Photo By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Williams | Dr. Ben Harvey, in the Chemistry Division, is one of three teammates selected as the...... read more read more
CHINA LAKE, Calif. - Three highly accomplished teammates were selected as the first-ever Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Laboratory University Collaboratio Initiative Fellows for 2025.
The NAWCWD recipients of this competitive award, commonly referred to as LUCI, are Dr. Paula Chen of the Physics and Computational Sciences Division for her work titled, “Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Multi-Agent Differential Games”, and Dr. Benjamin Harvey and Dr. K. Randall McClain from the Chemistry Division, for their work titled “Conferring the Magnetic Anisotropy of Lanthanide Single-Molecule Magnets to Coupled Magnetic Nanomaterials.”
LUCI, which is sponsored annually by the Basic Research Office within the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, is designed to pair up Department of Defense researchers with some of the most prominent academia professors and universities with the overall objective to advance basic research by identifying gaps and emerging technologies 10 to 20 years in advance.
Each year OUSD(R&E) selects approximately a dozen DoD researchers working in the basic research field to collaborate with already-DoD-funded academics. The fellowship provides the researcher $200k per year during a three-year span to pursue their research.
The selection process involved program officers from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, along with senior leadership from the Basic Research Office and technical experts from partnering defense contractors.
Out of 59 initial white papers, the selection board narrowed it to 22 proposals. Following an intense interview process, 14 projects were selected, represented by 20 principal and co-principal investigators.
Director of the NAWCWD Research Department Dr. Mark Wonnacott commented that NAWCWD has, over the years, had a few outstanding researchers make it to LUCI’s final interview step, however, to his knowledge, this is the first time NAWCWD has had a recipient, let alone three. In fact, the only other warfare center researcher listed as a LUCI Fellow was from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in 2017.
Chen is a SMART scholar who has been at NAWCWD for only 16 months after completing her SMART internship with the Physics and Computational Sciences Division under Dr. Katia Estabridis. She is also the recipient of the SMART Scholarship SEED Grant for basic research.
“Paula is a very bright superstar, who, without the SMART program, may not have ended up here at NAWCWD,” said Estabridis. “She comes with strong mathematical skillsets which will ultimately improve things for the warfighter.”
Both her LUCI and SEED efforts are in collaboration with Brown University, which is where Chen completed her doctorate degree in 2023. For this project, Chen is collaborating with Professor George Karniadakis, PhD.
The LUCI project that Chen will be collaborating on focuses on theoretical mathematical algorithms that can be modeled to show varying outcomes.
“Differential games are some of the most difficult problems to solve in math,” explained Chen. “The point of this project is to find new ways to solve them.”
Chen expressed her excitement to partner on this topic. “This project hits on all the hot topics in academia right now, and it's exciting to have validation from others that my ideas are valuable,” said Chen.
Karniadakis is a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow and has been a lead or co-principal investigator on at least four different multi-university research initiatives.
“We have published three papers together since I joined NAWCWD that serve as the foundational work for my LUCI project," Chen said.
Chen is determined to continue publishing papers and chase exciting ideas. She strives to eventually receive an Office of Naval Research grant and work with her group to continue to grow a combined team of capable mathematicians and scientists at NAWCWD.
Over in the new Chemistry Laboratory, the other two recipients of LUCI are busy developing single-molecule magnets.
Dr. Ben Harvey began his career with NAWCWD full-time in 2008, following a two-year stint as a postdoctoral fellow. Harvey has published 87 patents and has over 114 peer-reviewed papers in his portfolio. He is a well-known expert in the chemistry world and is continuously pushing basic research to the forefront.
Harvey began as the project lead on the single molecule magnet technology in 2017 and now facilitates as mentor and support to current lead, Dr. Randall McClain.
After earning his doctoral degree from the University of Florida, McClain began a multi-year postdoc under Harvey and joined NAWCWD as a full-time civilian in 2021.
McClain currently holds the world record for creating the best performing single molecule magnet.
“Randall is one of the best synthetic chemists I’ve ever worked with,” said Harvey. “His work is prolific, and you can always find him in the lab with his hand in the glove box making new molecules.”
McClain’s initial work was funded by NAWCWD Naval Innovative Science and Engineering and the Office of Navy Research’s In-House Laboratory Independent Research.
Their LUCI project, “Conferring the Magnetic Anisotropy of Lanthanide Single-Molecule Magnets to Coupled Magnetic Nanomaterials,” is in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley alongside Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow and physicist Professor Michael Crommie, PhD.
“We have a great track record in terms of single molecular magnetism,” said McClain. “This is an important partnership as we work to advance molecular magnet into nanomaterials.”
Harvey explained that this partnership will offer the university access to the super cell molecules, while Berkley provides the ability to do the surface array chemistry using their tools and expertise.
“This project gives us the opportunity to learn new techniques while also providing a platform to instruct students on how to synthesize these molecules,” explained Harvey.
In regard to pursuing opportunities like LUCI, McClain stressed the importance of determining which research questions are important to the DoD by using the Navy roadmap and OSD policy documents and then establish fruitful collaborations with experts who can further that interdisciplinary research.
“These academic partnerships are crucial,” said McClain. “We are laying the foundation for future technologies and new possibilities and could not do this work without academia.”
“These awardees are evidence of the high quality of scientists being recruited at NAWCWD using the SMART Scholar and Postdoctoral opportunities and also being funded by our NISE program and the ONR’s In-House Laboratory Independent Research,” said Wonnacott.
You can find more information regarding the LUCI at OUSD(R&E)’s website (https://basicresearch.defense.gov/Pilots/Laboratory-University-Collaboration-Initiative/).
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.26.2024 14:39 |
| Story ID: | 486206 |
| Location: | CHINA LAKE, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 113 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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