Proceedings of a Workshop

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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Assessing Research Security Efforts in Higher Education: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/29241.

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COMMITTEE ON ASSESSING RESEARCH SECURITY EFFORTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A WORKSHOP

CHRISTINE H. FOX (Chair), Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

DEANNA D. CAPUTO, Chief Scientist for Insider Threat Capabilities and Senior Principal Behavioral Psychologist, MITRE

AMANDA HUMPHREY, Chief Research Operations Officer, Northeastern University Research Enterprise Services, and Co-Director, Northeast Regional SECURE Center

BENJAMIN F. JONES, Gordon and Llura Gund Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategy, Northwestern University

BRUCE A. JONES, Professor and Senior Vice President for Research, Howard University

ALAN E. KOHLER, JR., President, Pamir Consulting

J. MICHAEL MCQUADE, Director, Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy, The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government

DEWEY MURDICK, Executive Director, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University

LISA M. NICHOLS, Executive Director, Research Security, University of Notre Dame

Staff

STEVEN KENDALL, Project Director and Senior Program Officer, U.S. Science and Innovation Policy, Policy and Global Affairs

TOM WANG, Senior Director, U.S. Science and Innovation Policy, Policy and Global Affairs

KARLA HAGAN, Senior Program Officer, U.S. Science and Innovation Policy, Policy and Global Affairs

KARLA RILEY, Senior Program Assistant, U.S. Science and Innovation Policy, Policy and Global Affairs (from June 2025)

ZARIYA BUTLER, Senior Program Assistant, U.S. Science and Innovation Policy, Policy and Global Affairs (until May 2025)

JENNIFER SAUNDERS, Consultant Writer

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Reviewers

This Proceedings of a Workshop was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings:

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the proceedings, nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by ANN ARVIN, Stanford University. She was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the rapporteurs and the National Academies.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals who made presentations at the workshop:

Alexander Angert, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Tam Dao, Rice University

Amanda Ferguson, Huron Consulting

Jeremy Forsberg, The University of Texas at Arlington

Rebecca Spyke Keiser, National Science Foundation

Susan A. Martinis, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Theresa Mayer, Carnegie Mellon University

Jason Owen-Smith, Institute for Research on Innovation and Science

Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, Stanford University

Bhaven Sampat, Arizona State University

Naomi Schrag, Columbia University

Lori Ann Schultz, Colorado State University

Jonathan Snowden, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Sarah Stalker-Lehoux, National Science Foundation

Gregory F. Strouse, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Geeta Krishna Swamy, Duke University

Steven H. Walker, Lockheed Martin (retired)

Stephen Welby, Georgia Tech Research Institute

Kristin (Kris) West, COGR

Michael Witherell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley

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Contents

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

1 INTRODUCTION

2 THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, RESEARCH, AND THE RESEARCH SECURITY ENVIRONMENT

3 RESEARCH SECURITY POLICIES AND REQUIREMENTS: SCOPE AND MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS

4 THE IMPACT OF RESEARCH SECURITY POLICIES AND REQUIREMENTS ON THE RESEARCH ECOSYSTEM

5 ADVANCING RESEARCH SECURITY IN THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY

6 A PATH FORWARD FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND OTHER FUNDING AGENCIES

7 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON METRICS AND DATA FOR ASSESSING RESEARCH SECURITY EFFORTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

APPENDIXES

A September 2024 Meeting of Experts Agenda

B Workshop Planning Committee Biographies

C Workshop Agenda

D Workshop Speaker Biographies

Boxes and Figure

BOXES

1-1 Types of Research

7-1 Workshop Participant Suggestions on Potential Metrics for Assessing Research Security Efforts in Higher Education

7-2 Workshop Participant Suggestions on Potential Data for Assessments of Research Security Efforts in Higher Education

FIGURE

3-1 Foreign influence risk assessment

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Acronyms and Abbreviations