In January 1998, the Research Foundation of SUNY, acting on behalf of SBU became a partner in Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA), a limited liability company formed with Battelle Memorial Institute for the management and operation of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) The Laboratory, one of five multi-purpose research national laboratories owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, is located approximately fifteen miles from SBU. It has a budget of about $400 M/year, over 3000 employees, and each year hosts about 4000 scientific users of Laboratory facilities. More users come from SBU than from any other institution. Six other universities (Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, M.I.T., Princeton and Yale) with extensive research connections with BNL have representation on the Board of BSA.