Office of Naval Research, 800 North Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22217-5660

A -- MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROGRAM OF THE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INITIATIVE POC Point of Contact: W. Lukens, ONR OOST, (703) 696-4668. The Department of Defense announces the FY 1996 competition for the Multidisciplinary Research Program, one element of the University Research Initiative (URI). The Multidisciplinary Research Program of the URI (MURI) supports research teams whose efforts intersect more than one traditional science and engineering discipline. Multidisciplinary team effort can accelerate research progress in areas particularly suited to this approach and also can help to hasten the transition of research findings to practical application. The DoD expects that MURI programs will promote application of defense research, primarily for defense purposes but also for commercial purposes. Proposals may be submitted only by U.S. institutions of higher education (other than federal government) with degree-granting programs in science and/or engineering, or by consortia led by such institutions (''universities''). This MURI competition is specifically for the nineteen research topics listed as follows: (1) Advanced Active Control of Rotor Craft Vibration and Aeroacoustics, (2) Damage Tolerant Lightweight Armor Materials, (3) Low Energy Electronics Design for Mobile Platforms, (4) Photonic Band Engineering, (5) Integrated Approach to Intelligent Systems, (6) Compliant Substrates, (7) Acoustic Transduction, (8) Authoring Intelligent Training Systems with Speech Interaction Capability, (9) Remote Sensing and Prediction of the Coastal Marine Boundary Layer, (10) Layered Manufacturing, (11) Nonlinear Active Control of Dynamical Systems, (12) Advanced Magnetic Materials for Power Applications, (13) High-Cycle Fatigue and the Time-Dependent Behavior of Materials, (14) Alignment and Packing Behavior of Liquid Crystals and Liquid Crystalline Polymers and their Effects on Optical and Mechanical Properties, (15) Mathematical Infrastructure for Robust Virtual Engineering, (16) Ultra Lightweight Metals, (17) Thin Film Magnetic Materials and Devices, (18) Nondestructive Evaluation, and (19) 3-D Visualization. The awards will be made in these nineteen specific research topics by five sponsoring agencies: the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research the Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. This notice constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement as contemplated in FAR 6:102(d)2. The agencies expect that typically each award will be: (1) for a basic period of three years (funded incrementally or as options) with two additional years possible as options to bring the total award to a possible five-year award, subject to the availability of appropriations, and (2) generally in the range of $1 million to $2 million per year, with the size of each award dependent upon the topic and agency's technical goals. Through this MURI competition, the Department of Defense expects to award $30 million per year over five years, subject to the availability of appropriations. White papers should be no longer than five typed pages and should outline: (1) proposed objectives and approach, (2) expected outcomes, (3) credentials of key project members, and (4) costs, in summary and broken down by year. White papers must be received by the appropriate agencies by 4:00 p.m. local time on Friday, 15 December 1995. Invitations for follow-up proposals will be communicated directly to the proposed Principal Investigators by about Wednesday, 17 January 1996. Institutionally approved, signed, completed proposals must be received by 4:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, 20 March 1996. This is to notify potential proposers that each grant that is awarded under this announcement or solicitation to an institution of higher education will include the following clause: ''As a condition for receipt of funds available to the Department of Defense (DoD) under this award, the recipient agrees that it is not an institution that has a policy of denying, and that it is not an institution that effectively prevents, the Secretary of Defense from obtaining for military recruiting purposes: (A) entry to campuses or access to students on campuses, or (B) access to directory information pertaining to students. If the recipient is determined, using procedures established by the Secretary of Defense to implement section 558 of Public Law 103-337 (1994), to be such an institution during the period of performance or this agreement, and therefore to be in breech of this clause, the government will cease all payment of DoD funds under this agreement and all other DoD grants and cooperative agreements, and it may suspend or terminate such grants and agreeents unilaterally for material failure to comply with the terms and conditions of award. If your institution has been identified under the procedures established by the Secretary of Defense to implement section 558, then: (1) no funds available to DoD may be provided to your institution through any grant, including any existing grant, (2) as a matter of policy, this restriction also applies to any cooperative agreement, and (3) your institution is not eligible to receive a grant or cooperative agreement in response to this solicitation.'' A brochure describes the research interests on which the nineteen topics are based, the technical points of contact, as well as conditions involving industry participation, consortia, and collaborations. It also describes proposal preparation, evaluation criteria, and deadlines. Brochures have been distributed to sponsored programs offices nationwide. Alternatively, the brochure may be accessed through the Federal Information Exchange (FEDIX). Access FEDIX through computer and modem at 800-783-3349 or 301-258-0953, through Internet (Telnet or FTP at ''fedix.fie.com'' and at log-in type ''fedix'', Gopher at ''gopher.fie.com'' and at log-in type ''fedix'', or World Wide Web at ''htpp://web.fie.com/''). The FEDIX help line is 301-975-0103. The brochure may be found in the Procurements and Special Notices section from the ONR menu. Lastly, brochures may be obtained by sending a self-addressed mailing label to Office of Naval Research, Code 353 (MURI ''96), 800 North Quincy Street, Arlington, VA, 22217-5660. Expect mailings to take 2-3 weeks. (0293)

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