Cummings Research Park
Huntsville, Alabama

Cummings Research Park is the employment core of Huntsville's tech economy. More than half the major defense and aerospace employers in the metro have facilities here, and the park is the reason Huntsville punches dramatically above its weight as a tech hub. For people relocating to Huntsville — especially those coming for work — understanding CRP is essentially understanding the city's job market.

What is Cummings Research Park?

Cummings Research Park (CRP) is a research and technology campus spanning 3,843 acres across two sections of northwest Huntsville, adjacent to the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and a few miles from Redstone Arsenal. It is the second largest research park in the United States by area — behind only Research Triangle Park in North Carolina — and the fourth largest in the world.

The park was founded in 1962, growing directly from the US space program and Redstone Arsenal's expansion in the early 1960s. Rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun was instrumental in lobbying for its creation, seeing the need for a commercial ecosystem to support NASA and Army research. Brown Engineering (later Teledyne Brown Engineering) was the first tenant, and the park expanded rapidly through the Space Race era. When Milton Cummings, the company's president, died in 1973, the park was renamed in his honor.

Today CRP is managed by the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce and houses a diverse mix of Fortune 500 companies, defense contractors, biotech startups, federal agencies, and higher education institutions — all on a single connected campus with shared amenities, retail, and even residential development.

By the Numbers

CRP East vs CRP West

CRP East is the original section, established in 1962. It's the more established, denser part of the park — home to UAH, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, and Calhoun Community College (the only community college in the nation with a campus inside a major research park). If you're interviewing at a company in CRP East, expect a campus feel with older buildings alongside modern facilities.

CRP West was developed from 1982 onward on an 800+ acre parcel purchased by the City of Huntsville. This is where ADTRAN, Leidos/Dynetics, HudsonAlpha's 152-acre biotech campus, Blue Origin's engine facility, and Bridge Street Town Centre are located. CRP West has a more modern, mixed-use feel — the Seleno apartments (opened 2019) and the Bridge Street retail and entertainment district make it possible to live, work, shop, and eat all within the park's boundaries.

Anchor Tenants

Full company list — who is in the park

Cummings Research Park's own tenant directory lists 247 organizations. That is the number worth knowing, because the figure quoted everywhere else — "300+ companies" — is the park's marketing number and the directory does not currently support it. Both are below the headline employment figure of 26,000, which has been repeated unchanged for several years.

The park is not all defense primes. The directory includes two public schools, a community college campus, a supercomputer authority, an IRS office, a National Weather Service forecast office, four hotels, an amphitheater, a KinderCare and a preschool. Roughly a third of the tenants are small Huntsville-born engineering firms of twenty to two hundred people — the kind of employer that never appears in a relocation article but does most of the actual hiring.

The largest employers in the park

Headcounts are company- or press-reported metro-wide totals, not CRP-site-only figures — Blue Origin's ~2,000, for example, includes its Jetplex facility outside the park. A dash means no figure we are willing to source; we would rather leave it blank than estimate. Companies without a published Huntsville number are ordered by park prominence, not size.

All 247 listed tenants

Complete as of the park's July 2026 directory update, alphabetically:

