Polymer Chemistry
US Army Research Office
Division Overview
2014 - 2015
ARO Strategy
Utilize the vast intellectual capital of
the world’s universities to:
Research Funding
by State
>$15M
>$8M<$15M
>$2M<$8M
<$2M
• 270+ Institutes of Higher Learning
• 1121 Individual Investigators
• 47 Research Centers
• Conceive of and exploit scientific
opportunities for unimagined Army
capabilities
• Drive science to develop solutions to
existing Army technology needs
• Accelerate the transition of basic
research
• Leverage S&T
• Create and strengthen university,
industry, and government partnerships
• Prevent technological surprise
• Provide unbiased expert assessments
• Educate and train the future S&E
workforce for the Army and DoD
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Army Research Office (ARO)
Organization
Chief Scientist
Special Assistant
Director
Military Deputy
Scientific Divisions
Physical Sciences
Directorate
Engineering
Sciences
Directorate
Legal Counsel
Information
Sciences
Directorate
Operations
Directorate
Chemical Sciences
Division
Electronics Division
Computing
Sciences Division
Support
Management
Life Sciences
Division
Materials Science
Division
Network Sciences
Division
Information
Management
Division
Physics Division
Mechanical
Sciences Division
Mathematical
Sciences Division
~100 employees at RTP, NC
40 PhD Program Managers
Army Contracting
Command –
APG RTP Division
Outreach Division
5
Chemical Sciences Division
Vision
To conceive of and develop transformational research programs
in the Chemical Sciences for the U.S. Army to provide the
scientific foundation to create revolutionary capabilities for the
future warfighter
(200 days, 82%)
Herring MURI – new anion transport material
with unprecedented chemical stability
Matzger MURI – new molecular co-crystals
with dramatically improved impact sensitivity
5
Chemical Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Polymer Chemistry: Dr. Dawanne Poree
• Precision Polymeric Materials
• Complex Polymer Systems
Army Relevance: Self-healing materials;
lightweight, flexible ballistic protection;
protective fabrics
Reactive Chemical Systems: Dr. Dawanne Poree (Acting)
• Interfacial Activity
• Synthetic Molecular Systems
Army Relevance: Chemical and
biological weapon decontamination
and sensing
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Chemical Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Electrochemistry—Dr. Robert Mantz
• Redox Chemistry/Electrocatalysis
• Transport of Electroactive Species
Army Relevance: Small, light-weight power
generation and storage and selectively
permeable materials
Molecular Structure and Dynamics—Dr. James Parker
• Molecular Dynamics
• Quantitative Theoretical Methods
Army Relevance: Safer, more effective
energetic materials; detection of
chemical threats
7
Physics Division
Vision
To discover and understand exotic quantum
and optical physics enabling the US Army to
maintain technological overmatch in C4ISR
through 21st century engineering
6
Physics Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Condensed Matter Physics — Dr. Marc Ulrich
• Complex Oxide Heterostructures
• Topological Insulators
Army Relevance: Advanced sensors, computing and
communications, low-power electronics
Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMP) — Dr. Paul Baker
• Advanced Quantum Capabilities
• Novel Quantum Methods
Army Relevance: Enhanced navigation, field sensing, improved
metrology and new functional materials
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Physics Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Optical Physics and Fields (OPF) — Dr. Rich Hammond
• Meta-Optics
• Extreme Light
Army Relevance: Ultra-lightweight optical elements,
subwavelength imaging, remote sensing
Quantum Information Sciences (QIS) — Dr. TR
Govindan
• Quantum Sensing & Metrology
• Quantum Computing & Communications
Army Relevance: Resource optimization, maximal logistical
support, secure communications, code breaking, covert imaging,
enhanced sensors
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Life Sciences Division
Vision
To creatively lead the U.S. Army and the nation
in life sciences basic research to create future
Army capabilities, to advance innovation by
embracing long-term, high-risk, high-payoff
research opportunities, to realize new
discoveries by identifying, enabling, guiding,
facilitating, and exploiting novel opportunities
revealed by fundamental basic research, and to
originate new transformational Army capabilities
and technologies by transitioning the results of
basic research to Army applications.
