Meeko Oishi, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of New Mexico, was recenlty chosen to participate in the 2020-2021 Defense Science Study Group.

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The Defense Study Science Group (DSSG) is a highly-selective program. This year, there were 178 nominations from 97 universities, and from those, 15 were selected for this year’s class.

Selection is based on academic excellence, breadth of interests, references, consideration of discipline and geographic distribution. This program is significant because it provides unique opportunities to learn about technological challenges associated with national security, Oishi said.

DSSG is a program focused on education and study that introduces outstanding science and engineering professors to security challenges the United States faces and encourages them to apply their talents to these issues. The program, started in 1986, is directed by the nonprofit Institute for Defense Analyses and is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, commonly known as DARPA.

Oishi is one of 22 professors in the School of Engineering who have been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for early-career faculty, and she is also a part of several major research projects at UNM, – including a $20 million NSF EPSCoR grant to revolutionize the state’s electrical grid and a $6.7 million agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop manufacturing techniques of the future.