Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship
Abstract
The Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) program supports world-class researchers in scientific areas of critical importance to the DoD and ensures the cultivation of exceptional talent. Fellows’ research spans a broad set of emerging scientific areas with transformative potential, including Quantum Information Science, Novel Engineered Materials, Cognitive Neuroscience and human-machine interfaces, Engineering Biology, Applied and Computational Mathematics, Networks, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Manufacturing Science, and others. The program delivers the most innovative and transformational scientific ideas of relevance to the DoD, from the top scientists in the Nation. The program fosters close connections between academia and the defense science and engineering (S&E) enterprise, a primary goal of Strategic Support for Basic Research (SSBR) efforts. Fellows provide the Department the deep scientific expertise from today’s leading research universities and collaborate with defense scientists and engineers. This program actively engages and coordinates basic research across the Department. The project includes support for the Laboratory-University Collaboration Initiative (LUCI) program, which is designed to team scientists in the DoD laboratories with top academic researchers from the programs sponsored or overseen by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (in particular, the VBFF fellows), in order to collaboratively perform basic research on a topic of their choice. Three-year grants allow a deep exchange of ideas between academic and DoD research communities, bring the most recent scientific breakthroughs closer to DoD relevance, and greatly expand the skills and knowledge of the S&E workforce within the laboratories. The project also supports the Bush Fellows Research Study Team (BRFST) program, designed to allow selected leaders in the academic research community to engage with the DoD at high levels, including briefings from MAJCOMs and site visits to military installations. This program brings deeper understanding of military operations and strategic vision to selected US academic researchers, in order to enhance the creation of out-of-the-box, innovative solutions and the growth of intellectual talent attuned to DoD mission needs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2025
- Source ID
- 060_0601110D8Z_1_0400_PB_2025
Related Documents
- Root: Basic Research Initiatives
- Child Accomplishment: Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) Program
- Child Accomplishment: Research Grant Programs