The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has granted a highly competitive Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) award to New College of Florida and five partner institutions for a project entitled “Neurobehavioral, Physiological, and Computational Processes of Auditory Object Learning in Mammals.”

Twelve senior researchers will work on seven interrelated projects exploring how dolphins, humans and seals learn to recognize and process auditory objects in cluttered acoustic scenes. The initiative was one of only 28 projects selected from a pool of 340 proposals to the MURI program for Fiscal Year 2022.

The Office of Naval Research will oversee the undertaking, with Carnegie Mellon University serving as the lead institution in collaboration with New College, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, the University of Washington, the University of Michigan and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 

If fully funded as proposed, the project will run for five years, with an award to New College of $576,960. This will fund the research of New College Director of Environmental Studies Dr. Heidi Harley and three of her student assistants/interns per year. It will also cover research travel to partner aquariums, as well as supplies and consulting fees.