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Mark Haselkorn, professor in the UW’s Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering. (UW Photo)
Backed by $50 million from the National Science Foundation, the University of Washington will lead a national consortium of research institutions in a new effort aimed at addressing research security and integrity.
The Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE) Center is intended to “establish a national infrastructure and collaborative partnership of academic institutions, nonprofits and businesses, engaging them in the design, development and delivery of capabilities and information that will be used to safeguard the U.S. research investment,” according to the UW.
The NSF says research security is a concern because some foreign entities attempt to unethically — or even unlawfully — access and use U.S. research. The SECURE Center was mandated by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.
The NSF funding is a five-year investment. The agency is also giving $17 million over that period to Texas A&M University to launch a companion SECURE Analytics program.
UW’s SECURE Center will be led by Mark Haselkorn, professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering and director of the College of Engineering’s Center on Collaborative Systems for Security, Safety, and Resilience (CoSSaR).
“This federal funding will provide UW with critical resources to establish a new center to identify threats, make risk-informed decisions, and work with other universities across the U.S. to safeguard domestic research,” U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wa.) said in a statement.
In addition to the UW’s national center, five regional centers are part of the development, adoption and use of a SECURE Shared Virtual Environment: SECURE Northeast led by Northeastern University; SECURE Southeast led by Emory University; SECURE Midwest led by the University of Missouri; SECURE Southwest led by the University of Texas San Antonio and Texas A&M University; and SECURE West led by the UW.
