SLAC/Stanford Professor Zhi-Xun Shen and SLAC staff scientist Patrick Kirchmann
SLAC + Stanford + Department of Energy

A lab built on core partnerships

SLAC owes its identity, and in fact its very existence, to our essential and longstanding connections with the Department of Energy and Stanford University. SLAC is one of 17 DOE national laboratories – the most comprehensive research system of its kind in the world. Stanford was intimately involved in the founding of the lab in 1962, and it operates SLAC for the DOE Office of Science. Our ties with Stanford have grown over the years to include a number of joint institutes and facilities and many joint research efforts. These relationships and continuing support from DOE are vital to our mission and to the growth and direction of our research programs.

 Department of Energy headquarters building

A government lab

Department of Energy

Within DOE we are part of the Office of Science – the nation’s biggest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. A major part of the office’s mission is supporting the development, construction and operation of unique, open-access scientific user facilities. SLAC is home to three of those facilities: the LCLS X-ray free-electron laser, SSRL synchrotron and FACET-II test facility for next-generation accelerator technologies. Together they host thousands of researchers from around the world each year.

As a multipurpose national lab, we are expanding our programs to address a wide range of scientific challenges within the DOE mission. Collaborating with our sister labs is crucial to the success of many of our key projects. 

Stanford’s partnership with SLAC and DOE is a visionary framework for producing breakthrough science and technology that is critical to success, and one we’re really proud of.”

Persis Drell Provost, Stanford University

Stanford University

Operated by Stanford

SLAC sits on Stanford land, our people are Stanford employees and our faculty teach and mentor Stanford graduate students, helping to train the next generation. Our combined intellectual power fuels exciting collaborations between scientists and engineers from a wide range of fields.

Stanford has made numerous investments in the lab and provides key services that make our operations more efficient. SLAC also plays a key role for Stanford, which benefits from our deep expertise in key areas and from our ability to develop and run large-scale research facilities.

Cryomodule with signatures of builders
Cryomodule delivery, with signatures from its builders at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Partnerships

Partner with us

Where research happens
SLAC is known for building big sophisticated machines for teasing out the secrets of the universe. They give researchers new eyes on the world...
Focal plane of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera.
our partnerships
Stanford University operates SLAC for the DOE Office of Science. Our strong ties with Stanford go all the way back to the lab’s founding...
Sunrise at SLAC
Join our mission

As one of 17 Department of Energy national laboratories, SLAC conducts research in a wide range of scientific areas and develops technologies in support of national priorities.

Staff engineer Bruis van Vlijmen demonstrates how he works in the Battery Informatics Lab at SLAC
Dig deeper

SLAC news on partnership topics

News Feature

The process, which also facilitates name changes for religious, marital and other reasons, allows researchers of all genders to own their academic work by...

Name Change
News Feature

She toured the lab’s powerful X-ray laser, looked at the construction of the world’s largest digital camera, and discussed climate research, industries of the...

Secretary Granholm virtual visit

The lab will help fund the work of researchers who use artificial intelligence and machine learning to make energy systems more sustainable, affordable, resilient and fair to all socioeconomic groups.

Portrait of Yi Cui, director of the Precourt Institute at Stanford
Press Release

With up to a million X-ray flashes per second, 8,000 times more than its predecessor, it transforms the ability of scientists to explore atomic-scale...

LCLS-II first light
News Feature

An astronomy festival will mark the milestone.

Visitors at KIPAC are observing the sun through telescopes and sun-spotters.
News Feature

SLAC works with two small businesses to make its ACE3P software easier to use in supercomputer simulations for optimizing the shapes of accelerator structures.

A large, complex shape is seen against a blue background crisscrossed with white lines. The shape is dark blue and resembles a brick partially topped with a thick shark’s fin. Three areas of bright red, orange and green, are on the shape’s bottom edge.
Press Release

With up to a million X-ray flashes per second, 8,000 times more than its predecessor, it transforms the ability of scientists to explore atomic-scale...

LCLS-II first light
News Feature

An astronomy festival will mark the milestone.

Visitors at KIPAC are observing the sun through telescopes and sun-spotters.
News Feature

SLAC works with two small businesses to make its ACE3P software easier to use in supercomputer simulations for optimizing the shapes of accelerator structures.

A large, complex shape is seen against a blue background crisscrossed with white lines. The shape is dark blue and resembles a brick partially topped with a thick shark’s fin. Three areas of bright red, orange and green, are on the shape’s bottom edge.
News Feature

The Small Business Innovation Research Program brings government and private industry together to develop next-generation X-ray optics for LCLS-II.

A narrow two-mile long building stretches through trees and foothills.
News Feature

SLAC’s Matt Garrett and Susan Simpkins talk about tech transfer that brings innovations from the national lab to the people, including advances for medical...

Tech Transfer
Press Release

The latest advance from a research collaboration with industry could dramatically accelerate the development of sturdier batteries for fast-charging electric vehicles.

Studies of electrode nanoparticles for batteries.