Federal sponsors and national laboratories

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division (NSWC IH)

CECD's founding partner.

The first five-year cooperative agreement was signed at Indian Head on December 14, 1998.

A second agreement followed in 2004, alongside the formal Southern Maryland Initiative for Energetic Capability Development with the College of Southern Maryland.

A third, $10 million, five-year cooperative agreement was signed October 5, 2009 in response to NSWC solicitation BAA-08-001.

Through 2008, the first two agreements supported 130 technical projects involving 52 NSWC scientists and engineers alongside 31 UMD faculty and researchers, with $8.9 million in CECD research and an additional $800,000+ in free courses for NAVSEA Indian Head at UMD and CSM.

Joint work spans the MEMS and Microsystems Laboratory under Prof. Don DeVoe, the Dynamic Effects Laboratory under Prof. William Fourney (blast chamber, gas guns, Hopkinson bars, 800,000 fps cameras), and the 2009 collaboration with the UMD School of Medicine on blast-induced traumatic brain injury that brought in Prof. Gary Fiskum and Dr. Rao Gullapalli.

Office of Naval Research (ONR)

On July 15, 2005, ONR announced a $5 million DoD initiative awarded to the Clark School that funded CECD, the Center for Reliability Engineering under Prof. Mohammad Modarres, and helped establish the Energetics Technology Center in La Plata. Wyle Laboratories and the College of Southern Maryland were named partners on the award. Two ONR Young Investigator Awards have gone to CECD-affiliated UMD faculty, per the Center's own records.

Army Research Laboratory (ARL)

Current CECD Director Prof. Peter W. Chung was previously a team leader at ARL's Computational and Information Sciences Directorate at Aberdeen Proving Ground. He received the RDECOM Outstanding Young Scientist and Engineer Award (2004) and the Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service Award before joining UMD. He now leads Machine Learning for Energetic Materials Research within the ArtIAMAS UMD–ARL cooperative agreement. ARL researchers have been recurring participants at CECD convenings, including Dr. Betsy Rice on computational research in energetics, Dr. Kevin McNesby on fast optical measurement of explosive performance, Stephen Howard on IBHVG igniter material screening, and Dr. Christopher Morris on chip-scale integrated energetic materials at the 2011 NCRES symposium.

Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)

Following 2001, CECD took on a body of work for ONI on the safety of harbors from the transportation of fuels. Listed in the Center's own materials as an Area of Technical Excellence: efficient models to predict the risks of open detonations in harbors resulting from ignition of released chemical cargoes.

The portfolio is described as a pivotal early expansion of the Center's reach beyond its founding NSWC IH scope.

State of Maryland (Maryland)

The State of Maryland donated 50 acres in Charles County to support what became the Energetics Technology Center site in La Plata.

Consistent legislative support has come from State Senator Thomas "Mac" Middleton and Delegate John L. Bohanan, Jr.

On April 4, 2009, Governor Martin O'Malley declared the day "Dr. Davinder Anand Day" in recognition of the founding director's leadership in engineering research. Maryland senators Mikulski, Cardin, and Van Hollen have sent representatives or appeared at Center anniversaries.