Formation 1965 Membership 89 | Location United States Executive Director Marta Cehelsky | |
Council Chair Douglas D. Baker (President, Northern Illinois University) Council Vice-Chair Henry T. Yang (President, UC Santa Barbara) Headquarters Washington, D.C., United States | ||
The Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA) is a consortium of 89 leading research-oriented universities primarily in the United States, with members also in Canada, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The not-for-profit URA corporation was founded in 1965 for management and operation of research facilities in the national interest.
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History and purpose
The URA was founded in 1965, under the directive of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Committee and the National Academy of Sciences. Its charter involves the management and operation of research facilities.
Between 1965 and 2007, URA was the prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy (and its predecessor organizations) for the creation and operation of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia, Illinois. As of January 1, 2007, Fermilab is operated by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, a limited liability corporation with two members, the University of Chicago and Universities Research Association (URA). Fermilab is home to the Tevatron, which, until the recent initiation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), was for many years the world's most important highest-energy accelerator for elementary particle physics research.
For the fiscal year 2010, Department of Energy funding for URA is approximately $400 million. National Science Foundation and NASA grant funding is about $1.0 million. Fermilab also received an additional one-time allocation of $114 million over FY 2009 and FY 2010 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Organization
The corporation acts under the authority of its governing body, the Council of Presidents of its 89 member universities. A board of trustees appoints governing boards for each major research activity. The Washington headquarters office of URA coordinates the activities of the Council and boards. It is responsible for oversight and governance of the URA's enterprises and for corporate relations with the federal government, industry, academe, and the general public.
Membership
Below are the 89 members of the URA.
International (6)
Canada
Italy
Japan
United Kingdom