Chapter I Strategy and Overview
Army Science and Technology Master Plan (ASTMP 1997)

2. People--The Key To The Future

Approximately 10,000 in-house personnel in 30 laboratories, centers, and institutes are funded by S&T. Working at a diversified set of facilities, ranging from solid-state physics laboratories to outdoor experimental ranges, these personnel conduct research, technology development, "smart buyer", and product support activities for the total Army. Highly motivated, competent, well-trained people are essential to the success of the Army S&T strategy. Keeping the in-house work force technically competent in a rapidly changing environment is a major objective for the future. The DoD Laboratory Quality Initiative (LQI) allows revised procurement rules and investment in facilities which will assist in meeting the challenge. Laboratory consolidations to increase the critical mass of scientific personnel, laboratory modernization, the experimental use of wider pay bands, special pay, and other OSD and Army initiatives are being studied to remedy this problem.

Demographic projections for college graduates indicate a declining number of engineers and scientists in the period to 2015. The Army is the DoD leader in Youth Outreach (see Figure I-36), Historically Black College/University/Minority Institution (HBCU/MI) (see Figure I-37), and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs. Every university research center of excellence and federated laboratory is required to have an HBCU partner who performs a significant amount of the research. Army stay-in-school and summer intern programs have convinced many students to study science and engineering (see Figure I-38).

Figure I-36. Youth Science Activities

GOALS:
  • Conduct, Promote, and Sponsor Science, Math, and Engineering Education
  • Promote Competent and Diverse Technical Workforce
  • Implement EO 12821 and 10 U.S.C. 2192 (b)

PROGRAMS:

  • DoD Science and Engineering Education Panel
  • Junior Science and Humanities Symposia
  • Research and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (REAP)
  • "Uninitiates" Introduction to Engineering (UNITE)
  • Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP)
  • International Mathematical Olympiad and Science and Engineering Fairs

Figure I-37. Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions

CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE:
  • Training
    Morris Brown College - $750K annually
  • Research in Information Sciences
    Clark-Atlanta University - $750K annually
  • Advanced Fuel Cell and Battery Manufacturing Technology
    Illinois Institute of Technology - $2M annually
  • Science, Math, and Engineering Education
    Contra Costa College - $500K annually

SINGLE INVESTIGATOR PROGRAMS AT:
16 investigators at 11 institutions - $50K to $110K annually
e.g.: University of Detroit - Mercy
Howard University
North Carolina A&T State Univ.
Illinois Institute of Technology

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS:

  • U.S. Army High Performance Computing Research Center
    Subcontractor - Howard University
16% Of Army Academic Awards go to HBCU/MIs

Figure I-38. Army 6.1 Funding in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education

($K)

  FY94 FY95 FY96
Precollege 1559 1867 2312
Undergraduate 103 83 95
Graduate 1239 202 178
Postgraduate 410 436 623
Other 1278 1170 1170

Total

4589 3758 4378

Examples:

  • NRC Postdoctoral Associates
  • National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program
  • Cooperative Education Programs
  • Army Summer Faculty Research and Engineering Program
  • Army Summer Associateship for High School Science and Math Faculty
  • Student Contractor Program
  • Surplus Equipment Loan and Transfer