The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is again sponsoring the Young Faculty Award (YFA) this year, and is soliciting proposals from junior faculty for ground-breaking single-investigator research and development in the areas of physical sciences, engineering, materials, mathematics, biology, computing, informatics, and manufacturing.
Proposals should describe the DoD problem being addressed, the current state-of-the-art technology, new insights to address the problem, a credible research plan and schedule, and critical, quantitative milestones to be pursued over the 24-month base period.
Topic areas of interest include:
- Multi-Scale Models of Infectious Diseases Dynamics
- Gene Therapy Technology and Tools
- Nanofluidics for Biotic-Abiotic Interfaces
- Advancing Live Cell Super-Resolution Imaging
- Smart Fabrics for Soldier Health
- Microbiomes for Maritime Provenance
- Wideband Transmitter–Antenna Interfaces
- System and Method to Decode Human Intent
- Characterizing Performance Envelope of Emergent Behavior and Evolutionary Selection
- The Science of Individualized Gamification
- Accuracy and Uncertainty in Design
- Exploiting Nonlinearity in MEMS
- Sticky Logic
- Monolithic, Integrated 3D Integrated Circuits
- Machine Learning and Many Body Physics
DARPA intends to award grants to eligible university faculty and nonprofit research organizations; each grant will encompass funding for a 24-month base period (a maximum of $500,000) and a 12-month option period (a maximum of $500,000).
During the 24-month base period, a number of visits/exercises at a variety of DoD sites and facilities will be scheduled. These briefings and visits will provide YFA recipients a unique, firsthand exposure to DoD personnel and technologies in the field, issues faced by the Military Services in execution of their missions, and current National Security challenges.
Further details are available via Solicitation Number: DARPA-RA-16-05. The response deadline is April 5, 2016