Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Midwest Research Institute

 
Hoover's Profile: Midwest Research Institute
Home > Library > Business & Finance > Hoover's Profiles
Contact Information
Midwest Research Institute
425 Volker Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64110-2241
MO Tel. 816-753-7600
Fax 816-753-8420

Type: Private - Not-for-Profit
On the web: http://www.mriresearch.org

Midwest Research Institute (MRI) provides contract research services for government and private-sector clients in fields such as agricultural and food safety, analytical chemistry, biological sciences, energy, engineering, environment, health sciences, information technology, and national defense. The institute operates laboratories and agricultural research centers in Florida, Maryland, and Missouri. MRI also manages the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Work related to biological and chemical defense accounts for most of MRI's sales. The not-for-profit organization was founded in 1944.

Officers:
Chairman: Richard C. Green Jr.
President and CEO: Michael F. Helmstetter
VP and CFO: Fred Cornwell

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Wikipedia: Midwest Research Institute
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Question book-new.svg
 This article needs references that appear in reliable third-party publications. Primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please add more appropriate citations from reliable sources. (July 2008)
Midwest Research Institute in 2009

Midwest Research Institute (MRI) is an independent, not-for-profit, contract research organization based in Kansas City, Missouri.

It was founded in 1944 during World War II with an initial mission of find a way to convert the ammonium nitrate military ordnance plants in Galena, Kansas, Parsons, Kansas, DeSoto, Kansas and El Dorado, Arkansas to peaceful uses of creating fertilizer. Among the nine founders was Kenneth A. Spencer who would make a fortune from the Jayhawk Plant in Galena. Spencer would be chairman of the Institute from 1954 to 1957 and donated money for the Kenneth A. Spencer Laboratories Building and the Spencer Auditorium at the Institute.[1]

It was located initially in the former Westport, Missouri City Hall at 40th Terrace and Pennsylvania. That building was torn down in 1955.[2] It is currently in a complex on the banks of Brush Creek (Missouri) facing the Nelson Art Gallery adjacent to University of Missouri - Kansas City and the headquarters of Russell Stovers candy.

MRI performs research in the areas of National Defense, Health Sciences, Agriculture & Food Safety, Engineering, Environment, Information Technology, Energy, Biological Sciences, and Analytical chemistry. The purpose of MRI is to provide solutions through scientific research, technology development, and technical services for the benefit of government, industry, and the public.

Projects[3]

  • Coating process for M&M Candies permitting the coating of 3,300 pounds of chocolate centers every hour (1950s)
  • Soluble coffee for J.A. Folger a forerunner of auto drip coffeemaker (1950s)
  • National Renewable Energy Laboratory (managed since its start in 1977 as MRI is part of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy) (1970s)
  • Maintaining the National Cancer Institute Repository (since the 1980s)
  • Development of a thermoelectric cooling system for flight personnel and astronauts (1990s)
  • Ethanol conversion process for the entire corn plant (cob, stalk and leaves—not just the kernels) (in conjunction with NREL and DuPont) (2000s)
  • Advanced air sampler to detect trace levels of DNA from anthrax spores (2000s)

References

  1. ^ http://ead.diglib.ku.edu/xml/ksrl.kc.spencerkenneth.html
  2. ^ http://www.westporthistorical.org/tours.html
  3. ^ http://www.mriresearch.org/AboutMRI/Breakthroughs.asp

External links

Coordinates: 39°02′17″N 94°34′53″W / 39.038111°N 94.581251°W / 39.038111; -94.581251


Stub icon This article about an organization in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Hoover's Profile. ©2008 Hoover's, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Midwest Research Institute".  Read more