ARO Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR)

ARO DEPSCoR (Annual Cycle)

Supports institutions in underserved regions with research funding for non-traditional defense science.

The Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) is DoD's analogue to the NSF EPSCoR program, designed to build research capacity at institutions of higher education in states and territories that have historically been underrepresented in federal research funding. ARO, ONR, and AFOSR jointly execute the program, with each service agency independently funding proposals aligned with its respective research priorities. Awards are grants of up to $600,000 per team over a three-year performance period. DEPSCoR follows an annual solicitation cycle tied to the fiscal year.

To be eligible, an institution must be located in one of the 35-plus DEPSCoR-designated jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Only accredited institutions of higher education are eligible; for-profit organizations and independent research organizations cannot apply.

The dual purpose of DEPSCoR is to strengthen the institutional research infrastructure of the applying organization while simultaneously pursuing science and engineering research relevant to DoD priorities and the National Defense Strategy. Proposals should be directed to the service whose research areas best match the proposed work — ARO for Army-relevant science, ONR for Navy, or AFOSR for Air Force. Researchers at eligible institutions should identify which of ARO's foundational research competencies or ERPs their work addresses before drafting a proposal, as scientific alignment with DoD research objectives is a core evaluation criterion.