LUCI: Laboratory University Collaboration Initiative
Defense-University Partnerships Driving Innovation

LUCI is a program that supports collaboration between DoD lab scientists and DoD-funded academics. An important objective of this phase of LUCI is to engage leading university scientists and their students, introduce them to the DoD research environment, and facilitate collaborative work that addresses long-term DoD basic research needs.

Historically, basic research in universities is often the source and engine for technological advancements and innovations. The LUCI program strives to capitalize on the unfettered curiosity driven research and innovative spirit of universities by focusing their energy and ideas on defense research. This is realized by a partnership with a scientist at a DoD research laboratory, whose primary job is to bring better capabilities to the Future Warfighter. The scientific topic areas that LUCI supports are in applied mathematics, cognitive neuroscience, engineering biology, novel engineered materials, quantum information science, manufacturing science, and other areas of interest.

The LUCI program adds value to the defense enterprise by funding high risk basic research projects and providing adequate time to DoD researchers to cultivate their ideas for long term research. This investment results in new knowledge and insight that can be used to fill capability gaps, generate patents, bring in human capital to the defense research enterprise, and build stronger relationships with academic researchers.

FY27 LUCI Applications

The application for the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) Laboratory University Collaboration Initiative (LUCI) will open on March 20th, 2026.

More information about the solicitation can be found by clicking here.
Details on the specific topics can be found by clicking here.

Informational Webinar

To learn more about the LUCI program and the application process, please click here to view the presentation from the FY27 webinar.

Important Dates:

Event	Date	Time
Webinar	5 March 2026	1:00 PM Eastern Time
RunGrants site open for white papers and supporting documents submission	20 March 2026
Final date/time for submission of white papers and supporting documents	1 May 2026	5:00 PM Eastern Time
Notification of white paper selections for interviews	26 June 2026*
Interview period	17 - 21 August 2026*
Notification of selections for award	28 August 2026*

*These dates are estimates as of the date of this announcement. Please be mindful of the limited scheduling opportunities for the interview phase and plan accordingly.

Meet the LUCI Fellows

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2025 LUCI Fellows

Anesia Auguste Air Force Research Laboratory Soft Materials and Multiscale Structures	Alexander Pankonien Air Force Research Laboratory Other Fields of Research	Philip Buskohl Air Force Research Laboratory Other Fields of Research	Maxwell Gregoire Air Force Research Laboratory Electronics, Photonics and Quantum Materials
Jason Soares U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Fundamentals of Bio-engineering	Jordan Whitman U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Fundamentals of Bio-engineering	Anthony Fragoso U.S. Army Engineer Research Networks and Artificial Intelligence	Eunice Paik Army Research Laboratory Electronics, Photonics and Quantum Materials
Christopher Kuhs Army Research Laboratory Electronics, Photonics and Quantum Materials	Michael Swift Naval Research Laboratory Quantum Information Science	Noam Bernstein Naval Research Laboratory Materials Science	Edwin Antillon Naval Research Laboratory Materials Science
Joseph Fiordilino Naval Surface Warfare Center Applied Mathematics and Computational Science	Paula Chen Naval Air Warfare Center Networks and Artificial Intelligence	Kenneth McClain Naval Air Warfare Center Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials	Benjamin Harvey Naval Air Warfare Center Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials
Adam Dunkelberger Naval Research Laboratory Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials	Alexander Efros Naval Research Laboratory Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials	John Lyons Naval Research Laboratory Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum Materials	Kirubel Teferra Naval Research Laboratory Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

2023 LUCI Fellows

Ibrahim Boulares Army Research Laboratory Materials	Vail Owen Army Research Laboratory Materials	Patrick Callahan Naval Research Laboratory Materials	Keith Knipling Naval Research Laboratory Materials
James Delehanty Naval Research Laboratory Cognitive Neural Science	Mulugeta Haile Army Research Laboratory Other	William Kennedy Air Force Research Laboratory Materials	Dass Chandriker Air Force Research Laboratory Materials
Manoj Kolel-Veetil Naval Research Laboratory Other	Spencer Olson Air Force Research Laboratory Quantum Information Science	Steven Rodriguez Naval Research Laboratory Applied Math	Meagan Small Army Research Laboratory Fundamentals of Bio-engineering
Jordan Baumbach Army Research Laboratory Fundamentals of Bio-engineering	Corey Trahan United States Army Corps Networks/AI	Mark Loveland United States Army Corps Networks/AI	Tanya Tschirhart Naval Research Laboratory Fundamentals of Bio-engineering

