NASA: University Leadership Initiative Announcement of Vendor’s Forum

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) is pleased to announce a new opportunity for universities and their research partners to contribute toward NASA research goals. ARMD works with the aeronautics community to safely grow the air transportation system, reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions, and apply converging technologies to transform aviation. Research from the University Leadership Initiative will assist NASA in achieving the long-term aviation outcomes defined in the ARMD Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP).1 Universities will be able to build diverse, multi-disciplinary teams that provide transformative solutions to system-level aeronautics problems. University-led teams will define the technical challenges needed to advance the strategic thrusts defined in the SIP. They will then lay out milestones and conduct the research activities needed to achieve their own technical challenges.

As part of this initiative, NASA intends to directly connect multi-disciplinary research on challenging aeronautics problems with the development of the next generation of researchers and engineers. To meet this goal, lead organizations in future solicitations will be limited to U.S. accredited colleges and universities. Proposing institutions will be invited and encouraged to incorporate other colleges or universities, industry members, non-profit organizations, or other U.S.-based entities as team members.

Please join us for a Pre-Solicitation Vendor’s Forum on Wed March 9, 2016 from 12:30-3:00 pm ET. During the forum, we will discuss the initiative, provide answers to questions, and receive feedback from the community. NASA may use input from the forum to help develop its upcoming solicitation (expected to be issued in the early to mid-April timeframe).

Information on joining the forum (via phone and Adobe Connect) is available on https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/uli_vendorsforum. We look forward to talking with you.

Sincerely,

Richard Barhydt
Deputy Director, Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program

[1]NASA, “NASA Aeronautics Strategic Implementation Plan,” http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/pdf/armd-strategic-implementation-plan.pdf, 2015.