Brigham Young University’s (BYU) campus in East Jerusalem, the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, is an institution that provides academic and material legitimacy to Israeli control over Palestinian territory. The Center is located on a 5.5-acre plot on the Mount of Olives that was seized by the Israeli government from a Palestinian family trust in 1968, shortly after the 1967 war. In May 1988, BYU President Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Howard W. Hunter signed a renewable 49-year lease with the Israel Land Authority (ILA). As a result, BYU entered into a direct financial and legal relationship with the occupying power.

The construction of the center itself relied on a “miracle” green zone removal; a green-washed concept that is often weaponized to keep Palestinians from constructing any property of their own. As a major international tenant, BYU contributes significant capital to the Israeli state via lease payments and tourism revenue generated by its students and faculty. In addition, by following Israeli law and paying taxes within East Jerusalem, BYU reinforces the administrative annexation of the city.

The university claims to maintain a policy of “active neutrality”, forbidding its students from engaging in political activity. In reality that policy was adopted due to fears that the center would be used for Christian missionary work while forbidding any moral thought that deviates from Israeli guidelines. BYU is therefore implicitly endorsing the status quo. This is further evidenced by the fact that BYU Law Jerusalem Initiative framed property disputes as “complex issues” rather than addressing the fundamental human rights violations inherent in the occupation.

Nearby, BYU’s campus, which is a central hub for archaeological endeavors of the university across Israel, the Silwan neighborhood faces aggressive mass evictions by settler organizations like Elad, which often use archaeological excavations as a legal tool to seize homes. This is part of a broader pattern of Israel expropriating Palestinian property in East Jerusalem. Organizations in Israel such as Emek Shaveh have pointed this out. In 2026 alone, dozens of families in the Batn al-Hawa area of Silwan have been forcibly evicted to make way for Jewish settlers.

BYU’s presence on occupied land therefore normalizes the legal framework that allows for such displacements. As the university operates peacefully on expropriated land, its neighbors are forcibly and ethnically cleansed. It is strange that the university’s characterization of the Israeli occupation of Palestine is “complex”, yet their own presence on Palestinian land seems perfectly acceptable.

I. INTRODUCTION: THE UNIVERSITY IN A TIME OF GENOCIDE & AUTHORITARIANISM

Report Summary

Research agendas at Rice University are funded and shaped by millions of dollars from the American weapons industry and the Department of War, the branch of the United States government that oversees U.S. military operations and research. Additionally, Rice has numerous research links with major weapons manufacturers, defense contractors, foreign militaries, extractive energy companies, and surveillance and other technology corporations complicit in human rights violations around the globe, from Gaza to the United States. Over the past 25 years, Rice has received $335.64 million in research funding from the Department of War, renamed from Department of Defense in 2025.ⁱ Rice maintains numerous direct institutional collaborations and partnerships with various branches of the US military through dedicated programs in the Office of Research and the Baker Institute.ⁱⁱ This report considers numerous examples, including: in 2019, Rice established the “Rice National Security Research Accelerator,” a $30 million cooperative agreement with the Army for research on advanced materials and next-generation networks, specifically for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and also funded by the Department of Homeland Security. In 2024, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) opened the International Research Innovation in Nanotechnology (RISING) Center at Rice, in partnership with India’s Ministry of Defence, intended to align with technological goals of the U.S. Air Force/Space Force Science and Technology 2030 Strategy.ⁱⁱⁱ Championed by Rice’s Momentous campaign, the new Center for Membrane Excellence dedicated to “energy, environmental sustainability and chemical processing”^iv is led by faculty seeking and securing funding from sources such as the Department of War, US-Israel Binational funds,^v ExxonMobil, and at least one DoW contractor. In 2025 Rice launched its AI Venture Accelerator (RAVA) with Google Cloud, which has well-known partnerships with entities active in Israel’s scholasticide and genocide in Palestine, namely providing cloud and AI services to the Israeli government and military. Rice also pioneered and implemented an AI research security program that is likely being used by the Texas government to surveil public university faculty. Such programs already raise ethical questions about Rice’s new campaign to become a leading university in “Responsible AI.”

Individual Rice faculty projects also advance military agendas, most notably in electrical and computer engineering, computer science, chemistry, bioengineering and biosciences, physics and astronomy, and psychology. Consider a few examples: in 2020, a Rice research project received $9.8 million as part of the Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology program for the Department of War to “connect the brains of warfighters to computers to enable fast, effective, and intuitive hands-free interaction with military systems” including unmanned aerial vehicles.^vi Rice has received at least $4.5 million in faculty research funding from Lockheed Martin Corporation, the largest U.S. weapons supplier to Israel. Northrop Grumman, the world’s third-largest military company, has funded over $660,000 for faculty research projects in Bioengineering, BioSciences, and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Northrop Grumman manufactures weapons used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and surveillance technologies used by US immigration authorities to monitor the US-Mexico border.^vii Raytheon Technologies has funded over $2.5 million for two notable Rice faculty projects in the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 2021. Companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon are all major contractors with the Department of War and the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE). Additionally, the Israeli Ministry of Defense is funding a multi-year Rice faculty project in the Department of Computer Science.

The dramatically shifting research funding landscape in 2025 is important context for this report. Federal funding for rigorous scientific research has been significantly slashed since the inauguration of President Trump in January 2025, with a notable exception: funding from the Department of War. This report notes a distinct continuation and intensification of interest in, desperation for, and reliance on military and private funding for scientific research. Already, a significant source of private funding originates from the oil and gas industry, reflecting long-standing relationships between Rice and fossil fuel firms. Historically, Rice has received tens of millions of dollars in scientific faculty research project funding from energy corporations such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Schlumberger, Aramco, ConocoPhilips, and Total.

Thus, in coming years, a significantly greater percentage of Rice’s research funding will likely originate from the Department of War, private weapons contractors, and energy corporations. This raises ethical concerns about how military and private corporate interests will shape scientific knowledge production and ownership in higher education. This report thus asks the Rice community to consider:

• What should research and science be for? Is the current research incentive structure for faculty at odds with the goals of safeguarding the environment and promoting human well being?

• How does increasing military-funded research reshape the university’s relationship to violence, empire, and systems of global oppression? Similarly, how does fossil fuel industry-funded research shape the university’s research, teaching, and institutional priorities?

• As Rice launches its new massive institutional investment in AI, with dozens of hires in the next few years, how can the Rice community ensure that AI research and funding is not weaponized for militaristic purposes? Historically, Rice pushed to be a leader in nanotech,^viii which over the years has increasingly relied on weapons and military funding; how can Rice safeguard its new scientific investments against repressive future use, true to its stated commitment of “responsible AI”?^ix

• How might Rice ethically incentivize other measures of scientific success and importance, beyond grant number and size?

• What would it mean for the Rice community to refuse complicity in systems of war, environmental destruction, and political repression? What might an ethical, anti-war university look like?

KEY FINDINGS AND REPORT CONTENTS

This report examines the state of Rice University’s participation in the war industry and its complicity in global violence, destruction of human lives and dignity, and human rights violations, enacted through multiple forms of ideological and material collaboration. These include:

1. Notable intensification of Rice’s formal institutional connections with the Department of War and militaristic entities in the past seven years. In particular, Rice is attempting to position itself as a leading research hub for nanotechnology, human-computer interfaces, military wearables, and AI that can align with US military agendas. Some examples:

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   [2019] Office of Research establishes the Rice National Security Research Accelerator (RUNSRA), a $30 million cooperative agreement with the Army for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance research. RUNSRA is funded by the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security (agency overseeing Immigration & Customs Enforcement [ICE])

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   [2022] Baker Institute signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the US Army

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   [2023] Office of Research begins Defense Research Advancement (DRA) initiative

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   [2024] Office of Innovation establishes the International Research Innovation in Nanotechnology (RISING) Center for the Air Force Research Laboratory in partnership with India’s Ministry of Defence intended to align with technology goals of the U.S. Air Force/Space Force 2030 Strategy^x

   Rice hosts the US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science & Technology to explore “areas of alignment between Rice’s research strengths and the Department of Defense technological needs and priorities”^xi

   New Rice faculty research project with the Israel Ministry of Defense; Rice Business School begins offering a scholarship for Israeli military soldiers, with recruitment language targeting those who have served since 2023, during the documented period of genocide in Gaza

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   [2025] Rice launches its AI Venture Accelerator (RAVA) with Google Cloud, which has well-known partnerships with entities active in Israel’s genocide in Palestine, the DoW, and DHS (including ICE)

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   Rice began the process of entering into a $550,000 strategic collaboration with Locksley Resources, a critical minerals company, focusing on securing antimony (crucial for producing ammunition, explosives, propellents). The initiative “supports the Trump administration’s executive orders to secure domestic supply chains for critical minerals”

2. Directly conducting scientific research for the U.S. Department of War: Rice has received about $334 million from the DoW between 2000-2026; Rice faculty conduct research for, consult, serve as fellows, and receive awards for the Department of War and its military branches including the Air Force, Navy, Army, and Marines.

3. Using “dual use research” to obscure military research funding and usage: The nature of much of Rice’s military research remains largely obscured from public view, as faculty and the university often publicly highlight the “civilian” applications (i.e. medical, commercial) of the research, while neglecting to mention its military funding sources, ownership, and warfare applications

4. Research collaborations and connections with private weapons, defense, and surveillance actors that profit from warfare such as numerous oil and gas corporations, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies; at least $2.5 million in faculty research funding since 2021), Advanced Micro Devices (key supplier for military technology), Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin (at least $4.5 million since 2010, including over $540,000 since 2021)

5. Donor and other entanglements with entities and militaries that actively uphold apartheid and enact genocide. Examples include launching as a new business school scholarship aimed at those who served in the IDF during its documented period of genocide in Gaza; formal institutional and research collaborations with Israeli universities that materially support genocide and occupation; receiving donations from companies with known direct connection to the genocide in Gaza; a multi-year faculty research project funded by the Israeli Ministry of Defense since 2024

6. Rice is openly violating the ethical investment commitments it signed in 2022: Rice committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2030 and signed the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), which includes provisions on ethical investment and financial transparency. However, Rice has so far declined to provide detailed information regarding its investments, and its known continued partnerships with the oil and gas industry undermine measures to minimize carbon emissions on campus

7. Hostile campus climate for anti-war social justice activism: Rice campus has experienced new restrictive speech and demonstration policies in 2024; the weaponization of anti-discrimination policies to intimidate anti-genocide activism; undemocratic blocking of two Student Association resolutions on divestment for Palestine (2024) and the Sudan (2025); Rice was given an ‘F’ rating for free speech in 2025 by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in 2025; pattern of harassment of students, staff, and faculty who have spoken up against genocide in Palestine; institutional normalization of violence and militarism.

Report Methods and a Call for Financial Data Transparency

The findings for this report were largely gathered from publicly available information such as institutional reports and newsletters, faculty and university websites, university tax and audit forms, and government funding and donation data. In much of Rice’s public-facing materials, its research funding sources, particularly related to the military, energy corporations, or defense contractors, are rarely mentioned. Rice has also been successful in hiding its likely financial complicity in genocide, apartheid, and war by refusing to disclose the majority of its investments. In Fall 2024, Rice’s undergraduate student body successfully passed a referendum to disclose university investments. Three other referenda on ethical divestment from genocide also received the majority of the student vote. In response, Rice Management Company doubled down on refusing transparency and published a divestment statement claiming that it would not invest, or divest, according to support for “political or social positions,” despite signing onto a UN ethical investment agreement in 2022. To date, this “divestment statement” remains the first and only significant text on Rice Management Company’s main webpage, and Rice’s investments remain largely hidden from public view.

Additionally, unlike some other universities, Rice’s Office of Research does not provide public and centrally compiled funding information. However, the Anti-War Initiative provides important research tools (https://antiwar.io/research-tools) to search funding data for the Department of War. For example, the publicly-accessible database of the Defense Technical Information Center, a branch of the Pentagon that evaluates scientific studies for potential military use, provides centralized data which the Rice Office of Research does not make readily available. While such information is all publicly accessible (to date, January 2026) it takes time to find and understand. Private donation and research funder data is even more difficult to obtain. Thus, this report is an incomplete and working document; the authors welcome the campus community to anonymously submit any additional data for updated report versions.^xii

Report Organization

[II] Rice’s roles in engineering violence through institutional support and faculty research

[III] Rice’s financial investments and entanglements with war industries

[IV] the state of campus anti-war activism and administrative responses to date

[V] conclusion and future questions for the university community

Joining an Anti-War University Movement

Finally, this report on Rice joins dozens of other reports generated from campuses across the country by groups of everyday faculty, staff, and students who are concerned about the role of American universities in perpetuating military violence. The most recent Israeli genocidal campaign in Palestine since 2023 has re-energized calls to re-examine and challenge institutional support for the Israeli military, its United States military allies, and private collaborators. Since 2025, it has also become increasingly clear that surveillance and destructive technologies tested in Palestine and war zones can and will directly become tools of repressive governance globally, including in the United States and by authoritarian state agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Anti-war activism thus links many issues facing the globe today, from political repression and authoritarianism to climate change. Indeed, the US military is the single largest carbon polluter on the planet, and the Gaza genocide is both enabled by fossil fuels sold by US firms and a major source of planet-heating emissions. An early, conservative study estimated that emissions from the first 60 days of Israeli strikes in Gaza emitted more CO2 than the annual output of up to 33 low-emitting countries.^xiii Thus, this report is produced in solidarity with the broader nation-wide anti-war movement that seeks to make transparent our universities’ active roles in generating and normalizing militarism, in hopes for a different kind of university in the future.

Source: 2025 Report “From an economy of occupation to an economy of genocide” by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese^xiv

Table of Contents

• I. INTRODUCTION: THE UNIVERSITY IN A TIME OF GENOCIDE & AUTHORITARIANISM

  • Rice and the Department of War; shifting research funding landscape

  • Key findings and report contents

  • Report methods and a call for financial transparency

  • Joining an anti-war university movement

• II. ENGINEERING VIOLENCE: RICE SCIENCE & RESEARCH FOR WAR

  • Summary

    • Hiding militarism in plain sight: A note on ‘dual use’ research

  • Formal institutional entities

    • Rice’s Office of Research initiatives: Defense Research Advancement (DRA) and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) trainings; Rice University National Security Accelerator (RUNSRA); National Security Innovation Network (NSIN)

    • Others: Baker Institute Memorandum of Understanding with the Army; International Research Innovation in Nanotechnology (RISING) Center; Rice AI Venture Accelerator (RAVA)

  • Faculty research projects

    • Examples of military technology research projects at Rice

    • Known links & collaborations with weapons & surveillance contractors

    • Distinguished professors; Department of War fellowships & awards

• III. NORMALIZING MILITARISM: ENTANGLEMENTS WITH GENOCIDE & WAR

  • Material and financial entanglements with militarism: donors, contracts, Board of Trustees, training a labor pipeline; refusing disclosure and unethical investments

  • Symbolic and material support for Israel’s genocide and apartheid: university relations, contracts; scholarship; events

• IV. STATE OF CAMPUS ACTIVISM & ANTI-WAR SPEECH

  • Repressive campus climate: blocked student votes; harassment of students, faculty, staff; weaponization of anti-discrimination civil rights

  • Hiding behind “institutional neutrality”: new restrictive demonstration policies; administrative messaging; anticipatory overcompliance to right-wing politics

• V. CONCLUSION & QUESTIONS FOR AN ANTI-WAR UNIVERSITY

• VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & ENDNOTES

II. ENGINEERING VIOLENCE: RICE SCIENCE & RESEARCH FOR WAR

Chapter Summary

For decades, American universities have collaborated with the United States government, the weapons and defense industry, and surveillance and technology companies in a profitable pattern that has indirectly and directly contributed to violence, death, and human rights violations at home and abroad. Rice directly collaborates with the Department of War and private war-related entities, explicitly contributing to military interests and operations. Rice is well-known for its historical research strengths in the space industry since 1959, as a research hub and a pipeline training the next generations of engineers;^xv students joke they come to Rice inspired to work with astronauts and NASA and instead unwittingly end up as designers for the aerospace weapons industry.

This report chapter outlines how research agendas at Rice are currently actively funded and shaped by millions of dollars from the “defense” (war) industry and the Department of War, the branch of the United States government overseeing U.S. military operations and research (formerly the Department of Defense from 1949-2025). Over the past 25 years, Rice has received $335.64 million in research funding from the Department of War.^xvi Rice has direct collaborations and partnerships with various branches of the US military through the Office of Research, the Baker Institute, and individual faculty projects.^xvii

Rice research projects also have numerous links with major weapons contractors, defense entities, and other technology corporations complicit in human rights violations around the globe and specifically in Gaza at this moment. For example, Rice has received at least $4.5 million in faculty research funding from Lockheed Martin Corporation, the largest U.S. weapons supplier to Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Defense is currently funding a multi-year Rice faculty project on multiagent robotic learning in the Department of Computer Science. Raytheon Technologies funds projects in the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Importantly, university-military collaborations are only likely to intensify and grow in coming years, which should prompt university members to seriously consider its ethical implications. Since the second presidential inauguration of Donald Trump in 2025, scientific research across the country has faced severe cuts across many federal funding agencies. This has significant impacts for institutions like Rice, which received 59% ($129 million) of its $218 million of research funding in 2024 from federal sources like the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Department of Defense and Department of Energy.^xviii The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget includes cuts of up to 55% for the NSF, although Congressional majorities have opposed this plan in favor of more modest cuts.^xix By contrast,the Department of War’s budget is expected to jump dramatically; its proposed 2026 budget is $1.01 trillion, a 13.6% increase from the previous fiscal year.^xx

The shifting landscape of research funding portends shifts in research priorities at institutions reliant in any part on federal funds. Faculty at Rice have already become increasingly desperate for research funding sources. In casual conversations with engineering and sciences faculty at Rice, faculty have revealed increased interest and reliance on military and corporate funding sources, which in turn shape university-wide research agendas. Such desperation was already observable in Spring 2025, when Rice’s Office of Research initiative for military collaborations hosted trainings for faculty interested in applying for military research funding. These trainings, which featured propaganda videos glorifying the U.S. military, were attended by over 100 Rice faculty members.

This report section outlines Rice’s formal institutional collaborations with military and defense entities, and highlights individual faculty research projects that promote military agendas and interests. Rice’s Office of Research and Office of Innovation already has multiple institutionalized initiatives dedicated to providing support for Department of Defense collaborations. These include Defense Research Advancement (DRA), the Rice University National Security Research Accelerator (RUNSRA), the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), and the International Research Innovation in Nanotechnology (RISING). Through these, the Office of Research hosts Department of Defense official visits and provides material support for research collaborations. Rice’s Center for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute has a Memorandum of Understanding to provide expertise to the Army Civil Affairs Psychological Operations Command, signed in 2022.^xxi Numerous Rice faculty and their labs receive funding and fellowships to develop trainings, applications, and technology for branches of the Department of War such as the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, The US Army Corps of Engineers, Army Research Office, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Defense Advancement Research Projects Agency, and the Office of Naval Research.

Rice has research connections, scholarships, and other entanglements with institutions that directly contribute technical, military, and material support of apartheid and genocide in Israel. In addition to its research collaborations with entities like Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Rice faculty have collaborated with Weizmann Institute of Science, which has direct collaborations with Israel’s top weapons manufacturers, such as Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, and has introduced additional benefits for student soldiers serving in the Gaza genocide since 2023.^xxii Through an undergraduate research scholarship, Rice supports students to go to universities such as Technion-Israel Institute of Technology which partners with Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of Israel’s largest government-sponsored weapons manufacturers.^xxiii

“DUAL USE” RESEARCH: MILITARISM HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

• Rice’s new biannual glossy research magazine features a plethora of scientific discoveries and advancements, particularly in nanotechnology and medical fields. Notably, the magazine highlights what are called the “civilian” or “commercial” sides of some of these research projects, avoiding the significance of military application and funding driving some of these projects.

• “DUAL USE” research: research that can be developed for both military and civilian use, which enables Rice and other universities to obscure the darker sides of research funding and applications.

  • One example of this is a $9.8 million project funded by the Department of Defense that is explicitly for connecting military personnel’s brains to military technology systems directly. The project is a key part of the Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology program to “connect the brains of warfighters to computers to enable fast, effective, and intuitive hands-free interaction with military systems” including unmanned aerial vehicles.^xxiv Previous projects funded by the same entity tested out pilot brain-computer interface technology for fighter jets on a paraplegic research subject in 2015. Although that project’s stated intention was to help disabled veterans with robotic prosthetics, researchers also connected the research subject’s brain to a F-35 fighter jet pilot simulator successfully.^xxv More recent brain-computer interface research tested mind-control operations for drones.^xxvi Despite the funding agency’s own explicit stated military goals, faculty profiles and many university research descriptions solely highlight the civilian application.

• Key question: How can Rice’s scientific community advocate for important medical and scientific research that is not developed or co-opted for militaristic purposes?

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Rice Department of Defense Grants, by agency from 2020-2025

Source: Defense Technical Information Center (retrieved December 2025)^xxvii

FORMAL INSTITUTIONAL ENTITIES

Rice’s Office of Research

Image: Rice website header for the Office of Research’s Defense Research Advancement (retrieved June 2025)^xxviii

Defense Research Advancement (DRA) initiative

Rice’s Office of Research has a Defense Research Advancement (DRA) initiative that coordinates and facilitates collaborations between the Department of Defense, industry, and academia. In an attempt to become a “primary hub for some of the key technology innovations for the DoD,” the DRA supports collaborations particularly related to “dual-use” applications and technologies (can be used for both civilian and military purposes). Its website states that the DRA is committed to “enhancing national security through disruptive innovation and technology acceleration” and being a “trusted partner in defense research and innovation, recognized for our contributions to national security and technological advancement.”^xxix

DRA arranged and hosted visits from military officials to “explore areas of alignment between Rice’s research strengths and the Department of Defense technological needs and priorities.”^xxx For example, official visitors include the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, Test and Engineering in 2023^xxxi and the US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology (ASD S&T) in 2024 who toured six labs “working in research areas relevant to DoD interests.”^xxxii Research areas of technological interest to the ASD S&T include “advanced materials, biotechnology, quantum science, future generation wireless technology as well as developing system capabilities for hypersonics; positioning, navigation and timing; nuclear delivery; and human and uncrewed platforms.”^xxxiii

According to Rice’s assistant vice president for the Office of Research and DRA head, “Rice has the resources and potential necessary to empower manufacturing innovation for dual-use applications. I believe Rice has the potential to become the primary hub for some of the key technology innovations for the DOD much as we led the development of nanotechnology in previous decades.”^xxxiv

Military Propaganda at Faculty Trainings for Funding

In Spring 2025, over one hundred Rice faculty and researchers attended DRA-hosted workshops with titles such as “Unlocking DoD Funding: Essential Training for Success” which encourage and support faculty applicants for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).^xxxv These online trainings showed short propagandistic videos featuring Hollywood-style depictions glorifying military and surveillance operations, before speakers emphasized to researchers that there is abundant funding available. Trainings emphasized that DARPA is looking for scientific innovations that predict future threats to build the “next generation of researchers to impact the national security ecosystem.”

In particular, DARPA trainings emphasized the unusual speed of the funding process and the vast size of available funding. For example, in contrast to most tedious bureaucratic application processes, applicants could simply submit a seven-minute amateur video pitching their ideas, receive a response within 24 hours and funding released as fast as two weeks later. DARPA has Young Faculty Awards that provide researchers with $250,000 base annual salary for two years and potentially $300,000 for a third year. DARPA speakers noted that faculty often did not request enough funding, and that awards could go up to $499,999 million, just below a limit that would need additional governmental approval. As one DARPA speaker enthusiastically impressed onto faculty about funding: “Sky’s the limit!”

Image: Examples from Spring 2024 DARPA training videos: American flags and military imagery; sleek tech and surveillance aesthetics; scientists working out difficult problems; a figure in cowboy hat controlling and watching a drone. The “DARPA HARD” slogan refers to the program’s commitment to cutting-edge tough research problems.

Image: Slide from April 2025 Faculty DARPA training on military & profitable tech development

Rice University National Security Research Accelerator

Image: Rice University National Security Research Accelerator website (retrieved Sept 2025)

In 2019, Rice established a multi-year $30 million cooperative agreement with the Army to advance fundamental science research with applications in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.^xxxvi Rice was chosen by the Army Futures Command to partner with the Army Research Lab (ARL) to “develop advanced materials and next-generation” and created the Rice University National Security Research Accelerator (RUNSRA). According to its website, “RUNSRA is setting the stage for bringing new, disruptive research technologies — transformative research — to the National Security enterprise so that it can increase its current and future capabilities. RUNSRA partnerships between world-class researchers at Rice and other institutions will help define innovative paths for modernization of the United States Defense.”^xxxvii

“This is all about modernization for the United States Army,” as the director of the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) stated, “Our relationship with Rice is setting the stage for bringing new, disruptive research technologies — transformative research — to the Army so that it can increase its capabilities in the future.”^xxxviii RUNSRA attempts to facilitate multidisciplinary partnerships across campus to “enhance Nationalism security by accelerating the discovery, development, and transition of technologies into military and civilian applications through scientific and engineering collaborations with academia, business, industry, and government partners.”

Funding for RUNSRA comes from DoD’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies.”^xxxix According to a 2024 university tax document, Rice listed a $29,877 project with Stanford University funded by DHS for “Centers for Homeland Security,” possibly for RUNSRA.^xl In 2025, RUNSRA’s advisory board includes various deans, and its personnel consists of 25 faculty and staff, including the President of Rice University, Assistant Vice President, and various endowed and distinguished faculty.^xli

RUNSRA hosts events to share Department of War research priorities with Rice faculty. For example, the DoD principal director for microelectronics delivered a lecture in 2024 to faculty that “outlined the vision of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) for Research and Engineering and emphasized the importance of semiconductors in maintaining U.S. competitiveness, enhancing energy efficiency and ensuring national security.” The lecture “called on universities and private industry to collaborate with the government in advancing microelectronics technologies, noting that such partnerships are crucial for national security and economic growth. ‘What universities are really good at is developing great ideas, and what we want to try and do is turn those ideas into capabilities for the Department of Defense as well as other opportunities for commerce and agencies and the private industry.’”^xlii

National Security Innovation Network (NSIN)

Image: National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) website^xliii

The Rice Office of Research collaborates with the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), which is a component of the Defense Innovation Unit, a Department of War program office. The main goal of NSIN is to connect the DoW with academia and entrepreneurs, or in their own words: “responsible for engaging program offices (such as the Office of Technology Transfer) through acceleration and research opportunities for Rice University spin-offs, faculty through providing networking opportunities and chances to provide consultation to DoD research efforts potentially leading to subsequent grant opportunities, and students through funding for start-ups, paid fellowships, college credit capstone projects, and direct hiring events.”^xliv

Rice’s NSIN projects have been sponsored by the United States Coast Guard and the Army Research Laboratory. The Coast Guard project focused on building a “micro-vessel” (a small, difficult-to-detect, and autonomous vessel used to detect narcotics smuggling), and another project focused on aerodynamic changes to an aircraft’s wings during flight. Additionally, Zeta Energy – a company started out of Rice University – was recently selected for the NSIN Emerge Accelerator Program to connect with stakeholders inside DoD acquisitions.^xlv

International Research Innovation in Nanotechnology (RISING) Center

In 2024, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) opened the RISING Center at Rice, a collaboration between AFRL, Rice University, the government of India’s Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO), and the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT), Kanpur. According to its website, RISING is “dedicated to advancing the development of nanomaterials—extremely small materials with massive potential applications in areas like aerospace, electronics, and defense.” Projects include sensors for human health monitoring, high purity 2D materials growth via chemical vapor deposition, or CVD, conformal and flexible electronics for munitions and energy harvesting materials technology.^xlvi Its projects are intended to align with technology development and manufacturing goals of the U.S. Air Force/Space Force Science and Technology 2030 Strategy.^xlvii

Baker Institute Memorandum of Understanding with US Army

Rice’s Center for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute has a Memorandum of Understanding to provide expertise to the Army Civil Affairs Psychological Operations Command, signed in 2022. Baker’s Center for Energy Studies leads and supports the training program and is designated an “Energy Functional Specialist” for the Army unit’s civil affairs. According to Rice News, “The USACAPOC, under the Army Reserve Command, is responsible for addressing the Army’s needs related to civil matters before, during and after conflicts” and “The Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies was selected to lead and support the training program, which will take the form of workshops, conferences, student internships and mission assignment opportunities and provide a platform for outreach to organizations in the wider military and energy sectors. The MOU with CES is part of the “Energy Functional Specialist” designation of the Army unit’s civil affairs function for strategic, operational and tactical civil affairs, military information support and information operations capabilities.”^xlviii

Rice AI Venture Accelerator (RAVA)

In April 2025, Rice University and Google Public Sector launched the Rice AI Venture Accelerator (RAVA). This initiative aims to foster an ecosystem where startups can access Google Cloud’s AI-optimized sandbox, data sets like AlphaFold, and a unified development platform via Google Vertex AI Platform.^xlix Google Cloud has known partnerships with entities active in Israel’s genocide in Palestine, namely through Project Nimbus and a strategic partnership with the Israel National Cyber Directorate. Project Nimbus is a $1.2 billion joint contract with Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services in 2021 to provide cloud services and AI to the Israeli government and military (IDF).^l In 2023, Google Cloud also announced a strategic partnership with the Israeli National Cyber Directorate as part of Israel’s “Cyber Dome” mission. Google Cloud also profits from substantive government contracts including the Department of War and the Department of Homeland Security, including rapidly expanding ICE forces.

FACULTY RESEARCH

Rice faculty regularly receive fellowships and funding from the Department of War. According to the Defense Technical Information Center, Rice has received $334.64 million in total.

Source: Defense Technical Information Center, retrieved January 2026^li

Source: Defense Technical Information Center, retrieved January 2026^lii

Top Rice Recipients of Department of War funding, 2000-2025

Source: Defense Technical Information Center (retrieved December 2025)^liii

Examples of military technology projects at Rice

Semiconductor microsystems facility to develop military technologies

Rice researchers are a key partner in a $1.4 billion project to develop semiconductor microsystems facility for the Department of Defense. The large collaborative team, led by UT-Austin, was awarded $840 million from DARPA in 2024, combined with $552 million from the Texas Legislature for UT’s semiconductor consortium, the Texas Institute for Electronics. The grant will help establish a research, design, and prototyping facility to “enable DOD to create higher performance, lower power, lightweight and compact defense systems. Such technology could apply to radar, satellite imaging, unmanned aerial vehicles.” Rice research team leader Ramamoorthy Ramesh highlighted Rice’s computer and electrical engineering strengths and his company, Kepler Computing, is a part of the team. The broader research team includes 32 defense electronics and commercial semiconductor companies and 18 academic institutions.^liv

Nonsurgical neurotechnology for warfighters and warfare

In 2020, (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) DARPA awarded $9.8 million to Rice researchers for the a project for the Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology (N3) program to “connect the brains of warfighters to computers to enable fast, effective, and intuitive hands-free interaction with military systems.”^lv The project is entitled Magnetic, Optical, and Acoustic Neural Access (MOANA) and the research team is based in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bioengineering, and the Ken Kennedy Institute. The PI previously received a DARPA early career fellowship in 2014.^lvi According to DARPA’s own website, “aims to develop high-performance, bi-directional brain-machine interfaces for able-bodied service members. Such interfaces would be enabling technology for diverse national security applications such as control of unmanned aerial vehicles and active cyber defense systems or teaming with computer systems to successfully multitask during complex military missions.”^lvii

Military Wearables

Rice’s Smart Helmet Projects for the Navy

Rice’s Office of Innovation has a $1.3 million project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research for developing 3D-printable smart helmets. The helmet is intended to be “both protective equipment and a wearable technology platform that detects threats, monitors vital signs and provides situational awareness.”^lviii The Navy funds enabled Rice researchers to purchase two industrial-grade 3D printers, and the Office of Innovation is constructing the Rice Nexus, “a dedicated space at the Ion where faculty and students can turn “proof-of-principle” ideas into viable prototypes that will be attractive to industry and investors.”^lix

According to the project’s abstract on the DoD research repository, the project “developed a customizable, 3D-printed Head-Mounted Sensor System (HMSS) designed for hyper-enabled operators (HEOs) in mosaic warfare environments….equips warfighters to function as interconnected nodes within a larger tactical network, ensuring superior situational awareness and decision cycles in complex operational environments. The HMSS platform directly supports the military’s strategic goals of achieving cognitive overmatch and operational superiority through innovation and adaptability. This platform represents a transformative leap in wearable sensor technology, bridging critical gaps in existing systems and delivering unparalleled performance for warfighters in the complex, multi-domain battlefields of the future.”^lx

Sleeping Cap project for the US Army Military Operational Medicine

Engineers from Rice’s NeuroEngineering Initiative are developing a “sleeping cap” to analyze the cleansing flow of louis that drains the brain of common metabolic waste during sleep. Rice’s team, in partnership with the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering and physicians at Houston Methodist Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, received $2.8 million in 2021 as a first installment of a multiyear grant from the US Army.^lxi

Multiagent Robotic Learning for Israel Ministry of Defense

The Israel Ministry of Defense is funding a 2024-2028 faculty research project in the Department of Computer Science entitled “MultiAgent Robotic Reinforcement Learning for motion planINg.”^lxii

Table: Examples of Faculty Research Projects (beyond DoD)

Known links and collaborations with private weapons and surveillance contractors

Rice’s “Research Security” AI tool (PRISM) expands surveillance systems and potential usage by the state of Texas on public university faculty

Rice University has a unique AI security tool that is a collaboration between the Office of Research Security and a Rice Computer Science faculty’s company, ThirdAI. The tool, called PRISM (Preventative RISk Monitoring), aims to quickly identify “research security risks” by combining background databases and network analysis. PRISM uses AI to “help with rapidly evolving federal regulations and protect against potential reputational and financial risks.” Possibly in response to a 2024 Texas Executive Order issued by Governor Greg Abbott, Rice was contacted about an AI program to run security checks on Texas public university faculty. PRISM may be currently implemented through the Texas Department of Public Safety as a third party reviewer.

Some departments at Rice have been informed that the Office of Research Security is using the AI on faculty and students as follows: if any federal grant application (i.e. DoD, DoE, NIH, NSF) is flagged for a conflict of interest or collaboration during the agency review process, the sponsoring university is asked to investigate and certify that the faculty or staff member is not collaborating with those foreign actors; or if so, will agree to cease to work with them. Additionally, the Office of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies is also using PRISM to screen graduate student applicants before they are officially admitted. So far these cases have largely concerned Russia, Iran, China, Macau, and Hong Kong, but with expanding and erratic travel bans and expansive definitions of anti-terrorism by the government, there is concern not only about the expanded list of countries, but about the potential for abuse given the national climate and how AI has been applied by third party actors to target international students and faculty for deportation due to speech and expression.

Lockheed Martin and Rice’s Smalley-Curl Institute

In 2008, Rice entered into a multi-year nanotechnology partnership with Lockheed Martin to develop six projects annually, including stealth technology. Rice established a Lockheed Martin Advanced Nanotechnology Center of Excellence (LANCER), based at the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology (now called Smalley-Curl Institute). The center paired researchers from Lockheed Martin with Rice experts in carbon nanotechnology, photonics, plasmonics, and more. Between 2010 and 2016, Rice received at least $3.96 million in research funding, since 2023 Rice has two faculty projects that have been funded by Lockheed.

