GovernmentIndustryAcademic Relationships for Technology Development: A Workshop Report by National Research Council of the National Academies

Author:National Research Council of the National Academies
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Engineering and Technology
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Published: 2005-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

DOD MURI PROGRAM (UNIVERSITY PERSPECTIVE, UCLA)

The next panelist, Jeff Shamma from UCLA, began his presentation by providing an overview of the DOD Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) program and UCLA’s role in the Cooperative Control of Distributed Autonomous Vehicles in Adversarial Environments MURI. He said that the “M” in MURI was important since it referred to the multidisciplinary nature of the program— research teams whose efforts intersected two or more traditional science and engineering disciplines. The MURI process begins each year with a BAA listing specific topics and the agencies (e.g., the Army Research Office, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Naval Research Laboratory) that are interested in them. For each topic a point of contact within the organization is given, so that proposers deal directly with specific program directors within these research offices. In the solicitation for the 2005 awards, DOD listed 26 topics of interest for the three participating services. The topic list is diverse. Aerodynamic flow control is one example of a traditional topic. Another Air Force topic is the computational modeling of adversary attitudes, which essentially entails work on social network formation and the modeling of adversarial behavior, both of which are sociology-oriented. Following the solicitation announcement (usually in June), proposers submit a five-page white paper on a specific topic (usually in August). After they receive feedback from the services in September, they must submit a full proposal in November (usually around 15 pages). Winners are announced in February. Feedback from the services is considered confidential in the sense that it is limited in its distribution. The feedback can take many forms including discussing the white paper idea directly with the technical point of contact or program director, who may encourage (or discourage) the idea. Such discussion with the DOD program directors is advocated before finalizing and submitting a white paper, which might be so short that it can be interpreted in many ways. The information shared informally with competing proposers is usually limited to information about teaming arrangements and basic topics. Shamma acknowledged that although he was not sure how a list of topics was developed, it was his understanding that the program directors of the services submitted topics. Higher levels within DOD then decide on the final list.

In response to an attendee’s question, Shamma described the program. Proposals for the MURI program are solicited via a BAA to universities and other institutions of higher education in the United States. Each winning proposal receives $1 million a year for 3 years. After the 3-year period, a review is performed to determine if the effort merits a 2-year extension. Typically, teams are composed of 8 to 10 co-principle investigators (PIs) at three or four universities. Usually only one award is made per topic, although sometimes there are two awards. All co-principle investigators share the $1 million. During the award period, the DOD undertakes an annual site visit and review. The program manager and others he or she invites usually hold a 1-day meeting.

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