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