5
Life Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Microbiology – Dr. Bob Kokoska
• Microbial Survival under Environmental
Stress
• Analysis and Engineering of Microbial
Communities
Army Relevance: Harnessing microorganisms,
microbiomes, and microbiology communities to
create new Army capabilities for soldier
performance and protection
Biochemistry – Dr. Stephanie McElhinny
• Biomolecular Specificity and Regulation
• Biomolecular Assembly and Organization
Army Relevance: Engineering new biochemical
capabilities for enhanced soldier protection,
“green” manufacturing, and new forensic and
biometric capabilities
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Life Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Genetics – Dr. Mimi Strand
• Biological Intelligence
• Soldier Protection and Performance
Army Relevance: Real-time extraction of intelligence
from currently unusable sources, new technologies for
explosives detection, dramatic improvement in soldier
survival rates, synergistic increases in soldier
performance capabilities
Neurophysiology of Cognition – Dr. Fred Gregory
• Neuronal Computation
• Multisensory Synthesis
Army Relevance: Neurobiological based training
paradigms to create new learning and performance
capabilities, new brain injury mitigation strategies,
advanced neuroprosthetics, and seamless
brain-machine interfacing
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Life Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Social Science – Dr. Lisa Troyer
• Institutions, Culture and Behavior
• Social, Natural, and Physical Systems
Army Relevance: Identify the emergence of violent extremist groups, identify the
forces and actions that will strengthen and weaken adversarial groups, exploit new
understandings of group behavior to achieve security goals with less cost in lives
and resources
Tunisia 2010, the Arab Spring begins
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Materials Science Division
Vision
To realize unprecedented material properties by embracing
long-term, high risk, high-payoff opportunities for the US Army
with special emphasis on: Materials by Design, Mechanical
Behavior of Materials, Physical Properties of Materials, and
Synthesis and Processing of Materials.
5
Materials Science Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Materials by Design
– Dr. John Prater
• Functional Integration of Materials
• Directed 3D Self-Assembly
Army Relevance: Laser protection, sensor
survivability, low-power electronics, nanoscale
imaging, medical care, reconfigurable systems,
smart materials
Mechanical Behavior of Materials
– Dr. David Stepp
• Mechanical Complements in Materials
• Force-Activated Materials
Army Relevance: Power storage and
generation, water purification, protective fabrics,
blast mitigation, injury classification and
mitigation, armor materials
7
Materials Science Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Physical Properties of Materials
– Dr. Pani Varanasi
• Novel Functional Materials
• Defects in Functional Materials
Army Relevance: Electronics, power and
energy, sensors, RF communications and radar
systems
Synthesis and Processing of Materials
– Dr. David Stepp (acting)
• Stability of Nanostructured Materials
• Manufacturing Process Science
Army Relevance: Ultralightweight structural
materials, coatings and electrical contacts, lowcost manufacturing and scale-up, advanced
ceramics
8
Mechanical Sciences Division
Vision
To conceive of and develop transformational research
programs in Mechanical Sciences for the U.S. Army to
provide the scientific foundation to create
revolutionary capabilities for the future warfighter.
5
Mechanical Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Complex Dynamics & Systems—Dr. Samuel Stanton
• Nonlinear and Nonconservative Dynamics
• Morphologically Modulated Motion and Actuation
Army Relevance: Predictive understanding of dynamic
interactions in future Army vehicles, robotics agility &
maneuver
Fluid Dynamics—Dr. Matthew Munson
• Dynamics of Unsteady Separated Flows
• Dynamics of Vortex Dominated Flows
Army Relevance: Rotorcraft maneuver performance,
precision guided munitions, propulsion systems
6
Mechanical Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Solid Mechanics—Dr. Asher Rubinstein
• Modeling Mechanical Behavior of Heterogeneous
Materials
• Development of Experimental Methods to Investigate
and Validate Material Behavior Across a Broad Scale
of Loading Rates
Army Relevance: Personnel protection, flexible armor,
combat vehicle protection, reduced weight
Propulsion & Energetics—Dr. Ralph Anthenien
• Energetics
• Hydrocarbon Combustion
Army Relevance: Tailorable yield & insensitive
munitions; more efficient ground & air propulsion
systems; fuel flexible systems
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Electronics Vision
To conceive of and develop transformational research
programs in Electronics for the U.S. Army in order to
provide the scientific foundation for creating revolutionary
capabilities for the future warfighter in the following critical
areas:
•
•
•
•
•
Multimodal Sensing
Ubiquitous Communications
Electro-Magnetic Warfare
Intelligent Information Technology
Power Electronics
5
Electronics Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Optoelectronics — Mike Gerhold
• High Bandwidth Photonics
• High intensity radiation
Army Relevance: Lasers and components
for communication, sensing, missile defense,
countermeasures, water purification
Electronic Sensing – Bill Clark
• Photonic Detection
• Thermal, Magnetic, and
Mechanical Detection
Army Relevance: Increased situational
awareness, better targeting, continue to
“Own the Night”
6
Electronics Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Electromagnetics and RF — Jim Harvey
• Electromagnetic Concepts
• Discovery Enabled New RF Circuit Concepts
Army Relevance: radio communications,
radar, and electronic warfare
Solid State and High Frequency Science — Joe Qiu
• Nanoscale Electronics
• Terahertz Electronics
Army Relevance: sensing, communications,
computation & data processing, low power
electronics
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Computing Sciences Division
Vision
To conceive of and execute transformational research
programs in the Computing Sciences for the U.S. Army to
exploit new computing paradigms and novel information
processing techniques and to establish the scientific
foundation for creating revolutionary capabilities for the future
warfighter
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Computing Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Computational Architecture and Visualization - Dr. Mike Coyle
• Interactive Simulation and Visualization
• Novel Software and Hardware Architectures
Army Relevance: Enhanced situational
awareness, decision making, and analysis of
information as well as support for complex,
resource-demanding, real-time battlefield
applications.
