US Air Force Academy

The Air Force Academy was established in 1954 at a site north of Colorado Springs. The current authorized number of cadets is 4,000, supported by more than 530 faculty in Basic Sciences, Engineering, Social Sciences, and Humanities. About half of the faculty have earned Ph.D. degrees.

Mission of the Laboratory

The Academy's research mission is to plan and execute research programs in Air Force-relevant technology. This includes basic and applied research in aeronautics, biomimetic sensors, nanosatellites, rocket propulsion and space physics, lasers and optics, hydrogen fuel cells and ionic liquids, aging aircraft structures and materials, modeling and simulation, human effectiveness, molecular biology, unmanned aerial vehicles, information technology applications, and robotics.

The laboratories carry out a number of programs sponsored by other agencies (e.g., Air Force Office of Scientific Research, DoD High-Performance Computing Modernization Office, etc.) and provides technology-literate officers to the Air Force Research Laboratory, product divisions, and other AF agencies. All of the Academy’s research teams include undergraduate cadets.  Its facilities and faculty are utilized by researchers from other federal agencies, DoD contractors, universities, and private companies.

Facilities

• Wind tunnels and jet engine test facilities
• Lasers and optics laboratory
• Supercomputing facilities
• Computer-controlled fatigue testing and structural instrumentation laboratory
• Electron microscopy, chemistry, and metallurgy laboratory
• Machining, sheet metal, woodworking, and welding shops

The Air Force Academy Labs include two institutes that solicit research proposals to further their missions to combine research and undergraduate education.

Institute for Information Technology Applications (IITA)

IITA coordinates and focuses multi-disciplinary teams on information technology application research issues of interest to the Department of Defense, the United States Air Force, and United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), as well as numerous civilian organizations.

IITA partners with researchers from all disciplines to conduct research in the following broad area domains:

• Bio-IT Technologies
• Command and Control Tools
• UAVs
• Vehicle Locators
• Personnel Locators
• Communication Systems
• Secure Communications
• Secure Data
• Communication Between Military and Civilian Authorities
• Crisis Response
• DoD Architecture Framework
• Electronic Digitization Applications
• Fully Integrated Logistics Support
• Geospatial Information Technologies
• Human-IT Machine Interface
• Information Policy Issues
• Information Warfare
• IT-Enabled Management Concepts
• Knowledge Management
• Distributed E-Learning Systems
• Classroom Interaction Systems
• Virtual Human/Agent Technologies
• Latent Semantic Analysis
• Modeling and Simulation
• Terrorism
• Nanotechnology
• Sensor Reflective Technology
• Wireless Applications

United States Air Force Institute for National Security Studies

The United States Air Force Institute for National Security Studies conducts research with faculty, cadets, and research partners in the following areas:

• Strategic Security, International Treaties and Agreements, and Combating Proliferation
• Homeland Defense and Combating Terrorism
• Regional and Emerging National Security Issues
• Air and Space Issues and Planning
• Information Operations and Information Warfare

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