Award Data

Development of a reflection control and direction device (RCDD) is proposed. This innovative device will progress the state of the art for propulsion of solar sails used to fly space weather monitoring sensors to sub-LaGrange point orbits for earlier warning times of impending destructive space weather events. A reflection control device (RCD) utilizes polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) mater ...

Drought is responsible for $327.7B in economic loss since 1980 in the United States and typically precedes, cooccurs, or initiates other hazards like wildfires or prolonged periods of intense heat. The compounding or cascading of these hazards routinely threatens the wellbeing and stability of communities. The economic impact from drought can be especially harsh when the drought begins rapidly in ...

Temperature is the critical signal that allows monitoring of a myriad of Earth’s processes. From direct measurements of wildfire and urban heat to more complex relationships with drought, agriculture, aquaculture, and biodiversity, maintaining a steady pulse on Earth’s surface temperature enables us to mitigate for and adapt to the impacts of extreme events and increasingly variable water avai ...

The brevetoxins (PbTx) produced by Karenia brevis cause harmful algal blooms (HAB) or "red tide" in seawater. Currently, the only available ways of detecting PbTx are laboratory tests such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, which are expensive and slow, and require complex instrumentation and multiple processing steps. In previous work Intelligent Optical Systems (IOS) demonstrated a compact l ...

"Jaia Robotics’ low-cost, micro-sized hybrid uncrewed surface/underwater vehicles called JaiaBotsTM can be deployed from the shore or vessels. The system enables truly affordable multivehicle operations that can be scaled to provide wide area synoptic data collection. In the proposed effort the project team will develop a JaiaBot which is air-deployable from sonobuoy launch tubes to collect atmo ...

A cloud based system for sharing bathymetric survey data collected by FarSounder customers is proposed as a way(1) to improve safety of navigation on our oceans, (2) to collect measurements for the broader scientific and maritime communities and (3) to generally explore and broadly share information about our oceans in fulfillment of ideas proposed in Topic 9.3 “The Changing Ocean”, and in acc ...

This PHASE II two-year proposal is designed to expand upon the knowledge gained already in the PHASE I research regarding the development of rapid bioresorbable glasses to bring us to the making of prototype stents which would be ready for testing in animals and humans. Motivated by the success of PHASE I research, wherein several bioresorbable glasses in the Na2O-K2O-CaO-B2O3-P2O5 have been devel ...

Multidrug resistant (MDR) bacterial wound infections remain a persistent challenge for front-line military medical providers in prolonged care treatment. Bacteriophage (phage) therapeutics have demonstrated preclinical and clinical efficacy against ESKAPEE infections. Phage production however remains a challenge to remove common pyrogen contaminants from phage products, including endotoxins (lipop ...

The goal for this Phase I research is to develop a stretchable dielectric ink that can be used for flexible applications. Printing electronics is a new and quickly growing alternative to traditionally manufactured electronics. Flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) is a novel approach to electronic circuit manufacturing that aims to combine the best of printed and conventional electronics. FHE devices ...

Commercial buildings use 35% of the entire US energy output, and up to a third of that energy is wasted. Rapidly rising fuel costs, increasing concern about climate change, and policy directives from the Biden Administration are all driving the need for increased energy efficiency and the elimination of waste. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased public awareness of t ...