Company Profile
Applied Physics Laboratory
Company Overview
APL at a Glance:
Staff: 5,000 (68% engineers and scientists)
Size: 399 acres with more than 20 major buildings, plus a nearby satellite campus
Location: Between Baltimore and Washington, DC, near I-95
The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a not-for-profit center for engineering and research and development. Located north of Washington, DC, APL is a division of one of the world's premier research universities, The Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The Laboratory has been a major asset to the nation since it was organized to develop a critical World War II technology in 1942.
APL is dedicated to solving critical problems of national security and advancing the nation’s vision in research and space science through our work on more than 600 programs serving the Navy, Air Force, Army, NASA, and numerous other government agencies. As a University Affiliated Research Center, our scientists, engineers, and analysts serve as trusted advisors and technical experts to the government, ensuring the reliability of complex technologies that safeguard our nation’s security and advance the frontiers of space. We also maintain independent research and development programs that pioneer and explore emerging technologies and concepts to address future national security and scientific challenges.
Company History
Our History as a University Laboratory
To help secure victory in WW II, America mobilized its scientific brainpower to provide advanced technology solutions to wartime defense problems. Laboratories such as APL and its peers were developed through partnerships between the Government and America's best R &D universities. Organized through Johns Hopkins University, the Applied Physics Laboratory was assigned the task of finding a more effective way for ships to defend themselves against enemy air attacks. From March 1942, to the war's end, APL designed, built, and tested a proximity fuze that significantly increased the effectiveness of anti-aircraft shells. The product of that intense 3 ½-year development effort was later judged to be one of the three most valuable technology developments of the war (along with the atomic bomb and radar).
On the basis of that successful collaboration, the Government, Hopkins, and APL made a commitment to continue their strategic relationship, a partnership that has endured for more than six decades. Today APL's work continues to reflect the original mission it took on: serving as a technical and scientific resource to meet the nation's most critical challenges and solve complex problems.
Benefits
APL offers employees a competitive package of benefits and services to augment and enhance their work life. The benefits package includes vacation and personal leave (three to five weeks, depending on staff level and length of service), sick leave, medical, dental, and disability insurance, an excellent matching retirement plan, pre-paid tuition assistance, an employee assistance service, and recreational opportunities and services.
APL provides flexible working conditions consistent with its government contracts and business requirements. Work schedules help to accommodate the personal needs of our staff, providing increased flexibility wherever possible. The standard work schedule is 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, corresponding with APL's business hours. Adjusted work schedules may be negotiated at the supervisor's discretion.