Southeastern Universities Research Association

The Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc. (SURA) is a non-profit association with member universities from the United States and Canada. SURA is focused on advancing science, research, and educational discovery.

SURA is the parent company of Jefferson Science Associates, LLC (JSA), which is the Management and Operations (M&O) contractor for Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. In addition to Jefferson Lab, SURA supports space science & technology, information technology, and coastal and environmental research.

SURA was founded in May 1980 at a meeting at The College of William & Mary, in which a group of research physicists from various universities recognized the opportunity to create a consortium to promote the expansion of nuclear physics in southeastern United States. Harry Holmgren, of the University of Maryland, was the first elected president of SURA, with Jim McCarthy of the University of Virginia as the Vice President. SURA was initially formed in response to the science community’s desire to build an electron macerator to explore the role of quarks in nuclear structure. This CEBAF is now known as the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab).