The Science Alliance, a Tennessee Center of Excellence established in 1984, has a mission to expand cooperative ventures in research with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and in that process enhance science and engineering research programs at the University of Tennessee.

Center research emphasizes strategic areas of importance to both organizations. Materials science, neutron science, computational science, and bioinformatics are currently among the most prominent UT-ORNL collaborative areas receiving support. UT-Battelle management of ORNL helps the center meet these goals.