Stony Brook University, in partnership with Red shredwas awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop the Radiation Information and Decision AI Assistant for Nuclear Tasks (RADIANT).
This innovative AI-based platform is designed to support military operations and nuclear security through real-time, data-driven radiological guidance.
Led by Stony Brook Principal Investigator Manoj Mahajan, the RADIANT project will integrate advanced artificial intelligence with health physics expertise to improve decision-making in radiologically risky environments. The technology is intended to serve as a companion to AI for healthcare physicists, providing user-friendly, on-demand information for tactical units, strategic mission planning and nuclear inspection tasks.
“RADIANT exemplifies the type of high-impact innovation that emerges when academic research aligns with real business needs,” said Michael Kinch, chief innovation officer at Stony Brook University. “Projects like this reflect our commitment to expanding both the breadth and depth of industry partnerships, particularly with Long Island and New York-based companies, to help them accelerate their success while applying trusted AI and deep scientific expertise to complex, high-risk challenges.”
This award represents the university’s first award with DTRA in over a decade and builds on a growing track record of success between Redshred and the university. Redshred is based in Stony Brook Center of Excellence in Wireless Information and Technology (CEWIT) and the company represents CEWIT’s first expansion into nuclear and radiological health research.
Last year, Mahajan and Redshred were awarded a $1.8 million STTR Phase II contract from the U.S. Air Force for their Automation of Airworthiness Models for CerTification Evaluations (AIRMATE) system. This project contributes to expanding two of CEWIT’s areas of intervention: medical technology and defense research.
RADIANT’s key innovation lies in its ability to extract and interpret complex data from nuclear physics and health literature. This allows the system to see and understand information as a trained human specialist would, significantly improving response time and accuracy in high-stakes situations.
Building on this capability, the project advances several of DTRA’s strategic initiatives by integrating advanced calculations, human-machine interfaces, and trusted AI to provide clear, real-time radiation protection guidance. Designed to run on small, local devices, RADIANT aligns with DTRA’s goal of creating accessible, field-ready technologies that translate complex technical data into actionable information for military operations and a range of civilian applications.
“CEWIT looks forward to collaborating with Redshred on RADIANT and providing our expertise in health physics, large language models and AI to contribute to the safety of military personnel and civilians,” said Mahajan, director of special programs at CEWIT. “Our relationship and success with Redshred continues to grow with this additional project for DTRA and they have been an exceptional and model partner for the university.”
DTRA is the first end user of RADIANT, which could ultimately serve a wide range of military and civilian applications. The system is designed to guide safe radiation exposure practices in real time, providing tactical recommendations, such as time frames based on radiation dose thresholds. Strategically, this can help predict long-term impacts on veteran health, which is a growing area of CEWIT and Stony Brook Medicine, as well as combat force capabilities due to radiation exposure, thereby contributing to force protection and mission execution.
“It touches three of our strategic areas: defense, health and energy and leverages the AI expertise and resources of Stony Brook University,” said Rong Zhao, director of CEWIT. “We continue to develop this partnership to create more opportunities for commercialization of defense technology in the military and civilian sectors in the region. »
Beyond its defense applications, RADIANT has strong commercial potential in sectors such as nuclear energy, emergency response, special operations and international treaty monitoring. The platform could help civilian operators, NGOs and global organizations, such as the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, with radiation protection, compliance and inspection.
Stony Brook’s collaboration with Redshred underscores the university’s commitment to promoting innovative technologies that address global challenges. The RADIANT project represents a bold advance in the use of AI and demonstrates the fundamental relationship between research and innovation in developing scalable and impactful solutions to society’s most pressing challenges.
“We are creating an innovative solution that transforms complex radiation data into actionable insights for non-experts in the field with our partners at Stony Brook University,” said Jim Kukla of Redshred.