Even though MSU does not design new tanks or airplanes for the U.S. military, the university still contributes to the nation's defense through research funded by the federal government.

Most recently, MSU was selected to receive an additional $363,545 this year — most of which could help university professors create more efficient operating systems for Naval ships and submarines.

The news coincides with the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.

Tim Hogan, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was one of two MSU professors recommended to receive a grant to purchase equipment needed to complete a defense research project. Hogan's project is based on thermoelectrics, or the interaction of temperature and electricity in metal.

"It's going to impact the way they design the shipboard system because the concept of going to a more electric fleet will allow them to take their power generator and be able to shift it from system to system," Hogan said.

"If they need to move fast, they can put that energy to the propulsion. If they need firepower, they can put the energy to firepower. By being more electric, it gives them that dynamic ability."

The grant — announced and recommended early this month by Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., is funded by the Army Research Office and the Office of Naval Research as part of the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program — which provides funding for equipment.

Of MSU's total grant money, Hogan is recommended to receive $263,545, and Professor Amar Mohanty is recommended to receive $100,000 for polymer processing equipment to optimize materials.

Mohanty did not return repeated phone calls this week.

Most defense research that takes place at MSU is within the College of Engineering, and is relatively fundamental research, said Mark Burnham, MSU's associate vice president for governmental affairs.

"The primary efforts we are putting forth within the university is to support basic research at the Department of Defense. Mostly that supports engineering research," Burnham said. "(It's) not figuring out how to design a new vehicle — it's much more basic than that."

Many of these projects have a 15- to 20-year life span, so they are not necessarily directly related to the current war, he said.

Department of Defense grants increased by more than $1 million from the 2003-04 fiscal year to the 2005-06 fiscal year, according to Dan Evon, MSU's Contract and Grant Administration director.

However, the awards can span multiple years, which can distort increasing or decreasing trends, Evon said in an e-mail.

Ian Gray, MSU's vice president for research and graduate studies, said the university does not have a very large portfolio of defense research, with about $7 million of Department of Defense funds located mostly within the College of Engineering.

"It's certainly an area where the university will anticipate growing their research portfolio as we look to enhance our federal grant program," Gray said.

"It's an area for which we have not been as strong in which we should be or could be, and we are looking to be stronger in the future."

While MSU has been recommended for more than $360,000 in defense funding from the program this year, the University of Michigan was recommended to receive $3,641,042.

Hogan's work in defense research began with an interest in electronic materials and a collaboration with Mercouri Kanatzidis, a university distinguished chemistry professor who was doing exploratory research on semiconductor materials.

"I was doing measurements of the properties of those materials," Hogan said. "And what we discovered was the properties of some of the new materials he was making were quite good for thermoelectric applications."

Hogan said agencies most interested in the research were the Office of Naval Research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and — more recently — the U.S. Department of Energy.

Hogan's team consists of about 20 members, and the project aims to increase the efficiency of power generation devices — a device in which electricity can be produced, Hogan said.

Kanatzidis found a compound material that will increase the devices' efficiency. The grant would fund equipment to further test and analyze the material.

The nationally recognized project is planned to be finished by 2008, and the next step is to find and work with a company for large-scale production, he said.

"We felt quite good about (the equipment grant)," Hogan said. "It's going to help us out quite a bit in our larger project on thermoelectrics."

Sarah Harbison can be reached at harbiso9@msu.edu.