University Research Initiatives

Abstract

The Office of Naval Research's (ONR) mission is to ensure the technological advantage of U.S. Naval forces. ONR fosters scientific research necessary for the discovery, development and delivery of new technologies. Often this research is done in partnership with academia. This program includes support for multidisciplinary basic research in a wide range of naval relevant scientific and engineering disciplines that enables the U.S. Navy to maintain technological superiority, for the university research infrastructure to acquire the research instrumentation needed to maintain and improve the quality of university research important to the Navy, and for the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who will lead DON S&T efforts in the future. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) efforts involve teams of researchers investigating high priority topics and opportunities that intersect more than one traditional technical discipline. For many military problems, this multidisciplinary approach serves to stimulate innovation, accelerate research progress and lay the foundations for transition of results into Naval applications. The Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) supports university research infrastructure essential to high quality, Navy-relevant research. The instrumentation program complements other Navy research programs by supporting the purchase of high cost research instrumentation that is necessary to carry out cutting-edge research. This program supports Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) which are single investigator research efforts performed by outstanding academic scientists and engineers early in their research careers. This program provides the knowledge base, scientific concepts, and technological advances for the maintenance of Naval power and national security. The ONR Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Support project supports the participation of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in DON-related research. These graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will be the future leaders in areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) critical to DON, DOD and national security. The missions of today's Sailors and Marines are enabled by the results of naval Science and Technology (S&T). Since 1946, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has fostered scientific research related to the maintenance of maritime superiority and national defense. ONR manages the Department of the Navy's (DON) portfolio of naval Basic and Applied research, and Advanced Technology Development investments to ensure naval forces can effectively deter conflict, but when called upon, fight, win and come home safe. Current investments hedge against uncertainty, providing solutions to commanders today, and options for the future. The Naval S&T budget supports higher guidance defined by the National Defense Strategy, and responds to requirements identified by the Secretary of the Navy through research priorities set by the Chief of Naval Research, coordinated across the Naval Research Enterprise (NRE), and outlined in the Naval R&D Framework. This Program Element (PE) funds Basic Research, typically defined as systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. The work in this PE can be classified between Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 1 (basic principles observed and reported) and TRL 2 (technology concept and/or application formulation). Due to the number of efforts in this PE, the programs described herein are representative of the work included in this PE.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2025
Source ID
0601103N_1_1319_PB_2025
Change Summary Explanation
Funding: The 6.049M funding decrease to FY 2025 is due to a reduction in Basic Research for Strategic Competition investments. A new project structure was created to promote greater transparency and execution oversight for University Research Initiatives in the Department of the Navy's annual budget request. Projects 1100-1103 were previously funded in this PE, 0601103N, PU 0000 and are not new starts. Schedule: no significant change Program: no significant change
Service Agency Name
Navy

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Navy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Maritime and Naval Warfare Studies
  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.
  • Research Science/Academic Research

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