Universities Research Association

Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA) is a non-profit association of more than 90 major research universities, primarily in the U.S., including several international universities. URA was founded in 1965 at the behest of the President’s Science Advisory Committee and the National Academy of Sciences to build and operate Fermilab, a new, cutting edge National Accelerator Laboratory and ensure the Nation’s best academic expertise was applied to the project. Even today, the mission of URA remains: To establish and operate--in the national interest--unique laboratories and facilities for research, development, and education in the physical and biological sciences to expand the frontiers of knowledge, foster innovation, and promote the education of future generations of scientists.

In 1962, the President's Science Advisory Committee and a sister committee under the Atomic Energy Commission joined to "assess the future needs in high-energy accelerator physics." The recommendations from this panel, set out in 1963, included the need to immediately begin construction and design on a series of cutting-edge, high-energy proton accelerators to ensure that the U.S. stayed at the forefront of this emerging set of technologies and the science they enabled. An additional recommendation called for a new administrative construct to ensure robust participation of experts from a broad swath of the Nation’s universities. In early 1965 the National Academy of Sciences addressed this last recommendation by sponsoring a meeting of presidents from twenty-five major research universities to discuss the management of the accelerator facility that would later become the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory or Fermilab. The meeting eventually resulted in the decision to form the Universities Research Association, with 34 original members, to build and manage the new accelerator facility. URA filed its articles of incorporation on June 21, 1965. J. C. Warner, president of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, served as URA’s first president.

Throughout its history, URA has continued to be involved in some of the Nation’s most complex scientific endeavors, including the development of the Tevatron at Fermilab, early activities related to the Super-Conducting Supercollider, Pierre Auger Cosmic Observatory, and the recent work at Fermilab to build the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and the associated Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). More recently, URA joined as a team member the Honeywell International-led National Technology and Engineering Solutions at Sandia (NTESS) that manages and operates Sandia National Laboratories.

Fermilab Management and Operation

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is the Nation’s premier particle physics and accelerator laboratory, located in Batavia, Illinois. Through the sponsorship of the Department of Energy and under the management of URA and the University of Chicago through the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, Fermilab has recently begun construction of the first-ever major international science experiment to be built on U.S. soil, LBNF/DUNE. This international project brings together scientists and engineers from over 30 countries with the common goal of understanding the elusive but fundamental sub-atomic particle, the neutrino. The facilities required for DUNE and the LBNF are located at Fermilab and the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota.

As if building one of the world’s most ambitious scientific experiments was not enough, Fermilab is also building and operating numerous other cutting-edge experiments such as the Proton Improvement Plan II, ICARUS, and Muon g-2 is leading DOE’s new Super-Conducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center. To help enable the success of Fermilab and its significant cadre of scientists, URA sponsors the Visiting Scholars Program (VSP). Funded by URA’s university members, the VSP makes individual grants to scientists from member universities to travel to Fermilab, access the accelerators and associated instrumentation, meet with colleagues and participate in experiments. In addition, URA recognizes three outstanding young scientists at Fermilab each year with an award and honorarium.

Support to Sandia National Laboratories

In 2017 URA joined the Honeywell-led National Science and Technology Solutions of Sandia team in the management and operations of Sandia National Laboratories. Through its URA Sandia Site Office, URA supports the continuing excellence of Sandia’s science, technology, and engineering efforts by fostering linkages to external expertise and contributing to a wide range of efforts under the direction of the Chief Research Officer. The URA Executive Director also serves on the NTESS Board of Managers.

Coordination of U.S. Support to Pierre Auger Cosmic Observatory

URA also coordinates the ongoing U.S. contributions to the important scientific endeavors of the Pierre Auger Observatory, an international cosmic ray observatory in Mendoza Province, Argentina, that is designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Fifteen countries, including the U.S., shared the $50 million construction costs. Today, more than 500 physicists from nearly 100 worldwide institutions are collaborating to maintain and upgrade the observatory site and collect and analyze data.

• Official website