Universities Research Association

The Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA) is a consortium of 86 leading research-oriented universities, located primarily in the United States with two other members in Canada and one each in Japan, Italy and the United Kingdom. It is based in Washington, D.C..

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.

The URA is a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy for the creation and operation of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia, Illinois. In 2007, the URA partnered with the University of Chicago to form Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, which now holds the Fermilab contract. 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 85 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 86 members of the URA.

Domestic (81)

Overseas (5)

Canada

• McGill University
• University of Toronto

Italy

• Sapienza University of Rome
• University of Pisa

Japan

• Waseda University

United Kingdom

• Queen Mary University of London
• University College London
• University of Manchester

See also

• List of higher education associations and alliances

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} http://www.ura-hq.org/about/index.html Universities Research Association, Inc

External links

• Universities Research Association, Inc. home page

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