A University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) is a strategic Department of Defense research center located within a university.

There are four officially designated UARCs: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory, University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory, and University of Texas at Austin Applied Research Laboratories.

The following eight universities are engaged in UARC-type work however are not officially designated UARCs: University of California at Santa Cruz, NASA Ames Research Center Georgia Tech Research Institute University of Southern California, Institute for Creative Technologies Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies Utah State University, Space Dynamics Laboratory, University of Texas, Institute for Advanced Technology University of Maryland, Center for Advanced Study of Languages University of California at Santa Barbara, Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies

The first four laboratories have been conducting research and development for the United States Navy for the last sixty years. In the 1990s, the Navy committed a relationship to the four university laboratories by designating them as University Affiliated Research Centers.

In July of 2004, the Navy proposed the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa as another UARC. In response, the students of U.H. and the community protested with a 6-day sit in at the campus administration building.