• 1st Edge
• 4M Research
• a.i. solutions
• Accenture Federal Services (iHub)
• Acclinate
• Actalent
• ADS Environmental Services
• ADTRAN
• AECOM
• Aeon
• Aerotek
• AI Business Solutions
• Alabama Dept. of Revenue — Taxpayer Services
• Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering (ASCTE)
• Alabama Supercomputer Authority
• Alabama Technology Network
• Alimetrix
• ALIR Technologies
• All Points Logistics
• Allen Control Systems
• AM Pierce & Associates
• Amentum
• American Society for Engineering Management
• AMIIC
• Analytix
• Anduril Industries
• Anthem House
• Arcadia
• ARES Corporation
• ASRC Federal
• ATA Engineering
• Auburn University Huntsville Research Center
• Aurex
• AV (AeroVironment)
• Aviagen
• Aviation & Missile Solutions
• Avion Solutions
• BAE Systems
• Baron Services
• BCE Solutions
• Bell Textron
• Benchmark Electronics
• Bevilacqua Research Corporation
• Biodynami Corporation
• BizTech
• BlackRock Strategy
• Blue Origin
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• Bradford KinderCare
• Brand Blackwell Company
• Brockwell Commercial Solutions
• Butler Aerospace & Defense
• CACI International
• Cahaba Federal Solutions
• Calhoun Community College (Huntsville)
• Capstone Research
• Center for Rural Enterprise & Environmental Justice
• Cepeda Systems & Software Analysis
• CFD Research Corporation
• Chugach Government Solutions
• Cognetix
• Collins Aerospace
• COLSA Corporation
• Columbia High School
• Compass
• CyberProtex
• DCS Corporation
• Decibel Research
• Delta Research
• DESE Research
• Digium
• Discovery Life Sciences
• Draper
• Drury Inn & Suites
• Edward Jones Investments
• Elbit Systems of America
• Element by Marriott
• Encore MidCity
• Endictus
• Enlogica Solutions
• Erudio
• Ethic Tech
• Eurofins Diatherix
• Everbloom Health
• Evergreen Fire & Security
• F1 Solutions
• Faulkner University (Huntsville)
• Fiscal Systems
• Five Stones Research Corporation
• Fortem Technologies
• Future Research Corporation
• G2 Sales
• Garver
• Gastops
• GeneCapture
• GeneInfoSec
• General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
• General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems
• General Dynamics Information Technology
• General Dynamics Mission Systems
• Gleason Research Associates
• HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
• Hughes Properties II
• Hyatt Place Research Park
• IBM
• iCubate
• Ignite
• Image Hawk
• IMI Huntsville
• Imunon
• InnoFocas
• Institute for Digital Enterprise Advancement (IDEA)
• Integrated Solutions for Systems (IS4S)
• Internal Revenue Service
• Intuitive Research and Technology
• iRepertoire
• IronMountain Solutions
• ITSC Secure Solutions
• iXpressGenes
• Jackson Center
• JHNA
• Johnson Controls
• Kadance
• Kailos Genetics
• KALM Therapeutics
• KBM Enterprises
• KFS
• KODA Technologies
• Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
• L3Harris Technologies
• Leidos
• LMI
• Lockheed Martin
• Logos Enterprises
• LSINC Corporation
• Macro Armor / Macro Industries
• Marathon Targets
• MBDA Missile Systems
• MDW Associates
• Meister
• Mercury Systems
• Metronome at MidCity
• Microarrays
• MidCity District
• Millennium Corporation
• Millennium Systems Services (MSSI)
• Mobius Consulting
• Mosby at Bridge Street
• MSB Analytics
• MTA
• MVW Nutritionals
• National Cyber Security Operations Center
• National Weather Service Forecast Office
• Network Services & Support
• nLogic
• Noblis
• Northington Consulting
• Northrop Grumman
• OAR Corporation
• Oasys
• Offset Strategic Services
• OMI
• On-Line Applications Research (OAR)
• Ortho Sport & Spine Physicians
• PeopleTec
• Polaris Sensor Technologies
• Premier Preschools (Research Park)
• Pro-VV
• PTEN Foundation
• Q-CTRL
• QTEC Aerospace
• Quadrus Corporation
• Quantum Research International
• Quantum Technologies
• Radiance Technologies
• Raytheon (an RTX business)
• Redstone Federal Credit Union
• ReLogic Research
• Rise Security Services
• RunSafe Security
• S3
• SAIC
• Satellite Orbital Systems
• Savantz
• Scientic
• Score Pharma
• Secmation
• Seleno at Bridge Street
• Selex Galileo
• Sentar
• Serina Therapeutics
• SetaTech
• Shape Fidelity
• Sigmatech
• Simply Test
• Skinny Research & Development
• SkyAng Bio
• Smith Family Clinic for Genomic Medicine
• SMX
• SonalySts
• SSS Optical Technologies
• Still Serving Veterans
• Strategic Alliance Business Group
• Sulfilatec
• SURVICE Engineering
• Sustain Space Orbital Genomics
• Synovix
• SynVivo
• Systems Dynamics International (SDI)
• Systems Planning & Analysis
• Systems Products and Solutions
• Systems Technology Research
• T&W Operations
• Technical Micronics Controls
• Technology Service Corporation
• TekFive
• TEKsystems
• Teledyne Brown Engineering
• Textron Systems
• The Aerospace Corporation
• The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship
• The Orion Amphitheater
• The Riley Center
• The Westin Huntsville
• Tiburon Associates
• TMS Therapy
• Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments (TARCOG)
• Total Quality Logistics
• Trideum Corporation
• Trivector Services
• TSI Federal
• TTGI
• TUBA Group
• Tyrosinemia Society
• UAH Early Learning Center
• University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH)
• V2X
• Valley Christian Counseling
• Van Heron Labs
• Vaxonyx
• Veil Genomics
• Viasat
• Victory Solutions
• Watts AI
• Wellory Living
• White Space Innovations
• Yorktown Systems Group

