To our partners, colleagues, advocates and team – Bravo Zulu!
Today and throughout the next month, we invite you to celebrate 10 years of hard work and positive outcomes. It’s the 10th anniversary of the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) as the University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) of the University of Nebraska System (NU) and U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). This important partnership was announced publicly on October 12, 2012, and since then has provided critical research and engineering deliverables for our nation’s warfighters, first responders and defense leaders. NSRI has made our nation safer. It also has provided new pathways, opportunities and resources for NU researchers and students. NSRI has made our university better.
To create a UARC requires a unique clarity of purpose and commitment. After a rigorous review process throughout 2011 and 2012, the Department of Defense selected NU as the 13th UARC and USSTRATCOM was the first, and still only, Combatant Command to sponsor a UARC. The Command recognized the great benefit of applying NU's cutting-edge research capabilities to its own mission priorities and the nation's. NU leaders recognized the potential that university subject matter experts, facilities and technology held for national defense and committed these to the DOD.
As we hit this milestone, I am proud to share that we have received 147 contracts with 48 sponsoring agencies for $207.5 million in contract awards. Hundreds of NU researchers and students have contributed, with 44 NU principal investigators leading the charge. Many students involved in UARC work have gone on to pursue careers in national security. Our institute has also grown to more than 60 researchers and staff located in five facilities in Nebraska, along the East Coast and in Florida.
You can experience highlights of NSRI’s decade of service at nsri.nebraska.edu/NSRI10, where you will find sponsor, researcher and student features and articles describing many of our projects and events — a small sample of the abundant collaboration and purpose that have made NSRI what it is today. Please help us celebrate on LinkedIn with #NSRI10.
It is an honor to launch this celebration today. On behalf of all those who have participated, I thank USSTRATCOM and NU leaders for continued support and commitment. Thousands of people benefit from this partnership — our active, guard and reserve military warfighters, decision makers and first responders as well as members of the future national security workforce. Ultimately, all of America and its allies see positive outcomes from this important work.
I also recognize my friend and mentor Lt. Gen., USAF (Ret.) Bob Hinson, NSRI’s founding executive director, who burned the shoe leather to take this partnership from vision to action. To our NU colleagues — university administration, principal investigators, contributors and partners — you are the reason NSRI exists. Thank you for bringing your expertise forward. To our NSRI team — your passion, expertise and foresight holds it all together. Thank you for choosing to be on this team and contributing to mission accomplishment day in and day out. Job well done.
Let’s take some time to reflect upon these extraordinary 10 years together, then boldly look forward — to many more years of solving problems for America’s defense.
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About the National Strategic Research Institute
Through the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska leading scientists deliver innovative national security research, technology, product and strategy development, training and exercises, and subject matter expertise to the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. One of only 14 DOD-designated University Affiliated Research Centers in the country, NSRI is sponsored by U.S. Strategic Command and works to ensure the United States’ safety and preparedness against increasingly sophisticated threats. Read about our mission.
