application for Prospective Engineering Students” (LEAPES) is to engage students in awareness, exploration, and preparation activities related to careers in aerospace engineering, AI, and computer science, as well as to contribute to long-term student retention in these degree programs.
- Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts: “LabXchange,” a data-driven curricula developed at Harvard University, will apply data science to real-world challenges in biotechnology and sustainability while engaging a wide range of students with diverse interests and backgrounds in data science.
- Malcolm X College, Chicago, Illinois: “Advancing Opportunities for Women in STEM (AOWS) seeks to address the shortfall of African American, Black, Hispanic, and Latina women¯in STEM¯by¯ creating a robust pipeline of women STEM leaders with the passion, creativity, and technical skills to serve their country and advance knowledge and innovation in their fields.
- Mobile County Public School System, Mobile, Alabama: The Mobile County Public School System will scale up its JROTC STEM Leadership Academy to 14 JROTC programs across the Nation, thereby expanding the JROTC STEM Leadership Academy as a hybrid Junior Cadet Leadership Challenge impacting over 5,000 cadets, 350 cadre, and 275 STEM instructors. STEM activities will focus on maritime, advanced manufacturing, and aviation.
- Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma: The new DISCOVERY center, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Innovation District, will scale up its first to fifth grade STEM summer and after school programs and sixth to eighth grade teacher training focused on trans disciplinary teaching and learning at three school districts adjacent to Tinker Air Force Base, the state’s largest military base. These programs and training will prepare military-connected and underrepresented students for DoD STEM career pathways.
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana: The goal of this project is to create a broad, flourishing community of students, engineers, and scientists who collaborate in open-source learning activities on quantum technology concepts by 1) developing learning modules; 2) partnering with leading quantum companies; and 3) establishing cross-disciplinary professional degrees to help close the gap between quantum technology and education.
- Space Foundation, Colorado Springs, Colorado: The “Innovative Space, STEM, and Entrepreneurship Inspired Learning: Empowering an Agile STEM Talent Pool” (SSEL) project marries entrepreneurship and STEM to cultivate the skills needed by students and educators in local education districts that includes students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and where 12.5 percent of the students are military-connected thereby expanding equity and access to under served communities.
- University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut: The University of Connecticut, will create the Navy STEM Coalition to establish a long-term STEM pipeline program in Southeast New England. The program will engage STEM talent K-12 through graduate school in innovative naval-focused activities and hands-on projects through participation from the regional Navy community to provide early and frequent interaction and, ultimately, retention of students from this community.
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: “Our Place in Space!” (OPIS!) is an undergraduate laboratory/observing curriculum designed to accompany survey-level astronomy courses.
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The BRIDGE program will expand access to graduate education that is focused on artificial intelligence, autonomy, and robotics to broaden the pool of advanced degree candidates from historically underrepresented groups in STEM fields, including student veterans and children of veterans.
Biotechnology Outreach and Workforce Development
- Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona: Implementation of a zero-cost K-12 pipeline will immediately engage 10 Arizona secondary schools (with 8 Title I programs), 20 teachers, and nearly 300 students in inquiry-based biotechnology education every year.
- Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts: “STEM Pathways” will develop a high school education and outreach program using Boston-area universities, companies, and non-profit organizations in a collection of yearly activities, including networking events, short courses, laboratory “rotations,” industrial internships, hackathons, and global science competitions.
- University of California “Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California: “SciTrekBiotech” engages teams of K-12 students in structured but self-driven explorations of bio-science/technology questions, using multi-tiered mentoring involving peers, K-12 teachers, and university students and faculty, while simultaneously targeting distinct groups in the STEM pipeline, from K-12 students, to teachers and teachers in training, to university students.
Enhanced Civics Education
- Education Development Center, Waltham, Massachusetts: Supporting Readiness through Vital Civic Empowerment (SRVCE) represents a unique effort to engage students from military-connected schools in robust civic inquiry.
- iCivics, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Civics, Service, and Leadership (CSL) will bring civics to life while teaching students how the U.S. Government works. CSL will use a new innovative program of educational video games and classroom resources designed for DoDEA and JROTC students.
To read the selected awardee abstracts and learn about other DoD STEM partners, visit: https://dodstem.us/about/partners.
For more information about the Department’s comprehensive Pre-K “20 STEM education and workforce development efforts, visit: www.dodstem.us and be sure to follow @DoDSTEM on major social media platforms.
About OUSD(R&E)
The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) is responsible for research, development, and prototyping activities across DoD. OUSD(R&E) fosters military technological dominance to ensure the unrivaled superiority of the American joint force. Learn more at: www.cto.mil/ or follow us on Twitter: @DoDCTO.
DOD Awards 2021 STEM Scholars
The Department of Defense (DoD) Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Program recently announced awards to 416 SMART scholars as part of its 2021 cohort. The 2021 cohort is comprised of students representing 184 colleges and universities, and is the largest and most diverse in the program’s 15 year history.
SMART is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) focused scholarship-for-service program and is one of the largest education and workforce initiatives under DoD STEM – the Department’s comprehensive K-20 STEM education and talent development effort.
SMART is empowered to make full-tuition awards during any phase of a scholar’s education in a regionally accredited U.S. university or college. The program sponsors undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral study in 21 academic disciplines critical to national security and DoD’s future. Upon graduation, students move directly into employment at DoD facilities. Awards can be made during any phase of a scholar’s education and vary in length from a minimum of one to a maximum of five years. The service commitment is one year of DoD employment for each academic year of SMART funding. Since its inception in 2006, the program has awarded more than 3,700 scholarships.
While the SMART Program does not make awards directly to DoD modernization priority areas, the majority of its scholars are pursuing foundational academic studies in disciplines that directly feed into modernization efforts. Upon graduation, scholars from the 2021 cohort will be employed at one of more than 100 selecting DoD laboratories or agencies.
“We are very proud of all the 416 recipients of this prestigious scholarship,†said Mr. Louie Lopez, DoD STEM Director “I look to forward to seeing these next generation of STEM leaders contributions to the Department and the Nation.”
To learn more about the SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program and the participating DoD sponsoring facilities, visit: www.smartscholarship.org.
To learn more about the Department’s comprehensive K-20 STEM education and talent development effort, visit: www.dodstem.us.
Interested in becoming a SMART scholar? The application period for the 2022 SMART scholar cohort begins August 1, 2021 and ends December 1, 2021. More information can be found on the website:www.smartscholarship.org.
Department of Defense Announces Request for Information on STEM Community College and Relevant Partners Consortium
Arlington, VA – The Department of Defense (DoD), through the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)), is pleased to announce a request for information (RFI) on future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) efforts under the National Defense Education Program (NDEP). This RFI will focus on STEM education at two-year institutions and community colleges, including: (1) transitioning students from two-year community college STEM programs to STEM degree programs at four-year institutions through a consortium-based approach; and, (2) preparing an agile and diverse workforce through technical training and certificate programs and supporting those programs through collaborative partnerships and consortia.
DoD leaders are invested in developing an exceptional STEM talent pool to meet the Department’s unique mission. Toward this end, the DoD STEM program fosters pathways that connect to a continuum of enriching educational and workforce development opportunities, positioning the current and future DoD workforce to tackle evolving defense technological challenges.
All interested organizations are eligible to respond to this RFI. While not tied to funding, this RFI may inform future efforts and/or shape efforts and priorities in NDEP. Questions regarding the RFI should be submitted to: osd.dodstem@mail.mil by August 23, 2021, and will be answered via the RFI posting at: Grants.gov.Responses to the RFI should be submitted to: osd.dodstem@mail.mil by September 10, 2021.
To access the RFI, visit: Grants.gov.
For more information about DoD STEM, visit: https://dodstem.us.
OUSD(R&E) is responsible for research, development, and prototyping activities across DoD. OUSD(R&E) fosters technological dominance to ensure the unrivaled superiority of the American joint force. Learn more at: www.cto.mil/ or follow us on Twitter: @DoDCTO.