The Air Force Office of Scientific Research announced it will award more than $14 million in grants to 38 scientists and engineers who submitted winning research proposals through the Air Force's Young Investigator Research Program.

The YIP is open to scientists and engineers at research institutions across the United States who have received a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in the last five years and show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research.

According to AFOSR officials, competition for the YIP award is intense. This year AFOSR received 202 proposals in response to the office's broad agency announcement in major areas of interest to the Air Force. These areas of interest include: aerospace, chemical and material sciences; physics and electronics; and mathematics, information and life sciences.