ANNUAL REPORT 2020 SwRI COMBATS COVID-19 When 2020 began, no one could anticipate what the year would bring. TABLE OF Soon after news broke of the Through the San Antonio To take cleaning crews out of Meanwhile, our emissions CONTENTS outbreak of a novel coronavirus, Partnership for Precision harm’s way, we are participating specialists rapidly repurposed We also stayed vigilant toward Southwest Research Institute Therapeutics, we joined forces in an Advanced Robotics for techniques and technology critical client work in progress began working with the scientific with Texas Biomedical Research Manufacturing Institute project developed to support clean air at SwRI when the pandemic hit. and medical communities in San Institute, UT Health San Antonio to develop the Mobile Autonomous initiatives and applied them to When stay-at-home orders Antonio and across the U.S. to and The University of Texas at Industrial Disinfector (MAID), a address mask shortages during hampered clients’ ability to President’s Message 2 gain scientific insights into the San Antonio on four collaborative robot system to perform surface the pandemic. For the benefit of monitor their projects, we disease. Once a 3D image of the programs to advance global disinfection for industrial medical personnel working on IR&D 2020 3 launched new techniques to virus protein was made available, COVID-19 intervention for early- workspaces. The collaborative the front lines, we reconfigured allow them to stay in contact SwRI’s drug development team stage antidotes and a potential multi-axis robot will be outfitted our Automotive Particle Filtration Milestones 2020 4 with our technical staff to used our Rhodium™ software to vaccine. Our artificial intelligence with a disinfection system and a Lab to evaluate emergent face discuss progress, problems virtually screen millions of drug experts also worked with these sensor suite to identify areas that mask supplies. This work almost Automotive & and opportunities. compounds to find potential collaborators to frame infection need cleaning, execute the immediately discovered that Transportation 6 treatments. In just 21 days, our dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 as a disinfecting process and keep eight out of 11 KN95 respirator chemists had screened 5 million deep recurrent neural network, records of completed tasks. samples were counterfeit and Defense & Security 12 possible compounds, selected one of four models used by failed to meet the efficacy Microbiologists are investigating Earth & Space 16 60 for toxicity testing, and the city of San Antonio during standards claimed on their how to better prepare for future ultimately recommended that 44 the pandemic. packaging. Chemists also used personal protective equipment, Energy & Environment 18 undergo antiviral assay. Then we our Floodlight™ and Searchlight™ To address the shortage of disinfectants and whole room began using U.S. Department of software to assess chemical medical supplies, the SwRI- disinfection needs. Manufacturing & Reliability 20 Defense supercomputers to exposure from mask materials. operated South Central regional turbocharge this already powerful Chemistry & Materials 22 office of the Texas Manufacturing tool in the hunt for therapeutics. Assistance Center worked with Biomedical & Health 23 SwRI is working with Iowa State regional nonprofits, government ON THE COVER SwRI’s microbiological, biosafety University to develop a nasally entities and businesses to launch level 2 lab quickly ramped up to Financial Highlights 24 administered coronavirus vaccine the Medical Manufacturing support numerous programs formulation for preclinical Alliance of South Central Texas, addressing the COVID-19 Board of Directors pandemic, while maintaining testing. SwRI is leveraging over aligning regional manufacturing support for advanced vaccine and Officers 25 70 years of microencapsulation supply chains with medical strategies, antimicrobial formulation expertise and our product demands. formulation screening, and Advisory Trustees 26 disinfectant and antimicrobial Current Good Manufacturing technology assessments. Practice-compliant capabilities Community Contributions 29 to help develop a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine using Iowa State’s proprietary process and polymer. This Rhodium image shows possible therapeutics docked with the novel coronavirus protein, illustrating how the therapy could thwart disease processes. D024045_9845 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE I am pleased to present the SwRI accomplishments that underscore the generosity. Our staff responded to calls Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20), value of our unique multidisciplinary for blood donations, school supplies, which will go down as one of the most approach to solving complex problems mask testing and many other tasks during unique years in the Institute’s 73-year and bringing promising ideas to fruition. the most difficult of times. Our record- history. During the second half of FY20, Our engineers and scientists are setting contributions to the United Way as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, our revolutionizing electric energy production demonstrated the extraordinary staff and leadership proved to be by demonstrating new, more efficient benevolence of our organization. particularly agile and adaptive as we supercritical carbon dioxide power cycles. While uncertain national and inter- continued to serve our clients, keep our In addition, a new five-year, $25 million national conditions and financial recovery employees as safe as possible and contract with the Environmental Protection models cloud the outlook for the coming remain financially healthy. Agency funds conventional vehicle fiscal year, we face tomorrow with renewed FY20 began with a strong backlog of emissions and fuel efficiency evaluations, confidence born of our successful response funding and contracts, and somewhat while we also advance electrified power- to the challenges of FY20. Our backlog is amazingly, it ended in much the same way. train technology. We continue programs at a record level, and our clients look forward to a return to full employment As the financial section of this report extending the service life of aging aircraft, and capacity. shows, our annual revenue and net income as our advanced signals intelligence were modestly higher than the previous equipment safeguards those who defend On a final note, near the close of the year, despite the tumultuous pandemic our country. Our intelligent traffic technol- fiscal year NASA approved final assembly environment that began in February and ogy is improving mobility and safety on of the spacecraft for the SwRI-led Lucy continued through the second half of the the highways and byways of our land. And mission, a 12-year voyage through the fiscal year. Our workforce admirably we are providing support for the develop- Solar System to explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, going, again, where none have adjusted to new working conditions ment of new therapeutics and vaccines to gone before. and adapted operations for safety while protect humankind from COVID-19. finding new ways to support and In addition, while solving some of the communicate with our clients. most difficult technical problems, the SwRI This issue of our Annual Report team responded to the severe human highlights our response to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis generated by Adam L. Hamilton, P.E. crisis as well as the more traditional the pandemic with an outpouring of President & CEO 02 | 2020 ANNUAL REPORT IR&D 2020 As a nonprofit research and development organization, SwRI uses part of our net income to invest in tomorrow’s innovations, to broaden the Institute’s technology base and to encourage our staff’s professional growth. By funding internal research, we increase our technical capabilities, expand our reputation as a leader in science and technology and invest in technology our clients may need in the future. The program also allows engineers and scientists to continually grow in their technical fields by providing freedom to explore innovative and unproven concepts without contractual restrictions and expectations. IR&D is frequently cited as a key enabling factor leading to new projects, new clients and completely new research arenas within the Institute. D024186_4158 Using fluorescent dyes to distinguish the elements of an oil-water-gas fluid, In 2020, SwRI initiated 114 new projects, investing more engineers used video image analysis to determine the mixture density of the than $10 million in internal research, including quick-look and comingled fluid, to better understand the concentrations of multiphase flows. focused research programs. IR&D fulfills the Institute’s objective of conducting innovative activities for the benefit of industry, the government and humankind. To expand our expertise in cyber resilience, cybersecurity specialists worked with automotive engineers to investigate whether electric vehicles could be vulnerable to cyberattacks during the charging process. D024203_9879 | 03 MILESTONES 2020 Two Southwest Research Institute-developed technologies won 2020 HONORS R&D 100 Awards. The first addresses how military planes use electronic Dr. Robin Canup: Co-chair, Planetary Science 803 284 countermeasure defense (ECM) systems to thwart enemy radar and deny and Astrobiology Decadal Study for the targeting. SwRI developed the SPARTA system to evaluate ECM technologies, National Academies of Sciences, ensuring that they send the correct countersignal for a given radar cue. Engineering and Medicine