In many ways, the LANCER program seems to be a template for later Rice collaborative programs, growing “from the bottom-up,” where according to Wade Adams, Rice’s Director of the Smalley Institute, “The folks in the labs are the ones who came to us and said, ‘Make it easier for us to work together.’”^lxiii In 2008, more than a quarter of the science and engineering faculty hired at Rice in the previous two decades were nanotechnology experts affiliated with the Smalley Institute.^lxiv LANCER grew out of a series of technology exchange events between the Smalley Institute and Lockheed Martin scientists, led by Rice faculty and designed to keep Lockheed Martin researchers apprised of the latest nanotechnology discoveries.

Between 2005 and 2014, Professor James Tour (Chemistry; Materials Science and NanoEngineering) authored 32 of the 55 publications jointly funded by the DoD and Lockheed Martin, likely as part of this partnership. It is unclear the current status of the partnership.^lxv Since 2021, Lockheed has funded three Rice faculty projects on ultra hard polymers for space applications and 3D printing of ULTEM and High Z materials. Rice also sends students to Lockheed’s annual “Ethics in Engineering” competition and advertises employment opportunities through its Center for Career Development.^lxvi Lockheed is the largest U.S. arms supplier to Israel, providing F-16 and F-35 jets, Hellfire missiles, and CH-53K helicopters used in the bombardment of Gaza.

Raytheon Technologies (RTX)

Rice researchers work on battlefield obscurants on a team with Raytheon Technologies Research Center and the Palo Alto Research Center on DARPA-funded project entitled “Coded Visibility.” According to a 2022 article, the project aims to develop “tailorable, tunable, safe obscurants that provide warfighters with an asymmetric advantage.”^lxvii Additionally, Raytheon Technologies funded another Rice research project on intelligent task assistants and causal and neurosymbolic reasoning in the Department of Computer Science. Rice has one professor of practice on faculty who is a technical fellow at Raytheon.^lxviii Rice has also offered discounts to MBA students through Raytheon-affiliated programming. Raytheon supplies air-to-surface missiles, cluster bombs, and funds Israel’s Iron Dome. Its CEO publicly cited the war in Gaza as a future source of corporate revenue.^lxix

Other military manufacturers: Northrop Grumman, Plasan

Plasan, a private military vehicle manufacturer for the Israeli military, funded a project on microballistic testing in the Department of Materials Sciences and NanoEngineering.^lxx Northrop Grumman funds faculty research on micro-optic interfaces for photonic spectrometers in the Department of Bioengineering. Northrop Grumman is the world’s third-largest military company. It manufactures weapons used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and surveillance technologies used by US immigration authorities to monitor the US-Mexico border.

US Critical Minerals and Energy Resilience Strategy partnership with Locksley Minerals

In August 2025, Rice began the process of entering into a strategic collaboration with Locksley Resources, a critical minerals company, focusing on securing antimony and rare earths for US national security goals. Locksley provided $550,000 for the project’s first year, and under the agreement, all of the project’s intellectual property will be jointly owned by Rice and Locksley. At Rice, the project would be related to the Department of Materials Science & Nanoengineering and the Rice Advanced Materials Institute (RAMI). Locksley develops American-made antinomy for defense applications; antimony is essential for producing ammunition, explosives, and propellants, along with components for armored vehicles, missile and electronic components, and flame retardant materials. The initiative “supports the Trump administration’s executive orders to secure domestic supply chains for critical minerals.”

Joint-funded DoW research with Lockheed Martin, ConocoPhillips, Boeing, RTX

According to the DoW research repository database, Rice-affilitated researchers and projects have resulted in 4,431 publications as of January 2026. Of these 4,431 publications, the major funders were: Air Force Office of Scientific Research (36%); the Air Force (30.6%); Welch Foundation (28.9%); Office of Naval Research (28.9); Army Research Office (23.9); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (14.8%). In regards to private funders of collaborative DoW projects, Rice researchers have published 55 papers with Lockheed Martin funding, 11 with ConocoPhillips Co, 7 with Boeing, and 6 with RTX. Rice researcher-collaborative publications with Lockheed Martin funding represents about 5% of Lockheed Martin’s publications produced in collaboration with the DoW.^lxxi

Rice’s Distinguished Professors

University Professor

University Professor is Rice’s most distinguished rank of professor. Of the seven living University Professors, at least three have multi-million dollar projects funded by the Department of War/Defense:

1. Naomi Halas: Rice professor with the second most DoW funding ($13.24 million total) and author of 246 DoW publications and 17 DoW technical reports.^lxxii The majority of Halas’ grants come from the Air Force, but also Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, the Army and Navy. Halas was the lead investigator for five projects funded by the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) at the Department of Defense, with the most recent being a $7.5 million project funded in 2024.^lxxiii In 2009, Halas received the Department of War/Defense’s most prestigious single-investigator fellowship. Halas is also faculty of the Rice University National Security Research Accelerator (RUNSRA).^lxxiv Halas’ research is known for showing that the nanoscale internal and external morphology of noble metal nanoparticles controls their optical properties. Halas’ projects focus on optics and photonics, design and fabrication of optically responsive nanostructures, nanophotonics, and plasmonics.

2. Lydia Kavraki - Kavraki was a researcher in a 2017 $250 million project on Advanced Robotics Manufacturing ($80 million from the Department of Defense). Kavraki has authored 18 DoW publications and 3 DoW technical reports.^lxxv Kavraki is also faculty of the Rice University National Security Research Accelerator (RUNSRA).^lxxvi Kavraki’s research focuses on physical AI, robotics, and computational biomedicine.

3. Moshe Vardi - Vardi was a researcher in a 2020 $7.5 million grant on AI from the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) at the Department of War.^lxxvii Vardi also was a researcher in a 2017 $250 million project on Advanced Robotics Manufacturing ($80 million from the Department of War).^lxxviii Vardi has authored 13 DoW publications and 8 technical reports.^lxxix Vardi’s research focuses on automated reasoning, databases, computational complexity theory, design specification and verification.

Other notable recipients of DoW funding

• Richard Baraniuk (Electrical and Computer Engineering): Rice’s top recipient of DoW funding. Baraniuk has authored 179 DoW publications, 18 DoW technical reports, and 9 DoW grant awards, totalling in $14.54 million since 2014.^lxxx Almost 90% of the funds have come from the Navy, and Baraniuk has also received grants from the Air Force and Army. Baraniuk’s research focuses on multiscale, computational signal and image processing, data science, and neuroengineering.

• Boris Yakobson (Materials Science and NanoEngineering): Yakobson has received $7.49 million in DoW funding through 11 grants, and authored 300 DoW publications and 2 DoW technical reports. The funding comes mainly from the Navy and Air Force, as well as the Army. Yakobson works on theory and modeling of structure, kinetics, and properties of materials derived from macroscopic and fundamental molecular interactions. His projects focus on the physical properties of nanotubes, in particular their electro-mechanics, and recently with graphene and graphane.

• James Tour (Chemistry; Materials Science and NanoEngineering): Tour has authored the most DoW papers by far of any Rice researcher, totaling in 486 publications and 14 DoW technical reports. Tour has received $1.39 million in DoW grants.^lxxxi Tour is listed as an author on 32 of the 55 Dow publications with joint funding from Lockheed Martin.^lxxxii Tour’s research focuses on organic synthesis, chemical biology, spectroscopy and imaging, and nanomaterial synthesis.

• Pulickel Ajayan (Materials Science and NanoEngineering; Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Chemistry): Ajayan has authored the second-most DoW publications at Rice, with 429 publications, 5 DoW technical reports, and 1 grant award ($60,000). Ajayan’s research focuses on carbon nanotubes.

• Matteo Pasquali (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry and Materials Science and NanoEngineering) has significant collaborations with Aramco and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,^lxxxiii which partners with Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of Israel’s largest government-sponsored weapons manufacturers. Pasquali has received $3.2 million for 2 DoW grants and authored 131 DoW publications and 1 DoW technical report.^lxxxiv Pasquali is director of Rice’s Carbon Hub and Kennedy Institute.

Department of War fellowships, awards, and grants

Rice faculty have received various fellowships and awards from the military, most notably from the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Sciences, Bioengineering and Biosciences, Physics & Astronomy, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Statistics, and also Psychology. Awards are not simply monetary in value, but also serve to normalize and valorize military funding in higher education. Notable individual faculty awards include:

Vannevar-Bush Faculty Fellowship

The Department of War/Defense’s most prestigious single-investigator fellowship with up to $3 million in funding. The fellowship commemorates Vannevar Bush, the director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, who “played a central role in building up the science and technology enterprise that drove America’s rapid growth as a military and economic superpower….While pursuing individual research endeavors, the scientists will collaborate directly with defense laboratories, contribute their insights to DOD leadership, and engage with the broader national security community to enrich the collective knowledge base of the defense enterprise.”^lxxxv Four Rice faculty have received this fellowship, including Naomi Halas (Electrical and Computer Engineering) in 2009; Richard Baraniuk (Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science) in 2017; Jeffrey Tabor (Bioengineering and Biosciences) and Qimiao Si (Physics and Astronomy) in 2023; and Emilia Moroson (Physics and Astronomy) in 2024 for research on quantum materials with emergent properties.^lxxxvi

Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) fellowships

The Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research MURI fellowships are aimed at solving military problems. Recent Rice recipients include Naomi Halas (Electrical and Computer Engineering) in 2024 and Caroline Ajo-Franklin (Biosciences) in 2022, with a $6.25 million grant, co-PIs Jonathan Silberg (Biosciences) and Rafael Verduzco (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering).^{lxxxvii lxxxviii}

Military Cybersecurity Research

A few examples from 2023: Edward Knightly (Electrical and Computer Engineering) received a $1.8 million grant from the US Army to counter 6G and Wifi risks, or “security against ‘metasurface-in-the-middle’ attacks.”^lxxxix Rice Army Research Laboratory researchers won an award for a paper identifying AI-based threats to encrypted wireless network communications.^xc A project in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering received a grant from Army Research Office “directorate of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, to develop a machine learning framework that improves military communication networks’ decision-making processes.”^xci

Other award examples include

• Young Investigator Program of the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research: In 2024, Rice professor of materials science and nanoengineering received $450,000 for research on quantum explosive materials.^xcii

• Early Career Program Award from the Army Research Office, of the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL): The award aims to recruit faculty for Army-related research. One successful Rice faculty project aims to “equip the data-driven and network-centric Army of the future by enabling fast and autonomous extraction of actionable knowledge across all networked systems” to “rapidly and continuously integrate all domains of warfare in multi-domain operations” to deter and fight against “near-peer adversaries.”^xciii

• Army Research Office’s Young Investigator Award: Multiple statistics and engineering awardees^xciv

• U.S. Army Wilks Award for contributions to Army statistical research and application^xcv

• Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award: Multiple awardees in Physics & Astronomy and Mechanical Engineering^xcvi

Military Research in the Social Sciences

Rice’s Psychology Department has numerous connections with the Department of War, particularly the Army Research Institute, with multiple faculty serving as fellows and receiving research funding.^xcvii Psychology faculty have had recent projects on military vision equipment and military aircraft operations.^xcviii Between 2007 and 2025, Rice researchers have published psychology-related 47 research publications for the DoW, 7 DoW technical reports, and 1 grant.^xcix Creative Venture Funds from Rice’s Office of Research have been additionally used to supplement Psychology projects funded by the Army Research Institute.^c

In 2025, Rice professors published a study for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to improve military education and training. One lead researcher and professor of psychology said that “The U.S. military is more than just the backbone of national security; it’s one of the nation’s largest hubs for education and training….With millions of active-duty personnel, reservists and civilian employees, the Department of Defense (DoD) is tasked with ensuring its workforce is prepared to successfully carry out land, sea, air, cyber and space missions.”^ci

Concluding questions on research at Rice

Research independence:

• Given that a greater percentage of Rice’s research funding will likely originate from the Department of War and private weapons and energy corporations in coming years, how might military and corporate interests increasingly shape scientific knowledge production and research agendas?

• The Rice scientific community recently organized a “Stand up for science” demonstration to condemn the major recent cuts in federal scientific research funds, particularly at the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health. How might the Rice scientific community continue to advocate for a healthy diversity of future funding sources, to counter overreliance on military and corporations that have conflicts of interest with ethical science?

Research funding transparency:

• How can Rice be more explicit about its research funding and ownership? For example, in public materials on civilian and commercial applications of research, should funding sources be disclosed so the broader Rice community understands the stakes and directions of the research projects on campus?

Science for beneficial, benevolent, and ethical use:

• More broadly, what should research and science be for? How can we foster independent spaces to discuss research ethics?

• How can Rice faculty transition towards ethical investments and incentives for research?

• Is the current research structure at odds with the goals of safeguarding the environment and promoting human freedom? How can Rice administration align research incentives with a recommitment to the university’s goals of centering student education and advancing responsible research for planetary and human wellbeing?

III.

NORMALIZING MILITARISM: RICE’S ENTANGLEMENTS WITH GENOCIDE & WAR

Chapter Summary

Beyond research, Rice is institutionally and financially connected with a range of entities involved in genocide, apartheid, and war industries. This report section outlines Rice’s financial and institutional entanglements through donors and student scholarships, institutional contracts, its lobbying firm, and connections with Israeli universities listed on the Palestinian boycott campaign for materially supporting illegal settlements and warfare.^cii Rice’s entanglements normalize and materially supports militarism in the United States and in other contexts, such as the Israeli apartheid and genocide, through multiple modes of collaboration, financial relations, and institutional engagements, including:

• Material entanglements with militarism through donations and partnerships with institutions that directly profit from global warfaring including:

  • Receiving donations from entities that actively profit and perpetuate war, such as Raytheon and other Department of War contractors, and fossil fuel energy companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron, which are both on the Palestinian boycott list in addition to being a major contributor of climate change^ciii

  • Hiring a lobbying firm that represents a host of military weapons suppliers and contractors; contracting Canvas, whose parent company signed multi-million dollar contracts with the US and Israeli militaries

  • Partnering with corporations that advance global warfare and environmental destruction through Rice’s Presidential Partners program and others

• Ideological and material support for Israel’s genocide and apartheid in Palestine

  • Hosting major events and trainings that normalize militaristic ideologies, including at Baker Institute for Public Policy

  • Institutional relations with Israeli universities with publicly-established links to apartheid and genocidal practices; hundreds of thousands of dollars of contracts with unknown Israeli entities

  • Rice Board of Trustees, which has members with direct connections and incentivized relationships to the military industry and fossil fuel industries

  • Established a business school scholarship that targets those who have served in the Israeli military during the documented period of genocide since 2023, funded by a donor who advocates for the active repression and punishment of pro-Palestine speech in Texas

• No financial transparency, despite a 2025 democratic student body referendum requesting disclosure of Rice’s investments

This section concludes by turning towards the investment portfolios of Rice’s endowment which are administered by the Rice Management Company (RMC).^civ In 2024, Rice’s undergraduate student body voted in favor of disclosing the investments managed by RMC.^cv Rice refused and instead issued a “Divestment Statement”^cvi claiming it would only prioritize “financial outcomes” and preclude “the use of endowment funds to support political or social positions.” However, as this report demonstrates, its existing investments, entanglements, and commitments are by no means politically neutral.

Material entanglements with militarism

Corporate donations

According to a recent August 2025 newsletter by the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Rice received donations from corporate entities actively involved or complicit with genocide, apartheid, and war industries:

• $100,000 from Advanced Micro Device, Inc (AMD), a computer processor company that has a large presence in Israel^cvii and partners with Israel-based AI companies such as NeuReality whose CEO has since the beginning of the 2023 genocide posted about dismantling the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.^cviii

• $200,000 from Baker Botts LLP, which represents an Israel-based petroleum company^cix; Houston Partner Bill Kroger who in 2020 received an award from the Anti-Defamation League, a well-known organization that has advocated for incarcerating critics of Israeli policies^cx

• $366,500 from Chevron, the primary producer of natural gas for Israel and owns and operates the largest Israeli oil fields in the Eastern Mediterranean.^cxi Chevron produces one fifth of all Venezuelan oil, and, as the only US energy firm granted a waiver to operate in the country amid US sanctions, it stands to gain mightily from the Trump administration’s measures to effect regime change in Venezuela.^cxii

• $200,000 total from Raytheon Technologies. Raytheon (now RTX) is deeply involved with Israel’s occupation forces. It recently received a $1.25 billion contact to build missiles for Israel^cxiii

• $100,000 from Google, which continuously partners with Israeli occupation forces. Google accepted a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government, Project Nimbus. IN 2024, Google fired 28 employees who protested this contract.^cxiv Google also accepted a $45 million contract with the Israeli government to spread Israeli propaganda in 2025^cxv

• $50,000 from Mitsubishi, the Israeli occupation forces use the Mitsubishi Outlander for IDF officers^cxvi

• $375,000 from Exxon Mobil, provides fuel for Israeli military jets and other operations, formalized through governmental contracts^cxvii

This is just a quick and small glimpse into Rice’s donor profiles. In 2025, Rice’s Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations (OCFR) newsletter highlighted the top 6 corporate donors to Rice: Aramco, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Woodside Energy.

The OCFR also lists “Presidential Partners” which are “most engaged corporate partners involved holistically across campus through investments, sponsored research, campus engagements, and recruiting.” These firms are: BP, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil, Google, Microsoft, SaudiAramco|SABIC, Schlumberger, Shell, TotalEnergies. According to the OCFR, 1593 Rice alumni are employed at these corporations, and the oil & gas and aerospace sectors are among the top industries for Rice graduates.^cxviii The George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing boasts Boeing, Google, and Microsoft as its top employers of graduates.^cxix Presidential Partners are deeply embedded in Rice’s education through research funding, employment, and advisory positions. Almost all of the top donors and “Presidential Partners” are oil companies, meaning that the oil industry has an outsized influence on Rice’s education, research, and knowledge production. Furthermore, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell are all listed on the Palestinian boycott and divestment campaign for their involvements in Israeli occupation and genocide in Palestine.

Greenwashing Partnerships

In addition to openly soliciting and accepting donations from institutions that directly advance warfare, Rice also pursues partnerships that entangle the integrity of its education with these organizations that profit from ecological destruction. These include:

• The Ken Kennedy Institute, with the subtitled description “Responsible AI and Computing for Global Impact,” boasts partnerships with BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, AWS, Intel and Microsoft.^cxx The institute’s graduate fellowships partner with “industry partners,” all of which are oil companies.^cxxi

• Corporate partner Chevron: Headquartered in Houston, one of the most pervasive industry names at Rice is Chevron. In addition to be one of Rice’s top corporate donors, Rice hosts a number of partnerships funded by Chevron including: providing 10 graduate fellowships annually^cxxii and the annual Chevron Lecture on Energy.^cxxiii Both of these partnerships are put forth under the banner of renewable energy. In fact, almost all of Rice’s institutions dedicated to the study of sustainability, renewable energy, and climate change are shaped directly by oil industry executives.

• Rice’s Sustainability Institute, the main research center for sustainability considers the Chevron Graduate Fellows to be part of its affiliated scholars.

• The Carbon Hub at Rice has the stated goal “to advance industrial decarbonization, electrification, and hydrogen production by transforming hydrocarbons into sustainable materials to house, move, clothe, power, and feed people.”^cxxiv While words like “sustainability” adorn the Carbon Hub’s website, its stated mission clearly announces the expansion of fossil fuel extraction. Each one of its four advisory boards is staffed by executives from Shell, Saudi Aramco and SABIC.

• The Baker Institute’s Energy Forum in the Center for Energy Studies has an advisory committee of almost entirely oil companies.^cxxv

Partnering with military entities and contractors

• Canvas: this course management platform’s parent company InStructure is partnered with OpenAI, which announced a $200 million contract in July 2025 with the Department of War to develop AI for military and surveillance purposes.^cxxvi While OpenAI initially had policies against working with military and intelligence clients, these have recently changed and Microsoft has provided the Israeli military with large-scale access to OpenAI’s GPT-4 model.^cxxvii

• Lobbying firm Cornerstone Government Affairs advocates for Rice’s interests in Congress.^cxxviii Cornerstone has links to Israel and war-related corporations.^cxxix Among its clients are dozens of weapons manufacturers, oil companies, and military contractors like ExxonMobil, Palantir, and Boeing, amongst many others.^cxxx As reported in the Rice Thresher in 2025, Cornerstone also has extensive connections lobbying for the fossil fuel industry.^cxxxi On Rice’s behalf, Cornerstone lobbied in 2024 for two issues related to Create AI congressional bills and for two issues related to Senate Bill 4921, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2025.^cxxxii

• Space Studies at Rice: The Space Studies program lists two potential sources of student internships: NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory. ^cxxxiii Rice Space Institute, David Alexander, is on the executive committee of the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium (TARSEC) which aims to strengthen military, civil, and commercial aerospace activity in Texas.^cxxxiv The Professional Studies Masters’ Program in Space Studies lists various aerospace military contractors as “Partners.”^cxxxv

• HTX Labs (which has received investment from Rice University’s investment groups) was awarded a three-year, $90 million contract in 2023 to provide immersive training technology and content for both the Air Force and the Space Force.^cxxxvi

• Student design competitions: The Department of War and war-industry corporations like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Textron Aviation hold student design competitions that Rice students participate in. For example, in 2022, Rice students participated in a drone engineering competition for the US Coast Guard.^cxxxvii Rice students participated in the 2016 design competition sponsored by Textron Aviation, Raytheon Missile Systems, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Wichita, Kansas.^cxxxviii National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), which is a component of the Defense Innovation Unit, a Department of War program office, also runs “hackathon” events and competitions, such as the “Reality Bytes” competition which explicitly designed “to help enhance performance of Department of Defense personnel responsible for analyzing the health and vulnerabilities of networks.”

Conflicts of interest? Rice Boards and corporate power entanglements

Rice has a range of boards that serve as advisory entities that shape Rice’s future directions. According to a 2024 Student Association resolution, a vice president of Elbit Systems sits on Rice’s “data standards development board and security advisory board.”^cxxxix Elbit develops 85% of land-based equipment used by the IDF and plays a central role in building the West Bank surveillance wall.^cxl This is just one example, and further research is needed to consider a range of other advisory boards at Rice, which sometimes are difficult to investigate because the members are not public information. The following section considers Rice’s highest advisory entity, the board of trustees.

Rice Board of Trustees

The Rice Board of Trustees is the university’s highest governing body, whose goal is “ensuring that Rice fulfills its mission of becoming a premier teaching and research university.”^cxli It has 26 members, including 25 appointed trustees and the university president, who have the power of oversight and strategic guidance on university matters. Numerous members of the Board of Trustees hold direct connections to the defense industry, Zionist entities, and fossil fuel industries. Some include:

• Mark Durcan, former CEO of Micron Technology^cxlii — Micron has a subsidiary in Israel and collaborates with the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) and the Department of War’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

• Terrence Gee of Coca Cola Corporation Florida^cxliii — Coca Cola is on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions list^cxliv due to its usage of land and resources from illegally occupied settlements in the West Bank and Syrian Golan. The International Court of Justice affirmed in July 2024 that Israel’s entire occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal, as are all Israeli settlements built on occupied land. As Israeli settlements – on occupied Palestinian and Syrian land – are considered war crimes under international law, Coke is complicit in a war crime.^cxlv Gee was named the interim Chief Information Officer of Rice University in July 2025^cxlvi

• George Y. Gonzalez, partner at Haynes and Boone^cxlvii — a law firm that has represented several Israeli firms, including defense firms. According to its own website: “​​Represented a leading Israeli defense electronics manufacturer before DDTC in several ITAR investigations concerning the proper maintenance of restricted facilities as well as allegations of improper disclosures of U.S. defense information to unauthorized Israeli persons”^cxlviii

• Patti Lipoma Kraft, the wife of Jonathan Kraft, who is CEO of The Kraft Group^cxlix — notorious for its Zionist and specifically pro-IDF advocacy. For example, “the Kraft Group boasts of its “Touchdown in Israel” program, where NFL players are given free, highly organized vacations to see “the holy land” and come back to spread the word about “the only democracy in the Middle East”^cl

• Robert T. Ladd, chair of Stellus Capital Management^cli — a private credit manager that provides financing to companies including those in the aerospace and defense sectors, including companies that are Department of War suppliers^clii

• Elle Moody, SVP of the Moody Foundation^cliii — in 2024 the Moody Foundation gave a $250,000 grant to Friends of the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission (THGAAC).^cliv The THGAAC was created by Greg Abbott in 2021 to surveil educational institutions and suppress support for Palestine under the guise of “combating and confronting antisemitism.”^clv The donation was solicited by Jay Zeidman, a commissioner of THGAAC^clvi and Community Partner of the Jewish Studies program at Rice (see the next section for more on this)^clvii

• Jeremy Thigpen, is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and former president and CEO of Transocean Ltd^clviii (famous for the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill^clix) — one of Transocean’s rigs, the Transocean Barents, was contracted in 2023 by TotalEnergies to drill in the Eastern Mediterranean, at the Lebanese-Israel border^clx

• James Whitehurst, executive Chair of Unity Technologies — a gaming company that works on advanced simulations, human-machine interfaces, and training for the U.S. military including the Air Force’s Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) program.^clxi Unity has offices in Tel Aviv and acquired Israeli ad-tech company IronSource in 2022.^clxii Unity is a major contractor of an enterprise technology firm, CACI, that has multi-million dollar agreements with the US government on various defense initiatives, including assisting the US Army in areas such as aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance^clxiii

Additionally, multiple board of trustees members have significant roles in the fossil fuels industry, including Michol Eckland, Holli Ladhani, Jennifer Kneale, Byron Pope, Cathryn Rodd Selman, Randa Duncan Williams. A previous Rice trustee, James Turley, who served from 2007-2015, also was on the Board of Directors for Northrup Grumman, a company that produces F-35 components and partners with Elbit Systems to arm the Israeli Air Force.^clxiv

Ideological and material support for Israel’s genocide and apartheid in Palestine

MBA scholarship for IDF soldiers who served during genocide

Most recently, Rice’s Jones School of Business established a scholarship program with explicit preference for Israeli military veterans who have served during the documented period of genocide in Gaza since 2023.^clxv The endowment’s initiator and donor, Jay Zeidman, is an active architect in suppressing pro-Palestine protests in Texas. In 2023, Zeidman was appointed to the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission (THGAAC), which works with city and state police to repress educational communities that express any critical views of Israel in Texas. The donation was solicited by Jay Zeidman, a commissioner of THGAAC^clxvi and Community Partner of the Jewish Studies program at Rice.^clxvii In an interview with Mattias Henze, the Director of Rice’s Program in Jewish Studies, Zeidman boasted about violent repression in Texas public universities to “teach people that actions have consequences, and diplomas were withheld, funding was withheld from those who were allowing these encampments and protests that were defined as hate speech to occur. And it gave precedent for private universities, like Rice, to use this as grounding to prevent antisemitism events from happening on their campus.”^clxviii

Though the scholarship is now routed through a formal endowment at Rice, its language remains steeped in Zionist militarism. In public materials from earlier iterations of the scholarship — shared by Bar Natan via LinkedIn in January — combat veterans were specifically emphasized, including those who had fought in the 2023 Gaza assault (termed the “Iron Swords War” by the IDF). Preference was granted to IDF soldiers who had participated directly in that conflict.^clxix In a translated statement from the prior scholarship version, recipients were described as follows: “[The Gibborim scholarship] is in light of the increase in antisemitism cases on campuses in the U.S. against Jewish, Israeli students, and IDF graduates, and serves as a direct, crushing, and unequivocal response to any attempt to undermine their place on campus. You, graduates of service in the IDF, are heroes.”^clxx According to Chris Stipes, executive director of news and media relations, the scholarship prioritizes individuals with “advanced knowledge of the mission and fundamental values” of the IDF.^clxxi

Despite this overtly political framing, Dean Peter Rodriguez of the business school maintained that the scholarship is “not political in any sense,” framing it instead as a routine merit-based award.^clxxii Yet, the language used in the scholarship’s promotional materials — and the broader context of its emergence — suggest otherwise. The awarding of the scholarship in Spring 2024 coincided with the university’s active suppression of student-led divestment efforts.

The Baker Institute

In 2022, the Baker Institute signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Army “for the institute to provide expertise to support the Army Civil Affairs Psychological Operations Command” (USAACAPOC).^clxxiii Within USAACAPOC is the Psychological Operations (PSYOP) unit which is known for running counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and many other occupied locations.^clxxiv This memorandum of understanding encapsulates the role that the Baker Institute under its current director, David Satterfield, has defined itself as a mouthpiece for US military aggression.

Satterfield has a long career in US-led war, serving as Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for Iraq during the US occupation of Iraq, during the years which saw the highest numbers of civilian deaths.^clxxv Following the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, Satterfield served as the Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues from October 2023 to April 2024. During this period, Satterfield advocated for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza by pushing for a direct population “transfer” into Egypt.^clxxvi Satterfield used his position at Baker to host US and Israeli politicians and foreign policy leaders widely criticized for their involvement in war crimes including: Meir Dagan, former director of the Mossad,^clxxvii Mike Pompeo in 2019,^clxxviii Ehud Barak in 2023,^clxxix Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger in 2023,^clxxx Condoleezza Rice in 2024,^clxxxi and David Petraeus in 2024.^clxxxii Additionally, The Baker Institute hosted the Rice Chabad event featuring Omer Shem Tov, a former Israeli hostage and IDF soldier, who explicitly linked his story to Israeli military justifications for ongoing operations in Gaza.^clxxxiii Satterfield also continually hosts the American Jewish Committee,^clxxxiv a lobbying group specifically tasked with promoting Israel’s interests in US policy.^clxxxv These events all served to drum up support for and normalization of the genocide in Palestine under the guise of diplomatic professionalism.^clxxxvi

The Boniuk Institute

The Boniuk Institute is an interdisciplinary center that self-describes as researching “religious tolerance.” The Boniuk Institute conducted a survey in 2024 on religious tolerance, which contained a number of questions about the genocide in Gaza or the “Israel and Gaza crises” in the parlance of the survey, recasting genocide as “religious conflict.”^clxxxvii The survey was sent multiple times to the entire student body.

Institutional contracts worth over $250k with unknown Israeli entities

By law, universities are required to disclose contracts and gifts over $250,000 (within a calendar year) from foreign entities. Rice has had at least four $750,000 contracts with entities from Israel since 2015. The nature of these contracts is unknown; further research is needed to see both the entities involved and the nature of these contracts.

Source: Federal Student Aid (government website)^clxxxviii

Source: National Association of Scholars (NAS) foreign donor database^clxxxix

Rice contracts with entities in Israel, reported to the federal government

Institutional relations with Israeli universities that materially support to genocide and occupation

In 2025, Rice began its partnership with Venice International University, a global academic consortium of 23 universities which include Tel Aviv University. This arrangement includes sending faculty and students to the Venice campus. Tel Aviv University has research connections with Elbit Systems for projects such as autonomous drone navigation, trains soldiers and lawyers for the IDF, and directly shapes Israeli security policy. The former head of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies formally stated that the IDF has to win wars by “destroying houses and infrastructure and causing suffering for hundreds of thousands.”^cxc

At an undergraduate level, Rice has a research scholarship that supports students to go to universities such as Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which partners with Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of Israel’s largest government-sponsored weapons manufacturers.^cxci One of the scholarship’s donors, Max Blankfield, was head of Texas Friends of the IDF (FIDF) in 2019, has attended and sponsored attendees for AIPAC conferences, and has publicly critiqued the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees.^cxcii As outlined in the “Engineering Violence” faculty research section, Rice faculty also have numerous research collaborations with Technion researchers funded by the Department of War.

In the past, Rice has offered a Rice in Israel study abroad program with the Rothberg International School at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which is still listed on the Program in Jewish Studies website.^cxciii Rice also has a Naval Reserves Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Unit, which was founded in 1941.^cxciv Rice’s NROTC is part of the NROTC Houston Consortium which has graduated over 900 officers since World War II into the Navy and Marines. One program opportunity for NROTC graduates, as listed in their handbook, is the Anna Sobel Levy Foundation Scholarship.^cxcv The stated goal of the fellowship scholarship is “to provide future officers an opportunity to learn first-hand about the unique relationship between the U.S. and Israel, to master regional politics, culture, and security affairs, and to study foreign languages at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.”^cxcvi As has been well documented by scholars, Hebrew University is partially built on illegally expropriated land in East Jerusalem and materially supports the IDF by hosting a military base and providing logistical equipment.^cxcvii

Rice Management Company’s Opaque Investment Portfolio

In response to student body pressure,^cxcviii RMC issued a Divestment Statement attempting to ward off the rising tide of students demanding ethical behavior by their university endowments. This proves to be public-facing about-face for Rice, which, until the wave of divestment campaigns launched by the student movement in solidarity with Palestine following the beginning of the Gaza genocide, was publicly open to ethical investing through a commitment to becoming carbon-neutral by 2030.^cxcix As part of this commitment, the RMC Board of Directors approved a sustainability statement in December 2021 and approved Rice and RMC’s signatory status on the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).^cc

PRI promotes “environmental, social and governance factors” (ESG) as a part of institutional investment practice. One of the PRI principles is “appropriate disclosure on ESG issues.” Not only has RMC failed to disclose its progress towards its carbon neutrality goals and adherence to PRI, but the content of its portfolio is entirely opaque unless Rice is legally obligated to disclose. This extreme lack of transparency is at odds with the very status of a non-profit endowment let alone compatible with even the weakest commitments to ethical investment. This report section outlines [1] what we know about Rice Management Company and [2] the ethical investment agreement Rice signed in 2022 and how Rice has failed to uphold these commitments.

What We Know

Rice University, through the Rice Management Company (RMC), operates one of the wealthiest endowments per undergraduate student in the country. With an endowment exceeding $8 billion as of 2024, roughly $1.6 million per undergraduate student, Rice’s financial model is heavily reliant on investment returns, which comprise over 40% of the university’s annual operating budget.^cci Rice University’s endowment is made up of a pool of managed assets currently valued at $7.48 billion USD.^ccii This asset pool is managed by Rice Management Company (RMC).^cciii Rice also has a directly managed real estate portfolio valued at about 590 million USD.^cciv Rice’s investment strategy privileges high-return asset classes such as private equity, venture capital, and energy. These are the three sectors consistently linked to extractive industry, surveillance technologies, and militarized infrastructure nation-wide.

This pie chart is essentially the extent of RMC’s public communication on the structure of its endowment. Its annual reports are typically 4 pages long.^ccv Due to this lack of transparency, only a sketchy understanding of Rice’s investment structure is available. Each of the sections indicated in this chart will be discussed with as much detail as possible. According to the FY24 endowment report, Rice actively profits from:^ccvi

• Venture Capital & Private Equity (30%): Now the endowment’s largest allocation at $2.3 billion, with a 10-year return of 16.3%. These assets are often held through opaque partnerships with limited disclosure and significant exposure to industries like AI weaponization, border surveillance, and fossil fuel tech. RMC’s 2024 annual report says, “Rice’s venture capital and private equity program has grown to $2.3 billion, the endowment’s largest allocation. Risk is managed by diversifying across 20 active external partners and investing in a range of industries around the globe”^ccvii

• Energy & Natural Resources (12%): In its fiscal year 2024 report,^ccviii RMC indicated that the “energy portfolio” accounted for a significant amount of the total 9.7% return (excluding directly held real estate). This likely corresponds to the “Energy & Natural Resources” holdings in the September 2024 chart which account for 12% of the total holdings.^ccix

• Public Equities (22%): Some of the companies that most egregiously support the ongoing genocide in Gaza and are deeply integrated into systems of colonial war are publicly traded companies, likely to be found in standard Public Equity portfolios.^ccx Public equities with links to war and genocide include weapons manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon—major suppliers of armaments used in the siege on Gaza and the broader U.S. military-industrial complex. These companies are not merely theoretical holdings; Rice actively collaborates with them through research, career pipelines, and advisory boards.

