Business development director joins NU’s National Strategic Research Institute

Christopher G. Warner has joined the University of Nebraska’s National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI), a United States Strategic Command-sponsored University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), as its business development director.

Warner began in his new role on June 1. Previously he was employed by Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Services LLC, ARINC, and Northrop Grumman following a distinguished career in the U.S. Air Force. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and earned his masters degree from Embry-Riddle University.

Warner will develop new relationships to expand combating weapons of mass destruction, the focus of the NSRI. NSRI concentrates on five core research competencies at the university – nuclear detection and forensics, chemical and biological weapons detection, passive medical defense against WMDs, consequence management, and space, cyber and telecommunications law – in support of USSTRATCOM, the Department of Defense and other agencies.

“The addition of Chris to our team will provide immediate attention to our goal of supporting the mission and business responsibilities of our UARC while creating significant research opportunities for the university faculty and researchers. He will be working directly with our defense partners and other federal agencies, serving as a conduit between them and the research expertise of the University of Nebraska,” said Robert C. Hinson, Lt. Gen., USAF (Ret.), and founding executive director of the NSRI.

Only 13 U.S. universities, including the University of Nebraska, hold the designation as a UARC. All UARCs are affiliated with leading research universities that are established to provide or maintain essential engineering, research and/or development capabilities through a long term, strategic relations with the Department of Defense. The original UARC laboratories evolved from World War II-era research programs and proved to be effective in executing national security research initiatives. Some of these institutions include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Penn State University and others. Those universities are among the national leaders in research and development expenditures financed by the Department of Defense.

About the National Strategic Research Institute
The University of Nebraska’s National Strategic Research Institute is a designated 501c3 not-for-profit subsidiary organization of the University Technology Development Corp. at the University of Nebraska. The University of Nebraska and the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) entered into a long term strategic partnership in 2012 to provide mission-essential research and development capabilities in five core competencies: nuclear detection and forensics, chemical and biological weapons detection, passive medical defense against weapons of mass destruction, consequence management, and space, cyber and telecommunications law.

About the University of Nebraska
The University of Nebraska, the state’s only public university, was founded in 1869, less than two years after Nebraska became a state. The university is home to 50,000 students on four campuses in Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney, plus a college of technical agriculture in Curtis. Its 13,000 talented faculty and staff support the people of Nebraska through high-quality teaching, groundbreaking research and outreach and engagement in communities around the state.