Southeastern Universities Research Association

The Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc. (SURA) is a non-profit association with member universities from the United States and Canada. SURA is focused on advancing science, research, and educational discovery.

SURA is the parent company of Jefferson Science Associates, LLC (JSA), which is the Management and Operations (M&O) contractor for Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. In addition to Jefferson Lab, SURA supports space science & technology, information technology, and coastal and environmental research.

SURA was founded in May of 1980 at a meeting at The College of William & Mary, in which a group of research physicists from various universities recognized the opportunity to create a consortium to promote the expansion of nuclear physics in southeastern United States. Harry Holmgren, of the University of Maryland, was the first elected president of SURA, with Jim McCarthy of the University of Virginia as the Vice President. SURA was initially formed in response to the science community’s desire to build an electron macerator to explore the role of quarks in nuclear structure. This CEBAF is now known as the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab).

Organization
As a consortium of 57 advanced research institutions, SURA collaborates with its members to bring expertise to support the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Defense in addition to other federal and commercial industry research and development programs.

SURA currently collaborates with NASA on the (CRESST II) program and the Goddard Earth Science Technology and Research (GESTAR II) program.

SURAnet
The goal of SURA was the development of a particle accelerator for research in nuclear physics; this facility is now known as the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. By the mid-1980s it was clear that access to high-capacity computer resources would be needed to facilitate collaboration among the SURA member institutions. A high-performance network to provide this access was essential, but no single institution could afford to develop such a system. SURA itself stepped up to the challenge and, with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and SURA universities, “SURAnet” was up and running in 1987, and was part of the first phase of National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) funding as the agency built a network to facilitate scientific collaboration.

Member institutions
Member Institutions:

• Arizona State University

• University of Alabama

• University of Alabama at Birmingham

• University of Alabama in Huntsville

• University of Arkansas

• Auburn University

• Baylor University

• Catholic University of America

• University of Central Florida

• Christopher Newport University

• Clemson University

• University of Delaware

• Duke University

• University of Florida

• Florida Atlantic University

• Florida Institute of Technology

• Florida International University

• Florida State University

• George Mason University

• George Washington University

• Georgetown University

• University of Georgia

• Georgia Institute of Technology

• Georgia State University

• Hampton University

• Indiana University

• James Madison University

• University of Kentucky

• University of Louisiana at Lafayette

• Louisiana State University

• University of Maryland, College Park

• University of Maryland, Baltimore County

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• University of Miami

• University of Mississippi

• Mississippi State University

• Norfolk State University

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• North Carolina State University

• University of Oklahoma

• Old Dominion University

• University of Regina

• Rice University

• University of Richmond

• University of South Carolina

• University of South Florida

• University of Southern Mississippi

• University of Tennessee

• Temple University

• Texas A&M University

• Tulane University

• Vanderbilt University

• University of Virginia

• Virginia Commonwealth University

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Virginia State University

• West Virginia University

• College of William & Mary

• Affiliate Members:

• Idaho State University

• University of North Florida

• Ohio University