Basic Research Initiatives
Abstract
Supporting basic research provides the Department of Defense (DoD) with a deep and broad awareness of current directions in areas of research important to U.S. military capabilities – including physics and the physical sciences, materials science, chemistry and chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, computer science, mechanical and aerodynamic engineering, ocean sciences, biological sciences, and the social sciences, among others. Basic research sustains scientific and engineering communities as it generates the critical technical underpinnings of DoD capabilities. Basic research allows exploration and discovery, yielding disruptive non-incremental advances that can improve or radically change military capabilities, strategy, and operations. The Basic Research Initiatives program element (PE) supports the defense basic research enterprise in three critical areas: Strategic Support for Basic Research (SSBR), the Minerva Research Initiative, and the National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship (NSSEFF) program. SSBR supports initiatives to implement the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering's (ASD(R&E)) strategic plan for defense basic research. This plan defines specific and quantifiable actions to help create conditions for defense basic research investments capable of producing high-payoff, transformative scientific breakthroughs for DoD. SSBR initiatives support the five aims of: (1) providing scientific leadership; (2) attracting the Nation’s best Scientists and Engineers (S&Es); (3) ensuring the coherence and balance of the Basic Research portfolio; (4) fostering connections between DoD performers and DoD; and (5) improving the efficiency of the defense research business environment. The Minerva Research Initiative, a department-wide basic research program in the social sciences directed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and executed by the Services, seeks to build fundamental understanding of the sources of present and future conflict. It is one of the Nation’s only social science basic research programs in support of national security (especially funding field research). Deeper understanding of the social and cultural environments, where threats such as radicalization and regional instabilities develop, supports more effective strategic and operational policy decisions. Minerva program priorities are consistent with the goals set forth in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), informing DoD efforts to effectively build security globally, and are updated annually according to inputs from across the defense enterprise. The NSSEFF program supports world-class researchers in scientific areas of critical importance to DoD and ensures the cultivation of exceptional talent. Fellows’ work spans a broad set of emerging scientific areas with transformative potential. The NSSEFF program is a key resource to the entire department that fosters close connections between academia and the entire DoD science and engineering enterprise, a primary goal of SSBR efforts. Fellows provide DoD the deep scientific expertise from today’s leading research universities and collaborate with DoD scientists and engineers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- R2 Budgetary Justification
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2017
- Source ID
- 0601110D8Z_1_0400_PB_2017
- Change Summary Explanation
- FY 2017 internal realignment reflects funding for higher Departmental priorities and requirements.
- Service Agency Name
- Office of the Secretary Of Defense
Entities
Organizations
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
Related Documents
- Child Project: Basic Research Initiatives
- Child Accomplishment: Strategic Support for Basic Research (SSBR)
- Child Accomplishment: Minerva Research Initiative
- Child Project: National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship (NSSEFF)
- Child Accomplishment: National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship (NSSEFF)