DoD funding enables acquisition, upgrading of essential R&D tools
Three College of Engineering faculty members have earned federal grants for laboratory equipment useful in advancing research of importance to national defense.
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced awards to 147 university researchers totaling $59 million under the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). These awards will finance the purchase of research equipment at 77 institutions across 30 states in Fiscal Year 2023, enabling universities to perform state-of-the-art research that develops new capabilities.
Integrated Systems Engineering Professor Joshua Hagen’s DURIP funding will allow Ohio State tactical sport scientists to identify prospective commercial technologies to assess and understand key physiological metrics that can help identify successful traits in a tactical environment. Hagen also is director of Ohio State’s Human Performance Collaborative.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Patrick Roblin is collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory on gallium nitride semiconductor technology, which offers unprecedented capabilities for the design of high-efficiency wideband power amplifiers at millimeter-wave frequencies. To advance this research, DURIP funding will be used to acquire a mm-wave generator with broadband modulation capability to evaluate a new GaN transistor model under development.
Caglar Yardim, a research assistant professor at the ElectroScience Laboratory, will use DURIP funding to upgrade a lower atmospheric propagation measurement system developed at Ohio State. Electromagnetic waves can be entrapped within marine atmospheric duct layers and propagate more efficiently than in normal conditions. Good characterization of the localized refractivity structure is essential to understand the propagation of radio wave communications and radar systems.
“DURIP awards provide essential research infrastructure to enable the pursuit of new knowledge. They help maintain the cutting-edge capabilities of our institutes of higher education,” said Basic Research Office Director Bindu Nair in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “These awards will sustain the scientific excellence of our universities, train the next generation STEM workforce, and facilitate scientific advances that will build a resilient defense ecosystem.”
The DoD has long championed the country’s scientific ecosystem. Through DURIP, the DoD supports purchases of major research equipment needed to perform cutting-edge research. These types of investments will build enduring advantages that bolster U.S. strength and resilience.
The annual DURIP award process is highly competitive. The program is administered jointly by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office, and the Office of Naval Research through a merit competition. For the FY 2023 competition, the research offices received 522 proposals requesting $171 million in total funding.
