Department of Defense

The Department of Defense partners with researchers across U-M to provide branches of the military with the necessary resources to ensure they are well-equipped to address complex challenges and threats facing our nation.

$77 MILLION

Research Supported by DoD in FY23

431

Active Projects Supported by DoD

885

Faculty, Postdocs and Grad Students Supported Annually by DoD

U-M-led team receives $7.5M to predict, communicate flood risk

an aerial view of a river in the middle of a field

Engineers, atmospheric scientists, psychologists and anthropologists team up to develop better flood predictions and ensure decision-makers can understand them.

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$7.5M to harness atomic-scale defects for next-generation information processing

A molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) system in the Goldman Group MBE Laboratory at the University of Michigan. Image credit: Evan Dougherty, Michigan EngineeringDisruptions in a material’s atomic structure could act as “nano-pipelines” for efficient transport of charge and spin. But a new $7.5 million project led by the University of Michigan will instead embrace these imperfections in next-generation electronic devices, possibly enabling faster and more efficient information processing.

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Cheap, sustainable hydrogen through solar power

Peng Zhou, a postdoctoral research fellow, conducts an experiment on the roof of the Wilson Student Team Project Center on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Friday morning, October 14, 2022. Zhou and other members of Zetian Mi’s research group are using the large magnifying glass to focus the sunlight directly on a small semiconductor covered in water. The solar energy is used to separate the hydrogen and oxygen into separate elements. “Basically, we’re using green energy to extract hydrogen from water,” said Professor Zetian Mi. Photo: Brenda Ahearn/University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Communications and MarketingWithstanding high temperatures and the light of 160 suns, a new catalyst is 10 times more efficient than previous sun-powered water-splitting devices of its kind. A new kind of solar panel, developed at the University of Michigan, has achieved 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen—mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis.

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