DARPA D60 Travel Subsidy Program

Summary

In an effort to learn more about relevant funding opportunities, and to promote networking with program representatives and existing grantees, the Office of Research and the Office of Government and Community Relations will jointly offer financial support for faculty wishing to attend the upcoming DARPA Symposium D60, September 5-7, 2018, at Gaylord National Harbor, MD. https://d60.darpa.mil/index.html.

To help interested applicants better prepare to engage with DARPA representatives during the conference, the Office of Research, the Office of Government and Community Relations will also co-host a brainstorming session in August (date TBD) between applicants and faculty who have been successful in securing DARPA funds in the past.

 

About DARPA and D60

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, works to achieve pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security. Today, DARPA focuses strategic investment in four main areas:

  1. Rethink Complex Military Systems: To help enable faster development and integration of breakthrough military capabilities in today’s rapidly shifting landscape, DARPA is working to make weapons systems more modular and easily upgraded and improved; assure superiority in the air, maritime, ground, space and cyber domains; improve position, navigation and timing (PNT) without depending on the satellite-based Global Positioning System; and augment defenses against terrorism.
  2. Master the Information Explosion: DARPA is developing novel approaches to deriving insights from massive datasets, with powerful big-data tools. The Agency is also developing technologies to ensure that the data and systems with which critical decisions are made are trustworthy, such as automated cyber defense capabilities and methods to create fundamentally more secure systems. And DARPA is addressing the growing need to ensure privacy at various levels of need without losing the national security value that comes from appropriate access to networked data.
  3. Harness Biology as Technology: To leverage recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, immunology, genetics and related fields, DARPA in 2014 created its Biological Technologies Office, which has enabled a new level of momentum for the Agency’s portfolio of innovative, bio-based programs. DARPA’s work in this area includes programs to accelerate progress in synthetic biology, outpace the spread of infectious diseases and master new neurotechnologies.
  4. Expand the Technological Frontier: DARPA’s core work has always involved overcoming seemingly insurmountable physics and engineering barriers and, once showing those daunting problems to be tractable after all, applying new capabilities made possible by these breakthroughs directly to national security needs. Maintaining momentum in this essential specialty, DARPA is working to achieve new capabilities by applying deep mathematics; inventing new chemistries, processes and materials; and harnessing quantum physics.

D60 is a three-day Symposium hosted by DARPA in honor of its 60th Anniversary. The Symposium will highlight DARPA’s innovative approach to creating breakthrough technologies and capabilities from the Agency’s past, present, and future. DARPA’s mission requires a constant stream of novel ideas and contributions from innovators looking beyond what is possible now. D60 will provide attendees the opportunity to engage with up-and-coming innovators, along with some of today’s most creative and accomplished scientists and technologists, as they continue to provide these contributions. By sharing our record of innovative achievements over the past 60 years, DARPA aims to inspire attendees to explore future technologies, their potential application to tomorrow’s technical and societal challenges, and the dilemmas those applications may engender. D60 participants will have the opportunity to be a part of the new relationships, partnerships, and communities of interest that this event aims to foster, and advance dialogue on the pursuit of science in the national interest.

 

Eligibility and Award Information

  • Up to 15 travel awards will be made.
  • Preference will be giving to applicants: 1) Who have not received DARPA funding in the past and believe their current research may have applications of interest to the agency; or 2) Applicants who have received funding prior to AY 2014, and would find reconnecting with program officers beneficial.
  • Applicants must be available to travel to the DC area September 5th-7th . The conference is located at Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center, National Harbor, MD.
  • The exact amount of subsidy will be determined by the level of interest in this program, but will likely be approximately 50% – 75% of airfare, conference registration, and two night’s lodging.
  • Successful applicants will be required to submit a 2-page summary of the outcomes of their particular experience (contacts made, discussions help, relevant proposal plans, etc.)

 

Application Contents

Please submit expressions of interest to the Office of Research vpr@syr.edu, by 5:00pm, Friday, July 27th.

  1. In the subject line, please state “DARPA TRAVEL”
  2. In an attached word document or PDF (1 or two pages maximum), please provide the following information:
    1. Applicant information – Name, title, department, other institutional affiliations if applicable, and preferred telephone contact number
    2. Expression of interest – Provide a brief description of your current work which you believe may be appropriate for DARPA funding.
    3. Breakout Session Preference – After reviewing the conference breakout session information, found at https://d60.darpa.mil/schedule.html, indicate your preferences for the following sessions:
      1. Breakout Session 1 – 4:30 PM September 5
        1. DARPA and AI: Visionary Pioneer and Advocate
        2. DARPA at the Tactical Edge – TIGR, RAA, and the Future
        3. DARPA X-Planes
        4. Doing Business with DARPA
        5. Information-driven Materials and Manufacturing
        6. Wide Band Gap Semiconductors
      2. Breakout Session 2 – 1:30 PM September 6
        1. BTO Office Panel: Biology for Security – Living Sensors
        2. DSO Office Panel: Discover DSO
        3. I2O Office Strategy
        4. MTO Office Panel: Sensors and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
        5. STO Systems Office Panel: Part 1
        6. TTO Technical Panel: Space and Maritime
      3. Breakout Session 3 – 2:50 PM September 6
        1. A New Spin on Spintronics
        2. Altering the Foundation of Our Digital Society
        3. Autonomy and Robotics
        4. DARPA’s Use of Prize Based Challenges
        5. Time as a Weapon
        6. Trajectory of Neurotechnology
      4. Breakout Session 4 – 4:10 PM September 6
        1. A New Spin on Spintronics
        2. Altering the Foundation of Our Digital Society
        3. Autonomy and Robotics
        4. DARPA’s Use of Prize Based Challenges
        5. Time as a Weapon
        6. Trajectory of Neurotechnology
      5. Breakout Session 5 – 9:30 AM September 7
        1. A New Spin on Spintronics
        2. Altering the Foundation of Our Digital Society
        3. Autonomy and Robotics
        4. DARPA’s Use of Prize Based Challenges
        5. Time as a Weapon
        6. Trajectory of Neurotechnology

 

Notification

  • Notification of selection will be sent by Monday, July 30th.
  • Selected applicants will be informed at that time of the full amount of the travel subsidy.
  • Selected applicants will need to confirm their attendance by 9:00 AM Tuesday, July 31st, as the Office of Research will complete registrations and pay conference fees on that date.
  • Additional travel costs (at an amount to be determined by July 30th) will be reimbursed upon receipt of the travel report.

 

Questions: Please email Christina Leigh Docteur cdocteur@syr.edu