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Fundamental Research

Ask before Acting

To preserve work as fundamental research, members of the Boise State community must check with the export control office prior to agreeing to:

    • initiate anything with a military, space, or intelligence aspect
    • initiate research or any project that is not intended to be published freely and openly with broad distribution (e.g., an NDA is in the works)
    • accept pre-publication approval of the information to be published (beyond a brief/temporary review for proprietary/patent reasons)
    • restrict foreign persons from participating in any aspect of the research/project
    • carry-out any aspect of the research/project at a location other than a university in the United States
    • initiate Applied Research (e.g., research which relates to a defense article such as an item on the U.S. Munitions List (USML))
    • share export controlled information (e.g., technical data that is not lawfully in the public domain)
    • share proprietary data that is scientific or technical in nature (e.g., nonpublic data from an industry partner, an NDA exists)
    • develop nonpublic software code for a scientific, technical, or engineering application/purpose
    • disclose design methodology for items on the USML
    • disclose engineering analysis for items on the USML
    • disclose manufacturing know-how for items on the USML
    • provide a Defense service
Key Definitions

Public domain includes information which is published and which is generally accessible or available to the public through fundamental research in science and engineering at accredited institutions of higher learning in the U.S. where the resulting information is ordinarily published and shared broadly in the scientific community. Fundamental research is defined to mean basic and applied research in science and engineering where the resulting information is ordinarily published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as distinguished from research the results of which are restricted for proprietary reasons or specific U.S. Government access and dissemination controls. University research will not be considered fundamental research if: (i) The University or its researchers accept other restrictions on publication of scientific and technical information resulting from the project or activity; or (ii) The research is funded by the U.S. Government and specific access and dissemination controls protecting information resulting from the research are applicable.

Defense service includes a) the furnishing of assistance (including training) to foreign persons, whether in the United States or abroad in the design, development, engineering, manufacture, production, assembly, testing, repair, maintenance, modification, operation, demilitarization, destruction, processing, or use of defense articles, and b) the furnishing to foreign persons of any controlled technical data, whether in the United States or abroad.