The Department of Defense today announced $18 million in grants to 11 teams of university professors under its Minerva Research Initiative, which supports basic research in the social and behavioral sciences on topics of particular relevance to to US national security.
“We live in a dynamic world, and many of the challenges we face are social or have social elements,” said Dr. David Montgomery, director of social science for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (R&E). . ). “Leveraging the strengths of the nation’s academic research institutions helps DoD define current and future sources of conflict, with the goal of better understanding the social and political trajectories of key regions of the world.”
Through its network of faculty researchers, the Minerva Research Initiative builds strong connections with the social science community to help the Department better understand and prepare for future challenges, guided by the priorities set out in the National Defense Strategy.
The 11 university awardees were selected from approximately 130 candidates in six categories, through a merit competition that evaluated proposals for their potential to make fundamental contributions to the basic social sciences and alignment with the National Defense Strategy. Research proposals were peer-reviewed and selected for scientific merit, relevance, and potential impact in a conference call between R&E and the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy.
Selected projects include:
Deterrence in space: integrated or entangled? A Wargaming approach to multi-domain strategy
Subject area: deterrence in the future operational environment
Principal Investigator: Mariel Borowitz, Georgia Institute of Technology
Advancing social science research on demographic change, climate change, and political and social stability in sub-Saharan Africa
Thematic area: Socio-economic vulnerability to climate change
Principal Investigator: Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan
Social Networking Websites, Kremlin Propaganda, and Patterns of Internet Use Among Russians
Topic area: Russian speakers in online spaces
Principal Investigator: Golfo Alexopoulos, University of South Florida
The Climate-Food-Urbanization nexus and the precursors of instability in Africa
Thematic area: Socio-economic vulnerability to climate change
Principal Investigator: Kathy Baylis, University of California Santa Barbara
Future Fish Wars: Pursuing the Wealth of Ocean Ecosystems
Thematic area: Socio-economic vulnerability to climate change
Principal Investigator: James Watson, Oregon State University
Integrated deterrence: episodic analysis
Subject area: deterrence in the future operational environment
Principal Investigator: Eli Berman, University of California, San Diego
Resurgent Powers, Non-Traditional Threats, and Emerging Technologies: Deterrence in a Multilevel Network Framework
Subject area: deterrence in the future operational environment
Principal Investigator: Brandon Kinne, University of California, Davis
Cross-cultural multilevel examination of power and influence
Thematic area: Power and influence in the era of strategic competition
Principal Investigator: Jasmin Cloutier, University of Delaware
Identification and measurement of user and platform vulnerabilities in strategic information operations
Thematic area: Power and influence in the era of strategic competition
Principal Investigator: Brian Ekdale, University of Iowa
Food Struggles: Narratives of War and the Reproduction of Identity in Evolving Conflicts
Thematic area: Power and influence in the era of strategic competition
Principal Investigator: Samir Kassab, East Carolina University
Semantic foundations and formal methods for evolutionary system architectures
Subject area: Management and information in the defense environment
Principal Investigator: Mark Austin, University of Maryland
The Minerva Research Initiative is administered jointly by the Office of Basic R&E Research and the Office of Strategy and Force Development of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, in collaboration with the Office of ‘Air Force Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research.
Click here to learn more about the Minerva Research Initiative.
About USD(R&E)
The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. USD (R&E) advocates for research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the U.S. military’s technological edge. More information at www.cto.milfollow us on Twitter @DoDCTO or visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre.
