Projects and Missions

Below is a sampling of APL’s critical contributions to critical challenges. Projects and missions are displayed in alphabetical order. 

Filter projects and missions by area of impact, mission area, or both.

Forest fire (Credit: Bigstock)

Accelerating Air Quality Forecasts

In the last several years, record-setting wildfires have released millions of smoke-borne contaminants into the air, setting off air quality alerts across the country. APL is using artificial intelligence to accelerate air quality forecasts and ultimately deliver a better understanding of how and where these pollutants will travel.
Learn more about Accelerating Air Quality Forecasts
A researcher experiments in APL’s biomanufacturing lab. (Credit: Johns Hopkins APL)

Advancing Biomanufacturing for National Security

Researchers at APL are combining their technical expertise, creativity, and national security acumen to put biomanufacturing to work to make supply chains more secure, strengthen the defense industrial base, and produce materials wherever and whenever.
Learn more about Advancing Biomanufacturing for National Security
ISC researchers Elizabeth Reilly and Jason Lee apply mathematical models to understand how different shocks impact food security.

Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action

Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and mathematics to spur innovation and novel solutions to challenges at the intersection of climate change and national security
Learn more about Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action
Jay Brett and Jennifer Sleeman

Discovering Climate Tipping Points

Artificial intelligence experts and oceanographers are integrating AI with traditional climate modeling methods to enable scientific researchers to better understand climate tipping points, critical thresholds that, once crossed, could “tip” a natural climate system into an entirely different state.
Learn more about Discovering Climate Tipping Points
James Johnson and Danielle Nachman in APL’s PFAS research laboratory.

Eliminating Forever Chemicals

Multiple studies have linked PFAS exposure to harmful health effects in humans and animals, and without a natural way to break them down, the chemicals persist in soil and contaminate the environment — including water. APL scientists are developing several technologies to capture and destroy these “forever chemicals.”
Learn more about Eliminating Forever Chemicals
Hayley DeHart, a genomics research scientist at APL, loads water samples into a sequencer while on board a ship during the team’s trip to Monterey Bay.

Enlisting eDNA to Understand Ecosystems

APL researchers are using genetic information to observe animals, plants, and microbes in their natural environments, and pioneering environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis methods to study marine ecosystems that the world relies on as the foundation of global food webs.
Learn more about Enlisting eDNA to Understand Ecosystems
Coral fragments housed in APL’s NAMI facility.

Reversing the Loss of Coral Reefs

Recognizing the need to safeguard America’s coastlines and the value natural structures play in their protection, APL researchers are finding ways to use materials science to support coral reef growth and restoration.
Learn more about Reversing the Loss of Coral Reefs
Earth (Credit: Bigstock)

Tracking Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Using a combination of machine learning, satellite imagery, and localized emissions data, APL advances its accurate, scalable, and easily configurable greenhouse gas monitoring framework for road transportation.
Learn more about Tracking Greenhouse Gas Emissions