IITRI dessert plate, 1969

Armour Research Foundation (ARF) was one of the first private, not-for-profit contract research laboratories in the United States. Begun in Chicago in 1936 by Armour Institute of Technology (AIT), ARF was acquired by Illinois Institute of Technology in 1940 when IIT was created by the merger of AIT and Lewis Institute. Re-named Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, it was later reorganized as the IIT Research Institute (IITRI). Under all its iterations, the laboratory conducted research for commercial and government sources, expanding to an international operation. Per IIT President John L. Anderson's April e-newsletter to the campus community, "In 2002, Alion purchased the non-life-science assets of IIT Research Institute.... IITRI remains an IIT-controlled company and is led by David McCormick, who is also professor of biology at the university.... [In March 2010] the university received a cash payment...in exchange for our final holdings of bonds and warrants in Alion...." Source: IIT Archives (Chicago)