• Alternative Investments (30%): A vague category that could include any investments that are not bonds, stocks or cash. Again, there is no further information provided by Rice as to what this sector is invested in.

• Fixed Income & Cash (9%): There is also no information regarding the specific investments of this straightforward and easily reportable category.

Rice’s Violations as a Signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

In 2022, Rice committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2030 and became a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).^ccxi In doing so, Rice made a public declaration that it will integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors into its investment decisions. This should thus preclude entanglement with corporations complicit in apartheid and genocide, the fossil fuels industry, and the international arms trade.

Violating the Principles, Point by Point^ccxii

Rice’s portfolio and partnerships are in conflict with PRI principles it has pledged to uphold:

• Principle 1: “We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.” This principle is violated by RMC’s apparent failure to screen investments for ESG harm; or if any screening is occurring, the failure to disclose precludes this from public knowledge

• Principle 2: “We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.” This principle is violated by Rice’s passive ownership model. It does not engage companies on ethical concerns or publish shareholder voting records, which are standard practice at peer institutions like Stanford or Brown

• Principle 3 “We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.” is violated by Rice’s refusal to disclose ESG risks or seek reporting from companies it invests in. RMC’s holdings remain secret despite repeated calls from students, faculty, and alumni

• Principle 4 “We will promote the acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.” This principle is violated by Rice’s partnerships with corporations profiting from war. There is no evidence that Rice communicates PRI-aligned expectations to service providers or fund managers. In fact, RMC’s “Divestment Statement” actively broadcasts a denunciation of ethical investing

• Principle 5 “We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.” This principle is violated by Rice’s lack of participation in PRI-aligned collaborative investor networks—particularly those working on divestment from military contractors or fossil fuel firms. It is also violated by Rice’s hostility towards student and faculty groups working towards divesting the endowment from genocide and ecological destruction. This is evidenced by Rice dismissing the outcome of the divestment vote and its draconian restrictions to student protest^ccxiii

• Principle 6 “We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles. This principle is violated by Rice’s total lack of public reporting on PRI implementation or ESG metrics

RMC’s limited elaboration of its investment strategy thus is incompatible with its signed commitments. The 2024 annual report champions returns over any consideration of ethics and the university’s place in global systems of exploitation and violence. The annual report says “Rice is in the forever business, meaning we are investing to support and maintain university operations and goals for generations of Owls.”^ccxiv RMC’s strategy fails to distinguish between profitable investments and ethical ones. In its discussion of its risk strategy, Rice introduces the idea of “intergenerational equity,”^ccxv or the ability of the endowment to constantly generate wealth for decades to come. This structure is not neutral and creates an architecture of sanctioned harm. With Rice’s investment portfolio being so obscured, there is a significant amount of further research to be done into Rice’s portfolio.

A refusal to normalize militarism: Concluding questions for the Rice community

As this section of the report demonstrates, the commitments to war and fossil fuel industries are advanced through words and ideas as much as they are advanced through the development of technology and weapons. Just as Rice has adopted an approach to research funding which prioritizes large grants and increasing collaborations with the Department of War, Rice also invests both through its endowments and its educational programming in militarism and ecological destruction.

• How do these entanglements with war and fossil fuel industries shape, affect, and harm the educational environment at Rice? How can we better identify, understand and analyze these linkages across the many parts of the university?

• If a student vote can be ignored by Rice’s administration, who gets to decide what values the university represents?

• How can Rice faculty and staff strengthen their own democratic participation as members of the university and commit to tackling ethical questions of institutional complicity?

IV. STATE OF CAMPUS ACTIVISM & ANTI-WAR SPEECH

Summary

Since October 2023, Rice University has witnessed an unprecedented wave of student activism in response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The campus community has organized vigils, teach-ins, demonstrations, and other educational events to express solidarity, raise awareness, and make demands to end to the genocide.^ccxvi Drawing inspiration from national campus movements and in solidarity with the Palestinian campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, Rice students mobilized to call for institutional divestment from companies complicit in genocide and occupation. These activist activities have been met with a combination of administrative suppression, policy changes, intimidation tactics, and sanctions. Students, faculty, and staff have been physically and verbally harassed for these activities.

Rice’s administrative and institutional response to anti-genocide activism and also right-wing anti-DEI policies can be characterized as [1] displaying anticipatory overcompliance; [2] defaulting on existing flawed bureaucratic procedures which have been easily weaponized to harass students, faculty, and staff; and [3] exemplifying the “Palestine exception”^ccxvii whereby otherwise permissible and encouraged freedom of expression and academic inquiry is uniquely harshly and formally suppressed. For example, in Spring 2024, Rice’s Office for Access, Equity and Equal Opportunity (AEEO, now Equal Opportunity Services) shut down a student association vote on divestment in Spring 2024, prompting the Muslim Legal Fund of America to file a Title IV complaint against Rice for discrimination.^ccxviii More recently, a Fall 2025 student resolution about divesting from violence in Sudan was also undemocratically blocked. Additionally, Rice implemented a new set of extremely restrictive demonstration policies in Fall 2024, following the wave of repressive protest policies implemented at universities nation-wide in direct response to pro-Palestine student demonstrations in Spring 2024.^ccxix

This report section briefly summarizes Rice’s student activism, administrative responses, and how the institution has formally generated a hostile campus climate for activism. Notably:

• Multiple blocking student votes on disclosure and divestment resolutions related to Palestine and Sudan

• Weaponization of federal anti-discrimination laws to harass and intimidate anti-genocide activism, filed through Rice’s Office of Equal Opportunity Services

• Proactively enacting repressive demonstration policies in 2024

• Publicly claiming “institutional neutrality” while enabling a climate of harassment of faculty, staff, and students

Active hostility against anti-war speech

Suppressing & ignoring Student Association decisions

In Spring 2024, the Student Association Senate introduced Senate Resolution No. 2, which explicitly called for Rice University to boycott and divest from companies complicit in the genocide in Gaza.^ccxx These included corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems, Chevron, Raytheon, and Intel, named for their material ties to the Israeli military operations.

Following the resolution’s introduction, Student Association representatives were threatened, through anonymous phone calls to their parents. One Student Association representative experienced stalking and threats through anonymous phone calls and a physical note left on their car on campus.^ccxxi Rice’s AEEO Office forced the Student Association to table it while it conducted an investigation of a complaint lodged by a student.^ccxxii In response, concerned faculty submitted a letter of protest, and faculty members met directly with administrators. Despite this, the administration refused to reverse its decision, continuing a pattern of institutional suppression of Palestinian advocacy also condemned in a Senate Resolution (No. 14) that supported an anti-genocide faculty-led public letter in 2023.^ccxxiii

In the Spring of 2024, Rice graduate students attempted to introduce a statement condemning the genocide and the suppression of student activism to the Graduate Student Association (GSA). Following the introduction of this initiative, Rice administrators met with GSA members and suggested that pursuing a statement could lead to lost employment opportunity and legal persecution specifically for international students.

By Summer 2024, the Muslim Legal Fund of America filed a Title VI complaint against Rice with the Office of Civil Rights, asserting that the university had violated federal anti-discrimination laws by suppressing the student divestment vote.^ccxxiv The summer also saw a sudden update to Rice’s protest and speech policies, which gave administrators broad authority to penalize dissent on campus, outlined in further detail a later section below.

Harassment of anti-genocide activism and affirmations of Palestinian humanity

Members of the Rice community who have expressed dissent against Israel’s genocide in Gaza since 2023 have been harassed physically, financially, and online. A few examples include: while one student was peacefully protesting at an event, a professor physically manhandled the student, grabbing them by the arm and dragged them out. In advance of the October 2025 event bringing a pro-genocide speaker onto campus, some Rice students were preemptively denied entry to an event they had registered for months prior and were threatened with disciplinary action for planning a silent walkout.^ccxxv As students were tabling to raise awareness about the genocide in Palestine, a Rice employee approached them, shouted, and threatened that they would use their experience and connections with the IDF to surveil and harm them.

Faculty members who wore keffiyehs experienced harassment by members of the Rice community, including: being physically approached and being shouted at; having their photos taken to be sent to the University president with the intent of punishment; a distinguished Rice professor posting their photos on social media and asking tens of thousands of followers to identify one on the internet; a dean calling faculty and threatening that there would be new future policies in place to limit what faculty can wear at university events. The same distinguished Rice professor listed above who posted photos of colleagues has also repeatedly publicly written names of members of the Rice community they deemed to be pro-Palestinian, alongside posting threatening photos of knives (that they claim Israelis on campus regularly wield due to “self-defense” concerns).

Weaponizing Anti-Semitism and civil rights law through the Equity Office

In addition to the AEEO blocking the Spring 2024 Student Association vote, the AEEO’s complaint process has been actively used to harass and shut down campus speech and activism. Student activists who organized events commemorating the beginning of the genocide in Gaza were subject to discrimination (on the basis of nationality) complaints filed through the Office of Access, Equity, and Equal Opportunity (later renamed Office of Equal Opportunity Services to comply with federal anti-DEI policies), subjecting them to long-term mental and financial stress to find legal representation in defense.

Faculty members have also been unduly subject to the weaponization of discrimination complaints filed through the Office of Equal Opportunity Services, mirroring an extensive national pattern of the weaponization of anti-Semitism to repress dissent against Israel’s genocide in Gaza since 2023. As noted in The Guardian, “the Trump administration has turned civil rights legislation into a cudgel to root out progressive politics on US campuses, with billions of dollars in federal funding on the line, pro-Palestinian professors have increasingly been caught in the crossfire.”^ccxxvi This phenomenon is extensively documented in a 2025 report “Discriminating against Dissent: The Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine” written by the American Association of University Professors.^ccxxvii

Anticipatory Overcompliance and Hiding Behind “Institutional Neutrality”

New Highly Restrictive Protest Policies

In tandem with its suppression of disclosure and divestment efforts, Rice University introduced repressive protest policies during Summer 2024 - Policies 820 and 856^ccxxviii - without any meaningful student or faculty consultation.^ccxxix Policy 820 grants the administration expansive authority to define, permit, or revoke demonstrations and to classify gatherings as policy violations. Policy 856 empowers any university employee to remove flyers and posters based on vague criteria of appropriateness, effectively enabling ideological censorship. These new demonstration policies significantly increase administrative and police surveillance, including provisions to limit demonstrations to only four locations on campus, new time restrictions, and defining a demonstration as any expressive acts by one or more persons on campus, including even vigils or religious services.^ccxxx

Following a wave of repressive demonstration policies across the country, these policies were introduced amidst mounting student dissent and appear directly designed to chill protest, suppress political expression, and quash mobilization around Palestine. While there is no lip service towards supporting students’ rights, the new policies ironically claim that it is not “intended to diminish Rice’s commitment to the academic freedom of its faculty….for where people hesitate to speak their mind, critical thinking has no purchase and the university cannot even begin to carry out its mission.”^ccxxxi And yet, the policy undoubtedly has the opposite effect. In response, Senate Resolution No. 5 condemned the changes and demanded the formation of a student-inclusive committee to rewrite the policies. That demand has gone unmet.

Rice dropped 70 spots in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2026 rankings and received an “F,” citing overbroad harassment policies and vague demonstration restrictions. Even student survey data shows deep disillusionment with open dialogue at Rice.^ccxxxii

In January 2025, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights sent letters to five universities highlighting human rights violations against international student activists that had been involved in Palestine solidarity work. These universities–Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Minnesota State, and Tufts–all saw student deportations and abductions by immigration enforcement as a result of their activism. The letter, however, highlights administrative overreach that occurred across the country, including at Rice. The Special Rapporteurs write, “The restrictive measures at Columbia University reflect nationwide structural changes at universities to suppress Palestine solidarity movements. This has been recorded in a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.” The letter indicates the toll that repression has taken on international students in particular, “Students report self-censoring political expression, and particularly international students are withdrawing from activism due to deportation fears.”^ccxxxiii

Administrative Messaging and “Institutional Neutrality”

Over the course of the 2023–2025 academic years, Rice University administration has released a series of official statements addressing the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the political mobilization on campus. While these messages claim to express concern for “all members of the community” and champion a so-called “culture of care,” a deeper reading reveals a pattern of institutional gaslighting: erasure of Palestinian suffering, asymmetric empathy, and strategic ambiguity designed to protect Rice’s assumed political neutrality and financial relationships at the expense of moral clarity. Nowhere in the dozens of university-wide emails do university senior leaders name Israel’s sustained assault on Gaza named as a genocide,^ccxxxiv despite the fact that an email from April 29, 2024 acknowledges the enormous toll on Palestinian life.^ccxxxv This failure continues even as major international organizations, scholars, and nations have condemned the genocide in Gaza.^ccxxxvi In multiple emails, administrative voices focus heavily on grief within the “Jewish and Israeli communities” while only vaguely referencing Palestinians.^ccxxxvii The administration has never acknowledged the threats, doxxing, and physical intimidation faced by Palestinian, Muslim, and allied students on campus — including being dragged from events, stalked, and harassed. Nor has it condemned the external attacks on students by far-right blogs and lobbying groups. This rhetorical asymmetry functions to decontextualize violence, protect institutional stakeholders, and neutralize student dissent. It is a form of political sanitization, one that reflects and reinforces Rice’s investment entanglements with weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel firms, and defense contractors.

Examples of Misdefining anti-Semitism and DEI: Institutional Training and Orientation Speaker

In Fall 2024, dozens of Rice administrators and staff attended a four-hour workshop by the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), an organization funded by the Israel on Campus Coalition. According to AEN’s own materials, it “mobilizes networks of university faculty and administrators to counter antisemitism, oppose the denigration of Jewish and Zionist identities, promote academic freedom, and advance education about Israel.” The arc of the training has two major points: 1.) critiques of Israel (anti-Zionism) are the most recent stage of ancient anti-Semitism, and 2.) associating Jewish people with power is an anti-Semitic trope, thus critiques of Israel that suggest Jewish people have power is anti-Semitic. The training materials include a document co-written by AEN and Hillel that are a set of should/shouldn’t guidelines for faculty and students.^ccxxxviii Furthermore, the AEN board consists of many high-ranking university administrators who have openly targeted student organizers including figures from Texas A&M and Smith College.

In Fall 2025, Rice required all incoming students to attend a mandatory “Diversity and Community at Rice” orientation program, featuring speaker Suzanne Nossel, then–former CEO of PEN America. Nossel has been widely criticized for her pro-Israel stance and her organization’s failure to support Palestinian voices. She resigned from PEN in October 2024 amidst backlash, though she denied that the resignation was related to PEN’s position on the genocide.^ccxxxix Nossel was invited to speak by the Vice Provost for the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence, despite prior warnings from student leaders and Community Facilitators (CFs) about her troubling record. Several Community Facilitators, students in charge of upholding inclusionary practices during orientation, walked off stage during the talk in protest.^ccxl

The above event occurred amid broader restructuring of diversity education at Rice, with CFs required to revise their training slides to remove terms like “microaggressions” and instead use legally palatable phrases like “everyday slights.” Like universities across the country, Rice renamed its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office to the “Office of Access and Institutional Excellence” in 2025, following the inauguration of Donald Trump.^ccxli The Vice Provost for the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence confirmed that these revisions were made under guidance from university legal counsel.^ccxlii

Pro-Palestine activism in a repressive state

Rice exists in a notably repressive state for Palestine solidarity activism. The Texas State Governor’s office contacted Rice during Rice Student for Justice in Palestine’s 2024 encampment demanding that student protestors be arrested. Texas materially invests in the state of Israel; most recently in late 2023, Texas state purchased $45 million Israeli bonds.^ccxliii In 2025, Abbott threatened to defund the city of San Marcos which was considering a ceasefire resolution.^ccxliv Rice is located in Houston, Texas, which is home to the single most significant port in the United States for the transshipment of F-35 fighter jet manufacturing for Lockheed Martin Corporation. F-35 fighter jets are the “crown jewel” of Israel’s military and play a key role in its genocidal airstrikes of Gaza. As the community organization coalition Houston Arms Embargo has extensively researched, the Port of Houston received over 400 shipments of F-35 parts, with over 40% of shipments coming directly from Israel, for transport by rail and assemblage in Fort Worth, Texas.^ccxlv The Port of Houston is a public entity and contracts with Maersk, the shipping company profiting from transport of Lockheed Martin, and a major target of the Palestinian boycott movement.^ccxlvi

Texas law prohibits public institutions—including universities—from contracting with or investing in businesses that boycott Israel, effectively criminalizing financial support for BDS (the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement). The legislation, first enacted in 2017 and revised in 2019, mandates certification from government contractors that they do not and will not participate in pro-Palestinian boycotts; it applies to contracts with companies employing at least 10 people and valuing more than $100,000.^ccxlvii This legal framework has had an immediate chilling effect on student divestment movements across Texas campuses. For instance, University of Houston students, who passed a “Divest from Death” resolution demanding divestment from weapon manufacturers supplying the Israeli military, were rebuffed by university officials citing incompatibility with state law.^ccxlviii Courts have upheld the law’s constitutionality, with Attorney General Paxton emphasizing it underscores Texas’s unwavering “commitment to stand with Israel.”^ccxlix

The Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission (THGAAC) was created by Greg Abbott in 2021 to surveil educational institutions and suppress support for Palestine under the guise of “combating and confronting antisemitism.”^ccl Influential Rice donor Jay Zeidman is a commissioner of THGAAC.^ccli THGAAC works with city and state police to repress educational communities that express any critical views of Israel in Texas, advocating for the restrictive International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism. Texas lawmakers are pushing to embed the IHRA “working definition” of anti-semitism into school and university disciplinary codes. Senate Bill 326 would require public K‑12 districts and higher ed institutions to use this expansive definition when evaluating student conduct, effectively expanding the legal basis for disciplining speech deemed antisemitic.^cclii The IHRA definition, while non‑legally binding, is widely critiqued for its deliberate ambiguity, especially the inclusion of criticism of Israel as a potential marker of antisemitism. This ambiguity allows institutions to label legitimate pro‑Palestinian expressions as discriminatory or hateful.^ccliii Civil liberties advocates and academic scholars warn that such definitions are being used to suppress political critique rigorously, undermining free speech and academic freedom on campus.^ccliv

Chapter conclusion: A healthy campus for activism & expression

In a financialized university model where tuition, research funding, and prestige flow through the same extractive pipelines, students are often told to accept complicity as the price of education. But the students at Rice have made clear that silence is no longer tolerable. In the past, Rice’s Board of Governors refused to divest from apartheid South Africa in a timely fashion. Now, the same rhetorical evasions are being used to defend entanglements in an apartheid regime in Palestine. By linking divestment to human dignity, students at Rice are continuing a long legacy of campus resistance from Vietnam to South Africa to Gaza.

Taken as a whole, Rice’s response reflects a broader national strategy that aims to suppress pro-Palestinian dissent through administrative procedure, misdefine dissent against genocidal systems as hate, and obscure complicity with the language of neutrality. What is occurring is the protection of institutional interests at the expense of the free speech and democratic expression of the heart of the university’s community - its students, faculty, and staff. How can faculty and students mobilize to promote, rather than suppress, free speech on campus?

V. TOWARDS AN ANTI-WAR UNIVERSITY: CONCLUSION & QUESTIONS

The title of this report, Engineering Violence, draws inspiration from a conference entitled “Engineering Destruction: Militarization and the War Economy,” held in July 2025 at Birzeit University in the West Bank in Palestine. In the words of economist Taher Al-Labadi at the conference, Israel’s economy is not simply affected by war, but constituted by war. As Palestinians scholars, activists, and citizens have regularly emphasized, the current genocide has been long in the making, manufactured by a vast military-industrial apartheid system that includes the Israeli state and military, but also materially and ideologically supported and enabled by a wide set of global institutions and actors. These include the United States government and military, weapons manufacturers, surveillance technology firms, construction companies, media companies, financial institutions such as banks and insurers, and universities.^cclv

Indeed, this report began as an attempt to examine Rice’s connections with the Israeli military and institutions that uphold Israel’s genocidal apartheid state in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. As the research for the report unfolded, however, it became increasingly clear to the report writers that Rice is deeply entangled with many militaristic entities and the larger war industry. As outlined in this report, Rice has research collaborations, scholarships, and other entanglements with multiple militaries and weapons manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, fossil fuel giants like Chevron and Exxon, and Israeli academic institutions that directly contribute technical, military, and material support of apartheid, genocide, and repressive political conditions both abroad and, increasingly, in the United States.

Without ethical regulations and considerations, academics must accept the fact that research is often weaponized, making them contributors to war-making and authoritarian governance globally. We urge Rice to recommit to being a university oriented towards collective, planetary well-being by considering:

• Financial transparency and disclosing Rice’s financial interests in war-related and energy industries, including donations, investments, and research funding

• Upholding ethical investment commitments by divesting and disentangling from entities that profit from war and planetary destruction^cclvi

• Opening conversations across the university about what it means for the majority of future university research funds to come from military and private entities

This report is thus an attempt to open a conversation about challenging existing dynamics at Rice, and we return to the questions at the beginning of the report: What might an ethical, anti-war university look like? What kind of research and science do we want to do? Are there ways to measure scientific research prestige that do not equate it entirely with funding size? What other measures of research excellence might Rice adopt? And how might the university support researchers who are reluctant to seek DoW or private funding on ethical grounds? More generally, what do we want the university to be for? And for whom do we want to do our work?

Although these are big questions, social change occurs through many small, concrete, and incremental actions of members of a community. We hope these questions are taken up by concerned Rice community members, whether in colleges, departments and centers, in student, faculty, and staff groups, the Faculty Senate, and any other Rice community spaces.

VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & ENDNOTES

Acknowledgments

This report was authored by a group of Rice community members. The research began in May 2025 and concluded in January 2026. The Anti-War Initiative offered important research tools (https://antiwar.io/research-tools) to access DoD funding data and university tax and audit documents, which are publicly accessible (to date, January 2026) but took significant time to locate, compile, and analyze.

Finally, this report comes after two years of genocide in Gaza, led by the Israeli government and materially made possible by the United States and the global military industry. The genocide has killed hundreds of thousands of people so far, through both direct bombardment and disease, famine, and other deadly consequences of the mass displacement of 99% of Gazans.^cclvii According to the Israeli military’s own estimates in 2025, at least 83% of Palestinians they killed in Gaza since 2023 were civilians; nearly half have been children.^cclviii The unacceptability of this tragedy was the initial impetus for writing this report and remains at the heart of an unfolding broader anti-war anti-authoritarian movement.

i Endnotes

I. Introduction

Source: Defense Technical Information Center. For relative comparison with other universities: Duke has received $576.77 million; Emory $149.91 million; Johns Hopkins $827.45 million; Stanford $1.1 billion, MIT $1.24 billion. https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/grant?or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e

ii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/grant?or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e

iii https://dra.rice.edu/rising-center

iv https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/rice-establishes-center-membrane-excellence-advance-separation-technologies-energy-and

v For more on how the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation and US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research & Development funding agencies actively participate in and uphold illegal settlements and apartheid in Palestine, see: https://apnews.com/article/science-israel-west-bank-international-law-jerusalem-0fd5bd1b2fadd80c8486c16c14a22427

vi https://nta.org/2020/12/01/darpa-awards-9-8m-to-rice-university-for-next-gen-nonsurgical-neurotechnology-program/

vii https/investigate.afsc.org/company/northropgrumman

viii For example, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Rice heavily invested in becoming a national leader in “nano-bio-info-enviro” fields. By 2008, more than a quarter of the science and engineering faculty hired at Rice in the previous two decades were nanotechnology experts affiliated with the Smalley Institute. This became a leading pitch for Rice’s utility in establishing a partnership with Lockheed Martin Corporation. https://news2.rice.edu/2008/04/22/smalley-institute-partners-with-lockheed-martin/

ix https://momentous.rice.edu/ai

x https://dra.rice.edu/rising-center

xi https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-hosts-assistant-secretary-defense-science-and-technology

xii Emails can be sent to: antiwar.rice@proton.me

xiii https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/94585

xiv https://www.un.org/unispal/document/a-hrc-59-23-from-economy-of-occupation-to-economy-of-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-palestine-2025/

II. ENGINEERING VIOLENCE

xv In a recent 2024 speech while founding new Texas space initiatives, right-wing Governor Greg Abbott referenced Rice’s long history in space exploration, invoking JFK’s famous announcement of putting a man on the moon, which was delivered at Rice. https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rices-david-alexander-serve-texas-aerospace-research-and-space-economy-consortium

xvi For relative comparison with other universities: Duke has received $576.77 million; Emory $149.91 million; Johns Hopkins $827.45 million; Stanford $1.1 billion, MIT $1.24 billion. Source: Defense Technical Information Center at https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/grant?or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e.

xvii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/grant?or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e

xviii May 2, 2025 update: https://research.rice.edu/opd/executive-orders-and-funding

xix https://www.science.org/content/article/congress-set-reject-trump-s-major-budget-cuts-nsf-nasa-and-energy-science

xx https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/article/4227847/senior-officials-outline-presidents-proposed-fy26-defense-budget/

xxi https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-baker-institute-sign-mou-us-army

xxii https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-led-study-uncovers-breakthrough-magnetism-could-transform-quantum-computing-and; https://bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-academic-unions-commend-global-universities-for-ending-ties-with-complicit-israeli; https://www.weizmann.ac.il/wsos/sites/feinberg/files/uploads/fgs_update_04dec2023_-_update_and_adjustments_for_students_following_the_iron_swords_war.pdf

xxiii https://bdsmovement.net/news/appeal-action-end-cornell-university-collaboration-technion

xxiv https://nta.org/2020/12/01/darpa-awards-9-8m-to-rice-university-for-next-gen-nonsurgical-neurotechnology-program/

xxv https://www.wired.com/2015/03/woman-controls-fighter-jet-sim-using-mind/

xxvi https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/09/its-now-possible-telepathically-communicate-drone-swarm/151068/?oref=d-channeltop

xxvii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/analytics/grant/funder/aggregated?or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e

xxviii https://dra.rice.edu/

xxix https://dra.rice.edu/

xxx https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-hosts-assistant-secretary-defense-science-and-technology

xxxi https://news.rice.edu/news/2023/rice-university-welcomes-us-navy-research-official-campus-visit

xxxii Ericsson emphasized the DOD’s commitment to engaging with diverse innovators from nontraditional spaces to tackle critical challenges. https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-hosts-assistant-secretary-defense-science-and-technology

xxxiii https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-hosts-assistant-secretary-defense-science-and-technology

xxxiv https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-hosts-assistant-secretary-defense-science-and-technology

xxxv DARPA is a Department of Defense initiative that was founded in 1957 in response to the launch of Sputnik, https://www.darpa.mil/about#history

xxxvi https://runsra.rice.edu/

xxxvii https://runsra.rice.edu/about-runsra

xxxviii https://kenkennedy.rice.edu/news/rice-tapped-army-cutting-edge-communications-research

xxxix https://runsra.rice.edu/about-runsra

xl https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_audit/2024-06-GSAFAC-0000344857

xli https://runsra.rice.edu/people; https://runsra.rice.edu/connect

In 2025, RUNSRA Advisory Committee consisted of: Pulickel Ajayan, Paul Cherukuri, Tam Dao, Naomi Halas, Lydia Kavraki, Thomas Killian, Lane Martin, Luay Nakhleh, Doug Natelson, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Ashutosh Sabharwal, Jeffrey Tabor, James Tour. RUNSRA personnel included: Vinod Veedu (Assistant Vice President), Pulickel Ajayan (Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering), Robert Vajtai (Research Professor), Ashutosh Sabharwal (Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering), Boris Yakobson (Karl F. Hasselmann Professor, Materials Science and NanoEngineering Member, Ken Kennedy Institute), Aditya Mohite, Edward W. Knightly, Santiago Segarra, Michael S. Wong, László Kürti, James Tour, Caroline Ajo-Franklin, David Alexander, Zachary T. Ball, Gang Bao, Reginald DesRoches, Naomi J. Halas, Lydia E. Kavraki, Carolyn Nichol, Peter J. A. Norlander, Qimiao Si, Jonathan Silberg, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Paul Cherkuri, Yousif Shamoo.

xlii The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is a milestone in bolstering the U.S. semiconductor industry with $280 billion allocated to stimulate growth and innovation.

https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/department-defenses-dev-shenoy-addresses-rice-community-microelectronics-advancements-and

xliii https://nsin.mil/

xliv https://research.rice.edu/qa/national-security-innovation-network; https://nsin.mil/

xlv Other NSIN programs include NSIN Experts, X-Force, and Tech Squad, that link university faculty, students, and STEM professionals directly with DoD officials through laboratory technology and real-world problem solving opportunities. To engage students, the NSIN offers a Technology and National Security Fellowship, which “matches doctoral and master’s candidates in STEM fields with policy makers and national laboratory-level DoD researchers to provide technical expertise on an emerging national security problem.” https://www.nsin.mil/experts/ ; https://research.rice.edu/qa/national-security-innovation-network

xlvi https://www.afrl.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3827834/afrl-opens-international-center-at-rice-university/

xlvii https://dra.rice.edu/rising-center

xlviii https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-baker-institute-sign-mou-us-army

xlix https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/public-sector/rice-university-and-google-public-sector-partner-to-build-an-innovation-hub-in-texas/

l https://www.un.org/unispal/document/a-hrc-59-23-from-economy-of-occupation-to-economy-of-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-palestine-2025/

li https://dtic.dimensions.ai/analytics/grant/overview/timeline?order=date&or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&local:indicator-y1=timeline-source-funding-amount&year_from=2000&year_to=2026

lii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/analytics/grant/overview/timeline?order=date&or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&local:indicator-y1=timeline-source-funding-amount&year_from=2000&year_to=2026

liii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/analytics/grant/researcher/timeline?or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&local:entities=ur.0617370330.48&local:entities=ur.015007171437.02&local:entities=ur.01100253604.04&local:entities=ur.01147031604.79&local:entities=ur.0651324536.88&year_from=2000&year_to=2025

liv The Rice research team includes Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Lane Martin (director of the Rice Advanced Materials Institute), Ashok Veeraraghavan (chair of electrical and computer engineering, Pulickel Ajayan (founding chair of the material science and nanoengineering department), Kaiyuan Yang (electrical and computer engineering), and Guha Balakrishnan (electrical and computer engineering).

https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-researchers-advancing-microelectronics-manufacturing-darpa-funded-team-0

lv https://nta.org/2020/12/01/darpa-awards-9-8m-to-rice-university-for-next-gen-nonsurgical-neurotechnology-program/

lvi Rice’s researcher has described the project through medical terms, while DARPA N3 has much more militaristic presentation of the project’s aims. For example: “Most immediately, we’re thinking about ways we can help patients who are blind. In individuals who have lost the ability to see, scientists have shown that stimulating parts of the brain associated with vision can give those patients a sense of vision, even though their eyes no longer work.” Meanwhile, the N3 program manager notes that “The nice thing is that [N3] will also allow us to start exploring neurotechnology for the able-bodied soldier, if, for example, I’m operating a computer network or operating drones. As more artificial intelligence starts to propagate into our military environment, the way that we interact with these AI systems is going to change.”

https://eceweb.rice.edu/news/brain-brain-communication-demo-receives-darpa-funding; https://news.rice.edu/news/2019/feds-fund-creation-headset-high-speed-brain-link; https://www.afcea.org/signal-media/cyber-edge/mind-control-machines-isnt-brain-surgery-any-more

lvii https://www.darpa.mil/research/programs/next-generation-nonsurgical-neurotechnology

lviii Team collaborators: Pulickel Ajayan (Material Sciences), Reginald DesRoches (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Marcia O’Malley (Mechanical Engineering), James Tour (Chemistry). https://news.rice.edu/news/2021/rice-tapped-develop-3d-printed-smart-helmets-military

https://news.rice.edu/news/2023/rices-office-innovation-partners-carbon-and-tyrex-group

lix https://www.tyrexmfg.com/news/rices-office-of-innovation-partners-with-carbon-and-tyrex-group/

lx Grant title: “Sixth Sense: Head Mounted Sensor System for the Hyper-Enabled Operator.” Funder: US Department of the Navy. Grant number: N000142512247. Investigators: Paul Cherukuri.

https://dtic.dimensions.ai/details/grant/grant.14882467?order=date&or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e

lxi Paul Cherukuri, collaborating with Taiyun Chi and Ashok Veeraraghavan (Electrical and Computer Engineering). https://news.rice.edu/news/2021/us-army-backs-sleeping-cap-help-brains-take-out-trash

lxii See Table at the end of this section.

