Battles in the future will be fought in space — not at the speed of missiles, but at the speed of light, says the University of Arizona’s new senior vice president for research and innovation, adding that the UA can help the U.S. prepare.
The UA has “unique strengths” in space science, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning, photonics and microelectronics, where solutions to the world’s current challenges lie, Tomás Díaz de la Rubia told the Arizona Board of Regents at its Nov. 21 meeting.
Collaborating with the U.S. Defense Department and Arizona’s military installations for national security purposes is “a key imperative” for the UA, Díaz de la Rubia said. “I believe strongly that state universities in this country have an imperative and a duty to help solve the great challenges we face in this very dangerous world we live in today,” he said.
“We live in a dangerous neighborhood, there’s no question about it. And to support our freedoms, our liberties that we so dearly care about, we need all of us to contribute to the solutions that are going to keep us safe and secure from our adversaries,” said Díaz de la Rubia, who was brought to UA by new President Suresh Garimella and began his role on Nov. 11.
Díaz de la Rubia
He spoke as ABOR discussed an initiative underlying the board’s commitment to “strengthening the long-standing partnership between Arizona’s public universities and defense agencies, advancing both state and national security priorities.”
“... There is a growing recognition that the universities have the potential to secure even more funding and partnerships with the Department of Defense and other military entities,” said ABOR Chair Cecilia Mata.
A member of the Defense Science Board, Díaz de la Rubia previously served at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, worked with the national security and defense enterprise at Purdue University, and launched an aerospace and defense innovation institute at the University of Oklahoma. He told the regents he participates in many studies about national security and “challenges that we can tackle together as a group of universities, as a state and as a nation.”
“To be able to develop those new technologies, to translate those new technologies, that will help our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen, our Marines, our coasts and our guardians is really truly an imperative for us,” Díaz de la Rubia said.
The UA’s Department of Defense-funded research was reported to be $35.1 million in 2023, an increase from $34.4 million and $30.8 million in 2022 and 2021.
Preliminary numbers for 2024, UA reported, show a total of $38.5 million in defense-funded research, a 25% increase from fiscal year 2021, reflecting “a dedicated commitment to elevating the university’s national security-related portfolio through the National Security Initiatives program and a secure facility at the University of Arizona Applied Research Corporation.”
Díaz de la Rubia said the university is extremely well-positioned and already doing very significant work with the Defense Department and intelligence community across areas including cybersecurity.
He said it is imperative for the U.S. to match and exceed the speed at which its “adversaries” are developing hypersonic vehicles. “We have testing facilities for hypersonic vehicles that are truly among the best in the nation in an academic institution,” he said.
The senior vice president said the UA’s work in advanced technologies will also help in precisely navigating “GPS and night environments.”
Garimella, who became the UA’s president on Oct. 1, agreed. “The university is among the nation’s top research institutions, with specialties in cybersecurity, hypersonics, optical sciences and directed energy, space domain awareness, health sciences research, and quantum information science,” Garimella said in a written statement Wednesday.
Besides hypersonics and quantum networking, the listed sections in Department of Defense-funded research at the UA include: autonomy, cybersecurity and data security; installation readiness and resource allocation; and warfighter health and wellness, according to ABOR.
