Huntsville Research Center celebrates a decade of success

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The Auburn University Huntsville Research Center (AUHRC) is celebrating its 10-year anniversary of advancing Auburn’s research portfolio and presence in north Alabama and beyond.

Headed by Dr. Rodney Robertson as executive director, the AUHRC was created to match Auburn’s research capacities with the needs of Huntsville’s government agencies and industries. By facilitating collaborations between Auburn researchers and Huntsville industry leaders on a number of federal contracts, the AUHRC aims to increase research funding to both Auburn and the state of Alabama.

“We have had many successes in establishing meaningful and long-lasting partnerships between the university and the numerous industries and government agencies located in Huntsville,” Robertson said. “Through these collaborations, Auburn’s premier research capabilities have been used to address significant government and industry needs that benefit not only our region, but our nation as a whole.”

The AUHRC has linked Huntsville-based industries to several of Auburn's colleges and programs, and created partnerships with the U.S. Army, NASA, Missile and Space Intelligence Center, Missile Defense Agency, FBI and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, among many others.

The Auburn presence in Huntsville has grown to include five core AUHRC employees and an additional seven College of Engineering employees who are funded by government contracts and located on-site at Army facilities at Redstone Arsenal and at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The center’s focus areas include projects in defense, cyber security, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, biotechnology, information technology and other federal and state government priorities.

“We are poised for even greater success in the future and look forward to the next decade,” Robertson said.

For news and updates from the AUHRC, follow @AuburnHRC on Twitter.