Air Force awards 10 university research teams $60 million

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ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNEWS) --  The Air Force Office of Scientific Research here announced in April plans to fund 10 awards totaling about $60 million over five years to 29 academic institutions to perform multidisciplinary basic research.

The award is the result of the fiscal 2007 competition AFOSR conducted under the Department of Defense Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative, or MURI, program. This is a multi-agency Department of Defense program that supports research teams whose efforts intersect more than one traditional science and engineering disciplines.

Multidisciplinary team effort can accelerate research progress in areas particularly suited to this approach by cross-fertilization of ideas, can hasten the transition of basic research findings to practical applications, and can help to train students in science and/or engineering in areas of importance to DOD.

By funding multi-disciplinary teams, the MURI program complements other DOD basic research programs that support traditional, single-investigator university research. Typically, MURI awards are larger and longer in duration than traditional awards.

The awards are for up to five years -- a three-year base period with a two-year option contingent upon availability of appropriations and satisfactory research progress.

Consequently, MURI awards can provide greater sustained support than single-investigator awards for the education and training of students pursuing advanced degrees in science and engineering fields critical to DOD and for associated infrastructure, such as research instrumentation.

Teams at Boston University, Mass., Brown University, R.I., George Mason University, Va., Harvard University, Mass., Northwestern University, Ill., Princeton University, N.J., Stanford University, Calif., University of Colorado, University of Michigan and the University of Virginia will receive funding from AFOSR in fiscal 2007.

Topics range from "Dynamic Decision making in complex task environments: Principles and neural mechanisms" to "Biologically-Inspired Flight for Micro Air Vehicles."

The entire list of DOD projects selected for fiscal 2007 funding can be viewed at: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/MAR2007/d20070307muri.pdf .

(Courtesy of Air Force Office of Scientific Research Public Affairs)

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