In FY 2009, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will invest, in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF), in frontier research at academic institutions. This transformational research effort will be focused on detection systems, individual sensors or other research that is potentially relevant to the detection of nuclear weapons, special nuclear material, radiation dispersal devices and related threats. The joint DNDO-NSF effort, in coordination with the efforts of other agencies, seeks to advance fundamental knowledge in new technologies for the detection of nuclear threats and to develop intellectual capacity in fields relevant to long-term advances in nuclear detection capability. This research and the research community that will be built under the ARI are seen as critical to our nation's ability to deploy effective nuclear detection measures to counter the serious threat of a nuclear terrorist attack.

Proposals outside of the scope described in this solicitation will be returned without review.

Research proposals on detection of biological, chemical, and conventional weapons are specifically excluded from the scope of this solicitation.