Baraniuk to lead $6.3 million DoD MURI project developing new techniques for "opportunistic sensing"

Rice is challenging Texans' notion that bigger is better, particularly when it comes to security-related research. Rice led Texas' top-tier research universities this month in awards from the Department of Defense's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, winning new grants worth more than $9 million, or about 3.5 percent of total MURI funding awarded this year.

"This funding will help Rice continue its leadership in researching and developing technology to improve future security capabilities and surveillance systems and better ensure our nation’s safety," said Sen. John Cornyn. "The important work being done at Rice is a source of pride for Texas."

Rice is the lead institution on a $6.3 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project that aims to build upon advances in sensor design, signal processing, communications and robotics by developing new techniques for "opportunistic sensing." The project, which is funded by the Army Research Office, is expected to directly impact the design of future ground and aerial surveillance systems, making them more powerful, more reliable and better able to distinguish friend from foe. The principal investigator on the project is Richard Baraniuk, Rice's Victor E. Cameron Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Rice co-principal investigators include Lydia Kavraki, the Noah Harding Professor of Computer Science and professor of bioengineering; Wotao Yin, assistant professor of computational and applied mathematics; and Volkan Cevher, research scientist in electrical and computer engineering. Member institutions include the University of Maryland - College Park, the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, Yale University, Duke University and the University of California - Los Angeles.

All MURI award amounts are subject to negotiation between the academic institutions and the Department of Defense research offices making the awards. The five-year grants resulted from a highly competitive program in which the department received more than 150 proposals.

For full story, see the Rice News Release.