A University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) is a strategic United States Department of Defense (DoD) research center associated with a university. UARCs are formally established by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)). UARCs were developed to ensure that essential engineering and technology capabilities of particular importance to the DoD are maintained. They have many similarities with Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, including sole source funding under the authority of . However, UARCs are allowed to compete for other science and technology work, except when it is prohibited by their contracts. [1]
These nonprofit organizations maintain essential research, development and engineering "core" capabilities; maintain long-term strategic relationships with their DoD sponsors; and operate in the public interest, free from real or perceived conflicts of interest. Collaboration with the educational and research resources available at their universities enhances each UARC’s ability to meet the needs of their sponsors.
University affiliated laboratories have been conducting research and development for the United States Navy since 1942, beginning with the creation of the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins. The most recent UARC, created in 2023, is the Research Institute for Tactical Autonomy, led by Howard University, which is performing research for the United States Air Force.
Occasionally, the creation of UARCs have been controversial. For example, in July 2004 the Navy proposed the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as a UARC. In response, some students and others protested with a six-day sit in at the campus administration building.[ citation needed ]
Current UARCs and their sponsors are: [2]
Former UARCs and their sponsors are:
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a US nonprofit consortium of more than 100 colleges and universities providing research and training in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and provides additional services to strengthen and support research and education through its community programs. Its headquarters, in Boulder, Colorado, include NCAR's Mesa Laboratory, designed by I.M. Pei.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is a public land-grant research university in Mānoa, Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offices of the system. Most of the campus occupies the eastern half of the mouth of Mānoa Valley, with the John A. Burns School of Medicine located adjacent to the Kakaʻako Waterfront Park.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan, foster, and encourage scientific research to maintain future naval power and preserve national security. It carries this out through funding and collaboration with schools, universities, government laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit organizations, and overseeing the Naval Research Laboratory, the corporate research laboratory for the Navy and Marine Corps. NRL conducts a broad program of scientific research, technology and advanced development.
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is an independent and nonprofit applied research and development (R&D) organization. Founded in 1947 by oil businessman Tom Slick, it provides contract research and development services to government and industrial clients.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University and employs 8,700 people as of 2024. APL is the nation's largest UARC.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory is the foundational research laboratory for the United States Army under the United States Army Futures Command (AFC). DEVCOM ARL conducts intramural and extramural research guided by 11 Army competencies: Biological and Biotechnology Sciences; Humans in Complex Systems; Photonics, Electronics, and Quantum Sciences; Electromagnetic Spectrum Sciences; Mechanical Sciences; Sciences of Extreme Materials; Energy Sciences; Military Information Sciences; Terminal Effects; Network, Cyber, and Computational Sciences; and Weapons Sciences.
The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. GTRI employs around 3,000 people, and was involved in nearly $1 billion in research in 2023 for more than 200 clients in industry and government.
The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. The White House, following recommendations from participating agencies, confers the awards annually. To be eligible for a Presidential Award, an individual must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Some of the winning scientists and engineers receive up to a five-year research grant.
The Whiting School of Engineering is the engineering school of the Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland.
TacSat-4 is the third in a series of U.S. military experimental technology and communication satellites. The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the program manager. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsored the development of the payload and funded the first year of operations. The Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) funded the standardized spacecraft bus and the Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) funded the launch that will be performed by the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC).
The United States Army Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) provides the United States Department of Defense and United States Department of Homeland Security, with applied research to develop simulation technologies, build on current simulation knowledge, and understand system of systems environments where human, agent, and teams are involved.
John M. J. Madey was a professor of Physics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, a former director of the Free Electron Laser Laboratory at Duke University, and formerly a professor (research) at Stanford University. He is best known for his development of the free-electron laser (FEL) at Stanford University in the 1970s.
The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) is a non-profit research and graduate education institute headquartered in Hampton, Virginia, near NASA's Langley Research Center.
Robert "Bob" T. McGrath has served as educator, researcher and executive administrator at several major universities and national laboratories.
The Chengdu University of Information Technology, formerly the Chengdu Meteorological College (成都气象学院), is a provincial public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is affiliated with the Province of Sichuan, and co-sponsored by the China Meteorological Administration and the Sichuan Provincial Government.
The Army Research Office (ARO) is a directorate within the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory responsible for managing the Army’s extramural research program. Originally a standalone organization assigned under the Office of the Chief of Research and Development, ARO was consolidated into DEVCOM ARL in 1998.
The Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) is a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) primarily funded by the United States Army. Headquartered at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and in collaboration with MIT, Caltech and industry partners, ICB's interdisciplinary approach to research aims to enhance military technology by transforming biological systems into technological applications.
Hope A. Ishii is an American scientist and the Director of the Advanced Electron Microscopy Center at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) at the University of Hawaiʻi. Her work focuses on analysis and characterization of small solar system objects such as comet and asteroid dust, primarily by means of electron microscopy and x-ray spectroscopy, sometime from samples collected in space using aerogel. She is a research faculty member at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and an affiliate researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Victor R. McCrary, Jr. is an American physical chemist who is vice president for research at the University of the District of Columbia. He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society and former president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.
Ralph D. Semmel is an American engineer and computer scientist. He became the eighth director of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland on July 1, 2010. In 2024, he announced that he will step down from his role in July 2025.