Creating Connections for National Security Research

Creating Connections for National Security Research is a jointly funded opportunity between the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) and the Applied Research Laboratories at The University of Texas at Austin (ARL:UT) to develop strategic relationships between researchers on both campuses to position the university for technology development in defense applications. The program has the following goals:

  • Initiate enduring partnerships spanning the UT Austin main campus and ARL:UT.
  • Identify innovative UT Austin national security research that can be developed and matured jointly with ARL:UT.
  • Attract sponsorship for UT Austin projects from the Department of Defense (DOD) and other national security organizations.

This program seeks innovative one-year research projects that can seed continuing partnerships between Principal investigators (PIs) from UT Austin main campus and ARL:UT enabling further long-term research funding. 

  • PIs who accept funding under this program should be willing to continue collaborative efforts with ARL:UT past the initial year.
  • Projects should focus on transitioning to applied research within a year rather than pursuing multi-year basic research.

The DOD describes “applied research,” or 6.2 research, as the systematic expansion and application of knowledge to develop useful materials, devices, and systems or methods that may be oriented, ultimately, toward the design, development, and improvement of prototypes and new processes to meet general mission area requirements. The goal of this program is to mature promising research and build projects that external DOD or national security entities can fund.

Submission Deadline

Submission for the 2025-2026 cycle has ended. The next call for applications will be announced in Spring/Summer 2026.

Award Information

Up to four Creating Connections for National Security Research projects ($75,000 maximum each) will be funded each fiscal year. Award totals are intended to be split between UT Austin and ARL:UT researchers.

Eligibility

All UT Austin researchers (faculty or staff) with Principal Investigator (PI) status and have not received a Creating Connections award within the past 5 years are eligible to submit a pre-proposal. U.S. citizenship is not required to apply for this funding opportunity. However, applicants should be aware that future external funding, such as long-term DOD-sponsored research in certain R&D areas, may have citizenship or other eligibility restrictions. This call is not open to researchers from outside UT Austin.

Number of Applications Allowed Per Applicant: A PI may be named on as many as four distinct submissions but may be named as the lead/contact PI on only two submissions maximum.

Submission Requirements & Timeline

Pre-Proposals [Estimated deadline: June]: Interested PIs should submit a short (one page/one image or less) pre-proposal describing potential projects using the pre-proposal template that follows at the end of this document. Submitted pre-proposals should have potential for collaboration with ARL:UT, but it is not required or expected to have identified an ARL:UT researcher partner for the pre-proposal submission. Include a copy of your current and pending support, with any UT internal seed funding and outcomes.

Pre-Proposal Matchmaking Connections [Estimated deadline: June-July]: Creating Connections program staff will contact PIs that submitted a pre-proposal and connect them to ARL:UT researchers in their area of interest. During this time, ARL:UT and campus PIs will work together to refine and submit a joint proposal if there is a matching topic between them.

Full Proposals [Estimated deadline: August]: Full proposals (3-4 pages) will be requested from the PIs who have submitted pre-proposals and have matched with an ARL:UT researcher. Each full proposal is required to have an ARL:UT partner PI and UT Austin PI not from ARL:UT.

Final funding decisions [Estimated by mid-August]: Award funds will be disbursed in September. The period of performance is one year.

Disciplines/Subject Areas

Potential topics should be relevant to national security (i.e. the Department of Defense, or U.S. Intelligence Community) including, but not limited to:

  • Machine Learning (ML)/Artificial Intelligence (AI) (techniques and applications)
  • Data Analytics and Visualization
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Sensors (including signal processing and low size, weight, and power (SWaP) considerations)
  • Novel Materials (e.g. novel RF/acoustic properties, shock and corrosion resistance)
  • Quantum Information Sciences
  • Remote Sensing (including application and processing of Electro-optical (E/O) data)
  • Precision Navigation and Tracking (PNT) (e.g. geolocation and GPS alternatives)

Topics are subject to change each cycle. Please see the latest RFP for current year’s topics of interest.

Contact Information

For more information, contact
DefenseResearch@utexas.edu