§4010 Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research

Summary

The Secretary of Defense, through the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, must run a program called DEPSCoR as part of the Department of Defense’s university research work. The program must help more university researchers in eligible States do science and engineering work that meets DoD needs, help colleges and universities in those States build stronger research programs that can win peer-reviewed federal grants, and raise the chance that those schools will get more long-term federal research funding. To do this, the program can give competitive grants for research and equipment, award financial help for graduate students, support collaboration between DoD labs and university researchers, and carry out any other activities needed to meet these goals. The Under Secretary decides which places are “eligible States.” A State is eligible if, for the three fiscal years before the designation (or the last three years with data), the State’s average annual DoD obligations for university science and engineering are less than 60 percent times 1/50 of the total U.S. average annual DoD obligations to universities, and if the State shows it is committed to building research and education programs relevant to the DoD. A State will not lose its eligible status just because it goes over the funding level unless that happens for at least two consecutive years. The Secretary may work with the National Science Foundation and the Office of Science and Technology Policy and coordinate with similar federal programs. DEPSCoR solicitations and awards may go to, and be made through, the State committees set up for the NSF program, and those committees must make sure the work is relevant to the DoD and coordinated with other federal efforts. “State” here means a U.S. State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.