Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory Join Facebook Research Agreement

The Johns Hopkins University and the Applied Physics Laboratory have joined a select group of universities and research centers participating in a research agreement sponsored by Facebook’s Building 8, a new team focused on R&D and product development.

The sponsored academic research agreement, or SARA, aims to accelerate the development of breakthrough technologies by making it easy for researchers and Facebook to work together.

“APL’s scientists and engineers have developed some of the most advanced technologies anywhere,” said Laboratory Director Ralph Semmel. “This agreement provides an avenue through which we can explore potential applications of these technologies that are complementary to our traditional research areas.”

Semmel said joining this initiative reflects the Lab’s culture of experimentation and that this work is well-aligned with APL’s existing sponsored research programs.

In addition to JHU and APL, 15 other universities have joined this SARA initiative. Among them are Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.

Led by Regina Dugan, former head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Building 8 team applies breakthrough innovation at the intersection of science and product.