Young Faculty Award (YFA)

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DARPA would like to encourage new faculty members at institutions of higher learning to participate in its programs. This Research Announcement offers a venue by which research ideas proposed by young faculty can be sponsored and promoted within the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) at DARPA. The Young Faculty Award (YFA) is expected to provide MTO with revolutionary research ideas that are critical to future technology developments. This solicitation is for single-author grant proposals for concept development and validation in one, or combinations of, the following thrust areas of interest to MTO: 1) electronics, 2) photonics, 3) micro and nano electro mechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), 4) architectures, and 5) algorithms. Proposers must select one of these thrust areas for their proposal and identify this thrust on the cover page. Proposed research should focus on innovations that enable revolutionary advances in physics, materials, and devices. Speculative and high-risk ideas are strongly encouraged. The proposal should clearly state the problem being addressed, the proposed solution, and critical milestones the YFA research activity will address. Note the problem statement can be broader than the focused effort addressed in the first year of research, but the interrelationship of the two must be clearly articulated. The initial research should focus on a clearly defined problem which can be answered in a 12 to 18-month activity consisting of critical analysis, design, or experimental exploration. MTO expects that successful YFA efforts will be a precursor and proof of a concept solution to a larger problem that is sufficiently important and challenging to warrant a follow-on, full-scale DARPA program embodied in a future Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice. This solicitation is limited to participation by young investigators as defined in the Proposer Eligibility section. See Research Announcement.

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