National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

NASA and its many Directorates sponsor various programs that give undergraduate and graduate students unique opportunities to work side by side with NASA scientists and engineers who serve as mentors. Additionally, NASA and its Directorates sponsor research projects within academia. External link: www.nasa.gov

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

NOAA offers researchers of many disciplines, from oceanography, chemistry, biology, meteorology, and mathematics, to physics, computer sciences, and engineering, the opportunity to conduct collaborative research at remote outposts in the Arctic and Antarctica, aboard research and fishing vessels, in-flight on airplanes, at the depths of the oceans, in state-of-the-art laboratories, and at computers to advance our understanding of the complex systems that support our planet. External link: www.noaa.gov

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

External link: https://www.kirtland.af.mil/Units/AFRL-Space-Vehicles-Directorate/

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

DARPA relies on multi-disciplinary research to both advance knowledge and create innovative technologies that address current practical problems. DARPA’s scientific investigations span the gamut from basic research in laboratories to full-scale technology demonstrations in the fields of biology, medicine, computer science, chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics, material sciences, social sciences, neurosciences and more. As the primary innovation engine for the Department of Defense, DARPA undertakes projects that are finite in duration but create lasting revolutionary change. External link: www.darpa.mil

National Science Foundation (NSF)

NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…” With an annual budget of $7.2 billion (FY 2014), they fund approximately 21 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by scientists and engineers at U.S. colleges and universities. NSF has earned a solid reputation in academia through its commitment to supporting science and engineering education from pre-K through graduate school and beyond. Equally important is their funding for equipment that is often too expensive for any one group or researcher to afford. Examples of such major research equipment include giant optical and radio telescopes; Antarctic research sites; high-end computer facilities and ultra-high-speed connections; ships for ocean research; sensitive detectors of very subtle physical phenomena; and gravitational wave observatories. External link: www.nsf.gov