lxiii https://investors.lockheedmartin.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lockheed-martin-and-rice-partner-nanotech-research

lxiv https://news2.rice.edu/2008/04/22/smalley-institute-partners-with-lockheed-martin/

lxv https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/publication?order=date&or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&or_facet_funder=grid.419474.b

lxvi https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-team-brings-home-top-prize-2024-ethics-engineering-case-competition

lxvii https://www.defenseadvancement.com/news/darpa-selects-teams-to-produce-next-generation-battlefield-obscurants/

lxviii https://engineering.rice.edu/news/thanh-tran-named-technical-fellow-raytheon

lxix https://www.businessinsider.com/raytheon-ceo-benefit-dod-budget-increases-war-israel-2023-10

lxx https://afsc.org/gaza-genocide-campaign

lxxi https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/publication?order=funding

lxxii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/grant?order=funding&or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&and_facet_researcher=ur.015007171437.02

lxxiii https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/75m-dod-grant-backs-revolutionary-multi-university-research

lxxiv https://runsra.rice.edu/people

lxxv https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/publication?order=funding&and_facet_researcher=ur.01305760674.47

lxxvi https://runsra.rice.edu/people

lxxvii https://news.rice.edu/news/2020/researchers-set-sights-theory-deep-learning

lxxviii https://news2.rice.edu/2017/01/13/rice-has-role-in-new-250m-robotics-manufacturing-institute

lxxix https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/publication?order=funding&or_facet_researcher=ur.011743631465.56

lxxx https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/technical_report?order=funding&or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&and_facet_researcher=ur.0617370330.48

lxxxi https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/grant?order=funding&or_facet_researcher=ur.01275626274.52

lxxxii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/publication?order=date&or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&or_facet_funder=grid.419474.b&and_facet_researcher=ur.01275626274.52

lxxxiii https://dtic.dimensions.ai/analytics/publication/author/aggregated?and_facet_researcher=ur.0651324536.88&or_facet_research_org=grid.6451.6&and_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&viz-st:aggr=mean

lxxxiv https://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/grant?or_facet_researcher=ur.0651324536.88&and_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e

lxxxv https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3463726/department-of-defense-selects-2023-vannevar-bush-faculty-fellows-to-pursue-vita/

lxxxvi https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rices-emilia-morosan-awarded-prestigious-vannevar-bush-faculty-fellowship; https://news.rice.edu/news/2023/rice-researchers-earn-prestigious-defense-department-grants; https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3463726/department-of-defense-selects-2023-vannevar-bush-faculty-fellows-to-pursue-vita/

lxxxvii https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2953234/department-of-defense-announces-university-research-funding-awards/

https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/75m-dod-grant-backs-revolutionary-multi-university-research

lxxxviii Other recipients include Randall Hulet (Physics and Astronomy) and Leonardo Dueñas-Osorio (Engineering) whose projects brought $1.6 million to Rice in 2013. https://news2.rice.edu/2013/07/02/rice-faculty-win-two-muri-awards/

lxxxix https://www.ece.rice.edu/news/knightly-awarded-us-army-grant-counter-6g-wi-fi-risks

xc https://eceweb.rice.edu/news/rice-university-ece-and-army-research-lab-scientists-win-ieee-icc-best-paper-award

xci https://news.rice.edu/news/2023/grant-backs-research-teaching-networks-make-better-decisions

xcii https://engineering.rice.edu/news/zhu-named-us-air-force-young-investigator-program

xciii https://eceweb.rice.edu/news/santiago-segarra-awarded-army-early-career-program-ecp-award

xciv For example, Dan Kowal (Statistics) in 2020; Philip Ernst (Statistics) in 2018; Lane Martin (Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Chemistry, and Physics and Astronomy, Director of the Rice Advanced Materials Institute) in 2010. An example of an award: Ernst’s project received a three-year, $235,617 grant. Ernst’s research proposal, “Next-generation quickest detection,” proposes development of geometric probabilistic optimization techniques to address the dangers posed by space weather threats (cosmic rays, solar flames, solar particles) to Army defense systems. https://statistics.rice.edu/news/ernst-receives-armys-young-investigator-award; https://statistics.rice.edu/news/kowal-receives-isbas-inaugural-blackwell-rosenbluth-award

https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/lane-martin

xcv David Scott; https://statistics.rice.edu/about/faculty-awards

xcvi For example, Guido Pagano (Physics and Astronomy) in 2022; Pedram Hassanzadeh (Mechanical Engineering) in 2020; Jeffrey Tabor in 2014; Farinaz Koushanfar in 2009; https://www.onr.navy.mil/education-outreach/sponsored-research/yip

xcvii See faculty CVs and pages for their linkages: Fred Oswald, Margaret Beier, Eduardo Salas

xcviiihttps://profiles.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs3881/files/2022-02/DeLucia%2C%20Pat%20CV%20JAN%202022%20%282%29.pdf

xcixhttps://dtic.dimensions.ai/discover/publication?or_facet_research_org=grid.21940.3e&and_facet_for=80023&order=date

c Rice Creative Venture Funds provided $37.500 for a 2019-2020 workshop (Computational psychometrics: Measurement, modeling and meaning in the AI era) that supplemented Army Research Institute funds. https://profiles.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs3881/files/2022-02/Oswald%2C%20Fred%20CV%20Jan%202022.pdf

ci https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/beier-leads-national-academies-study-future-military-education-and-training

cii

III. NORMALIZING MILITARISM

For more information, see the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel: https://www.bdsmovement.net/pacbi

ciii https://bdsmovement.net/news/energy-embargo-now-end-genocide

civ https://investments.rice.edu/

cvhttps://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/majority-rice-student-voters-support-divestment-19964119.php

cvi https://investments.rice.edu/

The statement was added between December 10, 2024 and January 25, 2025 according to wayback machine data.

cvii https://www.clrn.org/does-amd-support-israel/

cviii https://www.linkedin.com/posts/moshe-tanach-9274a03_the-palestinians-are-not-incapable-people-activity-7169984077377343488-GWaN

The firm also signed this: https://www.bakerbotts.com/news/2023/11/baker-botts-joins-letter-condemning-anti-semitism

cix https://www.bakerbotts.com/experience/n/naphtha-israel-petroleum-corporation--ac

cx https://southwest.adl.org/packed-house-joins-adl-in-honoring-bill-kroger-with-the-karen-h-susman-jurisprudence-award/; https://truthout.org/articles/jewish-organizations-are-fighting-back-against-khalil-deportation/

cxi https://www.bdsmovement.net/chevron

cxii https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2026/01/07/chevrons-venezuela-gamble-could-soon-pay-off-00712625; https://www.ttnews.com/articles/chevron-extend-venezuela-oil

cxiii https://www.rtx.com/news/news-center/2025/11/21/r2s-receives-1-25-billion-tamir-production-contract-for-facility-in-camden-arka

cxiv https://tech.co/news/what-is-project-nimbus-google

cxv https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250904-google-under-fire-for-45m-deal-with-netanyahus-office-to-spread-gaza-genocide-propaganda/

cxvi https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-11-02/ty-article/.premium/idf-drops-chinese-cars-switches-to-japans-mitsubishi-fleet/0000019a-45ac-d21b-a7db-edfe90400000

cxvii https://palestinecampaign.org/psc-company/exxon-mobil-corp/

cxviii https://ccd.rice.edu/about/annual-report

cxix https://engineering.rice.edu/about/facts-rankings

cxx https://kenkennedy.rice.edu/we-build-partnerships

cxxi https://kenkennedy.rice.edu/current-collaborations

cxxii https://si.rice.edu/chevron-fellows-call-applications-fy26

cxxiii https://chbe.rice.edu/news-events/chevron-lecture-energy

cxxiv https://carbonhub.rice.edu/

cxxv https://www.bakerinstitute.org/energy-forum

cxxvi https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/16/openai-wins-200-million-us-defense-contract.html

cxxvii https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/23/israeli-military-gaza-war-microsoft

cxxviii https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/hired-firms?cycle=2025&id=D000037089

cxxix https://cgagroup.com/trade-missions/#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20our%20work,make%20those%20goals%20a%20reality.

cxxx For example, it represents nanotech company Advanced Medical Devices (see page X for more), defense investor Advent International, military electronics supplier Ampere Computing, military communications company Analog Devices Inc, electronics contractor Anduril Industries, weapons developer Applied Research Associates, BlackRock which invests significantly in companies actively complicit in violence in Gaza (i.e. Palantir, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin), defense contractor Boeing, AI military contractor Camgian Corporation, military operations contractor Chenega Corporation, DoD cybersecurity contractor CrowdStrike, military tech company Epirus Inc, ExxonMobil, military drone contractor Firestorm Labs, military cybersecurity contractor Fortress Information Security, military contractor Galileo Inc, defense supplier Garmin, military supplier GE Aerospace, major military supply contractor General Dynamics, military software supplier HBM nCode, military tech contractor Hidden Level, military electronics supplier Hyperion Technology Group, military satellite contractor Iridium Communications, military contractor KBR Inc., defense aerospace contractor Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, military medical tech contractor Lumen Bioscience, military cybersecurity contractor Merlin International, military medical tech contractor Moberg Analytics, military hypersonic collaborator NineTwelve Institute, military medical tech contractor Nirsense LLC, military tech contractor Palantir, military tech contractor Parraid LLC, military analytics contractor Prescient Edge, military AI contractor Primordial Labs, military quantum computing contractor PSIQuantum, military tech contractor Quantum Technology Services, military AI contractor r4 Technologies, military contractor Rajant Corporation, military contractor RTX (Raytheon), military AI contractor Rune Technologies, military weapons contractor Saab AB, military AI contractor Scale AI, military vehicles contractor Seasatellites Inc, association of military contractors Semiconductor Industry Association, military operations contractor Shift5 Inc, military communications contractor Sigma Defense Systems, military IT contractor Smartronix Inc, military aircraft contractor Starfighters Space, military engineering contractor Thunderbold Solutions, military supplier Transdigm Group, military hardware and software contractor True Anomaly, military electronics contractor TSS Solutions, and military cybersecurity contractor ZeroFOX.

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/firms/summary?cycle=2025&id=D000021939

cxxxi https://www.ricethresher.org/article/report-reveals-rices-lobbying-firms-ties-to-fossil-fuel-interests-20250122

cxxxii https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/rice-university/lobbying?id=D000037089

cxxxiii https://profms.rice.edu/programs/space-studies/applications

cxxxiv Other members of this committee include representatives from space and defense tech companies and military contractors Aegis Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, CesiumAstro Inc. and Firefly Aerospace. https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rices-david-alexander-serve-texas-aerospace-research-and-space-economy-consortium

cxxxv https://profms.rice.edu/programs/space-studies/info

cxxxvi https://houston.innovationmap.com/htx-labs-vr-military-contract-2665232783.html#:~:text=HTX%20Labs%20wins%20$90M,virtual%20reality%20(VR)%20headsets.

cxxxvii https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-u-students-reverse-engineer-drug-smuggling-drone-us-coast-guard

cxxxviii https://aiaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2016-dbf-top-reports35c1e6260e28477681353b8c4c4a195b.pdf

cxxxix https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2024/03/senate-debates-resolution-to-boycott-divest-sa-funds-from-israel-aligned-companies

cxl https://bdsmovement.net/news/elbit-systems-war-criminals-and-genocidaires-face-financial-woes

cxli https://ofs.rice.edu/communications/featured-stories/board-trustees-guides-rices-future

cxlii https://news.rice.edu/news/2020/rice-welcomes-5-new-trustees

cxliii https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/terrence-gee-named-interim-chief-information-officer-rice

cxliv https://bdsmovement.net/news/coca-cola-quenching-israel%E2%80%99s-genocidal-soldiers%E2%80%99-thirst

cxlv https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/experts-hail-icj-declaration-illegality-israels-presence-occupied

cxlvi https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/terrence-gee-named-interim-chief-information-officer-rice

cxlvii https://profiles.rice.edu/board-trustees/george-y-gonzalez-90

cxlviii https://www.haynesboone.com/experience/practices-and-industries/international/israel

cxlix https://www.thekraftgroup.com/jonathan-kraft/

cl https://www.thenation.com/article/society/robert-kraft-super-bowl-commercial/

cli https://business.rice.edu/person/robert-t-ladd

clii https://www.stelluscapital.com/portfolio/

cliii https://moodyf.org/elizabeth-moody/

cliv https://jhvonline.com/friends-of-the-texas-holocaust-genocide-and-antisemitism-advisory-commiss-p33153-90.htm

clv https://thgaac.texas.gov/assets/uploads/docs/THGAAC-One-Pager.pdf

clvi https://thgaac.texas.gov/about/our-commissioners

clvii https://jewishstudies.rice.edu/branches/winter-2024/community-partner-spotlight-jay-zeidman

clviii https://www.deepwater.com/jeremy-d-thigpen

clix https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/deepwater-horizon-bp-gulf-america-oil-spill

clx https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/drilling-rig-arrives-lebanons-block-9-begin-exploration-minister-2023-08-16/

clxi A 2025 purchase order from the US Air Force: “The U.S. Air Force awarded a $19.8K purchase order to Unity Technologies SF for SOFPREP L2-Unity licenses on September 30, 2025, with a completion date of September 29, 2026. The contract represents a firm fixed price acquisition without set-aside designation, with performance occurring in Tampa, Florida. Unity Technologies SF, a subsidiary of Unity Software Inc., is a child entity that specializes in real-time 3D content creation and operation platforms serving industries including gaming, architecture, and filmmaking. This award builds upon Unity’s established relationship with the Department of Defense, particularly the Air Force, where the company has previously delivered modeling, simulation, prototyping, and software capabilities in support of multi-domain command and control systems integration initiatives. Unity holds a position on a $900M Air Force Life Cycle Management Center multiple award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract for developing innovative approaches to capability development and synthetic environment development for multi-domain systems. The current purchase order for software licenses supports the Air Force’s continued investment in advanced simulation and modeling capabilities, leveraging Unity’s proven platform to enhance operational planning and training environments.”

https://govtribe.com/award/federal-contract-award/purchase-order-h9241525pe022

clxii https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rji7ze9kjg

clxiii https://observer.com/2022/08/unity-a-video-game-platform-will-help-the-u-s-military-design-war-simulations/; https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/unity-signs-multi-million-dollar-contract-to-help-u-s-government-with-defense; https://www.vice.com/en/article/unity-workers-question-company-ethics-as-it-expands-from-video-games-to-war/

clxiv https://business.rice.edu/person/james-s-turley; https://investor.northropgrumman.com/news-releases/news-release-details/northrop-grumman-elects-james-s-turley-its-board-directors

clxv https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2025/03/mba-endowment-supports-non-u-s-veterans-with-fundamental-values-of-idf1

clxvi https://thgaac.texas.gov/about/our-commissioners

clxvii https://jewishstudies.rice.edu/branches/winter-2024/community-partner-spotlight-jay-zeidman

clxviii https://jewishstudies.rice.edu/branches/winter-2024/community-partner-spotlight-jay-zeidman

clxix https://www.linkedin.com/posts/asaf-bar-natan_gibborim-hero-scholarshippdf-activity-7276735296187060224-caTf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFw60W4BPHq8S4E_O2LNsRssOYBG8DbQtsY

https://aringo.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Gibborim-Scholarship.pdf

clxx https://aringo.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Gibborim-Scholarship.pdf

clxxi https://www.ricethresher.org/article/mba-endowment-supports-non-u-s-veterans-with-fundamental-values-of-idf1-20250327

clxxii https://www.ricethresher.org/article/mba-endowment-supports-non-u-s-veterans-with-fundamental-values-of-idf1-20250327

clxxiii https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-baker-institute-sign-mou-us-army

clxxiv https://www.apa.org/monitor/jun03/operation

clxxv https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/66520.htm; https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

clxxvi https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gaza-conditions-worsen-united-states-aid_n_654e9179e4b0373d70b22072

clxxvii https://ricethresher.org/article/former-israeli-hostage-visits-rice-pro-palestine-demonstraters-denied-entry-20251105

clxxviii In November 2019, Baker invited Mike Pompeo, then-Secretary of State under President Donald Trump, to campus. Pompeo has been involved in numerous civilian deaths abroad, particularly through drone strikes and support for Saudi operations in Yemen.

clxxix https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/diplomats-gather-rice-mark-75-years-israel-s-17923242.php

Israel at 75 was funded by the American Jewish Committee, the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Houston, Houston Hillel, the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Rice University’s Jewish Studies Program, Congregation Beth Yeshurun, the Anti-Defamation League, Congregation Emanu El, Evelyn Rubenstein JCC, Seven Acres Jewish Senior Care Services and Congregation Beth Israel.

clxxx In October 2023, Baker held its 30th Anniversary Gala, featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who helped wage large-scale attacks on Libya, Afghanistan, and Syria, James Baker, and a prerecorded message from Henry Kissinger, the late Secretary of State who orchestrated U.S. coups and massacres from Chile to Cambodia. Student organizers held an Anti-War Teach In and protest of the event. https://www.axios.com/local/houston/2023/10/26/kissinger-clinton-baker-rice-university-gala

clxxxi In February 2024, the Baker Institute awarded Condolezza Rice, architect of the Iraq War and the Bush-era torture program, its “Excellence in Leadership” prize during a Shell-sponsored lecture. Condolezza Rice justified Israel’s siege on Gaza from the stage and was met with student protests inside and outside the venue. David Satterfield, Baker Director and U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues, moderated the discussion without critical pushback. Student organizers executed a banner drop and protest to oppose the legacy of war crimes lauded at this event. https://ricethresher.org/article/condoleezza-rice-visits-rice-university-20240221

clxxxii In September 2024, the Baker Institute hosted former U.S. Army General David Petraeus who led U.S. occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. During this lecture, Satterfield and Petraeus openly endorsed a complete U.S.-Israeli occupation of Gaza and an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. https://www.bakerinstitute.org/event/global-challenges-and-us-interests-conversation-gen-david-petraeus

clxxxiii https://ricethresher.org/article/former-israeli-hostage-visits-rice-pro-palestine-demonstraters-denied-entry-20251105

clxxxiv https://jhvonline.com/ajc-baker-institute-host-program-on-american-politics-and-antisemitism-p33985-89.htm.

https://www.bakerinstitute.org/event/us-policy-middle-east-conversation-ted-deutc.

clxxxv https://www.ajc.org/

clxxxvi See details of these events and student responses in the next report section.

clxxxvii https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/study-shows-rices-religious-and-cultural-diversity-fosters-inclusive-environment-0

clxxxviii https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/topics/section-117-foreign-gift-and-contract-reporting/section-117-foreign-gift-and-contract-data

clxxxix https://www.nas.org/foreign-donor-database

cxc https://bdsmovement.net/news/academia-weapons-and-occupation-how-tel-aviv-university-serves-interests-israeli-military-and

cxci https://jewishstudies.rice.edu/branches/winter-2024/summer-research-technion; https://bdsmovement.net/news/appeal-action-end-cornell-university-collaboration-technion

cxcii https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/257291; https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth544192/m1/14/

cxciii https://jewishstudies.rice.edu/study-abroad

cxciv https://nrotc.rice.edu/about/rice-unit-history

cxcv https://nrotc.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs3356/files/2020-02/GUIDEBOOK_0.pdf

cxcvi The Anna Sobel Levy Foundation offers other scholarship programs and its website states that “future military officers from ROTC programs have been the backbone of the program” and that they also accept “civilian students who are committed to careers in the Foreign Service or the various intelligence agencies.” https://www.annasobollevyfoundation.org/#:~:text=Historically%2C%20future%20U.S.%20military%20officers,up%20to%20%2416%2C000%20per%20year) Example of another Anna Sobol Levy program brochure: https://www.runi.ac.il/media/q0tpi43h/asl-brochure-2023.pdf

cxcvii https://bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-academic-unions-commend-global-universities-for-ending-ties-with-complicit-israeli

cxcviii https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/majority-rice-student-voters-support-divestment-19964119.php

cxcix https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-announces-plans-be-carbon-neutral-2030

cc https://www.unpri.org/about-PRI/what-principles-for-responsible-investment

cci https://investments.rice.edu/

ccii https://investments.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2926/files/inline-files/FY24-Endowment-Update.pdf

RMC describes its “strategy is to achieve a highly diversified long-term portfolio return while maintaining acceptable levels of risk exposure.”

cciii https://investments.rice.edu/

cciv https://realestate.rice.edu/;

https://investments.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2926/files/inline-files/FY24-Endowment-Update.pdf

ccv https://investments.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2926/files/inline-files/FY24-Endowment-Update.pdf

ccvi https://investments.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2926/files/inline-files/FY24-Endowment-Update.pdf

ccvii https://investments.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2926/files/inline-files/FY24-Endowment-Update.pdf

ccviii https://investments.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2926/files/inline-files/FY24-Endowment-Update.pdf

ccix While further details are not published by RMC about what constitutes the “energy portfolio,” it is extremely likely that Chevron is a significant investment of the portfolio. Not only is it one of the largest U.S. energy companies, it is based in Houston and has deep institutional ties to the university that are explored in other areas of this report. Chevron is a primary divestment target because it is the main company facilitating oil extraction in the Eastern Mediterranean claimed by the State of Israel. Energy companies–dominated by oil and gas in the US with heavy presence in Houston–should be scrutinized by any responsible investment manager–particularly a signatory of PRI. Energy companies are deeply embedded in global systems of war and are, of course, driving ecological collapse. The exploitation of our global ecology in the tangle of corporate profit is inextricable from the colonial systems that produce war and genocide.

ccx https://investigate.info/divest

ccxi https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-announces-plans-be-carbon-neutral-2030

ccxii https://www.unpri.org/about-PRI/what-principles-for-responsible-investment

ccxiii https://ricethresher.org/article/rice-issues-restrictions-on-campus-protests-poster-displays-20240911

ccxiv https://investments.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2926/files/inline-files/FY24-Endowment-Update.pdf

ccxv Whether or not this “intergenerational equity” comes about via the entrenching of systems of militarization and fossil extraction that erode the communities Rice claims to serve, is apparently not the concern of Rice. Rice claims that its investment strategy is governed by its “most important risk tool”: understanding the drivers of return. But nowhere in its documentation or publications does it account for the reputational, political, or human costs of investing in corporations that violate international law, contribute to genocide, or extract wealth from Indigenous land. Instead, the endowment is managed through a technocratic lens that sees asset performance in isolation from social consequence. The RMC’s integration with university leadership—while framed as a benefit—only reinforces the inability to critique the university’s financial model from within. The CIO of RMC is also Rice’s Treasurer. RMC board members serve on the university’s finance committee. https://investments.rice.edu/risk-management

IV. STATE OF CAMPUS ACTIVISM

ccxvi The genocide in Palestine has profoundly impacted Rice’s campus community, in addition to Israel’s bombing and destruction of civilian housing and infrastructure in Lebanon, Iran, and Syria. Since the genocide began in 2023, Palestinian, Lebanese, Arab American, and Muslim Rice community members have experienced harassment and distress. For some in the Rice community, the genocide and other military campaigns have resulted in devastating personal losses.

https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2024/04/after-discrimination-complaint-rice-orders-sa-to-table-resolution-divesting-from-israel-aligned-companies; https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2024/04/student-activism-is-working-and-fear-mongering-cannot-hold-us-back

https://ricethresher.org/article/rice-students-for-justice-in-palestine-declares-liberated-zone-on-campus-20240424

ccxvii https://palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception

ccxviii https://shift.press/articles/rice-university-is-violating-pro-palestine-students-civil-rights/

ccxix https://aaup-utaustin.org/2024/09/13/statement-on-campus-time-place-and-manner-policies-and-the-jerusalem-declaration/

ccxx https://sa.rice.edu/resolution-tracker

ccxxi https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/gaza-solidarity-encampments-campus-crackdown-palestine/

ccxxii https://www.ricethresher.org/article/809293ef-cc62-4630-8661-19aaf5617baa

ccxxiii https://ricethresher.org/article/student-association-passes-senate-resolution-14-20240110

ccxxiv https://ricethresher.org/article/mlfa-files-title-vi-complaint-against-rice-20240822

ccxxv https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2ce230e7-e02c-4f4e-9af8-b9eba9406b61

ccxxvi https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/campus-investigations-professors-gaza-antisemitism

ccxxvii https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/2025-11/Discriminating-Against-Dissent_0.pdf

ccxxviii https://ricethresher.org/article/rice-issues-restrictions-on-campus-protests-poster-displays-20240911

ccxxix https://www.ricethresher.org/article/new-demonstration-and-poster-policies-seem-targeted-lack-student-input-20240911

ccxxx https://policy.rice.edu/820; https://policy.rice.edu/856

ccxxxi https://policy.rice.edu/820

ccxxxii https://www.ricethresher.org/article/3fe9cb02-db19-4bbc-b705-db824313ac96

ccxxxiii https://theintercept.com/2025/12/16/un-human-rights-universities-columbia-gaza-protests/

ccxxxiv https://president.rice.edu/communications

ccxxxv https://president.rice.edu/communications/end-semester-message-and-well-wishes

ccxxxvi For example, the word “genocide” only appears in the President’s emails in reference to “how I would deal with a call for the genocide of members of the Jewish community. My resolute response was that Rice unequivocally considers calls for violence or genocide against Jewish students or any other group to be evil, wrong and immoral.” DesRoches issued this statement following the congressional hearings on campus antisemitism in late 2023. https://president.rice.edu/communications/message-ongoing-safety-and-support-rice-community; https://www.npr.org/2023/12/05/1217459477/harvard-penn-mit-antisemitism-congress-hearing

ccxxxvii https://president.rice.edu/communications/message-support-rice-community

https://president.rice.edu/communications/message-ongoing-safety-and-support-rice-community

ccxxxviii For faculty, these include: “Refraining from Political Indoctrination in the Classroom” and similar language to the policies discussed last meeting: “Faculty should not subject students to their particular views and opinions concerning matters extraneous to the course of instruction itself, or to significantly insert material unrelated to the course” and encouragements to teach ‘diversity’ of viewpoints. There is also a section on statements that says: “Academic units, including departments, can speak in an official capacity only when the university leadership authorizes them to do so.”

ccxxxix https://writersagainstthewarongaza.com/statements/pen-america-boycott-lifted

ccxl https://www.ricethresher.org/article/0bfdc3ca-a783-470e-927c-6302c842d9cc

ccxli https://ricethresher.org/article/rice-rebrands-dei-office-amid-federal-scrutiny-20250305

ccxlii https://writersagainstthewarongaza.com/boycott-pen-america; https://writersagainstthewarongaza.com/statements/down-with-pen-america

ccxliii https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-comptroller-announces-45m-israel-bonds-purchase/

ccxliv https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/politics/2025/04/30/gov--greg-abbott-says-san-marcos-faces-defunding-over--antisemitic--israel-ceasefire-resolution-#:~:text=Abbott%20says%20in%20his%20letter,participate%20in%2C%20boycotts%20of%20Israel.

ccxlv https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/houston-arms-embargo/

ccxlvi https://bdsmovement.net/MaskOfMaersk

ccxlvii https://www.cobbjohns.com/blog/2022/04/is-texas-pro-israel-boycott-ban-unconstitutional-2m4et

ccxlviii https://www.axios.com/local/houston/2024/05/15/israel-divestment-university-houston-texas-law

ccxlix https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/paxton-wins-major-case-defending-texass-anti-boycott-israel-law

ccl https://thgaac.texas.gov/assets/uploads/docs/THGAAC-One-Pager.pdf

ccli https://thgaac.texas.gov/about/our-commissioners

cclii https://www.texaspolicyresearch.com/bills/89th-legislature-sb-326/

ccliii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHRA_definition_of_antisemitism

ccliv https://criticalzionismstudies.org/noihratoolkit/

V. CONCLUSION

cclv For more on this, see 2025 report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, From an economy of occupation to an economy of genocide.

cclvi The demand to divest from Israel’s apartheid regime, occupation of Palestinian territories, and genocide in Gaza is grounded in adherence to international law and commitment to human rights. It does not represent a minority political opinion or one side of a political debate. Rather, it reflects a powerful consensus among international human rights organizations and a significant body of international jurisprudence, which concludes that the state of Israel is committing crimes against humanity, including the crimes of apartheid and genocide. In previous decades, despite the popular global social movement and student activist demands, Rice refused to divest from South African apartheid in a timely fashion, only doing so after the tides had turned.

VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & ENDNOTES

cclvii https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02009-8; https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6897/No-one-fully-survived:-Shocking-statistics-expose-the-devastating-scope-of-Israel%E2%80%99s-genocide-in-Gaza; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

cclviii https://www.972mag.com/israeli-intelligence-database-83-percent-civilians-militants/

General Search engines For Federal Grants

• Find the A-133 or O.M.B. Audit reports of your institution. Every institution is required to produce such documents and therefore a cursory search should yield some results. Look through the pass-through programs from N.A.S.A., D.o.D. and the D.o.E.. There are a few other agencies as well to generally look through but this should be enough to get you started.

• Federal Procurement Data System [F.P.D.S.] contains official government data on contracts: [-]

• USA Spending should sync with F.P.D.S. on a nightly basis: [-]

• HigherGov is a 3rd party analogue of USA Spending. If it is paywalled use a VPN. We recommend Mullvad VPN [-]

• Tech Inquiry is a search engine that scrapes data from USA Spending but also F.E.C. political funding. It is a great resource but should not be considered exhaustive despite the fact that it does scrape: [-]. You can also download and modify Jack Poulson’s scraper to your own desired needs: [-]

• To find grant solicitations before awarding use these two links: [-] and [-]

• Defense Technical Information Center is a branch of the Pentagon that evaluates scientific studies for potential military use: [-]

• For foreign gifts and contracts, Section 117 Foreign Gift and Contract Reporting of the Higher Education Act of 1965 requires that universities report foreign funding of over $250k: [-]

• You can also search for the defense contract news feed by googling as an input query: site:defense.gov/News/Contracts/

• Technical details of project are contained here on the Broad Agency Announcement page: [-]

General O.S.I.N.T.

• General O.S.I.N.T. search engines on GitHub [-]

• Further general O.S.I.N.T.: [-]

• InstaHunt for searching social media feeds: [-]

• Use web scrapers like BeautifulSoup and Selenium.

Freedom of information act requests

• Find the grant/contract you want to investigate on USA Spending or FPDS, and identify its procurement instrument identifier (P.I.I.D.) number.

• Go to foia.gov and start a request: “Start a request with a specific agency” → D.o.D. (or other dept) → component (ex. Air Force)

Tips:

• Latency on D.o.D. contracts is about a year so make sure you do them early once you find contracts.

• They’ll try and shake you off. You may get emails asking if you’re still interested in it, etc, having to opt back in to receive the F.O.I.A. – Do so.

• Stuff you can ask about: Statements of work, contract document, related emails, F.O.I.A.s

• (who else has requested info) → you can’t F.O.I.A. fully private emails

• Example F.O.I.A. request: Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records: A copy of the contract – including any modifications and statements of work – between [ENTITY #1] and [ENTITY #2] with PIID [NUMBER]. I am also requesting copies of all emails between [ENTITY #1] and [ENTITY #2] relating to this award.

Further tips and tricks

• Look through professor’s C.V.’s

• Look through LinkedIn pages

• Look up grant numbers you find and often times the studies funded by a particular grant will come up.

• Learn how to use advanced searching methods: [-]

The U.C.’s financial ties to the military extend beyond its investments. Where U.C.’s money goes, research funding follows. The U.C. regularly accepts research funding from agencies within the Department of Defense and military contractor partners. Inevitably, research funded by these sources caters to military interests.

Academic research funded by D.o.D. agencies constitutes a critical portion of the process for developing military technologies. Historically, research into high risk technologies is supported by government funding, exploiting cheap labor from academic workers at universities for the military’s benefit. In venture capital parlance, D.o.D. funding agencies provide “seed money” for research that align with US “national security” interests. These research projects constitute the UC’s most direct contributions to the US military apparatus.

In just one year, Israel dropped over 70,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, more than five times the weight of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, in an area three times smaller. Such devastation and carnage is the outcome of an advanced pipeline of research and development, including work carried out at academic institutions. U.C.L.A. labs conduct research in bomb manufacturing, hypersonic missiles, laser weapons, A.I.-assisted targeting, and military aircraft—all technologies that are directly implicated in the bombing of Gaza. These U.C.L.A.-led research programs fuel the early development of next-generation military technology used to perpetrate ongoing and future genocides.

The U.C.L.A. community, especially workers whose labor feeds into this body of military research has a right to know the extent of U.C.L.A.’s research in fueling violence around the globe. The public deserves to understand the implications of association with an institution with a vested interest in bloodshed. It is imperative that U.C.L.A.’s military research programs are thoroughly scrutinized, and we further demand that U.C.L.A. sever all ties with these projects. Below, we highlight several labs, their links to military funding, and their collaboration with defense contractors.

Bomb Manufacturing

The Water Technologies Group, led by U.C.L.A. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering David Jassby, contributes to a D.o.D.-funded project aimed at improving B.A.E. Systems’ bomb manufacturing process. B.A.E. Systems is contracted to operate the Holston Army Ammunition Plant, a facility that produces explosives used for munitions such as the 155M artillery shells and Hellfire missiles that the U.S. supplies to Israel. In 2021, Jassby was awarded a grant funded by a SEDRP initiative exploring the “valorization of waste streams from manufacturing explosives”—in other words, Jassby was awarded a grant aimed at making bomb production more cost-effective. To conduct this research, the Jassby group procures A.N.S.O.L., a waste product from explosives manufacturing, from the Holston Army Ammunition Plant via a “Materials Transfer” facilitated by B.A.E. Systems. In other words, the production of bombs directly fuels this research program.

Public-facing information portrays this research program as an ecologically conscious initiative. Quite contrastingly, the aim of “valorizing waste” from manufacturing bombs is driven by motivation to increase economic efficiency, allowing for the production of more bombs which in turn fuel environmental pollution. Significantly, Jassby’s lab website omits any mention of this lucrative partnership with B.A.E. Systems. When it comes to providing the means for perpetrating genocide, institutional structures readily mask their complicity.

Jassby also has extensive ties to Israeli military development, including a variety of projects funded by U.S.–Israel bilateral agencies (see table above). These projects involve collaborations with Israeli institutions including Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Ben Gurion University. In addition to his work on explosives manufacturing, Jassby’s “wastewater treatment” and “water desalination” projects, while sounding innocuous, carry geopolitical implications, especially as Israel weaponizes access to ammonium nitrate (fertilizers) and water to sustain its apartheid system. Building off this research, Jassby cofounded Active Membranes, a wastewater treatment start-up that recently carried out pilot desalination programs in Israel. Ever keen to commercialize its research programs, UCLA has invested in Active Membranes through Venture at UCLA Anderson and Magnify at CNSI.

Hypersonic Missiles

UCLA collaborates extensively with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Base via the Collaborative Center for Aerospace Studies. Professor Ann Karagozian, who leads the Energy and Propulsion Research Lab, conducts research testing air-launched missiles using F-15 aircraft, with the objective of developing missiles that can reach hypersonic speeds in the Mach 3-6 range. Karagozian has sat on numerous Air Force Science Advisory Boards, with chilling titles including “Targets and Effects, Long Range Strike Study” and “Hard and Deeply Buried Targets.” According to available documentation, Karagozian has received at least $1.6M in Air Force Funding for her work. Karagozian’s CV also boasts a long list of students that have gone on to work in the defense industry, including for companies such as Raytheon, Boeing, Aerospace Corporation, Defense Innovation Unit, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed-Martin, and Air Force Research Lab.

Military Aircraft

UCLA employs Professor Jason Speyer, whose 50-year career has made him an expert on “the guidance, navigation and control systems of vital aerospace and military craft.” Speyer, who previously worked for Boeing and Raytheon, currently holds the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Chair of Engineering, a position that was established through a $1 million donation. It should be noted that the donor and namesake of this chair, Ronald Sugar, was C.E.O. and chairman of Northrop Grumman from 2003–2010, a period during which defense contractors profited greatly from the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Speyer’s publications include DARPA-funded research on optimizing drone strikes, optimization models for battle, missile guidance and defense, and autonomous flight for fighter jets. In parallel with his research at UCLA, Speyer helped found and served as CTO of SySense, a start-up founded “by a group of engineers from UCLA” focusing on autonomous flight that lists the Air Force, Navy, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Atomics as customers. Throughout his career, Speyer has also held at least two positions at Israeli universities and is a signatory on this letter condemning UCLA students protesting Israel’s genocide. Articles describing Speyer’s research provide further insights into the trajectory of his research throughout his career. A UCLA mechanical engineering press release recognizes the application of Speyer’s work in the Patriot missile system, Advanced Fighter Technology Integration in F-16s, and autonomous flight formation for pairs of F-18s. Given Israel’s widespread use of drones, F-16s, and autonomous guidance systems in its bombing campaigns, it is entirely conceivable that Speyer’s decades of research at UCLA is directly linked to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. UCLA also hosts research aimed at developing the next generation of military aircraft. Professor Kunihiko (Sam) Taira, PI of the Computational and Data-Driven Fluid Dynamics Group, received the top DoD faculty award (a Vannevar Bush Fellowship worth $3 million) for a project titled “Extreme Aerodynamics: Grasping the Unknown Skies,” with a stated aim of enhancing DoD capabilities by establishing a “new field of extreme aerodynamics [to] support the designs and operations of next-generation air vehicles.” This article describes the challenge of this research—improving the maneuverability of next- generation small air vehicles in urban or mountainous terrain—and states its envisioned application: the deployment of drones used in defense and surveillance in urban environments.

Taira’s CV[860] discloses further funding from the DoD, including $8,308,563 for projects on which he serves at PI and $6,591,549 for projects on which he is co-PI. While Taira’s research is still in its early phases, it’s easy to imagine—especially given the precedent set by senior colleagues at UCLA—how this work will make its way into military drone technologies of the future.

A.I.-Assisted Targeting

Given Israel’s widely reported use of AI-assisted targeting for airstrikes in Gaza and Lebanon, UCLA’s DoD-funded research on Automatic Target Recognition is especially detestable. Professor Andrea Bertozzi was awarded a $400,000 grant from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a military intelligence arm of the DoD. This grant yielded a proceedings paper titled “Novel batch active learning approach and its application to synthetic aperture radar datasets,” which was recognized as “Best Student Paper” at the SPIE Defense Conference. This work essentially proposed a system for partially supervised active learning to enhance the Automatic Target Recognition algorithm.

