ONR Science Advisor and DEVCOM HQ Visit Stanford Research Labs and Hacking for Defense Program
Visit Helped Facilitate Connections Between Army and Navy Centers with Stanford University Researchers
The Hacking for Defense (H4D) program transitions academic technologies from the lab to the marketplace and transitions emerging technology products into defense capabilities. As part of this work, the H4D team at Stanford University often meets with key members of the armed forces and government to facilitate learning, collaboration and focus on innovation.
In February of this year, the H4D team and others at Stanford University had the pleasure of hosting the ONR Science Advisor to Commander, Rebecca Boxerman, and Branch Chief of US DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Dr. Javier Omar Garcia, who visited Stanford University's research labs. A second visit by DEVCOM HQ's Command Sgt. Maj. Bryan D. Barker and Dr. Peter Khooshabeh, Regional Lead of CIV USARMY DEVCOM ARL, took place in April. Both visits were hosted by Professor Fu-Kuo Chang, faculty director of the Hacking for Defense program, Dr. Jeff Decker, director of the Hacking for Defense program, and Dr. Nilay Papila, program manager of the Hacking for Defense program. During their time on campus, they visited research labs and discussed various projects.
Among the labs visited, both groups visited Prof. Subhasish Mitra’s lab at Computer Science, which focuses on digital systems, with emphasis on robust operation, nano-systems and brain-computer interfacing technologies. Mitra's goal is to use advanced manufacturing to push the technology to the edge and work with assured electronics as a potential pathway to enable large energy efficiency benefits.
Additionally, both groups also visited Prof. Chang’s lab at Aero/Astro, which focuses on multi-functional energy storage composite materials, intelligent structures, and intelligent self-sensing diagnostics. The lab's primary goal is to extend the flight time of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by turning off defective cells of batteries with embedded sensors.
Lastly, Boxerman and Garcia's visit included a trip to Prof. Wendy Gu’s lab at Mechanical Engineering, which focuses on the mechanical behavior of nanoscale hybrid materials, optical nanomaterials, and 3D printing of nano-architected composites.
Overall, both visits were efficient, and the groups indicated they could help researchers make connections with all Army and Navy centers for their research topics.
“These visits allowed for discussions on various projects on digital systems, composite materials, and additive manufacturing, and the groups expressed their willingness to facilitate connections with Army and Navy units for the researchers' respective research topics,” said Prof. Fu-Kuo Chang. Follow-up visits to government labs and submissions of proposals to ONR and Army programs are currently underway.”