DOD Names 2010 National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows

January 25, 2010 - The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today the selection of 11 distinguished university faculty scientists and engineers forming the 2010 class of its National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship (NSSEFF) program. NSSEFF provides grants to top-tier researchers from U.S. universities to conduct unclassified, basic research that may transform DoD's capabilities in the long term.

"These distinguished researchers have a demonstrated record of success in fields of strategic importance to the DoD. Their NSSEFF work will not only contribute to preparing DoD and the nation for an uncertain future, but will also develop the necessary high quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics talent that will be essential to the department's continued success," said Zachary J. Lemnios, director, Defense Research and Engineering.

The fellows conduct basic research in core science and engineering disciplines that are expected to underpin future DoD technology development. For this competition, the research proposals are in the areas of high temperature superconductors; resilient networks; synthetic biology; computational electromagnetics; quantum information science; waves in random media; image acquisition, analysis and integration; attosecond electron processes in solids; theoretical and computational design of light and force-driven molecular materials; and emergency of shape and patterns in biomolecular assemblies in ionic solutions.

Lemnios noted that "the NSSEFF Program ensures these research leaders and their students are actively engaged with DoD, in addition to conducting this unclassified research". Students of NSSEFF Fellows will also be afforded opportunities to present to DoD audiences and to further develop and broaden their research experiences through internships at DoD laboratories.

In response to the NSSEFF Broad Agency Announcement issued by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, 800 nomination letters from academic institutions resulted in the technical review of 670 white papers. Twenty-one semifinalists were selected from the authors of these white papers, and invited to submit full proposals outlining their research plans. Upon successful completion of negotiations between their home academic institutions and DoD, grant awards will be made to the faculty members' universities for support of their research.

For more information about this program, go to http://www.ndep.us/ProgNSSEFF.aspx.