Professor Subith Vasu has been named a recipient of the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) award, sponsored by the Department of Defense. This is the third consecutive year that he has received funding through this award.
The DURIP program provides a financial award to university researchers who can use the money to purchase high-tech equipment that can facilitate their work. Vasu’s award is worth close to $260,000 and will be used to facilitate his research in hypersonics.
The aerospace engineering professor is one of 147 researchers across 77 institutions who received the highly prestigious DURIP award this year. More than 520 researchers submitted proposals for funding.
“DURIP awards provide essential research infrastructure to enable the pursuit of new knowledge. They help maintain the cutting-edge capabilities of our institutes of higher education,” said Bindu Nair, the director of the Basic Research Office, in a release. “These awards will sustain the scientific excellence of our universities, train the next generation STEM workforce, and facilitate scientific advances that will build a resilient defense ecosystem.”
Vasu will use the DURIP award to acquire an ultra-high speed camera that can capture images in any combination of ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light. This piece of equipment can be used to conduct hyperspectral machine learning investigations, and can enhance his work on several different research projects funded by the Office of Naval Research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, among others.
- Written by Marisa Ramiccio