Oak Ridge National Laboratory

12/03/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/03/2025 13:38

Purdue, ORNL sign MOU to collaborate on key national security research

Published: December 3, 2025
Updated: December 3, 2025
Dan DeLaurentis, Purdue's executive vice president for research, and Moe Khaleel, ORNL's associate laboratory director for national security sciences, sign a memorandum of understanding to advance their national security research collaboration. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Purdue University and the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance their long-standing research collaboration focused on national security. Dan DeLaurentis, Purdue's executive vice president for research, and Moe Khaleel, ORNL associate laboratory director for national security sciences, signed the MOU during a recent meeting at ORNL.

Under the agreement, Purdue and ORNL will pursue new research collaboration opportunities to enhance national defense. Research areas covered by the MOU - which are also key aspects of the strategic Purdue Computes initiative - include:

  • Cyber-physical security of critical infrastructure and systems
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Quantum computing

In addition, Purdue and ORNL will explore opportunities to collaborate in national security manufacturing to enhance domestic production and ensure the ability to produce defense equipment, technologies and components essential for a nation to adequately protect itself and address potential threats.

"Purdue's wide national security research portfolio and deep research expertise complement ORNL's ability to translate science into solutions for critical national security missions. This partnership will help address key national needs by accelerating progress in cyber-physical security, artificial intelligence and quantum computing."

- Moe Khaleel, ORNL's associate laboratory director for NSSD

"By combining research efforts of Purdue and Oak Ridge National Lab under this MOU, we are leveraging the strengths of two world-class research institutions for the national good," DeLaurentis said. "This also further positions Indiana at the forefront of national security innovation while contributing to national defense workforce development programming by creating new opportunities for students and researchers."

"Purdue's wide national security research portfolio and deep research expertise complement ORNL's ability to translate science into solutions for critical national security missions," Khaleel said. "This partnership will help address key national needs by accelerating progress in cyber-physical security, artificial intelligence and quantum computing."

Finalized in October, the MOU took effect immediately.

This content was originally released by Purdue.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

Media Contact
Eric J Swanson , Communications Coordinator, National Security Sciences , 865.341.1642 | [email protected]
Media Contact
Trevor Peters, .. | [email protected]
Oak Ridge National Laboratory published this content on December 03, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on December 03, 2025 at 19:38 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]