After fielding white papers from 436 academic institutions seeking federal funding through the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Monday that it will issue 24 awards totaling up to $169 million over five years.
The MURI program provides larger funding awards to larger multidisciplinary teams than its traditional three-year, single-investigator university research grants. The goal is to promote sustained research advancements in areas of critical importance for national security and the DoD.
“The Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program, or MURI, supports research by funding teams of investigators that include more than one traditional science and engineering discipline in order to accelerate the research progress,” Dale Ormond, the principal director for research in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said.“MURI awards also support the education and training of graduate students in cutting-edge research areas.”
Most of MURI awards will support teams of researchers that span multiple academic institutions and academic departments, Ormond said. Twenty-four areas of critical need were identified by the Army Research Office, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research. The initial 436 white paper submissions were narrowed to 100 finalists through two rounds of merit-based reviews, and the 24 awards were selected by a panel of DoD scientists and experts.
“Based on the proposals selected in the competition, 64 U.S. academic institutions are expected to participate in the 2018 MURI program,” a DoD release stated. “In addition, this year, for the first time, Australia has funded research teams to work together with two U.S. MURI teams. This cooperation is in line with the secretary of defense’s direction to strengthen our alliances, and collaborate whenever and wherever possible.”