Over the past several years, certain research-led projects by UCI professors and students have increasingly been funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) — including projects regarding semiconductors, surveillance systems and aerospace technologies. Many of these technologies ultimately end up supporting military infrastructure, including weapons systems and surveillance equipment.
Despite the typically public origins of this research funding, these projects remain largely invisible to the student body, raising questions about the role of a public university in supporting military infrastructure.
UCI receives significant funding from defense, national security and weapons-adjacent government programs. According to the Defense Information Technical Center (DITC), the university received just under $65 million from the DOD in 79 grants related to the field of engineering, and just over $20 million in 16 grants related to the field of computer science since 2016.
UCI’s Office of Research told New University in an email that it identified approximately 1,060 grants, subcontracts, contract agreements or cooperative agreements where the category is DOD. The office also identified 124 UCI projects directly funded by the DOD.
In 2023, UCI became a member of the California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub (DREAMS), a microelectronics and semiconductor research hub led by the DOD. UCI was awarded nearly $27 million to advance the growth of the U.S.’ microelectronics industry.
Chancellor’s Professor and Henry Samueli Faculty Excellence Professor Payam Heydari leads UCI’s participation in DREAMS, serving as the principal investigator. According to him, microelectronics are prevalent in almost every aspect of human life and play a central role in the U.S. economy.
“Microelectronics chips are essentially the most important building blocks that are used in any kind of advanced or non-advanced electronic system and circuits,” Heydari told New University. “That also includes commercial, non-commercial and defense applications.”
Microelectronic chips can be found in products such as smartphones, computers, microwaves, braking systems and cloud computing. In military equipment, chips are specifically used in precision-guided weapons like drones and missiles and secure communication systems.
The United States is known for being a top military spender. According to a study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, America ranked first in military expenditures in 2024, with $997 billion spent.
Heydari said that national security must be prioritized for the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge over other nations. And that national priority is increasingly evident in the allocation of university funding, such as UCI’s, within defense research.
“We have no choice but to advance the weaponries and the equipment of defense that is used to maintain the security of the United States,” Heydari said. “The most vital equipment of defense and war are heavily using aspects of [this] high tech. And essentially, in that high tech are different microelectronic chips … to maintain national security.”
Defense companies like Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Raytheon are listed as institutions involved in the DREAMS research hub, partnering with many universities across the country to develop defense technologies. The three companies are also listed as corporate affiliates to the UCI’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
“UCI has been greatly benefiting from [DREAMS] because as a result of this big consortium, we have been able to establish relationships with defense organizations, such as Northrop Grumman and Boeing,” Heydari said. “And that has helped the short and long-term vision of UCI to become a center of excellence in chips and semiconductors and wired and wireless communications.”
Beyond microelectronics, UCI research has also contributed to surveillance and monitoring technologies with military applications.
Testbed for loT-based Privacy-Preserving PERvasive Spaces (TIPPERS) is a project developed by the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) in 2017, and is led by Professor Sharad Mehrotra and Professor Nalini Venkatasubramanian.
The TIPPERS web-based application gathers signals from various sources in a building or room and is able to determine the real-time location of individuals and occupancy levels of specific floors. The application uses advanced metrics, such as seeking permission to collect personal information and data to protect those identified.
TIPPERS received $5.2 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the Brandeis program and the Air Force Research Laboratory. The app was also awarded the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) Innovation Award in 2021.
According to the article posted by the School of ICS, Mehrotra and his team partnered with researchers and Dean of the Donald Bren School of ICS alumnus Mamadou H. Diallo at the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) because they recognized the potential TIPPERS had to “enhance military operations, dynamically monitoring soldiers and their environment and greatly improving situational awareness.”
Diallo and Mehrotra have worked together to transition TIPPERS from primarily land-based functions to utilizations in naval exercises. The system was successfully demonstrated on a U.S. Navy Destroyer as part of NAVWAR’s Trident Warrior 2019.
Mehrotra did not respond to New University’s request for an interview.
Students have raised concerns over the ethical and moral dilemmas relating to UCI’s involvement in these programs. Resist US-Led War, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Anakbayan hosted an anti-war rally to protest UCI’s invitation to weapons manufacturers at the STEM Career Fair in Oct. 2025.
An SJP member, who requested anonymity, said student concerns regarding these technologies often go unheard.
“A lot of these professors, … they don’t necessarily talk about ethical implications as much,” the interviewee told New University. “It’s kind of just something like, ‘Oh, it is what it is.’”
The member said that when students previously raised these same concerns, specifically during SJP’s encampment in 2024, the university only focused on containing protests rather than listening to their message.
“[UCI] would rather keep the status quo, keep the university running the way it is, rather than actually listening to the concerns of the students that they’re very loudly, very blatantly telling them,” interviewee said.
Dean of the Donald Bren School of ICS Marios Papaefthymiou and Interim Dean of the Samueli School of Engineering Faryar Jabbari did not respond to New University’s request for comment.
Ennes Kahf is a Features Staff Writer. He can be reached at ekahf@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon, Annia Pallares zur Nieden, Annabelle Aguirre
