SwRI is an independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organization dedicated to technology development and transfer. Founded in 1947, SwRI is one of the largest organizations of its kind in the United States. A staff of more than 3,100 employees work in more than 2 million square feet of laboratories, workshops, and offices on 1,200 acres at the main facility in San Antonio, Texas and at other locations throughout the United States. Nine technical divisions provide multidisciplinary expertise in a variety of engineering disciplines and physical sciences to solve project tasks. Engineers, scientists, analysts, and technologists perform contract research and development for government and industrial clients worldwide.
SwRI provides engineering services to government and commercial clients in nearly all areas of applied science and engineering. A partial listing of research areas in which the Institute has significant expertise and experience includes:
- Aircraft structural integrity
- Alternative energy
- Antennas and propagation
- Automation, robotics and intelligent systems
- Avionics and support systems
- Ballistics and explosion hazards
- Bioengineering
- Chemistry and chemical engineering
- Communications systems
- Conventional weapons effects
- Corrosion and electrochemistry
- Emissions research
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental and health sciences
- Fire technology
- Fluid systems and machinery dynamics
- Fracture mechanics
- Fuels and lubricants
- Geochemistry and radiochemistry
- Information warfare
- Instrumentation and space research
- Intelligent transportation systems
- Manufacturing technology
- Materials science
- Modeling and simulation
- Nondestructive evaluation
- Nuclear safety and waste disposal
- Physical security
- Radio direction finding
- Risk and hazard assessment
- Signal processing
- Software engineering
- Structural engineering
- Surface modification and coatings
- Training systems and simulators
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Vehicle, engine, and powertrain design and development
- Weapons of mass destruction detection and destruction
SwRI's capabilities are based on technical breadth to perform specialty engineering tasks, and sufficient technical depth in expertise, personnel, facilities, and equipment resources to perform multiple tasks.