The Department of Defense announced today plans to award $49.5 million at 132
academic institutions to support graduate student training in science and
engineering fields important to national defense. Subject to the successful
completion of negotiations between DoD and the academic institutions, the 407
awards will provide three years of support to 466 U.S. citizens pursuing
advanced degrees. Awards are expected to average $122,000 for the three years
of support.
The awards are being made under the Augmentation Awards for Science and
Engineering Research Training (AASERT) program. AASERT awards are made to
professors who perform research under DoD contracts or grants, and who compete
for additional AASERT funding. AASERT awards enable each professor to award
graduate research traineeships to one or two U.S. citizens. Each traineeship
supports tuition, living expenses, and research expenses (materials, shop
services, computer time, etc.) connected with the graduate student's thesis
research.
In addition to supporting graduate students, the AASERT awards will involve
more than 100 undergraduate students in DoD-
sponsored
university research. That involvement is designed to stimulate interest in
advanced science or engineering studies.
Today's announcement is the result of a merit competition for AASERT funding.
The Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Ballistic
Missile Defense Organization solicited AASERT proposals from university
researchers currently performing DoD research, and invited researchers without
current DoD support to submit proposals for both DoD research funding and
AASERT augmentation.
Media may obtain the list of winning proposers from the Directorate of Defense
Information, room 2E765, Pentagon, (703) 695-0192. Other requesters should
contact (703) 697-5737.
