Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2025-06

Recent NJIT Provisional U.S. Patent Applications (Filed) 

Patent Title:    Amphibious Energy Harvesting System for Wind and Water Energy Conversion

NJIT Ref No.:   25-013

Inventor(s):     Dong, Lin / Flammang, Brooke / Zhang, Chi / Wang, Yuxiao / Urena, Johan / Augustin-Lawson, Richards / Eno, Catherine

Patent Application Status:   Filed Provisional Patent Application

Patent Application Filing Date:  2/3/2025

Application Filing No.:   63/753,132

Technology Licensing Status:  Available 

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US Army Tech Ignite Competetion

The Army xTech Program is seeking innovative technology solutions from U.S. small businesses that address critical capability needs across participating Program Executive Offices (PEOs).

The U.S. Army xTech Program is now accepting concept white paper submissions for the xTechIgnite competition and awarding up to $400,000 in cash prizes and the opportunity to submit an Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) proposal for either a Phase I of up to $250,000 each or Direct to Phase II of up to $2 million each. 

The xTechIgnite competition is seeking cutting-edge technology solutions from small, independent U.S. businesses that will drive significant military capabilities while addressing complex challenges and enhancing national security. The competition seeks technology solutions that fit within one of the eight topic areas:  

• Topic 1: Innovative Operations for Treatment and Processing of Wastewater 
• Topic 2: Generative AI-enabled Tactical Network 
• Topic 3: Bridge Health Monitoring (BHM) System  
• Topic 4: Ruggedized Sensors to Increase Driving Visibility and Vehicle Safety 
• Topic 5: Artificial Intelligence for Aided Driving of Ground Combat Vehicles 
• Topic 6: AI – enabled Source Selection 
• Topic 7: AI – enabled Portfolio Management 
• Topic 8: Novel AI Techniques for Insights in Various Environments (NATIVE) 

In addition to cash prizes and opportunity to submit an Army SBIR proposal, the competition will offer other key benefits, including operationally relevant and technical feedback from Department of Defense (DoD) experts and direct access, networking opportunities and exposure to key stakeholders. 

Finalists of the competition will be invited to conduct an in-person demonstration of their solution to a panel of Army and DoD subject matter experts in May 2025.  

Concept white paper submissions must be received by 5:00 PM ET on March 12, 2025.  

If you are interested in participating in the competition or learning more about the program, please visit the Army xTech Program website at https://www.xtech.army.mil/

NSF: Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences

NIH: Investigator Gateway Awards for Collaborative T1D Research (R03)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: AFRL FY25 Compositional Optimization, Dynamical Systems and Control (CODAC) UNIVERSITY CENTER OF EXCELLENCE; ERDC Broad Agency Announcement

Department of Energy: 2025 Exploratory Research for Extreme-Scale Science; Early Career Research Program

NASA: ROSES 2024: A.52 Advanced Component Technology

National Endowment of Humanities: Humanities Initiatives

DARPA taps Microsoft, PsiQuantum for scalable quantum computer research:  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced a new partnership Thursday working within the agency’s Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing program within the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, a program centered around identifying the technology that could bring a fault-tolerant — meaning that it arrives at its calculations without unexpected mistakes — quantum computer to life within the next few years.  DARPA selected Microsoft and PsiQuantum, a startup focused on leveraging photonics and semiconductors to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer, to move into the validation and co-design phase of that program to verify their proposed concepts. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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NIH Issues Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates: For any new grant issued, and for all existing grants to IHEs retroactive to the date of issuance of this Supplemental Guidance, award recipients are subject to a 15 percent indirect cost rate.  This rate will allow grant recipients a reasonable and realistic recovery of indirect costs while helping NIH ensure that grant funds are, to the maximum extent possible, spent on furthering its mission.  This policy shall be applied to all current grants for go forward expenses from February 10, 2025 forward as well as for all new grants issued.  We will not be applying this cap retroactively back to the initial date of issuance of current grants to IHEs, although we believe we would have the authority to do so under 45 CFR 75.414(c). The NIH notice NOT-OD-25-068 is posted here.