The DHS S&T Office of University Programs is offering this grant for the continuation of its Centers of Excellence.

The Office of University Programs (OUP) gives DHS access to American colleges and universities by sponsoring mission-focused research and education programs, and by linking universities directly with end users. OUP also develops education and training programs to provide homeland security agencies with the highly skilled workforce they will need. OUP’s flagship program is the DHS S&T Centers of Excellence (COEs). The COEs make up a permanent network of resources serving DHS that can be tapped for short- to long-term research and development activities and rapid response efforts by anyone in the Department.

The COEs are multi-disciplinary university-based research and education Centers that will conduct rigorous, innovative and path-breaking research. DHS expects the COEs to break new theoretical and empirical ground as well as adapt existing approaches to Homeland Security missions and technology gaps. Research methods proposed under these funding continuations should be rooted in rigorous science and engineering disciplines. Knowledge generated by the COE’s research must be amenable to integration with Homeland Security customers. As a whole, the portfolio of proposed projects should generate substantial original and cutting edge research results.

The DHS University Network is a consortium of COEs that work together to solve complex homeland security problems. The COEs will be a fully integrated network and will take advantage of the network’s resources to develop mission-critical research, education and transition programs.

Collectively, the Center of Excellence topics address the full range of priority areas identified in the Presidential Policy Directive 8 to include: National Preparedness, Security, Resilience, Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery.