Glossary
This is a partial list of research terms. If you do not see your term here, contact us.
These sites also offer glossaries and definitions of terms:
- Advanced Water Treatment terms
- Acronyms and Glossary (from Reclamation Library) provides an alphabetical list of common terms and acronyms for Reclamation
- Reclamation's technical and subject acronym definitions by acronym, letter, or description
- Govspeak is a guide to acronyms used in the government.
- Dictionary of Units of Measurements
- USGS Glossary of Hydrologic Terms
- AgroVOC. The AGROVOC thesaurus covers topics related to food, nutrition, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, environment and other related domains.
- If these don't provide the answer, check out the acronym finder, a database for all acronyms.
Research and Development Office Abbreviations and Terms
AWT Advanced Water Treatment
CESU Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units
CRADA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement
DWPR Desalination and Water Purification Research Program
FUSA Facility Use/Service Agreement
Technology Transfer includes a range of activities designed to disseminate scientific and technical information and knowledge from within Reclamation to the public and industry.
Federal Laboratory. In accordance with 15 USC3710a(d)(2), a "Federal laboratory" is defined as a facility or a group of facilities owned, leased or otherwise used by a Federal agency, a substantial purpose of which is the performance of research, development, or engineering by employees of the Federal Government. See page 16 for a description of Reclamation's "living laboratories" and research laboratory facilities
IA Interagency Agreement
IP Intellectual Property
Invention. Synonymous with discovery or technology. Any art, process, machine, manufacture, design, or composition of matter, or any new and useful or unique improvement thereof, or any variety of plants, whether or not patentable under the patent laws of the United States or any foreign country.
Intellectual Property refers to creations of the mind: inventions; literary, musical, and artistic works; and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. Such creations may receive trademark, copyright, or patent protection.
License. An agreement between the patent owner and another party interested in using or selling the patented technology. Licenses may be exclusive, co-exclusive, exclusive by field of use or territory, or nonexclusive. Through a license, the Federal government can grant a non-Federal entity the right to make, use, and sell the patented technology. In return for this right, the licensees are usually required to provide a reasonable fee to the government. Licensees must demonstrate they have the financial and other resource capabilities to achieve the commercialization objectives of the license.
MTA Materials Transfer Agreement
Patent. A property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to the patent owner to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States for a limited time (usually 20 years, but can be less) in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.
R&D Research and Development
S&T Science and Technology Program
T2 Technology Transfer
This information was last updated on January 30, 2013
Contact the Research and Development Office with questions or comments about this page