Similar algorithms for “target detection” are used in “Habsora” (or “The Gospel”), a key feature of the IDF’s “mass assassination factory” that emphasizes “quantity and not on quality.” Automatic Target Recognition is a feature heralded by Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael for its use in SPICE-family air-to-surface missiles, developed in partnership with US military contractors. Even more alarming, this technology was marketed on the UCLA Technology Publisher database. It has since been removed from the platform, suggesting that some external organization has already acquired this algorithm. While the applications of this algorithm are still unknown, it is absolutely conceivable that it will be used in missile guidance or target selection systems.

Although much of Bertozzi’s work is couched in relatively benign language, these detailed descriptions reveal a program of research that serves military and policing agendas in developing technologies to target oppressed and marginalized people. DoD funding has quietly adapted Bertozzi’s machine learning research into a tool of war and oppression. Bertozzi’s research made integral contributions to PredPol, the predictive policing software company led by former UCLA professor Jeff Brantingham. As revealed in a series of investigations by the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, Bertozzi and Brantingham collaborated on a project funded by the Army Research Office to develop algorithms that predict “insurgent activity” based on data obtained from the US’s invasion of Iraq. PredPol was subsequently adopted by the LAPD and used to predict areas of higher crime in Los Angeles. PredPol rapidly expanded across multiple cities through the financial backing of investors including the UCLA Venture Capital Fund. The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition ultimately led a successful campaign that ended the LAPD’s use of PredPol, but research in target recognition algorithms continues to brew in UCLA labs. From Palestine to LA, research in AI-assisted targeting leads to violent repression against Black and Brown communities, and it is imperative that we demand accountability from the UC for its research activities.

Laser Weapons

Futuristic weapons systems are also developed at UCLA. Researchers at UCLA’s Beam Control Lab (PI Steve Gibson, Co-PI Tsu-Chin Tsao) are developing laser weapons. Gibson and Tsao’s labs were part of a Multidisciplinary Research Initiative (MURI) managed by the DoD’s Joint Technology Office on High-Energy Lasers. One project, titled “Tactical High-Energy Laser Weapon Alignment System Architecture Efficiencies,” received $6.1 million in funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR Grant #:N000140711063) to develop “high-performance laser weapons” that “deliver energy to the target through the atmosphere in applications including the high altitude Airborne Laser (ABL), low altitude tactical battlefield scenarios, and marine scenarios.” The project’s stated objective is to “improve the performance of high energy weapons systems in the range of scenarios of interest.” These descriptions appear in a document available on the project’s website.

This High Energy Laser JTO MURI project also received funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR Grant: F4962002010319; award amount unknown). This project, titled “Atmospheric Propagation of High Energy Lasers,” worked to realize the DoD’s ambitions “to provide the technology to make HEL (high-energy laser) systems more effective and also to make them lighter, smaller, cheaper, and more easily supportable on the battlefield. In general, efforts funded under this program element are chosen for their potential to have major impact on multiple HEL systems and on multiple Service missions.” Indeed, research produced at UCLA aimed at improving laser beam control using adaptive optics is already being integrated with military industrial technologies. In the MURI project’s final report, UCLA researchers disclose some of the collaborations and applications resulting from this work with military partners. Some direct quotes include the following:

• “Recent improvements in laser power and wave front control technology for space surveillance and laser anti-satellite and anti-ballistic missile weapons has motivated interest in extensions and alternative uses of this technology. Of particular interest are directed energy weapons, such as lasers. The agility and speed with which laser weapons can operate, combined with potential pinpoint accuracy and low collateral damage associated with these weapons make laser weapons highly desirable for a variety of applications, including high altitude Airborne Laser (ABL), low altitude tactical battlefield scenarios, and marine scenarios. However, considerable fundamental scientific work must be conducted to bring these weapons to the battlefield with the capability to deliver energy to the target through the atmosphere in each scenario of interest.”

• “UCLA’s methods for adaptive control in adaptive optics are being used in a Phase II SBIR to MZA Associates Corporation for mitigation of aero-optics effects in directed energy weapons, funded by MDA.”

• “UCLA plans to collaborate with Teledyne on control of their new liquid crystal spatial light modulator for wavefront control of high energy lasers. In recent months, Professors Gibson and Tsao have been invited to present our research to beam control groups at Northrop Grumman and Aerospace Corporation. Those visits initiated plans for future collaborations.”

• “The close collaboration among UCLA, AFRL and Teledyne Scientific Co. has been very productive in several ways ... Teledyne based the re-design of the driver for the two-axis device partly on the performance of an earlier single-axis device in control experiments at UCLA. ... UCLA students and faculty have had the opportunity of working with an exciting new class of hardware being developed in industry for Air Force missions. The experimental results reported in [16, 15, 17] were obtained from a jitter control experiment in UCLA’s beam control laboratory with the Teledyne liquid crystal device. Most recently, UCLA Ph. D. student Pawel Orzechowski has worked with AFRL and Teledyne researchers to set up a similar experiment at the Starfire Optical Range, and we plan to continue this collaboration.”

• “During the following year, UCLA’s adaptive jitter control methods will be used in a relay-optics experiment at AFRL under a Phase II SBIR to Tempest Technologies, funded by MDA.”

• “UCLA faculty and students will continue the current collaboration with Dr. Dan Herrick and others at AFRL and Teledyne Scientific Co. on control of liquid crystal devices for beam steering. While the recent experimental research in UCLA’s beam control laboratory on these devices has been quite productive, it is even more exciting now that UCLA’s control algorithms are being implemented in the jitter control laboratory at AFRL’s Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland AFB. Liquid crystal technology for beam control also is being developed by other defense contractors, including Raytheon, and we expect to develop collaborations with such companies.”

This research on adaptive optics has “improved laser beam control in the Atmospheric Simulation and Adaptive-optics Laboratory Testbed at the Starfire Optical Range, Kirtland AFB.” Starfire Optical Range is essentially a facility testing the use of lasers to disable satellites (Administration Researches Laser Weapon).

Other Research

The above accounts have focused on researchers whose work fuels the testing and development of military bombing capabilities, perhaps the most grotesque form of warfare perpetrated by the US and US-supported militaries like the IDF. However, DoD agencies fund many other researchers at UCLA whose work supports various US military interests. The graph below shows the 100 UCLA professors receiving the most DoD funding (excluding the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program), compiled from a database of publicly available information regarding DoD funding. This data likely provides an incomplete picture of just how much military funding UCLA researchers receive. For example, it does not include funding for projects in which UCLA is a sub-contractor for other institutions, nor does it include funding through which UCLA researchers collaborate with industry partners on SBIR/STTR grants. The only source that would paint a complete picture of the UC’s military funding (for whom, how much, and from which agencies) is the restricted SPX Contracts & Grants internal database.

Commercializable Technology

Once proof-of-concept is achieved in UCLA labs, the next step for military-funded research is commercialization by seeking out industry partners and early-stage investors. The UC plays an active role in this process through its various seed investment arms and its publicly searchable database of commercializable technologies (UC-wide database; UCLA-specific database).

Using keyword searches in these databases, we have found that UCLA’s commercializable technologies are marketed for applications in surveillance (night vision cameras, video optimization, video labeling, satellite/geospatial surveillance, and physical sensors), lasers (missile defense, beam intensity and stability, optimization framework), drones (modular drones), and military vehicles (hardware components, hypersonic aircraft).

UCLA’s commercialization efforts reveal other concerning projects, including attempts at recreating Havana Syndrome, the widely publicized but unsubstantiated ailments experienced by diplomats and CIA agents at the US embassy in Cuba and elsewhere. UCLA is currently seeking partners to purchase a technology with the title “Systems for Covertly Creating Adverse Health Effects in Subjects.” In their pitch, UCLA describes this technology as “a novel less-than-lethal method for creating [adverse] health effects in human subjects by directing undetectable waveforms toward the subject. This method might be capable of causing the ‘Havana Syndrome.’” UCLA has facilitated the development of a weapon that deliberately causes psychological distress and further seeks to commercialize the product through outside partnerships.

Academic Boycott

Internship Programs

Each year, UCLA Computer Science and Engineering Departments partner with some of the largest defense contractors in the US to secure student internships and job opportunities. UCLA also hosts annual career fairs in which they consistently highlight and publicize their invitation of representatives from defense companies, including specific promotion of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and Northrop Group. Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin are featured on a list of companies who have hired the most mechanical and aerospace engineering students at UCLA. UCLA also has a specific faculty liaison for Lockheed Martin, Teaching Professor Paul Eggert of the Computer Science Department. In addition, both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Group are fiscal sponsors of SOLES (Society of Latinx Engineers and Scientists) at UCLA. Through consistent advertisement of defense companies through career fairs, internships, and job opportunities, UCLA promotes and encourages students to work in defense, rather than focusing on jobs to mitigate harm through climate change or health engineering fields. UCLA has an array of career avenues and job opportunities available to highlight; however, they internationally cater their Computer Science and Engineering departments to defense companies which they also happen to be invested in.

UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies

Beyond the grants, labs, and research funding described above, UCLA maintains much more explicit ties to Israeli institutions. UCLA houses the Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, led by Director Dov Waxman. This Center has a long history of hosting and sponsoring detestable speakers and promoting unethical, misleading, and hateful narratives surrounding Palestine. Just recently, in February 2024, the Center invited Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to speak on campus. Livni was a key decision maker in Operation Cast Lead, a 2008 IDF mission which killed 1,400 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians. The United Kingdom issued a warrant for Livini’s arrest citing her role in overseeing war crimes against Palestinians. Despite protests from students, UCLA has continued to host anti- Palestinian Israeli scholars, university administrators, and government officials on campus, with funding and support from UCLA.

Study Abroad In Israel

UCLA also maintains connections to several Israeli universities through study abroad programs, fellowships, seminars, academic agreements, and research collaborations. The Y&S Nazarian Center offers scholarships for students to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel Institute of Technology Technion/Neubauer—as part of the UC Education Abroad Program—as well as Ben Gurion University. UCLA offers the Mudie-Glaser Scholarship for Study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Harry C. Sigman Scholarship for Study in Israel through the Nazarian Center. The Nazarian Center also offers fellowships and other funding opportunities offering up to $10,000 for faculty, postdoctorates, graduate students, and undergraduate students who commit to research, presentations, travel, or course development promoting Israel. In September of 2023, UCLA established a new partnership with Hebrew University funded through the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation to research school violence. UCLA was awarded $1.3 million through this partnership to conduct research in both California (under Social Welfare Professor Ron Avi Astor of the Luskin School of Public Affairs) and Israel. After the initial pilot year, this partnership pledges to create a UCLA–Hebrew University Center operated jointly by the two universities. These institutions systematically discriminate against Palestinians while materially, culturally, and intellectually perpetuating occupation and genocide. By providing funds for students to visit a colonial state occupying Palestinian land, UCLA directly contributes to systems that uphold occupation, genocide, and apartheid.

Strategies For Boycotting

This section has examined current UCLA research programs aimed at making modern weapons systems deadlier and more devastating. While this section focuses primarily on technologies used to perpetrate the bombing of Gaza and Lebanon, research conducted at UCLA has far-reaching implications that serve to support the objectives of the military and police apparati more broadly. As with its investment portfolio, the UC relies on a lack of transparency to avoid public scrutiny of its research practices. Full disclosure of academic partnerships and funding sources is essential to ensuring accountability and empowering UCLA students and employees to make informed decisions, including participating in collective boycotts. As a public research institution, UCLA has a responsibility to prevent societal harm and to ensure that its research priorities are driven by its academic community—not by external funders.

To counter the war industry’s influence in STEM research, it is essential to understand and critically evaluate the sources, intentions, and outcomes of research funding. Military interests permeate countless research grants, through direct support by institutions such as the Department of Defense and DARPA and through less obvious channels, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). Knowing who funds a project and for what purpose is vital, as research aims are often masked or ultimately repurposed for military applications. For instance, predictive policing technology—which has been used to profile and over-police minoritized communities—was developed through algorithms designed to forecast seismic activity in China. This common trajectory demonstrates the importance of examining funding structures and commercialization practices to ensure that research does not surreptitiously support militaristic goals. Disclosure of military-focused research is just one step in a broader commitment to boycotting. By demanding the development of institutional policies regarding ethical funding, collaborating with unions and advocacy groups, and leveraging precedents like transitional funding, researchers can foster a shift toward ethically sustainable research practices at UCLA.

Boycotting strategies have been a central part of organizing within STEM departments (see this informative special issue from Science for the People on Organizing the Lab), underscoring the potential impacts of empowering informed, collective decision making by researchers. Historically, groups like Researchers Against War (RAW) have exemplified the success of organized boycotts. RAW has shown that principled resistance to military funding in research can yield significant results, including initiating bargaining processes within individual departments. A Labor Notes article written by graduate students at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) documents efforts that have resulted in collective agreements by researchers to refuse military funding and other military-aligned projects. The UCSC Physics department highlights the importance of demanding transitional funding that allows labs to refuse military-aligned grants while maintaining operations. Transitional funding is an especially viable pathway for labs and their workers to align with ethical standards without sacrificing productivity.

We recommend the following boycotting strategies for STEM workers to refuse labor that may

be funded by or catering to military and/or Israeli institutions:

• Research Funding Sources: Use tools like the Federal R&D Funding Database, NSF Award Search, and NIH RePORTER to uncover links between grants and military interests.

• Foster Transparency: Share and discuss funding origins within labs to identify ethically questionable grants.

• Organize Internally: Start with lab discussions, then progress to collective statements or events to raise awareness.

• Engage Departments: Raise ethical concerns in department meetings or through joint letters to leadership.

• Implement Boycotts: Refuse to participate in seminars, cancel colloquia, or suspend activities tied to military funding.

At the end of 2024, a majority of UAW 4811 workers voted to extend their contract until December 31, 2025. This agreement includes the creation of a transitional funding program on every UC campus. However, these programs only fund six students per campus, per year (i.e. two graduate student employees each quarter). Aside from their inadequate financial support, these programs also fail to address potential retaliation or professional insecurity that may affect graduate student workers leaving their research positions. While transitional funding is one first step for affording graduate student workers more agency regarding their labor, an academic boycott requires large-scale changes to grant all UC employees the right to divest their labor from research supporting wars and genocides.

03/15/2025

Rightfully so, many scientists and academics were outraged by the recognition of Ariel University as a legitimate entity [-]: in particular Ed Witten and Nathan Seiberg [I.A.S.], Ofer Aharony [Weizmann Institute], Imad Barghouthi [now destroyed Al-Quds University and held on no formal charges in Israeli prisons, has lost 20-40 kilos -], David Gross [K.I.T.P.] and others co-wrote an article titled: “Don’t let science legitimize Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories”.

Despite this, a few researchers at Princeton have decided to work with Ariel University. Notably, two professors in the mathematics department: Noga Alon [Princeton] with Chaya Keller [Ariel] [-] and Amit Singer [Princeton] with Ayelet Heimowitz [Ariel] [-]. This kind of collaboration legitimizes the violation of human rights on the international stage and signals a lack of regulation or restraint on behalf of Princeton University.

While the university has been making efforts to sanction Russian researchers over the war in Ukraine, no similar analogue exists for the blatant violations perpetrated by Israel [-]. The practice of “institutional neutrality” by President Christopher Eisgruber, which has been selective [-], indicates an inconsistently applied policy. Why is it inconsistently applied?

02/13/25

Discussion of the military-industrial complex often leaves out its third arm: academia. For many decades, the American defense industry, weapons manufacturers, and universities have collaborated in a profitable pattern that turn students and academics into cogs in the American war machine [-] [-]. The Department of Defense (D.o.D.) is the branch of government that distributes taxpayer funds, generally through direct and indirect contracts, to research universities.

This report unmasks Cornell University’s participation in this system and its complicity in global violence, destruction, and human rights violations while it enjoys a $10.7b endowment. In particular, our analysis, largely based on Office of Sponsored Research files from 2001-2024, finds that Cornell has been complicit in the U.S.-backed Saudi genocide of Yemen and the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Gaza. This complicity has been enacted through two forms of collaboration:

With a body of over 25,000 students, Cornell University is the largest Ivy League university by population, enjoying a $10.7b endowment. With an academic staff of nearly 3,000 people, mostly concentrated in Ithaca and NYC, though with a few in Qatar, the institution is involved in a wide range of research and development projects. Cornell publishes lists of its sponsored research projects in the public domain. This allows for an analysis of its research profile that affords us a broader and deeper look into its role in the military-industrial-academic complex. Most of this report therefore focuses on data from Cornell’s Office of Sponsored Research (O.S.R).

Like many other large research universities, Cornell collaborates with the D.o.D. and private defense contractors, ultimately contributing to the American military interests. Cornell’s partnership with the Israeli university Technion - Israel Institute of Technology through the New York City Cornell Tech Campus is uniquely glaring evidence of its willingness to profit from and contribute to the creation of weapons, and ultimately, the destruction of human lives, infrastructure, and the environment [-]. Our analysis finds that Cornell has been complicit in the U.S.-backed Saudi genocide of Yemen and the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Gaza. It is also likely that via weapons sales that there is an indirect technological transfer to U.S.-backed U.A.E. genocide in Sudan [via radio frequency technologies] though more investigation is required.

Within the last 25 years alone, Cornell research has been funded by millions of dollars from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, major weapons manufacturers, and other technology corporations complicit in human rights violations around the globe, and specifically in Gaza at this moment. Much of the data supporting this has been aggregated into an excel file attached here [-] with the original files [-]. Many of these companies overlap with the ten weapons manufacturers targeted in divestment resolutions successfully adopted by both the undergraduate and graduate assemblies at Cornell (BAE Systems, Boeing, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, L3Harris Technologies, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Technion Institute, and ThyssenKrupp)[-][-].

Like other universities, Cornell engages in Congressional and political lobbying, contributing an annual average of about $600k [-]. In the second quarter of 2025, Cornell spent more on lobbying than any other single quarter, at a whopping $440,000 [-]. Like Princeton and M.I.T., it lobbies the annual D.o.D. Appropriations Act, which enables it to win grants, scholarships, contracts and awards, either directly or indirectly via pass-through programs, wherein the university often does business with well-known weapons manufacturers. Under the leadership of Senior Director of Federal Relations, Dianne Miller, the university has already lobbied for contracts under the most recent 2025 D.o.D. Appropriations Act S4921 [-].

Hundreds of these sponsored research projects are listed in the linked table. The projects vary in subject from vaccines to cyber to hardware to policy. The table should be treated as a largely representative but incomplete list of Cornell’s involvement with the most prominent weapons manufacturing-related entities. In particular, this report does not include information regarding the Defense Security Cooperation Agency , the sub-agency of the D.o.D. that facilitates the transfer of funds from foreign governments to organizations and academic institutions within the United States (this includes funding from the Israeli Ministry of Defense).

Israeli Funding and Cornell’s Role in Apartheid and Genocide

In 2007, Harold Craighead, Professor in Applied and Engineering Physics, secured $300k from the I.M.o.D. The funded project focused on the development and fabrication of nanodevices. Though we were unable to obtain papers specifically citing this funding other than the official reporting, we present here the most plausible outcome of the proposed research. In 2006, Craighead received a visit from former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres [-]. In a discussion with Peres, Craighead mentioned his collaboration with Tel Aviv University (T.A.U). Indeed, in the same year Craighead published a paper in collaboration with employees of T.A.U. focusing on the same topic of nanodevices [-]. Military applications of the research include nano-meter scale robotics and biotechnologies along with optics/imaging. In a similar vein, the unaffiliated partnership between Lockheed Martin and Rice University documents other broad military applications of nano-tech [-].

In 2020, Robert F. Shepherd, an Associate Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, solicited 100k from the I.M.o.D. for elastic metamaterials research. Like Craighead, this funding is not reported in any of Shepherd’s publications, though one can extrapolate on the basis of the research topic as to which papers of his were I.M.o.D. funded. In particular, a paper from 2020 focuses precisely on the use of fluid flow to modulate material shape[-]. This field is largely concerned with the manufacturing of materials which can change properties like texture or rigidity as a modulated response. Such applications are useful for the development of robotic components which can manipulate or navigate the environment. In addition, Shepherd’s collaborator at Israeli university Technion, Amir Gat, lists a 2019-2020 $100k funding grant from Maffat (a joint administrative body of the I.M.o.D and the IDF) under the same topic[-]. Conference proceedings also fit under the same topic and Shepherd went to Technion to present his work at a conference in 2020[-][-].

Frank Wise, Professor of Engineering in Applied and Engineering Physics, also solicited $100k from the I.M.o.D. to research high-power lasers. Such terawatt fiber lasers have a variety of applications but are of particular military interest for destroying aircraft or infrastructure without the use of conventional kinetic weapons like missiles. Lockheed Martin, a weapons manufacturer, reports its own interests in high-power lasers and such weapons are already being applied aboard military ships [-] [-] [-]. This funding resulted in a paper on lasers that can be modulated to use various modes of emission [-]. Pavel Sidorenko, a post-doc within Wise’s group, is now holding a position at the Technion continuing research on the high-power fiber lasers “which are becoming increasingly important in a variety of fields ranging from military applications to healthcare”[-].

Qing Zhao, Professor of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering, also solicited $420k from the I.M.o.D. between 2021 and 2024. Zhao used this funding to research artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms and cites the I.M.o.D. funding in two papers dealing with computer vision and decision-making algorithms [-] [-]. Focusing on the former, Zhao’s work on computer vision enables cameras to more effectively identify objects, persons and notice patterns [-]. Indeed, such computer vision algorithms have been implemented by the Israeli military to identify Palestinians from Gaza at checkpoints targeting forcibly displaced refugees[-].

Zhao’s work has applications in the development of efficient autonomous drone swarms, by producing algorithms that lead to effective decision-making [-]. Suppose a swarm of drones is navigating an area, each with its own sensors or cameras learning about its environment. Zhao’s work creates an algorithm that processes this information in a centralized way and then makes a decision, such as whether or not to kill an individual or bomb a building. Per a Booz Allen Hamilton report, Israel has been to date the first to use machine learning, including drone swarms successfully in military campaigns:

“Israel’s victory over Hamas in 2021 was the first war to be won via the asymmetric advantage provided by AI, and the conflict in Gaza that started in 2023 continues to be characterized by AI as well as information warfare in the cognitive domain... Israel became the first country to use true drone swarms, deploying them in its 2021 conflict with Gaza, and is arguably the global leader in this technology because of their implementation of Elbit Systems’ Legion-X, a modular, heterogeneous, multi-domain C2 swarm system” [-]. See also [-].

The use of these machine learning algorithms in Gaza has been documented in +972 magazine with the implementation of algorithms known as The Gospel, Lavender, and Where’s Daddy? [-].

On the policy side, Sarah Kreps, Professor in Government, conducts public policy and supply chain studies for the D.o.D. and the Israeli government. In 2024, she published a study on the best surveillance practices for governments to engage in [-]. The study was in part funded by the Israel National Cyber Directorate.

Given Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians, Cornell’s collaboration with Technion University in Israel is another blatant example of its active complicity. With the establishment of the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in NYC in 2012, Cornell has doubled down on its commitment to its Israeli collaborations, despite the efforts of its activist student body and the protest of NYC communities [-][-]. At the announcement of the partnership, the Israeli consul expressed the “strategic importance” of the project to change the state’s association with conflict and violence, and instead associate it with innovation [-]. Cornell consistently touts its collaboration with Technion in published articles: “The impact of the Technion on Israel’s economy, society and defense is unmatched” [-].

Further, the word “defense” is often used by weapons manufacturers and governments as a euphemism for offensive capabilities. The Technion has also been instrumental in advancing technological capabilities of the Israeli Ministry of Defense [-] [-] [-]. It also had several programs and scholarships sponsored by weapons manufacturers Rafael and Elbit Systems [-]. In addition, Technion has been directly complicit through providing support to the Israeli military [-]. As the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (B.D.S.) movement has documented: “Technion has developed a course on marketing the Israeli weapons industry to the international market for export. Technion also has numerous joint academic programs with the Israeli military and developed the remote­ control capabilities for the Caterpillar D­9 armored bulldozer used by the Israeli military to demolish Palestinian homes—considered collective punishment under international law.” [-] [-] [-] [-]. Cornell Tech’s council includes Michael Bloomberg who once stated: “I’ll never condition aid to Israel.” [-]. This may reflect, in part, why Cornell’s leadership has refused to even consider divestment.

Saudi Funding and Cornell’s Role in Climate Change and Human Rights Abuses

Cornell’s complicity with genocidal governments extends further through its substantial relationships with the Saudi government and its institutions. University programs and individual faculty benefit from Saudi funds despite the many violations of human rights carried out by Mohammed Bin Salman, the Saudi totalitarian Crown Prince and Prime Minister. These include but are not limited to the following: the U.S.-backed genocide in Yemen, the assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the country’s limitless production of fossil fuels, and its persistent crackdowns on its own activists, including feminists. The Yemeni genocide claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians from 2015 to 2022 [-] [-]. American-made weapons were used and made the U.S. complicit [-] [-] [-] [-]. At no point did Cornell, as an institution, take action to break ties with the Saudi dictatorship. Cornell’s former president Frank H. T. Rhodes served as a trustee at the King Abdullah University of Science Technology along with former M.I.T. president Charles M. Vest [-].

Over the past few years, faculty have also been subsidized through research funding from Saudi ARAMCO, the majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company responsible for almost 4.5% of all global CO2 and methane emissions between 1965 and 2017 [-]. The company has a long history of obstructing action against climate change through aggressive lobbying and funding of Western research, especially at American universities [-]. The work financed by Saudi Aramco at Cornell is focused on oil refinement and energy generation broadly, a problematic venture, especially considering academia’s knowledge of the human role in perpetuating climate change.

Amongst the employees who received funds from ARAMCO are Lawrence Cathles, Lynden Archer and Emmanuel Giannelis, professors in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science, respectively, who received $1.3m from 2009 to 2011 through the KAUST-Cornell Center for Energy and Sustainability. Despite its name, this center, a collaboration between Cornell and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia from 2008-2015, was committed to research on oil and gas production[-][-]. Further KAUST funding followed: Giannelis also received $531k between 2012 and 2014. Archer, current Dean of the School of Engineering, received $84k in 2017. In 2023, $250k went to Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yong Joo and $400k to a professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Geoffrey Coates. Yong Joo also solicited $200k in funding along with Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering Greeshma Gadikota’s $300k in 2024.

Direct D.o.D. Contracts

Additionally, Cornell performs a great deal of research on behalf of the Department of Defense (D.o.D). The number of such projects is large and therefore the compiled tables only go over the years of 2023 and 2024. A few projects of note are discussed here:

• Elizabeth Helbling, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, accepted $621k in 2024 from the D.o.D. to research millimeter-sized robots that can navigate around on water surfaces. Robotics is a blossoming field with a wide array of applications including for war. A direct proof of this would be Boston Dynamics’ robot BigDog used by the military [-].

• David Hysell, Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, accepted $151k in 2024 on an ambiguously named project: “Defense Applications Of Innovative Remote Sensing: Cornell Component”. Despite this ambiguity, Hysell’s research publications, specializing in atmospheric sciences, and his 2023 $315k D.o.D. research titled “A Unified Ionospheric Space Weather Diagnostic” gives insight into the technological developments of his 2024 grant. His papers deal broadly with the use of radio frequency signals and their disruption/interference/etc. within the ionosphere. For example, a 2025 paper of his mentions in its abstract “A high-frequency (HF) beacon network has been deployed in Peru and another in Alaska. The (HF) beacons and other instruments like GPS and sounder receivers are used to reconstruct the ionospheric electron number density regionally.” [-]. In another paper, he explains his interest in developing radio-frequency capabilities further: “Furthermore, over-the-horizon radar (OTHR), which uses HF signals and can provide detection ranges over thousands of miles, is of special interest to the aviation industry and military applications” [-]. Improving radio-frequency technologies gives a better ability for satellites to detect electronic devices and signals on the earth’s surface [-]. Tech journalist Jack Poulson has previously written about how the U.A.E., the Saudi and Israeli militaries are key customers of such technologies and have used them to detect phones and any other radio-emitting devices via satellite [-]. Hysell has also accepted funding from B.A.E. systems for similar research.

• James Hwang, Research Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, has also carried out research on behalf of the D.o.D. on radio frequency technologies. However, the application is somewhat different from that of Hysell’s. In 2023, Hwang solicited $750k to use RF-signaling to characterize Gallium-Nitride semiconductors. The specific D.o.D. program he accepted funds from is known as the State Of The Art Radio Frequency Gallium Nitride program [STARRY NITE] [-]. Gallium-Nitride has been important for batteries, explosives, cell and radio signalling, computer chips and a host of other defense topics.

• Gordon Pennycook, Associate Professor in Psychology, has taken around $182k from the Minerva Research Initiative of the D.o.D. to perform influence campaign studies, under the title “Multi-Levels Models Of Covert Online Information Campaigns”. According to the Minerva Initiative, this research seeks to “provide insight into ongoing influence campaigns that affect US interests and our allies in critical countries in the Indo-Pacific region” [-]. The U.S. government is historically known to be the most engaged in influence campaigns in elections of foreign nations [-]. According to Pennycook’s CV, he has worked on projects receiving over $1.5 million from the Minerva Initiative.

Collaboration With Weapons Manufacturers

Via the afore-mentioned pass-through programs, weapons manufacturers and Cornell University exchange taxpayer funds originating from the D.o.D.. These transactions foster a strong relationship that goes beyond the use of tax-payer funds. In particular, Cornell has received millions of dollars in research funding that have come directly from weapons manufacturers going back as far as 2001 from publicly available documents. These include the “primes”: Lockheed Martin [~$3m], Raytheon [~$6.5m], Boeing [~$1.4m], Northrop Grumman [~$2.3m] and General Dynamics [~$240k]. B.A.E. Systems [~$2.3m], L3Harris [~$1.4m], Shell [$500k], Exxon [~$1.2m], Intel Corporation [~$16.4m], I.B.M. [~$7.2m], M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory [~$250k], Teledyne [~$700k] and others have also given considerable research funding to the Cornell employees.

The group of studies are far too extensive to discuss in one document but demonstrate the ultimate functioning of so-called “academic” research. The funding has been for machine learning and artificial intelligence development, software and computer language platforms, silicon chip and battery development, miniature satellites, robotics, data visualization, 3-D rendering and much more. All of these are components that are often declared as being “dual use” but are used by militaries and states well beyond any stated consumer use. As one example, Raytheon has published articles on its web page touting its collaboration with Cornell on gallium-nitride materials and refinement radio-frequency technologies [-].

These collaborations extend to student life. Cornell has overtly partnered with Lockheed Martin to create a Masters of Engineering program in Systems Engineering [-]. On the front page of the program is stated: “Lockheed Martin Employees - Welcome!”. Standards are lowered for Lockheed Martin employees by waiving GRE scores and requiring only one recommendation letter. Similarly, Cornell has an identical partnership with Boeing for a Masters program along with a 5% tuition discount and waiving of application fee [-].

The university also holds a key laboratory for the Northeast Regional Defense Technology Hub (N.O.R.D.T.E.C.H.) along with a plethora of other universities and weapons manufacturers [-]. Though its aims include a wide array of technologies, they are highly focused on the development of computer chips. The basis of the organization is to create a collaborative space between weapons manufacturers, the D.o.D., and academia.

The Cornell Tech campus in N.Y.C. also does its own collaborations, including with DefenseArk [-]. Through its startup award it has helped sustain autonomous robotics companies like Aatonomy which are looking to do business with the D.o.D. [-].

Funding For Undergraduate Engineering Teams

The last topic to be discussed in this document is the undergraduate engineering teams at Cornell. These teams participate in competitions and projects to develop drones, vehicles and software and are therefore an important recruiting ground for weapons manufacturers. The manner of recruitment comes in the form of funding.

For example, the Cornell Data Science team has taken funding from Boeing, I.B.M., Microsoft, Google and Blackrock. Microsoft’s largest A.I. customer is the Israeli military. Google has also provided A.I. services to the Israeli military without any ethical oversight [-]. Boeing produces military hardware for Israel and the Saudis [-]. Meanwhile I.B.M. collaborates with both of them [-]. Blackrock, though not a weapons manufacturer, is heavily invested in both as well.

More of the funding given to the teams can be found in the table. Other sponsors include Sandia National Labs [federally owned but operated by Honeywell], Teledyne, SpaceX, Varda, Exxon, Anduril and others. The amounts given are not fully disclosed but can range from $1-5k to over $10k.

Interestingly, Anduril was founded by two Cornell graduates: Brian Schimpf and Palmer Luckey, the latter of whom has expressed support for Israel and has answered “No comment.” to whether or not he has actively sold weapons to the Israeli military.

Outlook

In the midst of foreign catastrophes including the Yemeni genocide, the ongoing Palestinian genocide and the assassination of hundreds of reporters in Gaza, Cornell has never ceased nor paused its collaboration with regimes or the weapons manufacturers supplying them. Not only does this demonstrate its institutional and individual collaboration with actors that consistently violate international law, but also reveals that its professed human values are ultimately hollow calls. In our non-comprehensive analysis of Cornell research funding from 2001-2024, we found that researchers and institutes received hundreds of millions of dollars from the D.o.D, weapons manufacturers, and international governments committing vast human rights violations. Further investigation would also reveal indirect transfers of technology and weaponry from Cornell to U.A.E.’s fueling of the Sudanese genocide by means of weapons manufacturing sales [-].

Cornell feigns its research to be merely theoretical, non-applied, or done for the sake of “knowledge production.” David Gray Widder, post-doctoral researcher at Cornell Tech has recently written about the impossibility of making a distinction between basic and applied research when such research is funded by entities whose explicit purpose is to enact harm: “this mutual enlistment is crucial to the perpetuation of the military-industrial-commercial-academic complex, and to the technopolitical imaginaries of security through military domination that keep public funds flowing to projects in more efficient killing and destruction” [-].

Political scientist Neve Gordon and medical anthropologist Guy Shalev published a recent article titled “The Shame of Israeli Medicine”, which concludes that Israeli academics are not doing their part in preventing the genocide and therefore require external pressure and sanctioned from outside Israel. Despite these findings, Cornell Tech’s president Michael Kotlikoff recently stated proudly in a speech that “at Cornell Tech, we have the most intensive and meaningful collaboration with an Israeli university of any institution in this country” [-].

As Cornell reportedly prepares to reach a $100 million settlement with the Trump administration over allegations of anti-semitism, it draws ever closer to the belly of the beast [-]. The Trump administration’s blatant weaponization of anti-semitism is one of its many tactics designed to manufacture consent for its crackdown on higher education and prompt capitulation. With this settlement, Cornell’s alliances with repressive regimes are only continuing to expand. An institution that continues to tie itself to the destruction of international communities can only degrade and devolve into a symbol of oppression.

This report finds that Cornell’s purported goals in sustaining human-centred values are not only lacking, but are egregiously contrary to them. On an institutional and individual level, Cornell is intimately complicit in the act of genocide. And though Cornell has its own unique forms of complicity, the academic-military-industrial complex permeates the entire American system of higher education. If these institutions, as they have demonstrated thus far, do not have the moral capacity to make ethical and just decisions, it is the responsibility of students, faculty, staff, and the broader international academic community to put pressure, sanctions, and boycotts on them. Ultimately, the contradictions revealed within academia, both over decades of violent complicity and the ongoing starvation and annihilation of Gaza, make clear the necessity of breaking apart and reshaping an academia divorced from the military, and truly committed to a greater, ethical, and just future.

