Military Embedded Systems

DoD awards $47 million in defense-research equipment grants

News

March 10, 2017

Lisa Daigle

Assistant Managing Editor

Military Embedded Systems

WASHINGTON. The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced awards -- totaling $47 million -- to 160 university researchers at 84 institutions, through its Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). DURIP supports the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment for universities as they conduct cutting-edge defense research and associated graduate-student research training.

Pertinent research at U.S. colleges and universities forms the basis of advances in materials, structures, and manufacturing science; quantum and nanosciences; computing and networks; electronics, electromagnetics, and electro-optics; acoustics; neuroscience; fluid dynamics; robotics and artificial intelligence; and ocean, environmental, and life sciences.

The DURIP awards are administered through a merit competition jointly conducted by the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research; solicited proposals target university investigators conducting science and engineering research of importance to national defense. Individual awards range from $53,000 to $1.4 million, with an average of approximately $300,000 per award, according to the DoD.

Regarding the program, Dale Ormond, principal director for research in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering), states: “DURIP instrumentation awards provide the unique means through which DoD supports universities in the acquisition of essential laboratory instrumentation, usually out of reach for most research grants. DURIP is a true enabler of discovery for DoD-supported science and technology research.”

For a list of the FY 2017 DURIP awards, please visit the DoD website.