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DARPA Shrfts Research Funding Priorities While the U.S. Defense A d v a n c e d Research Projects Agency (DARPA) continues to be a significant supporter of materials-related research, the agency is currently rearranging its funding priori ties in a way that could have a direct impact on the materials sector for at least the next several years. Senior officials at DARPA's Defense Sciences Office (DSO), which oversees most materials research support within the agency, said that the highest funding priority is now being given to technologies that improve defenses against biological warfare. This policy is in response to a perceived increased threat from this type of attack, and DARPA has even created a separate funding category to track its bio logical warfare defense research activities. While the reorganization m a k e s it appear that materials-related funding will decline during Fiscal Year 2000—to $111million, from $169-million in FY 1999— DSO officials said that the change is only a matter of bookkeeping. They said that materials research will continue to account for more than half of DARPA's $300million annual research funding total. DARPA's specific materials research needs related to biological warfare defense involve the development of mesoscopicsize devices, or "sugar cube to fist," as DSO officials call them. A new research funding category in FY 2000, with about $7 million requested for initial funding, these include small, lightweight pumps to power battlefield air and water sensors, highly portable coolers, and air and water purifiers. DARPA is looking for ways to make such devices easily portable by individual soldiers—in effect, making "each soldier a System." The agency is also look ing to reduce the weight and improve the portability of such support devices as batteries and antennas. Anofher materials area where DARPA still places a high priority, even though FY 2000 requested funding is $42 million, down from $62 million in FY 1999—is functional materials. These include both higher sensitivity, higher strength, and higher operating temperature magnetic devices for motors, generators, flywheels, bearings, and actuators. In addition, DARPA-funded research is examining radiation-hardened magnetic memories with such advantages as very high densi ty, short access time, infinite cycle ability, and low power. Magnetic memories are believed to have enormous commercial
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potential if they can be perfected because they could result in near-instantaneously bootable personal Computers. Other functional materials research currently being p u r s u e d by DARPA includes electroactive polymers for sensing, actuating, and analog processing. Efforts include research of ferrite and ferroelectric oxide materials that could result in tuned filters, oscillators, and antennas. "There's a huge leverage for defense" in sensors and Communications, according to DSO officials. Advances in hight e m p e r a t u r e superconductors, which have been made in large part because of DARPA-backed research efforts, will make po
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