Technology advances start in school with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and its Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). As part of the program, the DoD recently awarded a total of $59 million to 147 university researchers at 77 institutions across 30 states for fiscal year 2023. The DURIP enables universities and research facilities to acquire the scientific equipment needed to pursue enhancement of current defense-related technologies and development of innovative technologies for future systems.
Dr. Bindu Nair (see image above), Director, Basic Research Office, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, explained that DURIP is part of a path that leads to higher knowledge and the growth of defense systems. “DURIP awards provide essential research infrastructure to enable the pursuit of new knowledge. They help maintain the cutting-edge capabilities of our institutes of higher education.”
Dr. Nair, who earned a PhD in materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, added, “These awards will sustain the scientific excellence of our universities, train the next-generation STEM workforce, and facilitate scientific advances that will build a resilient defense ecosystem.”
The competitive annual DURIP awards process is helping to fund research in many areas, including materials science, quantum computing, and microelectronics. The program is administered jointly by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Awards are made according to a merit process in which proposals are sought from universities willing to perform engineering and scientific research on behalf of the DoD. The 147 awards were chosen from 522 proposals requesting a total of $171 million in research funding.