# List of United States college laboratories conducting basic defense research

Following World War II, the United States Department of Defense (and in some cases after 1977, the Department of Energy) funded basic scientific research at labs affiliated with a number of colleges and universities. Here is an incomplete list:
| Lab | University | Location | Notable work |
| Aeronautical and Astronautical Research Laboratory (AARL) | Ohio State University | Columbus, OH | wind tunnels, jet engine test cell design |
| Ames Laboratory | Iowa State University | Ames, IA | separated and studied rare earth elements |
| Applied Physics Laboratory | Johns Hopkins | Laurel, MD | development of guided missile technology and drones. |
| Applied Research Laboratory | Pennsylvania State University | State College, PA | hydrodynamics and acoustics research |
| Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security | University of Maryland | College Park, MD | social and behavioral sciences, AI, and computing |
| Argonne Lab | University of Chicago | Lemont, IL | highly sensitive instruments and technologies to detect chemical, biological, and radioactive threats |
| Cornell Aeronautical Lab | Cornell University | Buffalo, NY | wind tunnel, seat belt testing |
| Draper Lab | MIT | Cambridge, MA | guidance systems for Project Apollo and the Polaris missile |
| Fermilab | University of Chicago | Batavia, IL | discovery of the top quark |
| Georgia Tech Research Institute | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA | Radar, energy and electromagnetics work |
| Idaho National Laboratory | MIT | Arco, ID | first nuclear-powered electric generator; designed and tested reactors for naval submarines |
| Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | Developed ballistic missiles in its early days and currently collaborates with several US military agencies |
| Lawrence Berkeley | University of California | Berkeley, CA | Manhattan Project, electromagnetic enrichment of uranium |
| Lawrence Livermore | University of California | Livermore, CA | home to some of the world's most powerful computer systems |
| Lincoln Lab | MIT | Lexington, MA | Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), TX-0 computer |
| Los Alamos | University of California | Los Alamos, NM | Manhattan Project |
| Oak Ridge | University of Tennessee | Oak Ridge, TN | Spallation Neutron Source and the High Flux Isotope Reactor. |
| Radiation Laboratory | MIT | Cambridge, MA | LORAN |
| Radio Research Laboratory (RRL) | Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | electronic countermeasures to enemy radars and communications |
| Sandia | University of California | Albuquerque, NM | reliability and surety of nuclear weapon systems |
| SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory | Stanford University | Menlo Park, CA | charm quark and tau lepton; the longest linear accelerator in the world; development of the klystron |
| Software Engineering Institute (SEI) | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA | CMM or CMMI ;CERT/CC |
| Applied Research Laboratories | University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | acoustics, electromagnetics, and information sciences |
| Weber Research Institute | Polytechnic Institute of New York University | Brooklyn, New York | electromagnetic and microwave defense and communication systems |
| Information Systems and Internet Security Lab (ISIS) | Polytechnic Institute of New York University | Brooklyn, New York | computer and network security, digital forensics, hardware for secure systems, digital watermarking and steganography |
| Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology (WICAT) | Polytechnic Institute of New York University | Brooklyn, New York | increase network capacity and battery life of terminals, enhance network security, and structure applications to run efficiently over wireless networks. |