The award is one of the oldest and most selective scientific research advancement programs in the country. Its purpose is to fund early-career academic researchers whose scientific pursuits show exceptional promise for supporting the Department of Defense, while also promoting their professional development.

Twenty-four YIP winners were selected this year from a pool of nearly 280 candidates representing 19 academic U.S. institutions in disciplines including machine learning, computational biology, optical and acoustic sensors, structural dynamics, material science, corrosion, fluid structure interaction, modeling and simulation, communication, robotics and neural science.  

Sangid's proposed research titled "Relationships between the galvanic driving force and strain energy density accumulation," will use state-of-the-art strain mapping to investigate the influence of galvanic reactions on material degradation and structural integrity, The research aims to unify approaches based on mechanics (relying on stress-state and deformation as the driving force for corrosion) and chemistry (relying on local chemical potentials for the basis of a galvanic reaction).

Sangid received his PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2010. He was a recipient of the TMS (The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society) Young Leaders Award in 2013 and an Air Force Office of Scientific Research YIP Award in 2014.