2021 LUCI Fellows

Luke Baldwin

Air Force Research Laboratory
Engineered Materials and Structures

Jorge Benavides

Air Force Research Laboratory
Fundamentals of Bioengineering

Janice Boercker
Naval Research Laboratory
Engineered Materials and Structures

Sang-Yeon Cho

Army Research Laboratory
Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum

Luke Johnson

Naval Research Laboratory
Physics

Patrick Taylor

Army Research Laboratory
Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum

Stanislav Tsoi

Naval Research Laboratory
Electronics, Photonics, and Quantum

Dashiell Vitullo

Army Research Laboratory
Quantum Information Science

Cyril Williams

Army Research Laboratory
Physics

Suya You

Army Research Laboratory
Networks and Artificial Intelligence

2020 LUCI Fellows

Steve Kim

Air Force Research Laboratory
Engineering Biology

Chase Ellis

Naval Research Laboratory
Materials

Janice Boercker
Naval Research Laboratory
Materials

Ramakanth Munipalli

Air Force Research Laboratory
Applied Mathematics

Lawrence Drummy

Air Force Research Laboratory
Quantum Information Sciences

Vladimir S. Malinovsky

Army Research Laboratory
Quantum Information Sciences

Adam Friedman
Laboratory for Physical Sciences
Materials

Christopher Richardson

Laboratory for Physical Sciences
Materials

Philip Buskohl

Air Force Research Laboratory
Materials

2018 LUCI Fellows

Nathaniel Bridges Air Force Research Laboratory Cognitive Neuroscience	Katherine Brodie ERDC Oceanography/Remote Sensing	Matthew Dickerson Air Force Research Laboratory Additive Manufacturing & Self-Assembly	Alexander Efros Naval Research Laboratory Nanophotonics/2D Materials
John Lyons Naval Research Laboratory Nanophotonics/2D Materials	Elizabeth Goldschmidt Army Research Laboratory Quantum Sensing	Michael Goodson Air Force Research Laboratory Synthetic Biology	Mark Griep Army Research Laboratory Nanoplasmonics
Michelle Johannes Naval Research Laboratory Topological Materials	Keith Knipling Naval Research Laboratory High-temperature Structural Materials	Matthew Marge Army Research Laboratory Human-Machine Interaction	Gordon Briggs Naval Research Laboratory Human-Machine Interaction

Additive manufacturing and self-assembly

2017 LUCI Fellows

Noam Bernstein Naval Research Office Electronic Materials	Jared Culbertson Air Force Research Laboratory Applied Math/ Robotics	Derek Doyle Air Force Research Laboratory Additive Manufacturing	Cameron Good Army Research Laboratory Biocompatible Electronics
Danhong Huang Air Force Research Laboratory Applied Math/ Quantum Materials	Lance Kaplan Army Research Laboratory Network Science	Brittany Lynn Space and Naval Warfare Optics	Igor Mazin Naval Research Office Electronic Materials
Richard A. McKinley Air Force Research Laboratory Cognitive Neuroscience	Frank Narducci Naval Postgraduate School Quantum Information Science/ Sensing	Colin Olson Naval Research Laboratory Applied Math/ Compressive Sensing

2016 LUCI Fellows

Bryn Adams Army Research Laboratory Synthetic Biology	Blair Connelly Army Research Laboratory Photonics	Charles R. “Chip” Eddy, Jr. Naval Research Laboratory Novel Semiconductor Growth	Patrick Folkes Army Research Laboratory Topological Insulators
Anindya Ghoshal Army Research Laboratory High-Temperature Propulsion Materials	Sarah Glaven Naval Research Laboratory Synthetic Biology	C. Stephen Hellberg Naval Research Laboratory Electronic Materials	Berend “Berry” Jonker Naval Research Laboratory Spintronics
William Mattson Army Research Laboratory Quantum Simulation	Igor Medintz Naval Research Laboratory DNA Based Nanomaterials	Joseph S. Melinger Naval Research Laboratory Light Harvesting and Transfer	Mike Osofsky Naval Research Laboratory Electronic Materials
Ronald Polcawich Army Research Laboratory Piezoelectric Structures	Marc Raphael Naval Research Laboratory Biophysics	Manuel Vindiola Army Research Laboratory Neuromorphic Processing	Amir I. Zaghloul Army Research Laboratory Meta-Materials