AFOSR Awards Grants to 15 Universities for Design Challenge Program Published June 29, 2011 By Staff Writers Air Force Office of Scientific Research ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Air Force Office of Scientific Research announced that it will award $300,000 in grants to 15 Universities to participate in the Air Force Research Laboratory's University Design Challenge (UDC). The UDC program will run for 3 years, and in each academic year will pose a new challenge to a small team of senior engineering students formed at each school. These teams will compete against each other to develop and demonstrate the most effective, elegant and innovative solution to an Air Force problem. The winner will be determined in a final demonstration or competition amongst the schools at the end of the academic year. The UDC will be conducted in conjunction with these schools' capstone engineering design programs to provide a practical engineering experience for seniors selected for the design challenge teams. The objective of this program is to foster creative research in science and engineering, enhance early career development of young engineers and increase opportunities for these students to recognize the Air Force mission and the related challenges in science and engineering. The schools and the principal investigators selected for this program are: Arizona State University, Prof Sangram Redkar Auburn University, Prof David Beale Brigham Young University, Prof Chris Mattson Colorado State University, Prof Christopher Hagen Johns Hopkins University, Prof Kevin Hemker Michigan Technological University, Prof William Endres Ohio State University, Prof Anthony Luscher Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Prof Daniel McAdams University of Akron, Prof John Gerhardt University of Dayton, Prof Ken Bloemer University of Minnesota, Prof Bill Pedersen University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Prof Peter Schmidt Utah State University, Prof Steven Hansen Western Carolina University, Prof Phillip Sanger Wright State University, Prof Scott Thomas