Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) is funded by the Office of Science for the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) with strong support from the City of Newport News, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the United States Congress. As a user facility for scientists worldwide, its primary mission is to conduct basic research of the atom's nucleus at the quark level.
With industry and university partners, it has a derivative mission as well: applied research for using the Free-Electron Lasers based on technology the laboratory developed to conduct its physics experiments. As a center for both basic and applied research, Jefferson Lab also reaches out to help educate the next generation in science and technology. Jefferson Lab is managed and operated for the DoE by the Jefferson Science Associates, LLC (JSA). JSA is a Southeastern Universities Research Association/Computer Sciences Corporation limited liability corporation created specifically to manage and operate Jefferson Lab.