08/18/25

In the early 1970s, Eric Schmidt was a young man and protested the Vietnam War, knowing already at the time who Henry Kissinger was. In 1972, he entered Princeton University, leaving around 1976 with an undergraduate degree.

Schmidt would go on to Sun Microsystems and Novell and eventually become C.E.O. of Google in 2001. In-Q-Tel, the C.I.A. backed hedge fund, held shares at Google until 2005 in addition to investing in Keyhole which would later on become Google Earth [-]. Ultimately, it was at Google that Schmidt’s ultimate prominence came to be and that as Noam Chomsky would put it, his interests would become part of the national interest [-].

During his position at Google, Schmidt donated about $1m to Princeton in 2004 and served on its Board of Trustees from 2004-2008. After his trustee term, Schmidt donated $25m to Princeton as the Eric And Wendy Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund [-]. His net worth in 2011 was already about $7b, when he left his position as C.E.O. of Google and became the executive chairman of its parent company Alphabet until 2018 [-].

From 2008 onward, Schmidt began to attend the hyper exclusive annual Bilderberg meetings where he eventually met former Secretary of State and war criminal Henry Kissinger [now Schmidt occupies a position on its advisor board] [-]. An email from former General Petraeus, inviting a Gina Haspel [Director of C.I.A. 2018-2021 -] to the 2018 Bilderberg meeting, indicates their simultaneous presence at meetings [-]:

Despite Schmidt’s past as a Vietnam war protester, they developed a friendship that led to frequent collaborations, including numerous co-authored pieces. Much of Schmidt’s involvement in government quickly and soon followed. After stepping down as Chairman of Alphabet in 2018, though he remained as a technical adviser, Schmidt took on a new role in the D.o.D.. This included serving on the Defense Innovation Advisory Board while Google sought government contracts, including J.E.D.I. and Project Maven. It was forced to abandon these contracts by Google employees’ who protested collaboration with the military. Today, Google is a part of an analogous program, the J.W.C.C. [-]. During this time within the D.o.D., Schmidt’s most significant impact on the government came to be: he co-chaired the now disbanded “National Security Commission On Artificial Intelligence [N.S.C.A.I.]”, with Bob Work [Raytheon/RTX] along with Gilman Louie [In-Q-Tel], William Mark [S.R.I. International] and many others in addition to contributors Raj Shah [D.I.U.x.], David Kirchhoff [D.I.U.x.] [-]. From the commission, a 750-page report was produced that pushed for the government to aggressively accelerate development of A.I. in the interest of national security and defense. In particular, the report mentions China about 650 times and Russia 50 times or so. Schmidt has also added that the U.S. is behind China in A.I. development [-]. At best, it appears to be a case in which Schmidt, much like the U.S. government, projects a threat to justify extreme “defensive” measures, as was described in Robinson and Chomsky’s new book “The Myth Of American Idealism” [-]. For example: Character A believes Character B is plotting and planning to hurt them, therefore Character A, who believes themselves to be moral and just by matter of “fact”, “retaliates” or “proliferates” but is thereby justified and moral in their actions since it was out of “self defense”. Chomsky and Robinson’s thesis can be gleaned by the way they begin their book: “Every ruling power tells itself stories to justify its rule. Nobody is the villain in their own history.”.

In the past month, however, Schmidt has published a “Superintelligence Strategy” with Alexandr Wang [Scale A.I.] and Dan Hendrycks [adviser to Elon Musk’s xAI and Scale A.I.], advising the D.o.D. not to create a “Manhattan Project for A.G.I. [Artificial General Intelligence]” [-]. Why there is a difference between Schmidt’s former and most recent stances with respect to proliferation would be an interesting question to answer. Schmidt certainly has investments in the Chinese A.I. industry [-], therefore it is possible that these apparently antithetical positions are a strategy to increase profit, though simultaneously risking all out war. Ultimately though, their concerns are that a “superintelligent” A.I., arising from a recursive loop of improvements via proliferation could lead to a global instability once the “superintelligence” is achieved. These are largely fantastical notions cooked up in the idle time of elites disconnected from every day life [-], and ignore the deeper and more pernicious problems emblematic of the self-reinforcement of A.I., such as wealth inequality, racial disparity, and its blatant, deadly and punitive misuse by the military and law enforcement.

From the N.S.C.A.I. report, a few excerpts are included as screenshots below:

The report recommends an A.I. proliferation race that pushes for mass data collection for the purposes of producing the most fine-tuned A.I. model. There has been an enormous push for more and more data collection by tech and A.I. companies, and Eric Schmidt has been one of the agents pushing for the collection of big data [-]. It seems that the commission want to maximize the amount of data collected as well in order to predict the behaviors of individuals and predict an attack. This is the type of research that Princeton University has contributed to via work with C3.AI [- -]. The deep and entrenching risk is that these forms of data collection will be weaponized, including inwardly. Tangentially, Schmidt is focused or concerned on applications of A.I. for the development of bioweapons [-].

As a co-chair of N.S.C.A.I., Schmidt was also entrusted with the ethics of A.I.. The potential conflicts of interest were not lost on politicians. In 2022, Senator Warren, a long-time critic of these matters, questioned the D.o.D. regarding Schmidt’s own conflicts of interest as he alternated between government and private industry [-]. As Ochigame further wrote in The Intercept: “The majority of well-funded work on “ethical AI” is aligned with the tech lobby’s agenda: to voluntarily or moderately adjust, rather than legally restrict, the deployment of controversial technologies.” [-].

Ochigame further adds and cites a ProPublica article:

““Schmidt’s influence, already strong under [Secretary Ash] Carter, only grew when [James] Mattis arrived as [Trump’s] defense secretary.” The board includes multiple executives from Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, raising controversies regarding conflicts of interest. A Pentagon employee responsible for policing conflicts of interest was removed from the innovation board after she challenged “the Pentagon’s cozy relationship not only with [Amazon C.E.O. Jeff] Bezos, but with Google’s Eric Schmidt.” [-]”.

In reference to disgraced Epstein-associated M.I.T. scientist Joichi Ito, Ochigame also wrote: “The corporate, academic, and military proponents of “ethical AI” have collaborated closely for mutual benefit. For example, Ito told me that he informally advised Schmidt on which academic AI ethicists Schmidt’s private foundation should fund. Once, Ito even asked me for second-order advice on whether Schmidt should fund a certain professor who, like Ito, later served as an “expert consultant” to the Pentagon’s innovation board. Ito joined Carter at a panel titled “Computing for the People: Ethics and AI,” which also included current and former executives of Microsoft and Google. The panel was part of the inaugural celebration of MIT’s $1 billion college dedicated to AI. Other speakers at the celebration included Schmidt on “Computing for the Marketplace,” Siegel on “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Algorithms,” and Henry Kissinger on “How the Enlightenment Ends.” As Kissinger declared the possibility of “a world relying on machines powered by data and algorithms and ungoverned by ethical or philosophical norms,” a protest outside the MIT auditorium [-] called attention to Kissinger’s war crimes in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, as well as his support of war crimes elsewhere. In the age of automated targeting, what atrocities will the U.S. military justify as governed by “ethical” norms or as executed by machines beyond the scope of human agency and culpability?”.

Meanwhile, since the N.S.C.A.I.’s dissolution, Schmidt has formed the Special Competitive Studies Project [S.C.S.P.], with Bob Work, Raj Shah and Chris Kirchhoff as advisers, the latter two of whom have given talks at Princeton and helped found D.I.U.x. together with Secretary Ash Carter. The group’s aim is to push for the policies outlined in the N.S.C.A.I. report.

Schmidt’s stance on climate change also appears to entertain nihilism in favor of personal interests. When questioned by a panel on the resource hungry demands of A.I. and thereby it’s inherent conflict with climate change goals, Business Insider reported that Eric Schmidt responded as follows [-]:

“Presenters pressed Schmidt on whether it is possible to meet AI energy needs without disregarding conservation goals. Schmidt said he thinks “we’re not going to hit the climate goals anyway because we’re not organized to do it... Yes, the needs in this area will be a problem, but I’d rather bet on AI solving the problem than constraining it and having the problem.”.

During this time period, Schmidt also simultaneously co-authored a series of articles with Henry Kissinger on the potential negative changes that A.I. might bring [-] [-]. This included a book on the subject, The Age of A.I. and Our Human Future and most recently Genesis. Henry Kissinger also discussed the threat of China at a Google talk with Eric Schmidt as well as at the Council on Foreign Relations [-] [-].

In the mean time, since the 2010s, Eric Schmidt has also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on several occasions. In 2023, Netanyahu asked Schmidt to serve on his team of A.I. advisers, a position which he accepted [-] [-] [-]. In addition, he now owns A.I. and drone warfare company, “White Stork” which may have been renamed Project Eagle [-] [-]. He also possesses investments in defense contracting companies such as Rebellion Defense and Istari that aim to further integrate Silicon Valley tech with the defense industry [-] [-] [-].

In 2019, his personal foundation Schmidt Futures gifted Princeton the funds to start the Schmidt DataX Fund, a project that focuses on the use of on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in research programs [-]. Both Schmidt Futures and the DataX Fund have funded a plethora of scientists and their projects at Princeton University [-] [-] [-]. The foundation Schmidt futures has given over $1.6m to the university over the last 4 years as well. Schmidt also helped to open the Google A.I. DeepMind lab at Princeton, which provides A.I. services to the U.S. military and the I.D.F. in its genocidal campaign [-]. Furthermore, in 2020, Schmidt donated $5m to the university to create an indigenous studies professorship and also financed Princeton’s new computer science building, due to be completed in 2026 [-].

In addition, this past year, he has appeared at the Ash Carter Exchange with General Mark Milley, who is currently a lecturer at Princeton’s S.P.I.A. and sits on the advisory board of J. P. Morgan [-]. Also present were Palantir C.E.O. Alex Karp and C.I.A. director David Cohen. In honor of Secretary Ash Carter, who appointed Shah, Kirchhoff and Schmidt into D.o.D. positions, Schmidt’s S.C.S.P. hosted the Ash Carter Exchange Conference with Palantir, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen Hamilton, Skydio, Amazon, Microsoft, Google as sponsors and the Council on Foreign Relations as an event partner [-] [-]. D.A.R.P.A. director and Princeton alum Stefanie Tompkins was also a guest speaker [-]. Milley and Schmidt have been interviewed by NPR to further discuss the role of A.I. and robotics in the U.S. military. They co-authored an article on the matter this year in a publication produced by the Council on Foreign Relations [-]. In this article, they reference Yuval Abraham’s +972 report on the use of A.I. algorithms in Gaza: “This new age of warfare will have normative advantages. Advances in precision technology could lead to fewer indiscriminate aerial bombings and artillery attacks, and drones can spare the lives of soldiers in combat. But the rates of civilian casualties in Gaza and Ukraine cast doubt on the notion that conflicts are becoming any less deadly overall—especially as they move into urban areas.... The Israeli military has used an AI program called Lavender to identify potential militants and target their homes with airstrikes in densely populated Gaza. The program has little human oversight. According to +972 Magazine, people spend just 20 seconds authorizing each attack”. However, these ethical concerns did not lead to any criticism of Israel. They were instead used to alert American officials to deploy these new technologies for the purpose of national security.

Along a tangent, though a revealing one, Alex Karp has made staunchly pro-Israel statements and expressed anti-campus-protest sentiments including at the Ash Carter Exchange. Karp and billionaire Peter Thiel are currently supplying Israel with their own A.I. and data organizing software services [including contracts with the I.D.F. -]. In addition, Karp has bragged about how Palantir software has been used to murder people [-]. Palantir is also working with Grumman, L3Harris, Pacific Defense and Anduril [another Thiel-backed company] to provide the U.S. Military with T.I.T.A.N., a mass-surveillance instrument [-]. Google and Anduril have also been working to co-integrate technologies for defense purposes [-]. Palantir has an unofficial pipeline of ivy-league students who intern at the company and then graduate to work there [-]. The heavily patriotic Palantir co-founder and hedge fund 8VC founder, Joe Lonsdale, has been a visitor to the Julis-Rabinowitz school at Princeton and published articles that criticize decolonial movements, including one titled “Western civilization is an idea worth defending - and reapplying” [-] [-]. Companies like Palantir and Anduril, both of which have vocally explicit pro-Israel C.E.O.s, have received $2m in funding from Augustine’s In-Q-Tel [-]. Karp furthermore has stated “The only time I’m not thinking about Palantir is when I’m swimming, practicing Qigong or during sexual activity.” [-]. Palantir received an initial investment of $2m, and its stock has skyrocketed from October 7th 2023 to October 7th 2024 with a 160% rise in stock price [- -].

At the Ash Carter Exchange, appearing alongside Milley and Schmidt, Karp exclaimed, in reference to campus protests, “we are the peace activists, and the peace activists are the pro-war activists”. Milley agreed stating “they’re out there supporting a terrorist organization.”. Later in the talk, Karp added “to Milley’s point, a democracy will sacrifice depending on its perceived legitimacy of its own cause and so you know we really have to be careful not to let our adversaries win the intellectual debate because there will be no battlefield, there will be no successful engagement if we just allow their attempts to corrode our culture to go intellectually unchecked” to which Milley appears to reply “that’s right” [-] [-].

Most recently, Eric Schmidt also came to speak at the university on November 20th, 2024 to market his new book on A.I., Genesis, with Henry Kissinger [-]. He spoke on many topics such as the ethics of A.I.. He, however, did not cite Israel’s use of A.I. in Palestine. He did state that “Milley is a great Princetonian”. Schmidt cited the kinds of interactions that can occur between the government and Princeton, including one student who developed a new computer language which became classified for the development of nuclear triggers. Furthermore, in reference to research questions and the topic of potential A.I. weapons developed by nation-states, Schmidt stated:

“To have something which is the world’s polymath, that can invent things that no one else can, that can solve every economic, physical and science problem. Might be world $1 trillion. The U.S. weapons program costs $1 trillion. This is probably a more powerful weapon than biggest weapons programs the U.S. sponsors. It makes sense... There’s an alternative view where there will be a diffusion of these techniques into much smaller models that are disparate, and then you have a huge huge problem of essentially proliferation. There’s a long literature around nuclear proliferation... In my undergraduate, there was an undergraduate who wrote his thesis and how to design the trigger for a nuclear bomb. And when the physicist, his supervisor, realized what he invented, he immediately caused it to be classified...

I worry a lot about the proliferation issue because we know evil exists in the world and we know that these systems are asymmetrically powerful...

Indeed I was privileged to be the person who launched the Princeton-Google collaboration...

The government needs to improve research access to these things [A.I. models] ... There is a program called N.A.I.R.R. [-] which I endorsed in my role as National Security Commission for Congress, and there’s a good chance that will come through, we need to find a way to get $100, $200, $300 million dollars into Princeton for that resource. And I’m going to help...”

N.A.I.R.R. is an organization that would be created by the Create A.I. Act, lobbied by Princeton. Evidently it is via this organization that Schmidt is hoping to funnel money into Princeton and more specifically the N.J.-Princeton A.I. hub cited in Part 2 [-] [-] [-].

The only mention of the events in Gaza were when he was asked by a first year graduate student about whether he had had any meetings with Netanyahu given Project Nimbus and his place on Netanyahu’s board of A.I. advisers. In a brief answer, Schmidt stated that he agreed “with the presumption in the question” and then simply said that he “had not had any such meetings of any kind”.

Ultimately, despite many differences between the individuals who have appeared in this piece, there appears to be a mutual singular agreement that American hegemony is the only thing worth preserving. Thus goes Schmidt, following Kissinger’s legacy with a technological advancement that appears to have made Schmidt into Kissinger’s Frankenstein. This is a reflection of a term that is best summed up by Theodore Roszak and another by Yanis Varoufakis: technocracy [-] and technofeudalism [-]. As wealth inequality soars, the upper classes distance themselves further and further from the working class, coming to believe that they do not depend on workers at all. Their perception of the world is increasingly simplified and aestheticised, to the detriment of critical analysis, locking them in remote bubbles that ignore the realities of most people’s day-to-day lives. Domestic wealth inequality is thus intimately connected to the colonial and imperialist motives currently wreaking genocide in the Middle East, and putting humanity itself at risk: they are in the hands of the same people. These people are Eric Schmidt and his clique of self-important technocrats, from whom Princeton University regularly receives gifts, and who are invited to speak and given lectureships, thus cementing the power of the military-industrial-academic complex.

03/10/25

In our continued exploration of Princeton’s ties to Israel and militarism more broadly, we have already examined Princeton’s role as a defense contractor as well as Princeton’s direct personal ties to those who ideologically or materially support the Israeli regime. In addition, Princeton has helped to create several companies [Twinleaf, Encharge A.I.], which have participated in defense contracts both with the U.S. government and potentially even with the I.D.F. A common military strategy is to use drones and drone swarms as expendable tools, for which purpose they need to be as cheap as possible. Magnetometers, such as those manufactured by Twinleaf, aid drones to “sense” each other and thereby prevent collisions in swarms. Twinleaf’s cheap but sensitive magnetometers are therefore a great asset, though their collaboration with the IDF has not been confirmed. It is nevertheless important to explore the relationship of Princeton’s alumni to the military and militarism more broadly. The Israeli regime is only one particular instance of militarism as a career option following university.

For example, according to Section 117 Foreign Gift and Contract Reporting of the Higher Education Act of 1965, universities are required to disclose exchanges of money with foreign entities [-]. In addition to accepting funds from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Princeton University, through a contract, was given $420k by Saudi agents in 2018. Over the last few years the Qatar National Research Fund most likely helped fund a Ph.D. at Princeton [about $54k]. Also through a contract [mentioned in Part 1, but repeated here for completeness -], Israel gave $335k between 2019 and 2023, which may coincide with funding for the Romalis group [D.S.C.A. 1000366232 -]. Similarly, Egypt donated $550k in 1998. A gift from Kuwait was given in 2019 to the tune of $300k. The majority of other gifts and contracts, however, have come from China, England, France and Hong Kong among others.

It will be important to explore all these ties in the future but for now, we will focus on sources of militarism from within the United States. Other pieces have explored American universities services rendered to the D.o.D. and the wider military-industrial complex. This includes Michael Klare’s piece in The Nation which examines the outsourcing of academic research by the Pentagon [-], such as projects on micro-electronics [J.U.M.P.], which Princeton is involved in [-], as well as other academic programs on hypersonics led by other universities. In addition, another important piece is I.C.A.N.’s Schools of Mass Destruction report [-]. Princeton’s role as a defense contractor was already explored in the cited piece [-]. Focusing on Princeton’s ties, we will begin with the Board of Trustees.

From Princeton University’s Board Of Trustees To The Military-Industrial Complex

Before listing relevant members of Princeton’s board of trustees, it should be noted that a number of them have greatly varying backgrounds. Each one was investigated, and those listed have the closest ties to the military as far as the author could elucidate. In addition, the foremost source on Princeton’s Board of Trustees is the bullet report created by the Fossil Fuel Divest Princeton student activist group [-]. The fossil fuel industry is intimately connected to militarism, but we will refer the curious reader to Divest Now’s source, and will not mention these particular ties unless there is a very direct connection with the matters at hand.

• Highland Capital Partners Founder and Chairman Paul Maeder is on the Board of Trustees and the Princeton Entrepeneurship Council [-]. Highland Capital Partners is a highly influential hedge-fund. HCP has holdings in defense contractors such as Teal Drones [-]. It has also held fund-raising rounds for companies that are subcontracted by weapons manufacturers and defense contractors. For example, it helped raise $8m for Xometry, which serves Lockheed Martin, General Electric and the M.I.T. Lincoln Lab [-]. It also helped fundraise for Domino Data labs, which provides A.I. services to Lockheed Martin [-]. Maeder also made a major donation to Princeton that resulted in Maeder Hall in the Andlinger center. He also sits on the board of Exagrid, which serves defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, B.A.E. Systems, and Raytheon.

• Elizabeth Prus Myers, global chairman of J.P. Morgan, is on the Board of Trustees of Princeton and on the Board of Directors of the Bendheim Center for Finance. J.P. Morgan, as of 2023, has $355m of Lockheed Martin stock alone [ignoring investments and millions of shares in other defense contractors such as Raytheon, Booz Allen Hamilton etc.] [-] [-]. The prices of those stocks have only risen since Oct. 7th 2023.

• Within the weapons manufacturing industry, Nandi Leslie, a principal technical fellow at RTX/Raytheon is on Princeton’s board of trustees [-]. Leslie is also an employee at the “Department of Defense Center of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning” at Howard University. RTX/Raytheon, partnering with Israel’s Rafael Defense Systems developed and maintains the missile defense system known as David’s Sling and the Iron Dome [-]. RTX also ships offensive explosives and weapons to Israel.

• The Board of Trustees also includes Princeton S.P.I.A. graduate Brad Smith, current Vice Chairman and President of Microsoft. Along with Oracle, Amazon and Google, it has been part of the Joint War Cloud Computing [J.W.C.C.] project as part of a DoD contract [-]. Microsoft has also received investments from the D.o.D. and In-Q-Tel to develop Adaptx, now known as Capturx, which develops programs that integrate field data [look further for more information on In-Q-Tel, a C.I.A. backed hedgefund founded by Princeton alum Norman Augustine]. In 2018, Brad Smith stated: “... we believe in the strong defense of the United States and we want the people who defend it to have access to the nation’s best technology, including from Microsoft. . . . To begin, we’ve worked with the U.S. Department of Defense [D.o.D.] on a longstanding and reliable basis for four decades. You’ll find Microsoft technology throughout the American military, helping power its front office, field operations, bases, ships, aircraft and training facilities” [-]. In addition, he has published other articles including one on the developments of cyber warfare in the Russian invasion of Ukraine [-]. The I.D.F. has also been the largest A.I. customer of Microsoft [-]. Microsoft has collaborated with Raytheon, B.A.E. Systems, Lockheed Martin, Peraton and others [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]. Smith recently published a blog post arguing against any restriction of A.I. chips to the following countries: “This includes many American friends, such as Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Israel, the U.A.E., and Saudi Arabia. These are countries where we and many other American companies have significant datacenter operations” [-].

• Josh Bolten is on the advisory board of BP International, which provides fuel for militaries across the world on top of stifling green technology innovation and being a direct contributor to global warming [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]. The lack of extra detail is not representative of any less complicity.

• In addition, a few other trustees with other fossil fuel interests are well documented by the Fossil Fuel Princeton Divest campaign and include [-]: Blair Effron, Timothy Kingston and José B. Alvarez [the former two having been covered in Part 1 -].

• Thomas Siebel is the billionaire owner of C3.AI, a defense contractor who collaborates with Raytheon, Palantir, Anduril, L3Harris and others. Siebel donated $4m to Princeton in 2015 alone to create a professorship in the History of Science [-]. Siebel is also on the Princeton Entrepeneurship Council and has given several talks for the university [-] [-] [-]. He was also a trustee from 2008-2011 [-] and his company sponsors several research laboratories at Princeton per a report on Princeton’s ties to the military [-]. According to an article in the Daily Princetonian, Siebel has given at least $6m to the university in total [-].

• Amy Alving, who just finished their term as a Princeton trustee in 2023, is on the board of directors at Howmet Aerospace [-].

Yet Again, The Ex-Officio Princeton Trustee And The N.J. State Government’s Weapons Manufacturing

Within the political sphere, Phil Murphy, current governor of New Jersey, is an ex-officio trustee of Princeton University. New Jersey is one of the largest defense manufacturing centers for Lockheed Martin, Valcor Engineering, Picatinny Arsenal and B.A.E. Systems [-] [-]. Furthermore, the port of Elizabeth is one of the main export hubs for Zim and Maersk, two shipping companies that bring crucial war supplies [produced by Picatinny Arsenal, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon etc.] to Israel and illegal settlements. Furthermore, Picatinny Arsenal sub-contracted Israel’s Elbit Systems Of America in 2017 for a $102m mortar production contract [-]. Elbit has also sub-contracted work to Octal Corporation in NJ for R.O.E.M. motors, which are used for drones [-] [-].

In 2021, Lockheed Martin decided to move its Vertical Launching Systems production from Maryland to N.J., a move that was welcomed by Governor Murphy: “Lockheed Martin is one of the giants in the defense contracting industry and New Jersey is proud to call them a valued partner”. NJ.gov’s press release further expands [-]:

“Since 2012, Lockheed has made a total investment in New Jersey of $365 million, including the establishment of a state-of-the-art Solid State Radar Integration Site [S.S.R.I.S.] and the addition of a 47,000 square foot Advanced Product Development Center [A.P.D.C.] in Camden.”

New Jersey also holds offices and manufacturing sites of Raytheon/RTX, Leidos, Boeing, L3Harris, C.A.C.I., Sci-Tech, Twinleaf LLC and a plethora of cyber companies including Peraton, most prominently [-] [-]. In addition, Murphy once authored an article titled “We must continue to invest in N.J.’s military installations” in 2019, in which he states that the military is the second largest employer with economic gains in the billions[-].

“Today, New Jersey can boast tech sectors that promote pharmaceutical and life sciences, with Teva Pharmaceuticals selecting it as the base for its American headquarters, and companies like Check Point, Elbit Systems, SodaStream, and OrCam Technologies each having a presence too.”

In 2019, Governor Murphy, with then Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, then Assembly Member Andrew Zwicker, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, opened Google’s DeepMind lab at 1 Palmer Square, the center of Princeton town[-]. DeepMind provides A.I. and cloud-computing services to the IDF, under the heading of Israel’s Project Nimbus[-]. As of 2023, the state of New Jersey and Princeton University also jointly opened the N.J. A.I. hub, thus expanding upon the project of making N.J. a central A.I. hub on the East coast [-]. Additionally, Princeton lobbied for the Create A.I. Act of 2023 [H.R.5077] to provide more funding for A.I. at the state and university level via an organization named N.A.I.R.R., which Eric Schmidt has endorsed and is hoping will funnel further funds into Princeton [see Part 3 -] [-] [-] [-].

In an effort to bring in corporate sponsors, Murphy also announced that Microsoft [which again supplies A.I. services to the I.D.F.], CoreWeave, Princeton University and N.J.E.D.A. will gift $72m to the N.J. A.I. hub, primarily made up of Princeton researchers [-].

The N.J.E.D.A. is also a customer of Siebel’s C3.AI software platform [-].

The state government is clearly complicit in accepting defense contracts, and Governor Murphy’s position on the Board of Trustees necessarily involves Princeton in the production of arms and software that are then exported through Elizabeth to Israel. We will now turn to some of Princeton’s alumni who are defense contractors or have a connexion, past or present, to the D.o.D.

Some Notable Princeton Alumni, Donors And The Military

Not every single individual mentioned here is directly relevant to Princeton’s day-to-day. That being said, the majority have had some impact on campus. Some are important with respect to the overall formation of foreign policy and are worth mentioning for the following purpose: most of the alumni listed who are employees in the D.o.D. passed through Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. The author therefore extrapolates that S.P.I.A. effectively functions as a branch of the U.S. military’s education system. This attitude is demonstrated in the university’s own tweets [-]:

We now investigate individual alumni involved with or connected to the military:

• Alumna Radha Iyengar Plumb is the D.o.D.’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, before which she was an executive at Google and Facebook, and senior economist at R.A.N.D. Corporation[-]. Plumb is also an associate of Jacob N. Shapiro’s E.S.O.C., referenced in the first report [-]. Of course the D.o.D. contracts to a whole array of defense contractors but Plumb, specifically, also recently struck up a contract with defense-tech hybrid Anduril for $100m[-]. She has also contracted services from Palantir for over $500m including its A.I.-based Maven Smart System[-] [-]. The C.D.A.O. has also contracted C3.AI for logistics and force readiness [-] [-].

• Princeton alum Stefanie Tompkins was the director of D.A.R.P.A. from 2021 to 2025. D.A.R.P.A. [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] is the agency that assigns research grants to institutions and companies for the development of new technologies, many of which, though not all, have defense purposes. It is nicknamed the “D.oD.’s mad science division”[-] and has lead a variety of projects including, under Tompkin’s leadership, the GXV-T program intended to streamline tank warfare, and a collaborative endeavour with the US Air Force to develop a hypersonic air-breathing weapon[-][-].

• Pete Hegseth, class of ‘03, is now Secretary of Defense and will oversee the entirety of the D.o.D.[-]. Hegseth’s role will be deeply consequential during the Trump administration, and he is well-known to be hold belligerent views with respect to internal as well as external affairs[-]. In a recent call to Netanyahu, Hegseth stated that the U.S. was fully committed to Israel[-]. These views are representative of his historically pro-Israel stance[-].

• James A. Hursch, S.P.I.A. graduate, served as a director on the D.S.C.A., or Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which helps the U.S. government receive foreign funding or provide funding for foreign entities, including in support of Israel’s genocide [-]. Hursch has also overseen F-35 and MQ-9 drone sales to the U.A.E.[-]. The D.S.C.A. is the same agency that helped facilitate the flow of funds from the Israeli Ministry of Defense to Princeton University. Under his directorship, U.S. arms sales hit new records[-]. He has since joined the Atlantic Council, a thinktank headed by defense contractors and petroleum executives[-]. Along with Hursch, Princeton alum Cara Abercrombie [S.P.I.A. graduate] served as president of the D.S.C. University, the D.S.C.A.’s educational institution [-].

• Michael J.K. Kratsios, class of ‘08, was previously Chief Technology Officer under the first Trump administration. Since Trump’s recent re-election, he has been nominated as Science Adviser to the President. In spite of this appointment, Kratsios’ background is not in science but in politics. Prior to joining the government, he was chief of staff to Peter Thiel and a principal at Thiel Capital. Thiel is a defense contractor who has founded Palantir and funded Anduril, both companies being tied to A.I. and drone usage. He was also an employee of Scale A.I., which has military affiliations[-].

• Princeton S.P.I.A. graduate and former Air Force member James Taiclet is the current C.E.O. of Lockheed Martin, a key supplier of fighter jets, attack helicopters, and missiles to Israel, often through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Financing Program. Per Princeton Professor Jacob Shapiro, the “Army War College Military Education Level 1” (MEL-1) Fellows Program funds the development of relationships between active-duty personnel and academic institutions [-]. As a result, Princeton has had many government and military officials associated with S.P.I.A. [-][-]. On Oct. 7th 2023 alone, Lockheed Martin’s stock price rose from $400 to $435 [-]. Taiclet stated that the FY 2025 “presidential budget and additive supplemental funding will provide a strong underpinning for future growth over the next several years for our company.” [-]. Over the past year, as of November 2024, it has produced a 55% return. Given Taiclet’s bachelor’s at the United States Air Force Academy, it is possible that he went to Princeton under the MEL-1 fellowship. Recently, at the Reagan National Defense Forum of 2023, Taiclet stated that to improve national security would require “marshaling all of U.S. industry in the service of national defense... The U.S. is clearly ahead in the software sector but a lot of that is in the commercial sector and we have to bring that in... We [Lockheed Martin] also recruit from a wide range of colleges and universities all the way into high schools... But we need to focus on difficult skill sets like A.I. data sciencists, that is another compelling reason to partner with the tech industry because they can pay the rates that a data scientist deserves these days, a quick example, we have a team with Intel, Microsoft, Verizon, I.B.M. and Nvidia working on the application of digital technology to mission sets we have defined with the services... and we are getting access to some of their very best people and very best technology” [-]. Though James Taiclet has stated in interviews that Lockheed Martin does not get involved in policy, it actively lobbies Congress for financial returns and contracts along with contributing money to think tanks, most prominently the Council on Foreign Relations [-] [-]. In addition, Taiclet would like to create a network of telemetry collection across the globe to track the movement of objects “... there are cell phones taped to cell towers in Ukraine that are just on listening for air craft coming by or missile coming by and those are all networked into a solution for a commander to say that there are 50 Russian drones coming at you based off the sound waves picked up by these cell phones taped to these towers... we should have an acquisition path where if somebody comes up with an idea like that and presents it to the D.o.D., that we can scale it and have hundreds or thousands of those deployed in Europe, Middle East, South China Sea in say 6 months. We need an acquisition path like that” [-]. In other words, Taiclet is aiming to increase the scale of networks for data collection across the globe.

• Another Princeton-associated military personnel is Master Gunner Sergeant Scott H. Stalker, who was a 2022 fellow of the “Irregular Warfare Initiative”, a joint effort involving the D.o.D. and Professor Jacob N. Shapiro’s E.S.O.C. at Princeton University [with S.P.I.A.], and the Modern Warfare Institute at West Point [-]. The “Irregular Warfare Initiative” was founded by active duty military officers at Princeton University. Its goal is to facilitate the exchange between academics and “Irregular Warfare practitioners”. The Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States defines Irregular Warfare as “a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant population(s)” [-].

• Another Pentagon official and Princeton graduate is General Mark Milley, a Princeton graduate who has now taken a position as visiting lecturer at Princeton University’s S.P.I.A. while also being a senior adviser to J.P. Morgan Chase [-]. Mark Milley has had a long military career, having participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan. During the Afghanistan war, Milley stated that Afghani soldiers were carrying on the fight themselves, but after Biden’s withdrawal from the Afghanistan war, Milley stated in a Congressional hearing that no length of U.S. occupation would have made a difference in the ultimate failure of the war [-] [-]. In addition, as was reported by Seth Harp of Rolling Stone, during this was, the C.I.A. encouraged a high rate of opium exports out of Afghanistan, thus helping to form a cartel that went high up in the Afghani government [-]. Milley stated during a talk in Princeton that he had no knowledge of this. More recently, Milley published a report on the development of A.I. in the U.S. military [-]. It outlines his belief that in 10-15 years, 25-30% of the U.S. military will be robotic. Since October 7th, Milley has affirmed his support for Israel. When speaking publicly at the Ash Carter Exchange Conference, he stated with respect to the use of A.I. and new technologies in warfare: “The idea that war is antiseptic and there’s wonder weapons out there, that we can somehow make it painless. . . to think that technology’s going to resolve the horrors of war. It’s not.” [-]. Milley further stated: “Before we all get self righteous about what Israel is doing, and I feel horrible for the innocent people in Gaza dying, but we shouldn’t forget that we United States killed a lot of innocent people in Mosul, in Raqqa, that we the United States killed 12,000 innocent French civilians. And here we are on the 80th anniversary of Normandy, on the prep fires for Normandy. We destroyed 69 Japanese cities, not including Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We slaughtered people in massive numbers, innocent people who had nothing to do with their government, men, women and children. War is a terrible thing. But if it’s going to have meaning, if it’s going to have any sense of morality, there has to be a political purpose, and it must be achieved rapidly with the least cost and you do by speed” [-].

• Christopher G. Cavoli, ‘87, is a 4-star general who has, up until the Trump administration, been carrying out the military’s directive for a modernization of the U.S. military, in line with Milley’s own goals [-]. He often returns to campus for talks.

• Princeton graduate and billionaire Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, has donated $15m to the University. As a result, the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics was named after him [-][-]. Amazon has links to the Pentagon, to whom it provides cloud services [-], and the Israeli Defense Force [-]. Bezos’ other company Blue Origin is also being considered for Pentagon contracts, as it focuses on develop aerospace technology [-]. Bezos a stated at a Wired 25 conference: “If big tech companies are going to turn their back on U.S. Department of Defense, this country is going to be in trouble” [-].

• Furthermore, Princeton Graduate and “the Grandmother of A.I.” Fei-Fei Li was former chief scientist of A.I. at Google’s cloud company, and was particularly involved with Project Maven, which helped develop and implement algorithms for identifying objects and human beings in satellite imagery [-]. Li’s recent venture, a company named World Labs set to work on computer vision, has received $1b in funds, of which former Google CEO and Princeton alum Eric Schmidt supplied an undisclosed amount [-].

