Opportunities for Funding and/or Engagement

Preserving and expanding the technological superiority of the U.S. military requires sustaining a pipeline of talented scientists, engineers and mathematicians who pursue high-risk, high-payoff fundamental research in disciplines that address critical Department of Defense (DoD) and national security needs. DARPA’s Young Faculty Award (YFA) program supports that goal by helping promising tenure-track faculty members better understand the federal research and development process generally and Department of Defense (DoD) and national security research needs in particular.

DARPA works to ensure the technological superiority of U.S. military forces, and the agency continually seeks new sources of talent to accomplish that goal. The nation’s three military Service academies are a promising source of that talent. These institutions immerse the next generation of military leaders in a unique environment that blends academic excellence and deep understanding of current and future military needs. To better cultivate the great potential of these young officers-to-be and encourage their career-long collaboration with DARPA, the agency last week hosted the first DARPA Service Academies Innovation Challenge.

Scientists and engineers in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office (DSO) promote and exploit new discoveries across the frontiers of physics, chemistry, and mathematics to identify and accelerate potentially game-changing technologies for U.S. national security. After recently spinning off biological technologies into a new office, DSO’s investment portfolio, which continues to create new materials and explore the boundaries of physical phenomena, is expanding to include novel approaches to understanding, predicting, designing, and developing engineered complex systems.

DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a two-day Proposers Day event to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of an anticipated DSO Office-wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicitation. The event will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 21-22, 2015, at the DARPA Conference Center (675 North Randolph Street, Arlington, VA 22203) and will be webcast for potential proposers who would like to participate remotely.

This year, 2016, is a banner year for advocates of the power of ten. It is the 150th anniversary of Congress passing Public Law 39-183, otherwise known as the Metric Act of 1866, which for the first time made it legal to use the metric system for weights and measures in the United States. 2016 also marks the 100th anniversary of the American Metric Association (renamed the U.S. Metric Association in 1974), a non-profit organization created to advocate adoption of the metric system in U.S. commerce and education. American appreciation of the metric system has been less than avid but has gradually grown, in large part because of leadership from science and engineering communities.