ARLINGTON, Va.— On behalf of the Department of the Navy, Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew L. Klunder today announced funding award recipients under the (ONR) Young Investigator Program (YIP).
The Department of the Navy is awarding a total of $12.5 million to university professors selected from many highly qualified applicants to conduct naval-relevant research in areas from robotics to corrosion prevention.
“Support of outstanding young research scientists is one of the ways the Navy maintains a technological edge throughout the world,” said Dr. Lawrence Schuette, ONR’s acting director of research. “Many YIP winners continue to engage in naval research beyond their award periods, during which their careers often accelerate, earning them opportunities and prominence in their respective field.”
The ONR YIP is one of the oldest and most selective scientific research advancement programs in the country. Its purpose is to fund early-career academic researchers—called investigators—whose scientific pursuits show exceptional promise for supporting the Department of Defense, while also promoting their professional development.
Over the years, research by YIP recipients has led to breakthroughs in nanoscience, fiber-laser systems, ultrafast optoelectronic devices and more.
Awardees are college and university faculty who have obtained tenure-track positions within the past five years. They are selected based on the merit of their research and potential breakthrough advances for the Navy and Marine Corps.
A total of 24 YIP winners this year were selected from a competitive, diverse pool of nearly 280 candidates. They represent 19 academic institutions across the country in disciplines including machine learning, computational biology, optical and acoustic sensors, structural dynamics, material science, corrosion, fluid structure interaction, modeling and simulation, communication, robotics and neural science. Each selectee receives annual monetary awards over a three-year period for research efforts that hold promise in advancing naval technology.
The 2014 YIP winners are: Dr. Michail Zavlanos, Duke University; Dr. Edoardo Airoldi, Harvard University; Dr. Javad Lavaei, Columbia University; Dr. Yun Raymond Fu, Northeastern University; Dr. Abhay Pasupathy, Columbia University; Dr. Mina Rais-Zadeh, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Dr. Michael Kudenov, North Carolina State University ; Dr. Neal Hall, University of Texas at Austin; Dr. Roseanna Zia, Cornell University; Dr. Kevin Maki, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Dr. Xuanhe Zhao, Duke University; Dr. Jason Valentine, Vanderbilt University; Dr. Antonios Kontsos, Drexel University; Dr. Stephanie TerMaath, University of Tennessee; Dr. Chunlei Liang, George Washington University; Dr. Sonia Chernova, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Dr. Laura Colgin, University of Texas at Austin; Dr. Georg Seelig, University of Washington; Dr. Jeffrey Tabor, Rice University; Dr. Andreas Fahlman, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; Dr. Adrian KC Lee, University of Washington; Dr. Jin-Oh Hahn, University of Maryland; Dr. Clifton Haider, Mayo Clinic; and Dr. Michael Sangid, Purdue University.
The YIP program began in 1985 when ONR selected 10 winners. Since then, the program has grown steadily to include a total of 618 recipients, representing more than 130 institutions of higher education.