Looking across a wide range of research areas, the U.S. Army awarded 47 grants totaling more than $10.2 million to scientists at 38 institutions across 21 states. The research areas, many of which will aid advances in robotics technologies, include high-speed quantum communications, machine learning (ML) techniques, and live imaging of dynamic protein behavior in cells and robotics. The grants are for the purchase of hardware and software that will enable basic scientific research in these and other important defense-related areas during 2020.
This optical table at Princeton University is outfitted with a high-speed laser for research into quantum molecular control and is an example of equipment purchased through a DURIP grant.
The grants were awarded under the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). “The DURIP awards meet a critical need for researchers,” said Dr. Barton H. Halpern, director of the Army Research Office, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory (ARL). “They provide scientists with the tools they need to drive scientific discoveries that will provide the Army with game-changing future technology programs.”
The tri-service DURIP program is managed by the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Proposals are sought each year from university investigators conducting research of importance to the national defense. The awards enable researchers to purchase equipment costing between $50,000 and $1.5 million in support of pioneering defense research.
