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Homeland Security 5 Year Anniversary 2003 - 2008, One Team, One Mission Securing the Homeland

Fact Sheet: $3.1 Million Academic Research Initiative Award from DHS and National Science Foundation

Release Date: September 30, 2008

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), with the National Science Foundation (NSF), began investing in leading edge research at academic institutions in early 2007 through the Academic Research Initiative (ARI).

  • A potential $58 million in grant opportunities over five years will be made available to colleges and universities focusing on research in radiological/nuclear detection systems, individual sensors or other research relevant to the detection of nuclear weapons, special nuclear material, radiation dispersal devices and related threats, as well as nuclear forensics.
  • ARI seeks to spur the academic community to provide the nuclear detection experts of the future by funding universities to conduct research and development in areas relevant to the detection of nuclear and radiological material, and nuclear forensics.
  • In addition, the program will foster potentially high-risk, but high-payoff, ideas that could lead to solutions that have not yet been considered.  Continued advances in science and technology are a key element the long-term effort to protect the nation against nuclear attacks. 

Fiscal Year 2008 ARI Awards

  • Three panels totaling over 35 reviewers from the National Science Foundation, industry, academia, and national laboratories, along with DNDO observers, reviewed proposals on 76 distinct projects.   
  • Panel recommendations were subsequently considered at a meeting of the joint DNDO/NSF ARI Working Group where nine ARI proposals were recommended for award totaling over $3.1 million.
  • An annual ARI solicitation and awards are planned for at least the next 3 years.
  • Nine Awards (3 collaborative) totaling over $3.1 million were awarded:

    • Texas A&M University and Purdue University (collaborative) - Tensioned Fluid Metastable State Special Nuclear Material Detector
    • Washington State University - From Ce:YAG to Ce:GGG for High Energy Resolution High Efficiency Gamma Detection - A Novel and Powerful Class of Scintillators
    • Washington State University - Improved Radiochemical Separations for Actinide Forensic Signatures
    • University of California at Berkeley and Naval Postgraduate School (collaborative) - High Z Materials for Nuclear Detection:  Synergy of Growth, Characterization, and Device Physics for Room Temperature  Devices
    • University of Tennessee at Knoxville - Transformational Scintillation Materials for Neutron and Gamma Detectors and Educational Interrogation
    • University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Active Interrogation Using Radiation Generated from Intense Laser Produced Electron Beams
    • Purdue University - Graphene Based Sensors for Detecting Special Nuclear Materials
    • University of California at Santa Barbara - Novel Neutron Detectors Made of Conjugated Polymers and Inorganic Nanoparticles: New Science and Technology
    • University of California at Berkeley and California State University East Bay Foundation  (collaborative) - An Experimental and Computational Study of Actinide Detection and Identification by Engineered Mesoporous Sensor Materials for Actinide Forensics

This page was last reviewed/modified on September 30, 2008.