AFOSR plans, coordinates, and executes the Air Force Research Laboratorys (AFRL) basic research program in response to technical guidance from AFRL and requirements of the Air Force. Additionally, the office fosters, supports, and conducts research within Air Force, university, and industry laboratories; and ensures transition of research results to support U.S. Air Force needs. The focus of AFOSR is on research areas that offer significant and comprehensive benefits to our national war fighting and peacekeeping capabilities. These areas are organized and managed in two scientific Departments: Engineering and Information Science (RTA), Physical and Biological Sciences (RTB), and our international offices (EAORD, SOARD, and AOARD). The research activities managed within each Department are summarized in this section.
Engineering and Complex Systems (RTA1)

Dynamic Materials and Interactions
GHz-THz Electronics and Materials
Energy, Combustion, and Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics
Unsteady Aerodynamics and Turbulent Flows
High-Speed Aerodynamics
Aerospace Composite Materials
Multiscale Structural Mechanics and Prognosis
Propulsion and Power
Agile Science of Test and Evaluation (T&E)
Information and Networks (RTA2)

Computational Cognition and Machine Intelligence
Computational Mathematics
Dynamical Systems and Control Theory
Dynamic Data and Information Processing
Information Assurance and Cybersecurity
Mathematical Optimization
Science of Information, Computation, Learning, and Fusion
Trust and Influence
Complex Networks
Cognitive and Computational Neurosciences
Physical Science (RTB1)

Aerospace Materials for Extreme Environments
Atomic and Molecular Physics
Electromagnetics
Laser and Optical Physics
Optoelectronics and Photonics
High-Energy Radiation-Matter Systems
Quantum Information Sciences
Physics of Sensing
Space Science
Ultrashort Pulse Laser-Matter Interactions
Condensed Matter Physics
Astrodynamics
Chemistry and Biological Sciences (RTB2)

Biophysics
Human Performance and Biosystems
Mechanics of Multifunctional Materials and Microsystems
Molecular Dynamics and Theoretical Chemistry
Natural Materials, Systems, and Extremophiles
Organic Materials Chemistry