The Department of Defense has selected 10 faculty scientists and engineers for the 2023 Class of Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellows.
As the Department's flagship single-investigator award for basic research, the fellowship commemorates Vannevar Bush, the director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, who played a central role in building up the science and technology enterprise that drove America's rapid growth as a military and economic superpower. Aligned with Dr. Bush's vision, the fellowship serves as a catalyst for advancing transformative fundamental research within universities, nurturing high-risk ideas in pursuit of breakthrough discoveries, and giving researchers freedom to explore the frontiers of knowledge in their respective fields.
The 2023 Class of Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellows will join an esteemed group of approximately 50 current fellows involved in vital basic research for the DOD. Their research spans a wide range of disciplines, including materials science, cognitive neuroscience, quantum information sciences, and applied mathematics. While pursuing individual research endeavors, the scientists will collaborate directly with defense laboratories, contribute their insights to DOD leadership, and engage with the broader national security community to enrich the collective knowledge base of the defense enterprise.
"I am pleased to welcome these exceptional scholars to the DOD family," said Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Heidi Shyu. "Their selections for the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship will allow them to truly change the course of science in their fields, and I know they will set the Department up for breakthroughs in our future capabilities."
The Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship is sponsored by the Basic Research Office within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, with the grants managed by the Office of Naval Research. For the Fiscal Year 2023 competition, BRO received 190 white papers, from which panels of experts invited 31 proposals, for a final selection of 10 fellows. Each will receive up to $3 million over the five-year fellowship term to pursue cutting-edge fundamental research projects. More information about the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship is available on the Basic Research Office website: https://basicresearch.defense.gov.
The 2023 Class of Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellows
| Name |
Institution |
Research Topic |
| Charbel Farhat |
Stanford University |
Physics-based Machine Learning Modeling for Platform Design, Testing, Operation, Acquisition, and Maintenance |
| Lek-Heng Lim |
University of Chicago |
Geometry and Topology of Deep Neural Networks |
| Tuomas Sandholm |
Carnegie Mellon University |
Unified Scalable Computational Game Theory |
| Michael Fischbach |
Stanford University |
Programming Functions within Microbial Consortia |
| Jeffrey Tabor |
Rice University |
Light-directed Enzymatic DNA Synthesis |
| Rebecca Schulman |
John Hopkins University |
Self-organizing Biomaterials Using Biomolecular Networks |
| Michael Crommie |
University of California, Berkeley |
Single-electron-resolved Imaging of Tunable 2D Wigner Crystals and Quantum Spin Liquids |
| Qimiao Si |
Rice University |
Extreme Quantum Materials |
| Ana Maria Rey |
University of Colorado at Boulder JILA |
Harnessing Long-lived Multi-level Atoms in Optical Cavities for Quantum Simulation and Sensing |
| Wolfgang Ketterle |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Quantum Science with Ultracold Atoms on a 50 nm Scale |
About USD(R&E)
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The Under Secretary champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the United States military's technological advantage. The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E) is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The USD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the United States military's technological advantage. Learn more at www.cto.mil, follow us on Twitter @DoDCTO, or visit us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre.