The Air Force announced today that 29 university researchers at 26 academic institutions have been selected to receive awards to support the purchase of research instrumentation. The 29 awards will total $12.7 million and are being made under the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP).
The DURIP supports the purchase of state of the-art equipment that augments current or develops new university capabilities to perform cutting edge defense research. DURIP meets a critical need by enabling university researchers to purchase scientific equipment costing $50,000 or more to conduct DoD relevant research, as purchasing these instruments under research contracts and grants is difficult.
These awards are the result of a merit competition for DURIP funding jointly conducted by the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The awards announced today will be made by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Awards made by the Army Research Office and the Office of Naval Research were announced via defense.gov on 3 June 2013.
The program is highly competitive. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research requested proposals from university investigators conducting science and engineering research of importance to DoD. This includes research underpinning advances in surface chemistry and physics, computing and networks, electronics and electro optics, neuroscience, fluid dynamics, robotics and autonomous systems, and biological science and engineering. In response to the requests, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research received 260 proposals requesting $99,852,968 in support for research equipment. Collectively, the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research received more than -- 750 proposals requesting $288 million in support for research equipment.
The DURIP awards granted by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research will range from $124,000 to $890,000 and average approximately $440,000. All awards are subject to the successful completion of negotiations between the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the academic institutions.
The list of winning proposers may be obtained by accessing the World Wide Web at http://www.wpafb.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-130624-021.pdf.