The Texas A&M University System, with its 11 universities and eight state agencies, supports a robust research enterprise, including scores of U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Energy projects.
The National Labs Office is expanding the network between academia and the national labs. Projects range from Texas A&M University and Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers collaborating to produce radioactive isotopes — which could improve future cancer treatments — to studying advanced reactor structural materials under extreme radiation conditions to improve the materials used for building reactor cores.
Research Security
The Texas A&M System understands the complexities and requirements of meeting federal requirements for securing sensitive research. The Research Security Office serves all system principal investigators and project collaborators to ensure full compliance to all applicable laws, regulations and requirements.
The Research Security Office has received national recognition through its effective operating model of four primary functions: capabilities and services, internal and external stakeholder priorities and associated federal requirements. We were recognized with the Colonel James S. Cogswell Award for Industrial Security Excellence by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency in 2015 and again in 2020. In 2019, then-FBI director Christopher Wray acknowledged Texas A&M by name before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for its extra measures to protect sensitive information and intellectual property. No other academic institution has received this recognition twice.
From safeguarding classified information through the National Industrial Security Program to securing controlled unclassified information, the Texas A&M System Research Security Office has demonstrated its ability to protect critical intellectual property through its effective operating model: management and oversight, compliance, IT operations and security operations.
The Texas A&M System is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards and conduct regarding export control laws and regulations. While complying with applicable export control laws, the Texas A&M System recognizes the necessity of maintaining an open research environment, while balancing mitigation procedures to protect the interests of the United States.
The Research Security Office enables principal investigators and their collaborators to maintain federal funding while decreasing the administrative and technical burden imposed by these requirements, and has deployed a Secure Computing Enclave for the Texas A&M System.
The Research Security Office is fully capable of managing all aspects of the security clearance process and classified research. The A&M System has participated in the National Industrial Security Program since 1974 and is a cleared defense contractor.
For more information, contact the Research Security Office.
National Nuclear Security Administration Stewardship Science Academic Alliances
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Experimental Sciences funds research through the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances (SSAA) Program at Texas A&M University through the Center for Excellence in Nuclear Training and University-Based Research (CENTAUR) and the Center for Research Excellence on Dynamically Deformed Solids (CREDDS) to support state-of-the-art research in the areas of fundamental physical science and technology of relevance to the Stockpile Stewardship Program mission.
Facilities
The Texas A&M University System has a network of facilities for use in conducting cutting edge national security research. Below, we highlight just a few of our facilities actively being utilized in collaboration with NNSA.
Cyclotron Institute
The Cyclotron Institute facility operates a K500 superconducting cyclotron and its advanced electron cyclotron resonance ion sources. Together, these provide a powerful arsenal of intermediate-energy projectiles for use in both fundamental and applied studies.
Fuel Cycle and Materials Laboratory
Currently funded projects from the U.S. Department of Energy include processing activities to develop advanced nuclear fuels for burning transuranic radionuclides and radioactive waste forms for isolating fission products.
Center for Large-Scale Scientific Simulations (CLASS)
A joint center of Texas A&M University and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, the Center for Large-Scale Scientific Simulations has access to various computing clusters at Texas A&M University, including the HYDRA IBM p5-575 Cluster, as well as various massively parallel computers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Accelerator Laboratory
The Accelerator Laboratory is one of the largest university ion irradiation facilities in the U.S. A total of five accelerators are able to deliver virtually all ions in the elemental table with ion energy from a few hundred electron volts (eVs) to a few mega electron volts (MeVs).
If you are interested in developing a partnership, program or connection, contact us!