The following funding opportunity was shared by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) released the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) funding opportunity announcement (FOA). This grant enables single investigators to conduct basic, unclassified research in Department of Defense (DOD) areas of interest. Particularly, the DOD seeks ambitious “blue sky” research proposals that could spark new, revolutionary capabilities. The program seeks to develop long-term relationships with VBFF Fellows, who go on to become experts and conveners in Defense science and technology (S&T) communities.
Applicants must identify one of the program’s scientific areas to which their proposal best corresponds. If the proposal is multidisciplinary and does not fit one area perfectly, then applicants are allowed to identify a primary and secondary scientific area. Those areas include:
- Applied Mathematics and Computational Science: DOD seeks proposals that enable revolutionary computational capabilities in simulation and design of complex physical and engineered systems. These may include optimization, uncertainty quantification, numerical analysis, applied analysis, stochastics, statistics, applied geometry and topology, applied category theory, or others.
- Networks and Artificial Intelligence (AI): This area seeks novel approaches to navigate the complexity of “physical and social dynamics, coevolving agent dynamics and network topologies, uncertain games with multiple time scales and objectives, and dynamic evolution of the rules of the game.” Also relevant is “fundamental research in the mathematics of compressive sensing, encryption and authentication” and optimization methods for rational and irrational human and AI agents operating with different rules and time scales.
- Cognitive Neuroscience: DOD seeks to better understand human perception, reasoning, and behavior toward the goal of maintaining warfighter effectiveness and resilience and enhancing their cognitive capabilities in stressful environments. Revolutionary research in this area may also inform new approaches to AI development, particularly in artificial neural networks.
- Fundamentals of Bioengineering: DOD seeks multidisciplinary approaches to study biological processes that can transform critical technologies. Desired concepts include sensing modalities and self-assembled sensory networks, structural biomaterials and electronics, artificial organs, warfighter resilience and performance in highly stressful situations, and any new capabilities yet discovered.
- Quantum Information Science (QIS): Quantum S&T possesses tremendous potential to impact existing DOD capabilities including information and cyber security, materials discovery and design, precise navigation and positioning without GPS, improved sensing and metrology, and high-resolution imaging. Proposed research should disrupt current approaches in QIS while addressing broad impacts with transformational concepts.
- Electronics, Photonics and Quantum Materials: DOD seeks unconventional “approaches to the discovery and predictive design of materials that exhibit previously unattainable or unknown electronic, photonic and/or quantum functionalities.” New concepts and approaches “in unifying theoretical ideas, computational methods, tailored diagnostics, and precise synthesis to address physics and material sciences challenges” are also desired.
- Engineered Materials and Structures: DOD seeks to discover a new class of engineered materials that leverage “new quantum phases of matter, additional degrees of freedom, synthetic dimensions and fields, and/or theoretical concepts that are still being developed.” DOD is also interested in “the ab-initio design of materials with tailored combinations of physical characteristics, such as thermal and transport properties, chemical reactivity, mechanical strength, optical or electromagnetic responses.”
- Other fields of research with high potential: Applicants can submit a research proposal to this area if their proposal does not fit one of the prior categories. All proposals must support DOD research priorities and focus on basic, transformative science that provides new thinking about the studied phenomena. The FOA specifically mentions interest in “all issues regarding information, e.g. its availability, security, capacity and speed” particularly as they relate to information warfare, dominance, and defense.
Due Dates: White papers are required and due by October 15, 2021 at 11:59 PM EDT and must be submitted via https://dod-basicresearch.nvision.noblis.org/program/vbff. Full proposals will be by invitation only and must be received, alongside required confidential letters of recommendation, no later than February 4, 2022 at 11:59 PM EDT. Full proposals must be submitted via www.grants.gov and letters of recommendation will be expected to be submitted via email. White paper questions and inquiries may be submitted by October 1, 2021 and questions for the full proposal may be submitted by January 21, 2022.
Total Funding and Award Size: DOD anticipates granting 8-10 awards with a maximum individual award amount of $3 million over a five-year period of performance. DOD may not allocate fellowships equally among the topics.
Eligibility and Limitations: The competition is open to accredited U.S. institutions of higher education (universities) with doctoral degree-granting programs, especially Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MIs) who are highly encouraged to submit or join others in a proposal. The program seeks outstanding faculty with tenure, who are either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, to apply as the principal investigator (PI). PIs may submit only one application, but there is no limit to the number of applications an institution may submit.
Sources and Additional Background:
- The full solicitation can be found at www.grants.gov under solicitation number “N00014-21-S-F007” or here.
- DOD’s overview of the VBFF program can be found here.