Indian American researcher Manoj Mahajan at Stony Brook University, SUNY, leads collaboration on US Army project

Dr. Manoj D. Mahajan, Senior Research Scientist, Associate Professor, College of Business, Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology, CEWIT. PHOTO: stonybrook.edu

Researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook are collaborating on a new U.S. Army-funded project with the goal to improve how military command-and-control systems share and interpret data across platforms.

The project brings together industry and academic partners to address challenges posed by disconnected systems and legacy data formats used in military operations. It will be conducted with funding from the Army which has awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to HERE, an enterprise browser technology company, “to develop advanced data interoperability solutions for Army Command-and-Control (C2) and mission command systems,” a February 25, news release on the Stonybrook site said.

As part of the effort, HERE is partnering with Manoj D. Mahajan, director of special programs at Stony Brook University’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), and Pawel Polak of the university’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and its Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS), the news release says.

“Stony Brook University is working with HERE Enterprise Inc. and the U.S. Army to provide AI agnostic solutions that will prevent vendor lock-in for the U.S. Department of War and enable a more cohesive C2 environment,” said Mahajan. “This will enable analysts and warfighters to increase productivity by enabling them to move and access data faster across different tools through an AI-enabled platform.”

The Mahajan-led CEWIT’s role builds on Stony Brook’s established strengths in artificial intelligence, data science and applied mathematics. CEWIT collaborates “extensively with government and industry partners to translate research into deployable technologies, particularly in areas involving large language models, secure systems and complex data environments,” the university said, adding that CEWIT continues to serve as a key hub for these collaborations that address real-world challenges through advanced research and innovation. “This award helps expand Stony Brook University’s growing work in the defense and intelligence sector.” The university said.

“At HERE, we are pleased to be working with Stony Brook University and Dr. Manoj Mahajan’s research teams and faculty at CEWIT to ensure the most cutting-edge technology to deliver to the U.S. Army,” Vice President for public sector at HERE Jeff Mironcow said. “In addition, we are also excited to be working on an upcoming second project with the Stony Brook University team for the U.S. Department of War.”