The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today plans to award 26 grants totaling $14 million in fiscal 2002, and up to $24 million per year starting in fiscal 2003, to 22 academic institutions to conduct multidisciplinary research in 19 topic areas of basic science and engineering. These grants will be made under the fiscal 2002 DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, a program designed to address large multidisciplinary topic areas representing exceptional opportunities for future DoD applications and technology options.
Subject to the successful completion of negotiation between DoD and the academic institutions, the 26 awards will provide long-term support for research, graduate students and the purchase of equipment supporting specific science and engineering research themes vital to national defense.
The average award will be $1 million per year over a three-year period. Two additional years of funding will be possible as options to bring the total award to five years. Out-year funding is subject to the availability of appropriations.
Today's announcement is the result of rigorous competition over many months under the DoD MURI program. The competition drew many letters of intent to submit proposals, from which 126 full proposals were received. After a thorough evaluation by DoD technical expert teams, 26 of these proposals were found to be suitable for funding.
The list of projects selected for fiscal 2002 funding is on the Web at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2002/d20020320mur.pdf.