Former Trustee Norman R. Augustine And The Student Raj Shah

Perhaps one of the most important Princeton alumni is former trustee Norman R. Augustine, who is a former CEO of Lockheed Martin, a former faculty member at the Princeton Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a former member of the M.A.E. advisory council [-] [-] [-]. As a brief aside, former senior fellow at Raytheon, Meredith Colket, is now on that advisory council [-].

His career initially included Assistant Secretary of Defense and Engineering, United States Secretary of the Army and head of the Defense Science Board. After his career in government, he helped oversee the 1995 merger between Martin Marietta and Lockheed Martin [-]. His influence on defense contracts is so enormous that he has a set of 52 aphorisms called Augustine’s Laws. These include the trend that every 20 years weapons contract costs multiply by a factor of ten [Law # 16].

As stated by William Hartung of the Washington Post in 1996: “Augustine’s power extends far beyond his C.E.O. position. Since 1987, Augustine has served as chairman of the Defense Policy Advisory Committee on Trade [D.P.A.C.T.], which provides confidential guidance to the secretary of defense on arms export policies... Over the next three decades Augustine spun through the revolving door from industry to government and back again... Augustine chose not merely to compete in the defense sector but to dominate it. His strategy has been to buy up parts of other defense firms. “I want to build a super company,” he said in a 1994 interview. In March 1995, he and Daniel Tellep, the C.E.O. of Lockheed, agreed to merge, forming Lockheed Martin Corp.... Lockheed Martin then sought reimbursement for $330 million in connection with its acquisitions of General Dynamics’ space division and General Electric’s defense unit. As of last October, at least $38.5 million had been paid out by the Pentagon. Augustine defends the arrangement as beneficial to the government, saying Lockheed Martin is being “very generous”... A brochure for Lockheed Martin’s new F-22 stealth fighter plane, subtitled “Peace Through Conventional Deterrence,” does just that: The pamphlet displays a map of the world showing the countries that now possess top-of-the-line fighters.”

It is important to note that Augustine erved on D.P.A.C.T. during his time as C.E.O. of Lockheed Martin and Martin Marietta. CodePink’s investigative podcast stated in reference to Augustine’s own revolving door path between the private and public sectors: “Augustine served on the Defense Policy Advisory Committee on Trade when he was the C.E.O. of Lockheed Martin. That had such a massive influence over arm sales, Lockheed Martin benefits in arm sales. And it also had a huge influence over Pentagon budgets, that kind of thing. Over 50% of our Pentagon budget, which is $800 billion this year goes straight to private companies like Lockheed Martin.” [-]. The Washington Post article remains relevant even decades later [-]:

“Augustine also has been a central figure in the defense industry’s effort to get the U.S. government to provide additional taxpayer support for arms exports. With fighter planes costing between $25 million and $50 million and potential foreign clients facing major budgetary crises, the number of cash-paying foreign weapons customers has been shrinking. New subsidies for arms exports have been on the industry’s agenda since 1988, when the D.P.A.C.T. recommended them to the incoming Bush administration. D.P.A.C.T.’s chairman, then and now, is Norman Augustine.... Lockheed Martin’s solution for the perils of arms proliferation: Buy more planes from Lockheed Martin. Augustine is a formidable opponent of post-Cold War proposals to cut defense spending. He argues that past efforts to convert defense contractors to civilian work have a record “unblemished by success” because “it has proven very difficult to produce pigs by running the sausage machine backward.” In his 1990 book “The Defense Revolution” (co-authored with Kenneth Adelman), Augustine advocated increased spending for a potent array of new weapons, from B-2 bombers to strategic missile defenses to “smart” munitions. In a speech last December, he referred to the defense industrial base as “the fifth armed force” and argued for stepped-up spending on weapons modernization to maintain a “dominant military force””. Readers are encouraged to read William Hartung’s article who is now at the Quincy Institute.

During Augustine’s time as C.E.O. of Lockheed, the F-22, F-35, Titan IV rocket and the C130j turboprop military transport aircraft were developed [-]. The F-22 and the F-35 are fighter aircraft used in various conflicts [-] [-] [-].

Furthermore his views on the Department of Defense budget seem to imply that he believes an increase in the D.o.D. budget is necessary as per a 2011 senate hearing:

“It has now been 20 years since the so-called “Last Supper,” at which D.o.D. gathered about a dozen of us who were running the major defense contractors at the time. We were told that the D.o.D. was going to be buying less equipment, given the end of the Cold War; that D.o.D. had no intention to pay for overhead for a lot of companies with half-full factories and no money to invest in R&D; and that it would be up to those of us from industry to solve the problem, D.o.D. wasn’t going to do it for us.... I still remember a chart that was shown on that occasion of 16 different categories of military equipment. In five of them the D.o.D. said they could only afford two industrial participants and in six of them they could only afford one participant. Shortly thereafter, 5 years later, 75 percent of the companies were gone, as were nearly half the people in the industry, about three-quarters of a million people... We sometimes forget that our defense sector has to compete with all the other industries in this country and in the world in fact for equity and for debt capital. Without that, they cannot modernize their facilities or run their businesses. There’s no place in the Wall Street Journal listing where there are asterisks that say “This company is a defense company; it’s excused.” [-].

His personal views on a number of topics are in the public sphere. They include extremely fringe views, including blaming school teachers for the 2008 economic crash [-], an idea so simplistic it is on par with flat-earth conspiracies. Following Law #16, Augustine believes the defense budget needs to be substantially increased, and the defense sector expanded and diversified in order to reduce costs, despite being the largest in the world by many orders of magnitude. This places Augustine firmly in a small camp of extremist believers.

Most recently, his gifts to the university resulted in the creation of new engineering professorships, one of which bears his name and is currently dedicated to robotics: Norman R. Augustine Professor in the M.A.E. department. Radhika Nagpal occupies the Norman R. Augustine professorship in the M.A.E. department and is currently carrying out an Office of Naval Research grant [N000142212616] to create underwater robotic swarms analogous to Elbit System’s C2 multi-domain heterogeneous swarms used in Gaza, as well as other drones used for anti-submarine warfare by the Pentagon [-]. When interviewed by Princeton Alumni Weekly about this donation, Augustine stated, “When I was CEO, almost the entire aerospace industry was led by people with Princeton degrees,” and mentioned competitors like McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Westinghouse, and Grumman [-]. After he retired as Lockheed-Martin C.E.O., he went to Princeton as a faculty member, where he also served as a trustee [-].

George Tenet in the oval office with the Bush administration

But it was also around 2001 that Augustine and Gilman Louie were called upon by George Tenet to deal with a financial and innovation crisis in the defense industry. Tenet oversaw the facilitation of torture as the director of the C.I.A. under the Bush administration. Tenet and others were noticing that technological expertise was leaving the defense/government sectors and ending up in Silicon Valley, where commercial products were the focus. Therefore, Tenet gathered Augustine and Louie to create In-Q-Tel, a C.I.A. backed hedge-fund where V.C., defense contracts and the C.I.A. unite to fund commercial and military technologies. In a 2015 Armed Services Committee hearing on Defense Acquisition Reform, Augustine testified: “Today, the leading edge of the state of the art and innovation is often to be found in ... Silicon Valley... This led to the establishment of an organization that we called In-Q-Tel, the concept of which was very simple: conduct business on behalf of the government with Silicon Valley and others as they would deal with any other commercial firms. I believe that it is fair to say that this has been an immensely successful endeavor from virtually every perspective.” [-]. In-Q-Tel is considered one of the government’s most successful defense contracting endeavors with a markedly venture capitalist ethos though it was funded with tax-payer dollars.

An email between employees at a prospective company H.B.Gary that was leaked on WikiLeaks reveals potential inner workings of the V.C. [-]:

“In-Q-Tel likes to make strategic investments in new technologies that will be important to intel agencies. In return for the investment dollars, they typically get software licenses, equity (not controlling interest), and board observer rights. Their investments typically range from $250k to $1.5M and take 3-9 months to complete once a company is on their radar. They typically don’t fund alone -- they bring in other investors (like a syndicate). Part of their funding would pay for pilots and test trials to facilitate technology transition into operating environments. They would require a type of S.O.W. to identify work to be done, milestones, and functions and features to be developed. They don’t fund classified work. They fund things that other customers will support in the long term by buying products -- this spreads costs out over many customers. They view their funding as augmenting commercial products. In-Q-Tel measures success by seeing how much it gets adopted, used, deployed and paid for by real customers (”technology transfer”). Pilots are a metric.”

In other words, In-Q-Tel invests in commercial infrastructure to have an “in” on civilian technologies for the purposes of gathering intelligence. Additional emails perhaps indicate that In-Q-Tel is no longer “officially” affiliated with the C.I.A. [-]. That being said, many of its board members and executives have ties to the C.I.A., such as former director Jami Miscik, who left in 2005 and now sits on the board of General Motors, Morgan Stanley, In-Q-Tel and the Council on Foreign Relations.

George Tenet explained how In-Q-Tel came to be and the strategy behind the endeavor in a memorandum to Inspector General Helgerson[-]:

George Tenet added in his book At The Center Of The Storm: My Years at the C.I.A.:

“We [the C.I.A.] decided to use our limited dollars to leverage technology developed elsewhere. In 1999 we chartered ... In-Q-Tel. ... While we pay the bills, In-Q-Tel is independent of C.I.A.. C.I.A. identifies pressing problems, and In-Q-Tel provides the technology to address them. The In-Q-Tel alliance has put the Agency back at the leading edge of technology ... This ... collaboration ... enabled C.I.A. to take advantage of the technology that Las Vegas uses to identify corrupt card players and apply it to link analysis for terrorists [cf. the parallel data-mining effort by the SOCOM-DIA operation Able Danger], and to adapt the technology that online booksellers use and convert it to scour millions of pages of documents looking for unexpected results.” [-]

In-Q-Tel has funded Skydio, Anduril, Palantir, Microsoft, Google etc. It’s investments into military defense contractor Anduril may question of the above quote from H.B.Gary employees: “They don’t fund classified work”. Most recently, it funded Niantic, a company that stole every Pokemon Go player’s data in order to create a 3-D geospatial A.I. from the pictures on everyone’s phones[-], a massive and undisclosed privacy violation. Gilman Louie also happens to sit on the board of the company [-]. When considering the portfolio of In-Q-Tel, it becomes apparent that Augustine, Tenet and Louie have been the catalysts for the weaponization of civilian and user data. It is a weaponization characterized by A.I. and that uses civilian data to train algorithms or create data systems for warfare [-]. For further evidence, observe Taiclet’s comments made at the Reagan National Defense Forum quoted above. A 53rd law, in Augustine’s legacy, should not be an aphorism and rather blunt: “weaponize civilian life”.

Networks of information are being developed and weaponized against students as well. Steven Healy, former head of the Department of Public Safety at Princeton, helped found Social Sentinel, which scrapes information from students’ social media for the purposes of surveillance [-]. In addition, a former Palantir employee has helped oversee the camera expansion project at Princeton during their time in the Princeton Facilities Department [-] [-]. While it is not confirmed, it is not unlikely that these services have been used on Princeton’s own campus. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that violations of privacy are, in spite of the name, not merely a private matter. Essential civil liberties such as freedom of speech are contingent on individual privacy, as surveillance necessarily causes or facilitates forms of censorship.

Secretary Ash Carter shaking hands with Raj Shah

Though Augustine is now quite aged, his influence is still being felt in the defense industry, not only as a result of his role in defense contractors, government positions and In-Q-Tel, but also as a mentor. Princeton graduate and air force veteran Raj Shah considers Augustine a mentor and appears to be following in his footsteps. In 2015, under the direction of then-secretary Ash Carter, he helped found Defense Innovation Unit X with Christopher Kirchhoff, which also created the National Security Innovation Network, and has become a venture capital arm of the U.S. Army. N.S.I.N. is hosted on Princeton’s campus as well to facilitate non-classified research between students and the military [see report on Princeton’s militarism -]. Today, Shah runs Shield Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in defense industries and also acts as a mediator between vendors and the D.o.D.. For example, Shah helped facilitate buyer-vendor relations between Shield A.I. and the D.o.D. [-]. Like Norman Augustine, he has been invited to come speak at Princeton [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]. Former Secretary Ash Carter is also part of the Shield Capital leadership [-].

In an interview on YouTube Channel “Combat Story,” Raj Shah recounts with pride his role in the Iraq war, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians [-].

Today at Princeton...

The efforts that have led to passing Referendum #5, highlighting the student body’s support for divestment from arms manufacturers, echoes past demonstrations, including during the Iraq war at the hands of the U.S. military [-] [-]. During this time, students were arrested for protesting the war [-] [-], however a majority of students polled were in support of the Iraq war [-]. Today, the student body passed Referendum #5 with 68.5% of the vote, demonstrating the campus community’s more progressive values. The university has not acted on the results of this referendum, President Eisgruber even stating that referenda had no bearing in the University in spite of officials’ insistence that dissent should be expressed through proper channels. This is likely due to how profitable the Gazan genocide has been for Princeton trustees, donors and alumni. To achieve divestment will require that Princeton re-prioritize its students, staff and faculty rather than the “prestigious” ties or the investments it maintains [including the influence of donors]. Though divestment is the student coalition’s goal, this article has shown the deep complicity of Princeton decision-makers in all manners of warfare, and it is evident as a result that Princeton leadership must undergo significant modifications in order for the University to be aligned with the values it pretends to espouse. To begin, current trustees must be forbidden from voting on matters in which they have a conflict of interest. The Board of Trustees should also publish meeting minutes as the caretaking of students and the campus they live on is a matter of public interest. These immediate steps must be followed by an overhaul of the system by which trustees are appointed, in order to elect a governing body that is in service of the campus community’s interests, rather than the interests of capital. Continued pressure on trustees from campus activists is the only way forward.

Introduction

The purpose of this series of documents is to explore Princeton’s ties to militarism and international conflict in the context of current foreign affairs. In particular, we must ask how foreign policy affects the research and conduct of universities amidst recent the United States’ recent sanctions on Russia and China, in contrast to unwavering support for nations such as the Saudi Government of Arabia, Israel, Qatar and the U.A.E. The documents focus on Princeton’s relationship to Israel, but lays the groundwork for future research that could be down with other authoritarian regimes worldwide. This report in particular describes how donors, prominent alumni, and trustees of Princeton have direct ties with, or interests in, military and foreign entities in Israel. We sidestep issues around Princeton employees, such as donations made by Title IX director Randy Hubert to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, to focus on the important donors that influence many of the policy decisions at Princeton [-].

This work is even more important because publicly available records do not provide a clear picture of Princeton’s financial relationships with foreign entities. According to Section 117 of the Foreign Gift and Contract Reporting of the Higher Education Act of 1965, universities are required to disclose monetary exchanges with foreign entities [-]. These disclosures reveal a $335k contract between Princeton University and Israel from 2019 to 2023. This time period coincides with Israeli Ministry of Defense funding for the Romalis group in the Physics department referenced in our previous report on Princeton’s militarism [-] [D.S.C.A. 1000366232]. However, because the threshold for disclosure is $250k, such figures do not provide a complete picture of Princeton’s relationship with foreign entities—and in fact, Princeton has lobbied House bills that would reduce the threshold to $50k, which would thereby make foreign funding sources more public [DETERRENT ACT, Section 2a H.R. 5933 - -]. We have therefore focused on prominent donors, alumni, and trustees to show how money tied to international affairs influences Princeton in other ways.

Donors Don’t Matter, Do They?

The university maintains that its policy decision are independent from donor pressure. However, there has been precedent for Princeton making policy changes in response to donor concerns. In 2015 after the murder of Michael Brown, the Black Justice League staged a protest and occupied President Eisgruber’s office for 33 hours with a list of demands for racial justice, one of which was to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from university buildings and programs. Eisgruber formed the Wilson Legacy Review Committee, a 10-member trustee committee that released a report in 2016 recommending against renaming [-]. However, in 2020, the Board of Trustees voted to drop Wilson’s name from what is now known as the School of Public and International Affairs, as well as from a residential college now known as First College, with Eisgruber citing the George Floyd protests [-]. Yet the reversal also came shortly after alumna and donor Kwanza Jones ’93 penned an open letter demanding that Princeton drop Wilson’s name, and alumna and donor Mellody Hobson ’91 donated $20m to establish a new Hobson College on the site of First College [-] [-]. It is not a coincidence that such reversal came after donors pressured the University to act.

In fact, donors are more important as ever. While young alumni are now donating less than ever with a recent sharp decrease from 52% of the class giving upon graduation in 2018 to 31% in 2022 [-], donations to Princeton are hitting record highs. The Annual Giving campaign brought in $67m just this past year and $82m in 2021-22 [-]. Universities—ostensibly in the service of humanity—are therefore increasingly beholden to private and corporate interests, reflecting a trend across a country where the top 1% possesses the same amount of wealth as the bottom 90% [-]. These Annual Giving donations are also not representative of the entirety of the donations that Princeton receives, as there is also a broader Venture Forward campaign which further accepts donations from uber-wealthy alumni [such as the creation of a new health center from Thomas Frist, a new bio-engineering building in part as a result of major gifts from Gilbert Omenn and Martha Darling, a new computer science building from Eric Schmidt, or a $100m donation from Gerhard Andlinger] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]. At UPenn, for instance, billionaire Ross Stevens threatened to pull a $100m donation in response to the UPenn’s handling of campus protests [-]. Donors and powerful alumni matter, as do trustees, who have complete discretion over divestment decisions at Princeton and whose meeting records are embargoed for 30 years. And given donor and trustee interest in the Israeli regime, the university will not divest from Israel’s violations of international law and human rights without active pressure—nor, for that matter, from defense contractors and fossil fuel corporations. Activism is required to either force the trustees go against their own interests or to pressure certain trustees with conflicts of interest to step down.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Princeton students fervently protested the university’s endowment ties to South Africa. President Goheen stated that the university would miss out on $3.5m of earnings if it were to divest from all 39 companies proposed by the students but at least offered some concessions, even if it were just an effective dialogue. In 1979, Larry Hamm and George Riley led South African protests at Princeton, including the 27-hour Nassau Hall sit-in and carrying signs stating “Get The Tiger Out Of South Africa” [-]. In contrast to President Goheen’s direct stance, President Eisgruber has offered no dialogue and insisted on the ambiguous position of institutional restraint [-]. In addition the university is more intransigent and harsher. It is taking the Clio Hall sitters to court as opposed to the students who participated in the Nassau Hall sit-in, for which only disciplinary warnings were distributed.

Even after the South African divestment protests, the university never divested and only did so when in 1994, it was completely pointless [-]. This is a reflection of the fact that university administration will never be exceptional in a corporate America. Therefore, direct pressure on trustees and donors is paramount. We will now explore these individuals.

Ties To Or Support For Israel On The Board Of Trustees

Based on donation data, major donors occupy 25% of seats on Princeton’s Board of Trustees, and about a quarter of the trustees are high-net-worth individuals worth over $10m [- -]. A thorough piece on the role of donors on Princeton’s campus and as climate denialists can be found here [-] with an excellent analysis of many of the trustee relations [-]. While alumni vote for 13 trustees, the process by which alumni are chosen and called to serve is purposefully opaque [-]. In addition, Charter Trustees and Term Trustees are internally selected and compose the majority of the Board. As a recent Princeton Alumni Weekly article states:

“Princeton wants alumni to think they have a voice, but the Board of Trustees is an opaque, largely undemocratic ladder that leads to extraordinary power well beyond the campus walls.”

The author has researched each current trustee on Princeton’s board, and Divest Princeton—the student activist group calling for fossil fuel divestment—has compiled a report on the board [-]. The following are those with the most explicit ties to Israel.

• Among those with financial and employer ties is Salesforce Senior Adviser, Edward H. Felsenthal. Salesforce does a large portion of its development and business in Israel. Salesforce C.T.O. Meir Amiel stated in 2024, “Salesforce is committed to Israel. We leave politics out of the company” [-]. Salesforce appears to also have a reliance on Israel for technological competitiveness: “One of the reasons Salesforce came to Israel many years ago was due to the assumption that we could find a lot of talent around AI.”. Since the start of the genocide, Salesforce has increasingly deepened its ties with Israel via purchases of Israeli companies and shifting data centers [-] [-].

• Princeton benefactor and Highland Capital Partners Founder and Chairman Paul Maeder: Highland Capital Partners is an enormously influential hedge fund which has historically had holdings in Israel and is highly likely to have kept such holdings [-]. Maeder has also made significant donations to the university, though the amount could not be obtained. It is, however, enough to have a hall within Andlinger Center—the result of a $100m donation—named after him. Maeder served as a term trustee beginning 2015 and was elected as a charter trustee in 2020 [-].

• Elizabeth Prus Myers, global chairman of J.P. Morgan. Megalithic investing firm, J.P. Morgan Chase, has holdings in Israel and has offices in Israel [-]. It has only expanded its operations there since late 2023. J.P. Morgan has also financed $48k of sponsored research at Princeton in F.Y. 2023 [-].

• Former executive chair and CEO of Celgene Corporation and Senate candidate, Bob Hugin: When Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Hugin called it historic [-] [-]. Celgene, which sponsors research at Princeton [over $1m during the last 5 years], is a subsidiary of Bristol Myers-Squibb which holds offices in Israel [-] [-]. The Hugin Family Foundation Inc. “donated” over $2.6m to Princeton from 2009 to 2017, some of which was prior to Hugin’s position as a charter trustee on the Board of Trustees.

• Anthony Yoseloff is a major donor to Princeton [having helped construct Butler college, which Yoseloff Hall is named after him] along with being a charter trustee [-] [-]. His political donations to mostly Republican candidates along with deeply pro-Israel politicians Josh Gottheimer [about $20k] and Bob Hugin [$5.4k] indicate his pro-Israel position. Yoseloff has also donated at least $1m up until 2019 to Princeton University.

• James Yeh is C.I.O. of Citadel Investment operated by Kenneth Griffin who is deeply supportive of Israel [-]. Griffin called the student protests “anarchy” [-]. Yeh has also donated to the university [with Yeh college named after them] and predominantly Republican candidates. Yeh also donated $5.4k to Hugin’s political races.

• Tim Kingston of Goldman Sachs has major holdings in Israel including offices [-].

• Louise Sams of Turner Broadcasting Systems and now CoStar Group and the longest tenure of any trustee was once honored at an A.D.L. luncheon [-].

• Blair Effron is another current trustee member, with important ties and a role in foreign policy, who will be covered below.

Note: There are extremely direct ties to Israel via militarism as well, but those are left to a later part of this series. Therefore, this list is not complete in all its ties to Israel and will be complemented later on.

The Ex-Officio Princeton Trustee And The NJ State Government’s Affairs With Israel

Within the domestic political sphere, Phil Murphy, current governor of New Jersey, is an ex-officio trustee of Princeton University. Though Murphy is unlikely to directly participate in trustee decisions, his place on the Board of Trustees marks the mutual interests and ties of Princeton University with the N.J. state government. Unsurprisingly, his position as a politician has implicated him as a supporter of Israel with ties to militarism. The two cannot be disentangled when speaking of Murphy because of certain organizations that are specific to the state of New Jersey.

Governor Murphy is a staunch economic supporter of Israel. By means of anti-B.D.S. pro-Israel laws applied to the N.J. pension fund, Murphy pulled $182m from Unilever, the parent company of Ben&Jerry’s in 2021. Ben&Jerry’s made anti-occupation statements and pulled its business from the occupied Palestinian territories [-]. Murphy is considering enacting this policy again over Japanese company Itochu, which has cut ties with Israel over the on-going genocide [-]. Although Gov. Murphy has called for a ceasefire, his remarks have shown at a consistent lack of understanding, and engagement with the issue, that defers to the I.D.F.:

:

“Let’s remember Hamas started this” [-].

In fact the ties between Israel and Gov. Murphy, and thereby the N.J. government run much deeper. As of 2023, the N.J.-Israel commission stated that: “Since Governor Phil Murphy was sworn in in 2018, foreign direct investment from Israel has multiplied four times and is today worth $347.1 million” [-]. NJ also had $1.72b in trade with Israel by the end of 2022. In addition, the state has a NJ-Israel commission to facilitate the exchange of technology and education between the two governments [-] [-].

In addition, a member of Princeton’s Office of Innovation, Judith Sheft, is also a member of the NJ-Israel State Commission. Sheft is often mentioned as an employee in our piece on Princeton’s militarism, who helps facilitate research relations between Princeton and defense contractors. In 2019, she was chosen to also be appointed as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology, which in part corresponds with the Israeli government [see report on Princeton’s Militarism for further details on Sheft -] [-].

The N.J. Israel commission also hosts professors from several universities in New Jersey, along with having helped facilitate Memorandum of Understandings between Israeli universities and Rutgers, N.J.I.T., etc [-]. Interestingly, with respect to Princeton, Vivian Futran Fuhrman, another member of the N.J.-Israel Commission, works at Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment as its Assistant Director for External Partnerships. [-]. Daniel C. Kurtzer, who was Ambassador to Israel under George W. Bush, is a member of the N.J.-Israel Commission, as well as the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton [-]. Unsurprisingly, Kurtzer has also potentially gone to teach at the Israel National Defense College during the summer of 2021 as is documented in a Library-of-Leaks file [-]:

Kurtzer is also documented in the following pro-settlement exchange [-]:

“Kurtzer himself reiterated this point on Israel’s Channel 10 television: “Those commitments are very, very firm with respect to these Israeli population centers; our expectation is that Israel is not going to be going back to the 1967 lines.” When asked if these “population centers” were “settlement blocs,” he replied: “That’s correct.”” [-]

Another member of the N.J.-Israel commission, on the Education Committee, is defense contractor executive at Valcor Engineering, Lori Klinghoffer. This is to illustrate that the technologies and education meant to be exchanged are not just of the cultural type. Klinghoffer is Chair of the United Israel Appeal, an organization that assists in immigration and birthright trips to Israel. [-] [-].

In fact, the N.J.-Israel Commission plays a key role in facilitating defense contractor business, as demonstrated in the Atlantic County Economic Alliance [A.C.E.A.] N.J. 2021 annual report:

“In March 2021, the A.C.E.A. leveraged relationships with the N.J. Department of State’s New Jersey/Israel Commission to attract international aerospace firm, Israel Aerospace Industries [I.A.I.], to Atlantic County to showcase its state-of-the-art travel-safety products.” [-]. This aligns with the Commission’s long-term goals, as expressed by Mark Levenson of the N.J.-Israel Commission at the Propelify tech event:

“We want Israeli companies to open up their headquarters here in NJ” [-]

New Jersey has also collaborated with other Israeli cyber companies such as Pentera, which was given a B.I.R.D. Cyber award [-]. In 2020, Andrew Gross, in conjunction with P.S.E.G., hosted drone tech showings developed by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems to discuss collaborations with NJ state [-]. Elbit Systems has also invested in Atlantic County’s electricity infrastructure [-].

As Mark Levenson further stated:

“New Jersey is the only state in the union of the United States to have a state entity solely dedicated to Israel and New Jersey relationships”.

While a N.J.-Israel commission is a unique setup, it raises significant concerns. Under Holmes v. Jennison, a case that ruled state governments cannot engage in foreign affairs without federal authorization, the Commission’s role might be seen as a potential violation of states’ rights [-].

Princeton Benefactor Blair Effron And The Council On Foreign Relations

There are close connections between Princeton and the Council on Foreign Relations [C.F.R.], a think tank that aims to influence U.S. foreign diplomacy. It is so influential that it is known as Wall Street’s think tank. Its membership has been quite storied, with one of its most notable members being Henry A. Kissinger, whose influence over U.S. foreign policy is hard to overstate [-]. Kissinger was a pivotal architect of the U.S.-Israel strategic alliance, a foundation underpinning Israel’s strength and security today [-].

C.F.R. has extremely close connections with Princeton. It is currently headed by Princeton graduates C.F.R. President Michael Froman and Vice-Chair Blair Effron. Froman is regularly featued in Princeton Alumni Weekly [- - - -]. He also came to speak at Princeton on Feb. 12th, 2025 and stated a pro-occupation stance, as it defers to Israel’s judgement with respect to abandoning its own ceasefire deal: “I think the challenge of Phase 2 [of the ceasefire] is that it fundamentally involves Israel negotiating its withdrawal from Gaza, and without knowing what the future of Gaza is, who’s going to provide security? Who’s going to govern? What the economic reconstruction plan is... It’s hard for any Israeli government to agree to negotiate a withdrawal at this point.” [-]. Froman’s comments ignore the original ceasefire deal wherein Israel agreed to sequentially withdraw itself from Gaza; Israel has reneged on its agreement to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor during Phase 2 [- - -]. These comments also ignore Israel’s abandonment of its cease-fire agreement to allow aid to flow into Gaza, along with its broader ethnic cleansing including the largest displacement of people in the West Bank since 1967 [- -]. Furthermore, this interview structurally implies that the Palestinian people do not have, nor deserve to have, any autonomy over their own fate.

Effron, a regular donor to A.I.P.A.C., is a part of the Century Society, the C.F.R. leadership group of Annual Fund benefactors; he donated over $100k to C.F.R. in 2022, 2023, and again in 2024 [-] [-] [-]. Effron has been a Princeton trustee since 2016 [-] [-]. He has donated enough to have several buildings on campus named after him: the Effron Center For The Study of America and the Effron Music Building [-] [-]. In addition, the Cheryl and Blair Effron Foundation gave $500k between 2010 and 2014 alone [-]. David M. Rubenstein, the chairman at C.F.R., has been on the Woodrow Wilson School Advisory Council at Princeton and regularly donates to C.F.R. in excess of $100k [-] [-]. In addition, he founded a hedge-fund, the Carlyle group, that is deeply invested in arms manufacturing and defense contracts. Through its private equity arm, the Carlyle Group has held significant stakes in companies such as Booz Allen Hamilton (previous holdings), ManTech, and Two Six Technologies [-] [-] [-]. As late as 2018, Akerson from the Carlyle Group was on Lockheed Martin’s Board of Directors [-]. In addition, Princeton trustee member Timothy Kingston is also a member of the C.F.R..

The C.F.R.’s current membership is strongly pro-Israel. Notable members include Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs), Mark Penn (Stagewell Private Equity), Josh Harris (Apollo Global), Malcolm Hoenlein (Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations), Stephen Schwartzman (Blackstone), who have all donated to A.I.P.A.C. [-]. In addition, another member Thomas Dine played a crucial role in A.I.P.A.C.’s rise as a former executive director. The current C.E.O. and the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (A.D.L.), Jonathan Greenblatt and Abraham Foxman, are also members of C.F.R.. Former C.F.R. president, Richard Haass, wrote an op-ed in late 2023 stating his support for Israel. Billionaire and Princeton benefactor Michael R. Bloomberg, who supports pro-Israel policies and donates to A.I.P.A.C., is also a member and major donor to C.F.R. [-].

Jami Miscik, former C.I.A. Director of Intelligence and Vice-Chair of C.F.R., serves on the boards of Morgan Stanley and In-Q-Tel, an C.I.A.-backed hedge fund founded by Princeton donor and former C.F.R. member Norman Augustine [-] [-]. Following Augustine’s legacy, Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet also holds a seat on the CFR board. In 2022, Taiclet contributed $25,000–50,000 to the organization [-]. Lockheed Martin supplies Israel with weapons and naturally for profit.

C.F.R. also has various members involved in technology and arms manufacturing. Two Google executives reside on its board of directors: James Manyika and Ruth Porat. Eric Schmidt and Princeton alumni Fei-Fei Li are also members of C.F.R. [-]. Eric Schmidt is also a regular donor to C.F.R. [-]. In addition, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin have associations with the C.F.R. through Charles Hooper and Jeh Johnson. Other arms manufacturing executives associated with C.F.R. include Heather Wilson (Google and Lockheed Martin) and Ann Marie Fudge (Northrop Grumman) [-]. Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Google have also additionally aided Israel [-] [-].

C.F.R. has major corporations among its donor members, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Blackstone, BlackRock, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Merck, and others. Many of these corporate members have senior executives or leadership personnel serving on C.F.R.’s board, highlighting the close ties between corporate influence and policy development.

Despite taking giant and numerous donations, the C.F.R. states that “it takes no institutional positions on matters of policy” before every interview or talk it gives.

Federally Facilitated Research With Israeli Universities And The Binational Foundations

Aside from donors and trustees, what other barriers to divestment could there be? It turns out that the federal government often facilitates ties with Israeli universities and sectors of government, such as the previously referenced D.S.C.A. funding to the Romalis group. Accepting this form of funding creates barriers to academic and overall divestment. Though these grants do not determine anything in terms of policy, it is important to acknowledge them as an additional obstacle to complete divestment given the research funding that is received as a result of the collaboration between the U.S. and Israel governments. Of course these sources of funding are only one part of the research ecosystem of collaboration between Princeton and Israeli universities [of which there would be too many to list, though it would be fruitful to investigate some for possible military purposes]. In addition, the funded research summed up below does not infrequently have military applications.

• D.o.D. facilitated grant with Hebrew University of Jerusalem on algorithms to produce images of objects hidden around corners for example and in low-light conditions, which is useful for computer vision: $383k in F.Y.18. This grant is highly likely to be used for military purposes [HR001116C0027 -]

• With Tel Aviv University on algorithms for Cryo.-E.M. imaging: $1.58m over the last 2-3 years [R01GM136780 -].

• The U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Binational Industrial Research And Development Foundation are organizations which facilitate research projects between American and Israeli universities and industry. Though the foundation states that it only funds studies of fundamental learning and for non-profit purposes, evidence shows that it often coincides with military research funding as well. Princeton has published numerous articles [too many to collect] over the years that have been facilitated by such foundations. To name a few: Bogdan Andrei Bernevig who researches topological states is often a recipient [along with being often sponsored by the Schmidt Fund For Innovative Research] [Navy Funded N00014-20-1-2303 B.S.F. Grant # 2018226 - - -] and Antoine Kahn [U.S.-Israel B.S.F. Grant # 018349 -, collaborators at Arizona University were funded by Naval grant N00014-22-1-2379] and H. Vincent Poor on 5G-6G mobile communications research [U.S.-Israel B.S.F. CCF-1908308 - - in collaboration with the N.S.F.] and Noga Alon on mathematical cryptography and theoretical computer science [Grant # 2018267 -]. Over the last 5 years alone the U.S.-Israel B.S.F. has financed about $425k at Princeton in sponsored research [-].

To Achieve Divestment From Israeli Apartheid

In summary, divestment from Israel will require that the university cut research ties to Israeli universities [especially the illegal Ariel settlement -] along with refusing U.S.-Israel B.S.F. funding. In addition, its trustees and advisers would have to be forced to go against their own interests rather than serving in the public interest of its community. Therefore, the only path suitable to divestment is to carry out actions and strikes that raise the cost so much so that it forces administration to rebel against the trustees and thereby apply bottom-up pressure on these individuals who possess enormous wealth and power.

