On the University of Oklahoma Research Campus, the power of collaboration drives a scientific community in the pursuit of grand solutions for real-world problems. This collaborative effort reaches across academic disciplines and institutions, government agencies and the private sector to advance technology solutions in the fields of weather and radar innovation, chemistry and biochemistry, engineering and biomedicine, microbiology and anthropology, robotics and supercomputing. These collaborations improve quality of life, bolster economic stability and provide a foundation for existing, entrepreneurial and new relationships to follow.
The University of Oklahoma Research Campus is home to several key research facilities, including:
Located in Three Partners Place, the Hub is designed for anyone who wants to bring their ideas to life through collaboration, skill development, entrepreneurship and research and teaching. The Hub includes a fabrication laboratory and makerspace with 3D printers, laser cutters and computer-controlled milling machines; a visualization zone with fully immersive, experimental virtual reality for data visualization; a collaboration zone, a coding room and meeting/teaching room.
The National Weather Center (NWC) is a collaborative hub where the University of Oklahoma, NOAA, and state agencies work together to advance research, forecasting, and education in atmospheric science. Located in Norman, the NWC is home to federal offices like the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory and Storm Prediction Center, OU’s College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, the School of Meteorology, and key state agencies including the Oklahoma Mesonet and Climatological Survey.
The University Research Campus co-locates university, governmental and private sector programs and entities in a large intellectual learning community where all benefit from one another’s participation. All Partners Place buildings are multiuse facilities in which those programs and entities may share research, business and economic development interests.
A state-of-the-art facility dedicated to advancing OU’s radar program includes a tornado simulator, large microwave laboratory, a high-bay garage for mobile radar platforms, prototype fabrication facilities, a fully-stocked machine shop, two precision anechoic chambers, an experimental observation deck, state-of-the-art classroom and seminar space and a unique “Ideas Room” for fostering collaboration.
The OU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, is housed in the SLSRC. Among the research facilities at the SLSRC are three research centers: The Center for Structural Biology, the Institute for Natural Products Applications and Research Technologies and the Center for Bioanalysis. The department is supported by the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry Center, Macromolecular and Small Molecule X-ray Diffraction Laboratory, Electronics and Machine Shop, and Glassblowing Teaching and Service Center.
The two-story building is home to research programs and collaborative initiatives in anthropology, biomedical, bioengineering, botany, microbiology, environmental genomics, supercomputing and zoology. The facility includes the Laboratories of Molecular and Microbiome Research, Institute of Environmental Genomics and Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center at OU, Advanced Cancer Imaging Center and Computer-Aided Diagnosis Laboratory. The Core—the first interactive teaching room of its kind on the OU campus—is located here as well.
