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The Department of War announced $150 million in awards for basic defense-related research projects as part of the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI). These awards, which average $7.5 million over five years, will support 20 teams at 57 U.S. academic institutions, subject to satisfactory research progress and the availability of funds.
"The MURI program brings together multidisciplinary teams from institutions across the country to tackle some of our most complex scientific challenges,” said Jason Day, Research Policy Director within the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. "By deploying a mix of perspectives and approaches, MURI projects foster the kind of bold, cross-cutting research that can spark breakthroughs and push the boundaries of what's possible.”
Since its inception in 1985, the Department's MURI program has brought together teams of investigators from many different disciplines to generate collective insights, facilitating the development of cutting-edge technologies to address the Department's unique challenges. The highly competitive program, which complements the Department's single-investigator basic research grants, has contributed to current and future military capabilities and produced numerous commercial-sector applications. Notable MURI achievements include breakthroughs in solid-acid fuel cells, novel nanoscale X-ray imaging techniques that enable advances in battery design and microelectronics, and advances in self-assembled materials that led to the first demonstration of microcontact printing, now widely used in microelectronics, surface chemistry, and cell biology.
The Army Research Office, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Office of Naval Research solicited fiscal year 2026 proposals in topic areas of strategic importance to the Department. After a merit-based review of 451 white papers, a panel of experts narrowed the pool to a subset of 74 full proposals, from which the 20 final awards were selected.