03/03/25

Summary: Despite its appearance as a university dedicated to the humanities, Princeton University, both as an institution and as a group of individuals, maintains streams of funding and productions of research that in part rely on contracts and subcontracts that either directly involve private defense contractors and foreign governments or are explicit in their applications to war. Explicitly, research groups at the university have accepted funding from the Israel Ministry of Defense, taken funding from and collaborated with Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Peraton, Exxon and more, or have developed military applications all on their own. These associations demonstrate the university’s standing as a warring institution linked to documented human rights violations in regions like Sudan and Palestine [via the U.S. government and Lockheed/Exxon/Raytheon/etc.’s sales to Israel and the U.A.E.]. This article explores the plethora of types of contracts, funding, collaborations and start-ups associated with the university. Worrisome and unethical applications range from development of missiles to cyber-security and invasive AI algorithms [without even considering the serious impacts of each of these companies on climate change]. In addition, the embedding and normalization of funding sources from institutions that carry out extremist American policies [i.e. carry a big stick, de-escalation via escalation/proliferation] within the academic research environment signifies the complicity of Princeton University in the international affairs and foreign policies of nations. Therefore, it’s implicated in the global arms trade and the broader proliferative tech industry which raises serious and critical ethical concerns on the relation of human rights on campuses to human rights off campuses.

Click to see all data in this report

With an endowment in excess of $34 billion [-], Princeton, possessing the highest endowment per capita of any university, is the richest in the world, but most of the university’s investments are not available freely to the public. In spite of the university’s lack of transparency of its endowment investments, an investigation by Rahma at Ethics.vc in support of Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest group revealed that the university had several investments in defense contractors. These include, as of 2022, direct holdings in TransDigm Group and indirect holdings in Firestorm [via 645 Ventures] as well as Howmet Aerospace [via Farallon Capital] [-]. Recent data provided to the author by Rahma have revealed additionally that Princeton has investments, as of 2022, in Vannevar Labs Inc., another defense contractor specializing in digital intelligence. Yet investments are only one way in which universities can participate in the reinforcement of the defense industry. The financial mass it has accumulated allows the university to function like a corporation and lobby Congress and state/local governments as well as donate to political campaigns.

In Washington D.C., Princeton University has its own Office of Government Affairs [O.G.A.] [-]. It houses employees who carry out its lobbying efforts. Amongst its current employees are Julie Groeninger, Aaron McClendon and David Bagby. Julie Groeninger, current Assistant Vice President of O.G.A., prior to their employment at Princeton was a legislative and staff assistant to Senators Carl Levin and Frank R. Lautenberg. Groeninger has now taken up the mantle of their predecessor, Joyce Rechtschaffen, who occupied the same position since 2006. David Bagby, Director of O.G.A., and Aaron McClendon, Assistant Director of O.G.A., also had prior experiences within the halls of Congress. The O.G.A. reports to the vice president of communications at Princeton University, Gadi Dechter. Dechter served in the Obama administration’s White House National Economic Council and National Security Council.

At the behest of Princeton University leadership, O.G.A. lobbies both in the House of Representatives and the Senate. These lobbying efforts either influence policy for its own sake or can yield federal grants and awards. As of the latest data up to this past October, the university has lobbied $330k in the year 2024 alone. Prior to that, it lobbied $490k in 2023 [-]. In 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019, the respective lobbying sums were $430k, $400k, $360k and $520k. Universities collectively lobby millions each year including $76m in 2024 [-]. For context, a for-profit institution such as UnitedHealth group with a 2024 revenue of $400b, lobbies in Congress with an approximate yearly $7m [-].

Amongst the bills that it lobbies is the yearly Department of Defense [D.o.D.] budget titled ‘The Department of Defense Appropriations Act’. Every year, the House of Representatives in Congress drafts and votes to grant $800-900b of tax-payer money to the military, tech companies as well as universities. Half of these $8-900b are spent on “contracts for products and services” [-]. This includes the production of vaccines, communication systems, transportation methods, weapons and basic research. In FY 2023, $182b of defense contracts was given to the following top ten companies: Lockheed Martin [$61.4b], RTX/Raytheon [$24.1b], General Dynamics [$22.9b], Boeing [$20.1b], Northrop Grumman [$16.3b], Huntington Ingalls [$7.8b], Humana [$7.5b, health insurer], L3Harris [$7b], B.A.E. Systems [$7b] and Cencora [$4.4b, health insurer]. Arms sales from Lockheed Martin to the U.A.E. or from Raytheon to the Saudi government have been linked to the genocide and violation of human rights in Yemen and Sudan [-] [-]. In addition, sales to Israel by the Biden administration have been inextricably linked to the ongoing genocide of Palestinians [-] [-]. Among the $400-430b, the D.o.D. contracts out around $8.03b to universities. Out of these $8.03b, Princeton’s lobbying yields it a share of direct contracts with the Department of Defense as well as federal funding in the form of grants, federal awards, fellowships etc.

To give concrete evidence, in 2024, Groeninger, McClendon and Bagby lobbied for the 2025 D.o.D. Appropriations Act [H.R.8774] to ensure research funding and federal awards from the Department of Defense to Princeton, including from sub-agencies like Minerva and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [D.A.R.P.A.] [-] [-]. D.A.R.P.A. was created by the Eisenhower administration during the Cold War as a response to the Soviet’s Sputnik 1 with the goal of developing technologies to maintain U.S. military power. While D.A.R.P.A.’s main interests lie in research projects related to military applications, its scope is wide and not every project funded by D.A.R.P.A. has direct military relevance.

Direct contracts of Princeton’s have involved producing assays for ebola detection [$3.7m HDTRA116C0025 -] as well as studies of modeling insurgency and counter-insurgency [$85.6k N6227112M1017 -] and the production of geolocation algorithms [$500k W15P7T08CP603 -] and modernizing computer hardware/software systems [$300k FA865008C7851 -].

In 2003, Jeremy Kasdin of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department published work with Pini Gurfil, at Israel Institute of Technology, on the U.S. Missile Defense Agency contract MST-02-C-0001 [-]. The work focused on improving target-estimation for guiding missiles.

In 2019, D.A.R.P.A. funded the project “Physics of Artificial Intelligence” to the tune of $1m [-]. The goal of the project is to “apply “Third Wave” AI technologies to sparse data and adversarial spoofing, and that incorporate domain-relevant knowledge through generative contextual and explanatory models.”. The D.o.D. has expressed their intent to integrate this research in their informatic systems. On the grant, Robert Kosut, Vice President of Systems and Control for defense contractor S.C. Solutions and former visiting researcher at Princeton is mentioned as a frequent contributor [-] [-] [-]. While at Princeton, Kosut collaborated with other Princeton researchers and others at Sandia National Laboratories, a government facility that is managed by private corporations. Until 2016, it was managed by Lockheed Martin but it is now under the direction of Honeywell [-]. The work was done on optimization and control algorithms for the purposes of quantum computing.

In another more recent example, with Office of Naval Research funding, Princeton and MIT collaborated on the creation of a surveillance tool that allows monitoring of underwater signals from airborne sensors [-].

Research grants, in which the government is more hands-on, often fall into the category of Cooperative Agreements and are typically closer to applications. These can include cyber-security applications [$1,511,740 FA87501220295 -], mass data analysis [$1.8m FA87501420009 -], novel computer chip architectures [$643,652 FA87501220296 - -] and machine learning for combustion [$450,000 W911NF1920127 - -].

One notable cooperative agreement [N6227112M1017 -] on foreign diplomacy is held by U.S. Navy veteran Professor Jacob N. Shapiro, via the “Empirical Studies of Conflict Project” (E.S.O.C.) and has received funding directly from the D.o.D. under a project titled “Influence, Manipulation, and Information Threats as Adversarial Techniques: Events, Evolution, and Effects” [-]. E.S.O.C. is also in part led by I.D.F. veteran Eli Berman at UC Berkeley. Shapiro is also Special Adviser to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was established in 2004 as a result of the “Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevent Act” [-]. They have jointly published a book “Small Wars, Big Data” on modernizing warfare and “building an information-centric understanding of insurgencies”[-]. Their research appears to include the study of response patterns of “radical and religious violent groups” which they categorize Hamas as. Berman, for example, has studied best policy practices for Israel to implement in order to lead to the least violent equilibrium. No where in the articles is there any mention of apartheid or occupation. His 2024 article concludes: “Major operations by Israel are shown to achieve deterrence by denial, reducing the violence of the resulting equilibrium by shifting the Gazan response curve to less violence.”. [-] [-]. It appears, therefore, to be a purely reductionist “scientific” analysis of a political problem without consideration of context or history. Shapiro has also studied militant groups from the lens of terrorism.

At times however, the federal government allows for sub-contracting in which an institution or company that earns a federal award may elect to employ another institution or company on the same contract. Within this context, sub-contracting or sub-awarding are known as federal pass-through programs. Via these pass-through programs, American universities including Princeton do a large part of business and collaboration with private defense contractors. On average, Princeton receives a yearly $30m from the D.o.D. in research funding of which about $4-6m come in via pass-through programs [-]. The amounts are made publicly available on usaspending.gov as well as O.M.B. Uniform Guidance reports [formerly known as A-133 audits], and are collected by other organizations such as techinquiry.org. Often, there is significant discrepancy between funding reported by Princeton through O.M.B. Uniform Guidance reports and usaspending.gov, with the University’s totals often being significantly lower than the U.S.A. Spending’s data, suggesting significant under-reporting by Princeton or overreporting to the government of funds either way. Regardless of the sums, the reporting of pass-through programs show relationships between universities and other institutions, be they other universities or private industry [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-].

The following data is mostly taken from Princeton’s own A-133 audit reports written by PWC over the last 12 years, unless a sub-award was found via USA Spending [which syncs with fpds.gov on a nightly basis] and did not appear in the A-133 audit reports. Furthermore, the majority of the funds are via D.o.D. pass-through programs with some exceptions of a few D.o.E. and N.A.S.A. contracts. For example, Lockheed Martin, whose current C.E.O. is Princeton alum James Taiclet [along with its former C.E.O. Norman R. Augustine], sub-contracted Princeton University for at least $655,000-800,636 of work done in the form of service items and research over the last 12 years [-] [-]. S.R.I. International likewise sub-contracted $3,561,679 over the same time period. RTX/Raytheon passed on $1,329,100, I.B.M.: $2,477,451, Bascom Hunter: $174,559, Honeywell: $113,752, B.A.E. Systems: $659,500, D.E. Technologies: $100k, Battelle: over $1m, MetroLaser: $596k, H.R.L. Laboratories: $4,576,182, Universal Technology Corp: $445k, Twinleaf LLC [a company borne out of Princeton University]: $558,333, Siemens: $985k, Northrop Grumman: $566,463, AIMdyn Inc.: $279,312, L.G.S. Innovations and C.A.C.I.: $900k, Teledyne: $20k, and Peraton/TT Govt Solutions/Vencore/Perspecta/A.P. Science Comms: over $8.2m. Solutions Through Innovative Tech, via fellowships and other items, has contracted Princeton about $1.7m [-] and S.C. Solutions on a D.o.E. contract [DE-SC0020618 -] sub-contracted Princeton about $626k. This list is by no means exhaustive but all these pass-through payments have either originated from the D.o.D. or defense contractors who are often contracted by the D.o.D.. The range of projects is vast from applications within physics to those in biology and funding both theoretical and experimental programs. Given this wide range, only a select few will be mentioned.

This relationship via sub-contracts fosters collaborations between Princeton and researchers at defense contractors. At times large collaborations with significant government funding on in-flight spectroscopy even bring together competitors like Raytheon/RTX, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman [-]. Similarly, a great deal of interest in quantum algorithms and computers regularly brings about collaborations with I.B.M., in this instance with the Tureci group including with a Princeton alum who went to Raytheon [-]. In other studies, Princeton researchers from the Smits and Arnold groups collaborated with Lockheed Martin on nano-scale sensors [-]. Machine learning applications have also brought about a collaboration between the Poor group and Northrop Grumman [-].

In addition, a D.o.D. sub-agency named Defense Security Cooperation Agency [D.S.C.A.] can help to facilitate grants from foreign nations including their respective D.o.D.’s [-]. Amongst such programs is D.S.C.A. 1000366232, which helped to facilitate an Israeli Ministry of Defense [I.M.o.D.] grant to researchers at Princeton. Though a grant number is not listed, it is highly likely that this funding went towards the Romalis group [-]. The sum-total was about $520,004, enough to fund an entire Ph.D.. Given nearly identical author lists it is highly likely that a few other papers were published that took funding from this grant [-]. The Romalis group at Princeton, with authors on similar articles researching magnetometry [meaning the detection of magnetic fields for imaging/navigation purposes], has also worked with Twinleaf LLC [-]. Twinleaf LLC, a “Princeton startup”, was in part founded by Thomas Kornack, a former graduate student of the Romalis group [-]. Twinleaf LLC has been sub-contracted by B.A.E. Systems and S.R.I. International in addition to being contracted by the Navy for $1.3m to produce magnetometers for the navigation of U.A.V.s/drones [N0001414C0214 Mod. P00001 -] [-].

At times as well, Princeton may subcontract the defense industry as well via pass-through programs. Over the course of the last 10 years and on several projects, Princeton transferred to Lockheed Martin $438,366 of tax-payer money via D.o.D. pass through-programs [N6600112C4203 & N652361211006 - -]. Likewise, in 2013, I.B.M. received $1,839,729 [N660011114110 -]. These sums contribute to the ~$400b given directly from the Pentagon to the defense contracting industry. Princeton also gave $2,836,524 of tax-payer money to its own start-up Twinleaf LLC [-] [FA86501317326 & W911NF1310034 & FA86501617673 - - -]. Though separate from the D.o.D., Princeton also notably passed along $5,203,170 to defense-tech giant Northrop Grumman via a N.A.S.A. pass-through program [NNG17FC93C -] and $331,584 to L3Harris [NNG17FC93C -].

However, Princeton, as a private institution may choose to directly correspond with private industries and individuals. Exxon Mobil over the last 5 years, has sponsored Princeton to the tune of $7,322,088 whereas B.P. Intl. has given $9,263,500 and Shell Oil has given $394,801 [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]. All three fossil fuel companies are contributing to Israeli occupation’s genocide by providing key and necessary fuel supplies for jets [-] [-]. At least one laboratory can be identified in receiving Exxon funds including the Ju lab in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2023 [-]. The work was also funded by the D.o.D. [W911NF1920127 -] and D.o.E. [DE-SC0021135 -]. The Ju lab focuses on researching combustion phenomena. Chevron has also sponsored $156,498 in research at Princeton.

In addition, Lockheed Martin has sponsored $35,602 and General Dynamics sponsored $124,950 over the last 5 years. Their correspondence with defense contractors goes much further back and includes a 2011 collaboration on photonics with Princeton’s Paul Prucnal [-] [-] and a 2006 study of Prucnal’s in support of Lockheed Martin’s operations [-]: “We designed and built a highly scalable incoherent optical CDMA testbed for Lockheed Martin as a novel platform for testing different avionics applications.”. Prucnal’s correspondence with Lockheed Martin on photonics was still active as of 2022 [-]. In addition to Lockheed, Prucnal also has an on-going industry collaboration with L3 Harris [-]. There are also current collaborations with RTX/Raytheon on new semiconductors [HR00112490463 -] led by the Element Six of DeBeers jewelry corporation [-]. The aim is to utilize polycrystalline diamond wafers to produce silicon chips and semiconductors. Raytheon and Princeton’s collaborations also go further back via collaborations on other computer architectures [-] [-]. These lists are by no means exhaustive of these defense contracting collaborations [-] [-].

Within the software sector, Microsoft has sponsored $40k, Google sponsored $221,485 and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has sponsored $73,132 [-] [-] [-]. It is possible that some amount of the funds from Microsoft may have been put to use with Jacob N. Shapiro’s Empirical Studies Of Conflict project to develop tools for detecting misinformation online [-].

Defense tech company and Raytheon collaborator C3.AI has sponsored $657,045 [-]. C3.AI was founded by former Princeton Board of Trustee member and benefactor Thomas Siebel. Funds went to Mengdi Wang, Matthew Desmond, Stefana Parascho, Corina Tarnita, H. Vincent Poor [-] and Simon Levin [-]. Their funded projects were formally concerned with the development of artificial intelligence for responses to pandemics. Some of the research can easily be weaponized. For example, in one case the goal was to create a “crowd management” tool: “a computational tool that utilizes machine learning to predict people’s movement and provides suggestions for adapting existing spaces through local physical interventions”. C3.AI has since utilized A.I. algorithms for purposes of surveillance and defense. With respect to surveillance, it has created an intelligence suite which is being marketed to the Department of Homeland Security and federal law enforcement agencies. It has also produced a software program to help interpret Palantir’s software output. A competitor, Palantir, with a similar intelligence software program has serviced the Immigration and Customs Enforcement [I.C.E.] agency [-] [-]. During this past summer, I.C.E. raided local Princeton communities, without self-identifying as law enforcement, which is illegal [-]. The un-identified enforcers focused on the Hispanic community. Local organizing by immigrant labor organization, La Resistencia remains vigilant. Tangentially, Palantir has an unofficial pipeline of students from Princeton [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]. With respect to defense, C3.AI has been contracted by Raytheon/RTX to implement A.I. into the US Army’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node [T.I.T.A.N. - -]. Palantir and Anduril have also been competitively contracted on T.I.T.A.N. [-]. C3.AI has additionally been contracted to apply A.I. to aircraft such as the F-35 [-]. It has recently acquired a new contract to work with Booz Allen Hamilton as well [47QFCA21F0018 P139524-5] [-].

A presentation by C3.AI showing their Defense & Intelligence Suite [-]. As can be seen, the tracking of individuals is one of the purposes of their algorithms.

Chen Lab’s Research Sponsors as listed on Chen’s website.

Minjie Chen’s laboratory in the electrical engineering department has also received funding or collaborated with C3.AI along with Bascom Hunter. The two major semi-conductor manufacturers, T.S.M.C. and Intel sponsor Chen’s lab [-] [-]. In addition, though not a defense contractor, Semiconductor Research Corporation [S.R.C.] has also sponsored Chen’s lab; S.R.C. runs a program called the Joint University Microelectronic Program [J.U.M.P.] which aims to provide cutting edge scientific findings to the defense sector [S.R.C. has sponsored $4,404,269 of research at Princeton] [-]. pSemi has sponsored $304,198 [including the Chen lab] at Princeton and Siemens, which also has a student collaboration initiative at Princeton, has sponsored $1,057,164 [-] [-] [-].

I.B.M. has also sponsored $141,671 of research funds [-]. In addition to this, I.B.M. has a special relationship with Princeton via the I.B.M. Quantum Initiative [-]. In this partnership, Princeton and IBM maintain a research relationship as well as undergraduate summer research internships. Furthermore, Intel Corp. has sponsored $2,154,504 of research. The on-going research with Intel involves Kai Li and Sebastian Seung on topics within deep learning [-]. Via the electrical engineering department, Intel also has an affiliate undergraduate research internship [-]. Dean of engineering sciences, Andrea J. Goldsmith, also occupies a position on Intel’s board of directors. The company is not only a defense contractor but also makes up a huge portion of Israel’s economy [1.75%] and has crucial research and manufacturing facilities within the country [-] [-].

Goldsmith is also on the board of directors of Encharge A.I., a Princeton start up led by Naveen Verma of the electrical engineering department [-]. His company has also received a large $18m D.A.R.P.A. grant as well as funding from RTX/Raytheon. As per Verma’s own statements to the Financial Post: Encharge AI was ”born out of the support of D.A.R.P.A. and the D.o.D…. Even as we were spinning out, D.A.R.P.A. was helpful in getting us our first investors.”. The significance of the company for the military AI market and the reason for D.A.R.P.A.’s and the D.o.D.’s support is summarized in an excerpt of the Financial Post’s: “In addition to the mounting demands of private companies, the US government also has pressing needs for fast chips, Verma said. For example, the ability to run military applications of A.I. where power is limited, like in remote regions and aboard aircraft, is an increasingly critical defense requirement.” [-].

The process of how research can evolve towards a startup is not clearly defined at Princeton. Most likely, this depends on initiatives of professors combined with incidental circumstances. Regardless, Princeton regularly hosts industry representatives whether via invited talks or to directly listen and correspond with professors and administration.

A congregation of researchers from Princeton and Picatinny hosted by Judith Sheft.

A photograph of a warhead in Gaza as documented by Al Jazeera. The code signifies that it was made in 2000 at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, USA. [-] [-] [-].

Among other efforts for finding applications and increasing collaboration, Princeton’s Office of Innovations management includes New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology [N.J.C.S.I.T.] executive director Judith Sheft [-]. Sheft hosts a bi-monthly meeting that allows N.J. university researchers, including Princeton’s, to correspond with industry and government, including Picatinny Arsenal. Picatinny Arsenal, among other activities, produces weapons, some of which have been used in Gaza. N.J. Business Magazine documented the following excerpt: “We’ll say to them: ‘Here’s a company that’s looking for [a particular type] of support,’” Sheft says. “‘Who has equipment that can help this company with a project?’” [-].

Princeton University’s and Picatinny Arsenal’s more intense correspondence in sharing knowledge, supplies and research goes back further and includes a 2016 agreement for the easy transfer of research and knowledge on energy efficiency [-].

In a nascent attempt to start up a new industry, Princeton has taken up a cross industry, government agency and university research initiative in collaboration with defense contractors like C.A.C.I., S.R.I. and Teledyne to develop new photonics technologies [-] [-]. It is named Advancing Photonics Technologies and is headed by Craig Arnold, Christine Galib, Sacha Patera, Jatanie T. Jonas, Alison Coakley, Spencer Reynolds and yet again Judith Sheft. Reynolds is a Princeton alum and the New Jersey Regional Engagement Principal for the US Department of Defense National Security Innovation Network [N.S.I.N.] and Regional Engagement Principal at Princeton.

In fact, another important player in military-relevant research programs is N.S.I.N., which focuses on investment in specific technologies, startups, and research projects. This amounts to programs on campus that provide researchers with direct access to Department of Defense assets as well as consultation and training. Given that N.S.I.N.’s mission statement is “Human Innovation Capital.”, the normalization of relationships with undergraduates could be considered a goal of the organization. The university joined in 2022 [-]. The stated aim of N.S.I.N., run by alumnus Spencer Reynolds under Princeton’s Office of Innovation, is the cultivation of talent for military contracting research and encouraging students to create startups with N.S.I.N. funding post-graduation. In one project, for example, Princeton students helped reduce the cost of repairs for B-1B bombers by $500k with a 3D printing solution method. N.S.I.N. is a subdivision of the Defense Innovation Unit X (D.I.U.x.) which is a venture-capital branch of the D.o.D.. D.I.U.x, was founded in 2016 by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter who hand-picked Christopher Kirchhoff and Princeton alumnus and air force veteran Raj Shah. D.I.U.x. also works with C3.AI [-]. In 2022, Princeton also joined the Air Force regional research hub, another organisation which aims to increase collaboration between academia and military research.

Many researchers at Princeton also collaborate with Sandia National Labs, which is operated by Honeywell [and until 2016, operated by Lockheed Martin]. Largely it is the combustion/plasma groups in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Physics and Astrophysical Sciences, Chemistry and the sensors/cyber groups in Electrical Engineering [-] [-] [-] [-] [-].

1 Palmer Square, Princeton, NJ is home to Princeton University’s Google DeepMind AI Lab. Photo obtained from Google Street Maps.

Though not necessarily or completely for military applications, another notable office space is the Google DeepMind A.I. lab at Princeton University [-]. It was opened in 2019 with ex-Google C.E.O. and Princeton alum Eric Schmidt and N.J. governor Phil Murphy. The significance of the lab is that Google DeepMind has military contracts both with the U.S. and Israeli governments [-]. Google also contracts cloud services to the Israeli occupation via Project Nimbus [-]. Whether Princeton has contributed directly to Google’s services abroad and for ethically questionable applications requires further investigation. Google has competed to sell its A.I. services to Israel, and its employees have requested further access to A.I. technology for the I.D.F. [-]. Much of what is studied at the lab are algorithms for autonomous behavior and navigation. On the website it states that they “have collaborations throughout Google US, India, Israel and Europe”. In addition, director of the lab, Elad Hazan and co-director, a former member of Unit 8200 and Princeton and Google employee, Yoram Singer have published several articles together [-] [-] [-] [-]. The 2018 article on Princeton’s website states: “This is a view of the main entrance to the lab, which will be led by Princeton computer science professors Elad Hazan and Yoram Singer.” [-]. Unit 8200 is a cyber-security/surveillance branch of the Israeli military, analogous to the U.S. government’s N.S.A., known for privacy violations.

To conclude, these details are only a sliver of the network of researchers, administrative employees and their activities at Princeton. Further investigation into large cross-university projects is necessary. For example, a large project between UPenn, Carnegie Mellon, Colorado School of Mines, DevCom Army Research Laboratory, George Mason University, Princeton and many others, is the Autonomous Resilient Cognitives Heterogeneous Swarms project [A.R.C.H.E.S.] [-]. The aim is to be able to create swarms of drones, each performing a particular task, which will be in large part for the purposes of warfare. Dhruv Shah is the representative from Princeton on the project [-]. More research into such projects would yield a very real glimpse into the further collaborations between industry, government and academia.

But ultimately, with what has already been shown, each detail helps construct a baffling simultaneity. More precisely, the coexistence of two worlds: one that is violent, exterior and of the “others” and one of apparently peaceful and civilized and collaborative polity. Meanwhile the technological developments originate in the latter and too often appear in the former; therefore signifying that violence is quite literally exported to the “others”. And the “others” need not be far either, as they can be the local immigrant community. This report maintains that the polity and “civilized” amiability maintained on campuses has neutered any necessary and difficult discourse for the monitoring of ethical standards. Ethical regulations and deliberations within the sciences are abysmal if not absent. Not all applications of studies that have emerged from the research at Princeton will lead to weapons or unethical ends. However, in a society where the means of production, both of arms and software, is centralized between Silicon Valley and the military industrial complex with a lack of political accountability, scientific discoveries are further centralized and primarily utilized by the state [policy studies are naturally utilized by states and thus need not require mention]. There is a glaring need for unionized bodies that govern and determine the ethics of studies and the ethics of new technologies or new applications of existing ones in order that university officials take responsibility and enact justified moral standards rather than deferring to those of governments.

A publication by Booz Allen Hamilton documents: “Israel’s victory over Hamas in 2021 was the first war to be won via the asymmetric advantage provided by AI, and the conflict in Gaza that started in 2023 continues to be characterized by AI as well as information warfare in the cognitive domain... Israel became the first country to use true drone swarms, deploying them in its 2021 conflict with Gaza, and is arguably the global leader in this technology because of their implementation of Elbit Systems’ Legion-X, a modular, heterogeneous, multi-domain C2 swarm system.” [-].

In addition, the application of A.I. in the battlefield has already occurred in Palestine. According to a +972 report [-], Israel has implemented three pieces of A.I. based software, “Lavender”, “Where’s Daddy” and “The Gospel”, to automate killings carried out by drones with no oversight. These programs have a substantial error rate, with high gratuity for suspected militant to civilian ratios. Other surveillance companies that have been used in the campaign against Gaza have been documented by SurveillanceWatch and include, but are not limited to: Ability, Inc; Airbotics; Anyvision; Assac Networks; Better Tomorrow; Blue Wolf; Briefcam; Camero; Cellebrite; Cortica; Digital Clues; Dream Security; Elbit Industries; Elsight; Evron System Ltd; G4S; General Robotics; I-Soon; Israel Aerospace Industries; Madeye AI; Magal Security Systems; MER Group; NSO Group; OOSTO; Palantir; Q Cyber Technologies SARL; QinetiQ; Red Wolf; Roboteam; Robotican; Shield AI; TKH group N.V.; The Gospel; UAV tactical systems Ltd; Videotec; White Wolf; XTend [-][-].

The development and use of these technologies is a trend. So much so that even on November 7th of 2023, Lt. Colonel Mike Benitez, “Director of Product” at Shield AI, which was used in Palestine, came to speak at Princeton [-]. In addition, Raj Shah of Shield Capital, who has strong associations with facilitating the product relationship between Shield AI and the D.o.D., came to speak this past fall as well [-] [-] [-].

Such autonomous drone systems do not have human oversight and therefore equates to a lack of accountability. Artificial intelligence is enabling the drone killings that occurred in Afghanistan, leaked by Manning and Assange, to be melded with giant repositories of data of the kind the N.S.A. and Unit 8200 have collected, as was leaked by Snowden. The U.S. government and its associate defense contractors funded and oversaw these developments, including, as evidenced, drone programs in Ukraine [-]. It will be the aim of these entities to replicate and advance such technologies and academics on American campuses will only enable it if they make no uncomfortable shifts of mindset, engagement or funding. And make no mistake, these tools have been and will further be turned inward. We have seen a dramatic rise of drone sightings being tested around military sites and while the D.o.D. has confirmed them and stated they do not know the operators of these drones, but do not assume it to be a national security risk, this response remains unconvincing given the contrasting melt down the government had last year about a straying Chinese balloon [-] [-]. Not only has there been a rise of these drone sightings in N.J., but they have been explicitly used against students on campuses [yielding another example of how repressive technologies are deployed against whatever group is deemed as “other”]. The most prominent example is Yale Police Department’s use of Skydio drones and anti-terrorism tactics against the student body it is intended to protect [-].

While there is no single individual that is solely responsible for this current ethical and moral failing, it remains a serious issue to tackle both on an individual and institutional level. Self-defeatist retorts that the status quo has always been so and can thus never change are not only unconvincing but also goes counter to any analytic attitude and scientific method. Such self-defeatism avoids facing an ethical and moral issue that lends itself to fundamentally libertarian values by giving free reins, including a free pass on ethical accountability and regulation, to the scientific and academic community, when in fact most of the dollars that fund their work is that of tax-payers.

02/06/25

Executive summary

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) contributes to the Gaza Genocide and Zionist settler colonialism in Palestine in at least two distinct ways. First, MIT laboratories on campus conduct weapons and surveillance research directly sponsored by the Israeli military. Since at least 2015, MIT laboratories have received millions of dollars from the Israeli Ministry of Defense for projects to develop algorithms that help drone swarms to better pursue escaping targets; to improve underwater surveillance technology; and support military aircraft evade missiles. Two of these sponsorships were renewed since October 7th, 2023, while one came up for renewal in December 2024. Second, MIT maintains institutional collaborations through the ILP, LGO, CSAIL, and MIT Energy Initiative programs with companies that sell vast amounts of weapons to Israel. These include Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military contractor, as well as Maersk, Lockheed Martin, and Caterpillar. These collaborations grant genocide profiteers privileged access to MIT talent and expertise.

MIT’s ties to the genocide of Palestinians are immoral, illegal, and unpopular among the MIT community. The sponsorships break MIT’s own rules on foreign engagements, scientific ethics, nondiscrimination, health, safety, and the environment as well as federal and international law. By abetting genocide, MIT sends a message to Palestinians at MIT that it does not value their human life. MIT has the power to end its ties unilaterally, just as other schools have in Europe and North America. Since 2020 for instance, MIT has taken action against research ties and corporate partnership over political and human rights concerns in Xinjiang, Ukraine, and the Middle East. With the highest turnout in living memory, the student body ratified two campus-wide referendums in 2024 to end MIT’s ties to Israeli crimes against humanity: a 63.7 percent yes-vote in the MIT Undergraduate Association and a 70.5 percent vote in the Graduate Student Union – with ample support from faculty and staff. This was followed in December 2024 by a resolution in the Graduate Student Council to end all research sponsorships by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Key Findings - Research complicity

Since 2015, at least 9 PIs have taken money from the Israeli Ministry of Defense (I.M.o.D.). At least three of the projects are ongoing, two of them having been renewed during the recent phase of genocide. One additional PI, Dirk Englund, has also submitted a proposal to IMoD & IDF working on quantum computing, which is still awaiting approval. According to MIT’s research contract rules, the Israeli military has the right to “shape direction and objectives” as Direct Sponsors of these projects. This transaction is facilitated by the US DoD.

MIT holds a firm place in the US military-industrial complex, with traditional partners including RTX (Raytheon), Draper Laboratory, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing. About 60% of MIT revenue comes from the federal government, and 17.4% from the Department of Defense. MIT prioritizes institutional collaborations with firms that sell and transport weapons to Israel for profit.

Key Findings - industry complicity

Elbit Systems, Ltd. is Israel’s largest military contractor. Elbit supplies 85% of Israel’s killer drone arsenal and is a primary provider of mortar munitions, electronic warfare, signal intelligence technology, white phosphorus, cluster bombs, and flechette projectiles to the settler apartheid state. Elbit Hermes 450 drones were used in the 2024 World Central Kitchen massacre in Gaza and the murder of 164 Palestinian children in Gaza in 2014.

Elbit has been a member of the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) since 2017. Through the ILP, Elbit is able to monitor MIT research developments, identify MIT resources of interest, arrange face-to-face meetings with MIT faculty, advise on research sponsorship and technology licensing opportunities, and link up to MIT-connected startups. Elbit has also participated in MIT ConnecTech, a Hillel program connecting MIT to Israeli start-ups that show MIT’s deep commitment to Elbit’s work. MIT PI Daniela Rus, whose research is partially funded by IMOD, also collaborates with Elbit AI scientists.

Maersk is one of the largest shipping companies in the world. From October 2023 to June 2024, Maersk transported more than $300 million of weapons components for major arms manufacturers to the US. About 69% of Israel’s weapons are sent from the US. In addition to US military cargo planes and ships, Maersk itself ships those weapons as part of its Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) and the Maritime Security Program (MSP) with the US Department of Defense. Maersk actively transports millions of pounds of military goods, including hundreds of armored and tactical vehicles and their components to the Israeli military for use in Gaza.

Since 2009, Maersk has been one of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) supply chain exchange partners. In 2021 Maersk announced a “landmark agreement” with CTL to deepen research relationships, sponsoring multiple research papers at MIT focusing on automating the shipping industry. Maersk’s 2023 collaboration with the Ashdod port, “builds on an earlier innovation agreement” with MIT. Ashdod is uniquely positioned next to Gaza and is defined as “essential state infrastructure” by the Israeli government. The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed that 2500 tons of weapons were shipped from the US to the port of Ashdod in November 2024.

Lockheed Martin is a global weapons manufacturer that has sold several billion dollars of weapons to the apartheid state of Israel. In particular, Lockheed has supplied the Israeli government with AGM-1149R9X Hellfire missiles, F-16 and F-35 attack aircraft, and heavy artillery which they have used to destroy Palestinian society in Gaza over the past year. For instance, Lockheed’s Hellfire missiles were used to conduct the Al-Shifa hospital massacre.

Since 2019, MIT International Science and Technology Initiative Israel (MISTI-Israel) has administered a Lockheed Martin Seed Fund to connect students and researchers at MIT to Lockheed Martin’s projects in Israel. MISTI-Israel discontinued the seed fund in 2023 after months of protest, including letter deliveries, sit-ins, and a public information campaign. Lockheed Martin’s recruiting efforts were further disrupted at the 2024 MIT Fall Career Fair. That fight continues: Lockheed Martin still sponsors seed funds at MIT under MISTI-Germany and MISTI-Poland. Lockheed Martin has been a member of the MIT Energy Initiative since 2009. In 2017, it signed a ‘master agreement’ for long-term research collaborations with MIT, led by the Institute’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and in collaboration with MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

The complicity outlined above is far from complete. MIT also maintains ties to the United Arab Emirates through its DesignX Dubai startup accelerator and institutional research connections to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, among other ties. The UAE is known to be funding, laundering for, and supplying the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan in their genocide against primarily non-Arab Sudanese in Darfur, al-Gezira, and other regions. In response, MIT’s student activists have called on MIT to divest from these ties to the UAE in an open letter. We are certain there is more complicity to be found within MIT’s classrooms, career fairs, and laboratories. Our research primer will continue to be a living document, updated to include new information as we discover it. We commit ourselves to exposing and dismantling the war machine wherever it manifests, including and especially at institutes of higher education. We will hold MIT accountable to history.