Information Assurance - Dr. Cliff Wang
• Resilient and Robust Cyber Systems
• Trusted Mobile Computing and Communications
Army Relevance: New capabilities in processing and delivery of
authentic, secure, reliable, and timely information to warfighters,
regardless of threat conditions.
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Computing Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Information Processing and Fusion - Dr. Liyi Dai
• Active and Collaborative Sensing
• Multimodal Data Analytics
Army Relevance: Enhanced data-to-decisions and
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
(ISR)
Social Informatics – Dr. John Lavery (Dr. Kate
Coronges, acting)
• Analytical and Computational Metrics & Models
Army Relevance: Understanding social media
phenomena for symmetric and asymmetric defense
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Mathematical Sciences Division
Vision
Division Vision: To conceive and develop a transformational basic
research program for the U.S. Army in the areas of Modeling of
Complex Systems, Probability and Statistics, Biomathematics, and
Computational Mathematics, to provide the scientific foundation to
create revolutionary capabilities for the future warfighter.
Information flow dynamics for detecting
adversarial behaviors
Meshless methods for complex geometries, and
ray tracing algorithms for faster/better visualization
5
Mathematical Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Modeling of Complex Systems: Dr. John Lavery
• Geometric and Topological Modeling
• Small-group Social and Sociolinguistic Modeling
Army Relevance: Multi-target recognition/tracking/
monitoring of physical, informational, cognitive, and
social targets in asymmetric, often urban scenarios;
full (not just physical) situational awareness
From point cloud to semantics
Probability and Statistics: Dr. Harry Chang
• Stochastic and Control: Commutative and Quantum
• Statistical Analysis and Methods
Army Relevance: Information assurance, quantum
communication and quantum information,
counter-terrorism, next generation
communication networks, weapon design,
testing, and evaluation
Optimal Control: Wigner Function
for 20 photons/phonons
6
Mathematical Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Biomathematics: Dr. Virginia Pasour
• Fundamental Laws of Biology
• Multiscale Modeling/Inverse Problems
Army Relevance: Wound healing, coordination and
collective decision-making, self-healing communication
networks, cognitive processes of the soldier, infectious
disease
0s
65 s
9s
48 s
13 s
35 s
22 s 31 s
Imaging of Live Cells
Computational Mathematics: Dr. Joe Myers
• Multiscale Methods
• PDE (Sharp Interface, Inverse) Methods
• Computational Linguistics
Army Relevance: Faster/higher fidelity modeling,
analysis, design, prediction, design, and
failure autopsy
Pressure around a spinning projectile
7
Network Sciences Vision
To characterize, logically and quantitatively, the Network effect –
that the whole is more than the sum of the parts – in multi-genre
networks made up of autonomous agents, human networks,
online social networks, communication networks, etc.
5
Network Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Multi-Agent Network Control. Dr. Sam Stanton (A)
• Foundations of Distributed Control Theory
• Dynamics and Control of Complex Networks
Army Relevance: Control of multi-genre networks and
autonomous systems for surveillance, logistics, transport,
rescue,… in the battlefield.
Communication and Human Networks. Dr. Robert Ulman
• Communication Networks
• Human Networks
Army Relevance: Communication networks
forms the backbone of information- and netcentric warfare.
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Network Sciences Division
Programs, Thrusts, Army Relevance, and Program Managers
Intelligent Networks. Dr. Purush Iyer
• Adversarial Reasoning
• Integrated Intelligence
Army Relevance: Intelligence in autonomous systems;
Situational awareness; Higher-level fusion; Winning
hearts and mind, or at the least being a Good Stranger.
Social and Cognitive Networks. Dr. Kathryn Coronges
• Structural Inference: Scales, Dimensions, & Completeness
• Network Process: Behavior Change & Collective Decisions
Army Relevance: Human Performance, Teaming, Policy
decision on dealing with culture and local sacred values, Socially
and culturally grounded analysis of big data.
Decision and Neuro-Sciences. Dr. Janet Spoonamore (Retd)
Note: Discontinued, work moved to Biomathematics and
Neurosciences programs.
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