The Department of Defense today announced plans to make awards funding 16
projects involving university-industry teams in the Focused Research Initiative
(FRI). Subject to availability of funds and continued progress in research, the
awards will support from three to five years of research effort. DoD plans to
provide $20 million in FY1995 for the first year, and up to $100 million over
the five year life of the program.
The FRI is a new DoD program which supports teams from academia and industry
in collaborative research. The goal of this new program is to foster
collaboration among universities, industry and DoD that will result in the more
rapid transition of technology from the research laboratory to the user. Each
team consists of researchers from academia and industry, who will work together
toward this common goal.
Proposals were solicited under AFOSR BAA 94-6 in the areas of virtual
environments for training, cryoelectronics, wireless distributed multimedia
communications for the digital battlefield, photonics for data fusion networks
and low-emissions high-performance gas turbine engines. Each of these targeted
technologies addresses a military requirement but may also enhance our
competitive position in civilian markets.
The five following DoD research organizations are participating in the FRI:
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Air Force Office of Scientific
Research (AFOSR), Army Research Office (ARO), Office of Naval Research (ONR)
and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). These organizations
collectively selected the winners and will oversee the progress of research.
The awards, to be made through the three service research offices and ARPA, are
subject to successful completion of negotiations between the winners and the
research organizations.
A copy of the winning proposers is attached.
Advanced Research Projects Administration
"Cryoelectronic Technology for Pre-Polarized MRI."
Conductus / Richard Withers
Stanford University
"Ultra-Short Channel CMOS Devices, Models, and Circuit- Design Tools for High
Performance Cryogenic VLSI Applications."
Massachusetts Institute of Technology/David J. Harrigan
BTA
"Cryo-CMOS Processor Technology."
Sun Microsystems / Jim Burr & Jason Woo
Hughes Electro-Optical Systems
Texas Instruments
University of California at Los Angeles
"HTS and Optoelectronics for RF Communications."
Superconductor Technolgies / Robert B. Hammond
Cornell University
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
"Low Emissions, High Performance Gas Turbines."
GE Aircraft Engines / Hukam Mongla
Georgia Institute of Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Pensylvania State University
University of California, Berkeley
Univerisity of California, Irvine
University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne
"Ultra-Low Nox / High Temperature Rise Combustion."
Pratt & Whitney / Geoffrey J. Sturgess
Georgia Institute of Technology
Pennsylvania State University
University of California, Davis
