DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
06/11/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/11/2026 11:21
DARPA celebrates 20 years of Young Faculty Awards, announces Director’s Fellows
June 11, 2026
For two decades, DARPA's Young Faculty Award (YFA) program has been a catalyst for scientific and technological innovation. The program has supported over 500 rising research stars from more than 60 universities, driving breakthroughs aligned with national security areas of interest.
The YFA program identifies and engages early-career scientists at U.S. academic institutions, connecting these exceptional individuals to Department of War (DOW) needs and DARPA's mission. Awardees are provided with critical funding, mentorship, and connections to industry and Department of War contacts. This ecosystem enables them to develop and frame their research ideas within the context of national security needs.
DARPA has selected seven performers from the 2024 YFA class to receive the YFA Director's Fellowship. The fellowship provides a third year of funding - up to $500,000 - for a limited number of awardees who have demonstrated exceptional performance in their initial project objectives. The 12-month funding extension enables individuals build on the success of their initial work, further develop their research, and continue their collaboration with DARPA.
| Recipient | Institution | Project title |
| Jairo Diaz Amaya | Rochester Institute of Technology | "Osmotic Signalers for Functional Materials" |
| Ognjen Ilic | University of Minnesota, Twin Cities | "Ultralightweight Nanophotonic Radiators for Adaptive and High-Power Heat Rejection" |
| Yang Lin | University of Rhode Island | "Precision in Miniature: Revolutionizing MPS with Digital Acoustofluidics and Nanoscale 3D Printing" |
| Thirimadura Charith Mendis | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | "Language and Hardware Adaptive Representations and Techniques for Compiling Heterogeneous Workloads" |
| Samuel Oliveira | North Carolina A&T State University | "Spatial-temporal Dynamics for Predictive Multiscale Models of Multi-cellular Circuit" |
| Savio Poovathingal | University of Kentucky | "Gas-surface scattering dynamics in very low Earth orbit" |
| Carter Yagemann | Ohio State University | "End-to-End Modeling and Mitigation of Fault Injection Attacks" |
In addition to the Director's Fellowship recipients, the 2026 YFA class has been selected for negotiation of potential awards. This year's solicitation introduced a new incentive: an option to fund a U.S. person graduate student in a supporting capacity on a YFA project, with an award value of up to an additional $350,000. This enhancement aligns with DARPA's interest in expanding the pool of available, clearable personnel for future programs.
Formal announcement of 2026 award recipients is anticipated for August or September 2026, following the conclusion of contract negotiations.
The research announcement seeking YFA applications for 2027 will be available on the grants.gov, and sam.gov websites in early fall 2026.
DARPA recognizes the generations of YFA performers whose innovative research has shaped the program's 20-year history. See all YFA recipients from 2006 - 2025, their institutions, and the titles of their research. Their work has been exceptional, and for many, their ongoing research continues to have the potential to be transformative for national security.
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