Export controls pose unique challenges in academic settings—especially in universities like UNL that are home to many experts and students from outside the United States. A university’s primary export is knowledge, but even certain kinds of knowledge are controlled. The Export Control Staff is responsible for determining whether university activities are subject to export and, if so, conducting training sessions on export control compliance and implementing a technology control plan.
Export controls apply to several main types of university activities:
- Research involving spacecraft, satellites, or military technologies
- Research involving nuclear energy
- Research involving select agents or other pathogens
- Development of encryption software
- Transfers of controlled information or equipment to foreign persons, including UNL employees
- Shipment of physical items, like scientific equipment or biological specimens, from the United States to a foreign country
- International travel to an embargoed country or a country with restrictions
- Review of foreign national hires and visiting scholars
You may need a license if your work falls into one of the categories described above. Depending on the issuing agency, it may take up to three months (or even longer, in some cases) to obtain a license, so be sure to contact the Export Control Staff before traveling, shipping, or beginning a project in any of the areas described here.
Export Control Reviews
Because all university activities, including research, must comply with export controls, the Export Control Staff works closely with the following offices at UNL to ensure export control compliance requirements are met in addition to other safety, security and procedural requirements:
- IACP/IACUC
- HRPP/IRB
- EHS/IBC/RSC
- ISSO
- OSP
- Procurement Services
- Information Services/Information Security
- NUtech Ventures
- NSRI
- International Engagement
- Travel Services
When the Export Control staff determines that a research project or protocol requires additional security measures in order to be in compliance with export controls, it will work with these offices in addition to the investigators conducting the research to implement a Technology Control Plan.
Is my research subject to export controls?
