Vice President for Research shares expertise with DOD to support technological partnerships with HBCUs

Dr. Victor R. McCrary, vice president for research and professor of chemistry, was invited to present as part of a panel of experts  at the Department of Defense’s (DOD) University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC) Directors meeting on March 23. The meeting was sponsored by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).

Maintaining technological superiority for the nation is a top goal for the DOD, which is seeking diverse input from various sources, including researchers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

“America’s HBCUs are a vital untapped national security asset for innovative research, advanced concept development and domestic STEM talent,” said Dr. McCrary.

The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is one of three HBCUs that has partnered with a UARC (the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security, ARLIS, at the University of Maryland) to support research projects to address modernization priorities established by the DOD, including 5G, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cyber assessments and the chatbot testbed, which will explore the deployment of a multilingual solution that is usable for understanding problems to influence information operations and counter insider threats. UDC also has a strategic partnership with another DOD UARC, the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State University.

For more information about DOD UARC partnerships with HBCUs, please click here and for UDC’s Office of University Research, click here.