Purdue receives 2021 DEPSCoR grants from Department of Defense

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded grants to three Purdue University research projects selected in its 2021 DEPSCoR (Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) competition. The three Purdue projects will share in $14.6 million awarded to 21 research teams in 17 states. The grants, announced in May by the DoD, are designed to strengthen basic research in areas important to U.S. defense.

“The department’s research mission relies on an ecosystem of creative and insightful researchers in every state of the nation,” said Bindu Nair, director of the DoD’s Basic Research Office. “DEPSCoR enhances our science and engineering research capacity both now and in the long term, and increases the number of researchers pursing research in DoD-relevant areas. It is crucial that we build a research infrastructure that strategically uses the research capabilities found across the country.”

The three winning Purdue research proposals were selected by DoD subject matter experts from among 120 white papers that qualified for the competition. Each winning team will receive up to $600,000 over a three-year period.

No other university received as many of the 2021 grants as did Purdue.

Purdue’s three winning projects are:

• Subwavelength-spaced atomic arrays as novel light-matter interfaces. This project by Qi-Yu (Grace) Liang, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, will develop novel techniques to assemble ultracold atomic arrays and explore their collective optical responses for quantum information processing and quantum networks. 

• Dispersive detection of charge state of a superconducting vortex. This work by Jukka Ilmari Vayrynen, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, will study measurement techniques for the next generation of super-fast quantum computers, based on yet-to-be demonstrated fault-tolerant topological qubits.

• Tailoring fracture and fatigue performance through hierarchical porosity in Ti. This nanotechnological project, led by Janelle Wharry, associate professor of materials engineering, will synthesize porous titanium through novel processes, and evaluate its behavior with the goal of further strengthening lightweight titanium alloys, which are widely used in defense applications. She is working with co-PIs Nikhilesh Chawla, the Ransburg Professor of Materials Engineering, and Kenneth Sandhage, the Reilly Professor of Materials Engineering.

The DoD is currently inviting potential 2022 DEPSCoR grant competitors to apply online.

Writer: Amy Raley, araley@purdue.edu

Sources: Qi-Yu (Grace) Liang, qyliang@purdue.edu
Jukka Ilmari Vayrynen, jvayryne@purdue.edu
Janelle, Wharry, jwharry@purdue.edu