The Defense Department has awarded $52.5 million to 107 institutions of higher education to help them buy research equipment the schools would otherwise not be able to afford. The money, issued under the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, will help colleges pay for instruments that cost in excess of $50,000 apiece for use in information technology, remote sensing, propulsion, electronics and electro-optics, advanced materials, and ocean science and engineering research. The awards, which will range from $50,000 to roughly $235,000 each, went to 222 schools out of more than 700 that submitted requests.