The Department of Defense awarded $17.6 million to 27 collaborative academic teams under the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR). DEPSCoR is a capacity-building program designed to strengthen the basic research infrastructure at institutions of higher education in underutilized states and territories.
"The Department of Defense's science and technology mission relies on an ecosystem of creative and insightful researchers in every state," said Dr. Bindu Nair, director of DoD's Basic Research Office. "DEPSCoR aims to increase the number of academics pursing research in DoD-relevant areas, while enhancing the science and engineering capacity of their institutions into the long term.
"It is crucial that we build a Department of Defense research infrastructure that strategically uses the research capabilities found across the country."
Today's awards follow two Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 competitions – the DEPSCoR Research Collaboration competition and the DEPSCoR Capacity Building competition.
The DEPSCoR Research Collaboration competition is open to tenured and tenure-track faculty members with appointments in the 37 states and territories eligible to compete for DEPSCoR funds. This competition helps introduce potential researchers to DoD's unique research needs and its supporting research ecosystem. Each collaborative team pairs a principal investigator new to the DoD research enterprise with a mentor who has previously worked with the department.
DoD received more than 80 white papers for the FY 2023 Research Collaboration competition, from which subject matter experts in the Military Services selected the final 25 collaborative teams. Principal investigators from universities in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin will lead these teams. Each team will receive up to $600,000 over a three-year period of performance to pursue science and engineering research relevant to DoD.
The DEPSCoR Capacity Building competition supports the strategic objectives of institutes of higher education (either individually or in partnership with others) in DEPSCoR-eligible states and territories, enhancing their competitiveness as research and development centers.
DoD received over 15 white papers for the FY 2023 Capacity Building competition, from which DoD subject matter experts selected the two finalists. The executive offices at Louisiana Tech University and University of Tulsa will lead the selected teams. Each team will receive up to $1.5 million over a two-year period of performance to pursue capacity-building activities that will help them achieve basic research excellence in areas relevant to DoD.
Click here for the list of winning Research Collaboration teams:
https://media.defense.gov/2024/Mar/19/2003415937/-1/-1/1/FY23_DEPSCOR_AWARDEES.PDF
About USD(R&E)
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The USD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the U.S. military's technological advantage. Learn more at www.cto.mil, follow us on Twitter @DoDCTO, or visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre.
