Underwriters Laboratories

About Underwriters Laboratories

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. concentrates its largest recent grants in university research, with Northwestern University in Evanston receiving $2,623,627 in 2025 after a $2,316,716 grant in 2024 and a $967,500 grant in 2023. That pattern points to sustained support for research-based work rather than isolated awards. The foundation’s recent activity also shows sizable awards to Duke University, Case Western Reserve University, Georgia State University Research Foundation Inc, and the University of Maryland, alongside repeated support for institutions working on safety science, engineering, and applied research. Across its grantmaking, the foundation backs research institutions, fellowships, and selected education and community programs tied to safer systems and safer technologies. Its active programs include GEM Fellowship opportunities, research projects through CASMI, and the Sustainable Communities Grant Program in Evanston and Skokie. The mix of university research, fellowship support, and place-based sustainability grants shows a funder that uses multiple channels to advance safety science and related public-interest research. Recent grants also include continuing support for Harvard University, Purdue University, MIT, and the University of Houston, indicating broad institutional reach across the research landscape.

What Underwriters Laboratories Funds

A major part of Underwriters Laboratories Inc.’s grantmaking supports university-based safety and engineering research. It gave $800,605 in 2025 to Duke University, $760,000 in 2024 to Case Western Reserve University, and $310,148 in both 2024 and 2025 to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for research. The foundation also funds applied work in public safety and AI safety. Through the Center for Advancing Safety of Machine Intelligence, it supports selected research projects across about 10 universities focused on artificial intelligence safety and trustworthy AI. In another research line, it gave $345,000 in 2023 to the University of Houston Division of Research and $240,000 in 2025 to NASA Johnson Space Center for research. Education and workforce development appear through fellowship programs. Underwriters Laboratories Inc. participates as an employer partner in GEM Fellowships, and its active programs include placements for graduate students in science and engineering disciplines.

How Underwriters Laboratories Gives