Original Date: 03/08/1999
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

The Applied Research Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University (ARL Penn State) is an integral part of the Pennsylvania State University, which gives the laboratory an extended capability to manage and perform interdisciplinary research. The ARL Penn State is the largest of the affiliated laboratories, centers, and institutes that make up the University’s Intercollege Research Programs. The laboratory collaborates with various research faculty and facilities including the Colleges of Engineering, Science, and Earth & Mineral Sciences. The Penn State system serves more than 62,000 students, and produces numerous patents and inventions each year. In addition, the Penn State system has an annual operating budget exceeding $1.4 billion with a research program that receives nearly $264 million in federal, state, and private funds. Penn State is second only to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in industry-sponsored research and development (R&D), and ranks tenth among U.S. universities in total R&D expenditures.

The relationship with the University provides many advantages and greatly enhances the capabilities of the ARL Penn State. One of these advantages is the availability of talented, highly motivated, and affordable researchers from the University’s population. Of the 34 ongoing projects in the ARL Penn State’s Institute for Manufacturing and Sustainment Technologies (iMAST) program, 24 have students on their team, 14 use teaching professors, and five enlist teaching professors as principal investigators. As new opportunities arise or Naval needs are identified, the ARL Penn State taps the resources of the various Colleges, such as getting assistance from the business school to help solve logistics problems for the Marine Corps.

Through its relationship with one of the country’s largest and highly respected R&D-oriented universities, the ARL Penn State has access to a vast array of resources and expertise which it draws on to support clients. This arrangement also proves to be a competitive strength to the ARL Penn State in winning project awards and in attracting support/resources for its many successful programs.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.