Industry, Academia Worlds Collide in Communications Research Lab

Cultivating a new path for radar and communications-system innovation, Raytheon and the University of Massachusetts Lowell joined forces to launch a state-of-the-art research facility. The Raytheon-UMass Lowell Research Institute (RURI), featuring high-tech laboratories and classrooms, will provide students with research project opportunities in the pursuit of federal research funding.

The RURI will leverage UMass Lowell’s expertise in printed electronics and nanotechnology, and Raytheon’s strategic technologies involving high-frequency printed conformal antennas, carbon-based transistors, and photonic devices. RURI will act as an extension of current research capabilities and aid in potential future employment at Raytheon. Although the lab focuses mainly on communications, the institute could expand into other research areas.

The institute will be co-directed by Dr. Christopher McCarroll of Raytheon and UMass Lowell electrical and computer engineering professor Craig Armiento. It will be located in the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center, an 84,000-sq. ft. research facility on campus. Raytheon has committed $3 million to the establishment of the facility, with options to $5 million throughout the next 10 years.