Source: Cummings Research Park tenant directory. Tenancy changes without announcement — confirm with the company before making a decision based on this list.

Who is not in Cummings Research Park

This trips up more relocating job seekers than anything else about the park. Several of Huntsville's best-known employers are not CRP tenants, and if you pick a neighborhood for its CRP commute you may be optimizing for the wrong drive.

Companies headquartered here

Most large CRP tenants are regional offices of companies headquartered elsewhere. A smaller group runs its global or corporate headquarters from the park, which matters if you want decisions made in the building you work in rather than in Virginia:

• ADTRAN — global headquarters in CRP West. One of the few large non-defense technology companies headquartered in Alabama at all.
• Radiance Technologies — employee-owned; broke ground on a purpose-built corporate headquarters in the park.
• Teledyne Brown Engineering — headquartered in Huntsville since 1962, now a Teledyne business unit.
• COLSA Corporation, Intuitive Research and Technology, PeopleTec, Sentar, CFD Research, Avion Solutions, Trideum — Huntsville-born and Huntsville-run.
• Redstone Federal Credit Union — one of the largest credit unions in the Southeast, headquartered in the park.
• Serina Therapeutics, iRepertoire, Kailos Genetics, GeneCapture — the HudsonAlpha-adjacent biotech cluster.

Note the pattern: almost every Huntsville-headquartered firm in the park is either defense engineering or genomics. If you want a headquarters job outside those two fields, ADTRAN and the credit union are most of the list.

Industries & Sectors

Aerospace & Defense

The dominant sector by employment. Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Leidos/Dynetics, Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Raytheon, and dozens of mid-size contractors all have CRP facilities. Most positions in this sector require a Secret or TS/SCI security clearance. The proximity to Redstone Arsenal — just a few miles east — is what originally anchored this sector and continues to drive demand. See the security clearance jobs guide for a full breakdown of how clearances work in this market.

Information Technology & Cybersecurity

The IT and cyber sector has expanded significantly over the past decade. SAIC, Leidos, and many mid-size contractors run large cleared IT operations in the park. The FBI's Technology Operations center at Redstone Arsenal (not in CRP but adjacent) has added thousands of federal IT positions to the ecosystem. ADTRAN represents the non-defense tech presence. UAH's computer science and cyber programs feed graduates directly into park employers.

Biotechnology & Life Sciences

The HudsonAlpha campus in CRP West has established Huntsville as a Southeast biotech hub. Over 50 associate companies operate on the 152-acre campus alongside the non-profit HudsonAlpha Institute. Glaukos Corporation broke ground on an $82 million pharmaceutical research and manufacturing facility in CRP adjacent to HudsonAlpha in 2025, expected to create 154 jobs by 2030. This sector is the fastest-growing in the park.

Telecommunications

ADTRAN's global headquarters anchors this sector. As one of the largest suppliers of telecom networking equipment in the US, ADTRAN employs a significant number of software engineers, hardware engineers, and networking specialists who want commercial tech work rather than defense programs.

The HudsonAlpha Biotech Campus

HudsonAlpha is worth covering separately because it represents something genuinely unusual — a 152-acre nonprofit genomics research institute that has seeded an entire biotech ecosystem within CRP West. Founded in 2008 by Huntsville entrepreneurs Lonnie McMillian (ADTRAN co-founder) and Jim Hudson Jr., HudsonAlpha has generated over $4.2 billion in economic impact for Alabama since opening.

The campus hosts the HudsonAlpha Institute's own researchers alongside more than 50 for-profit associate companies working in areas like infectious disease diagnostics, cancer research, agricultural biotech, and lab-on-a-chip technologies. Discovery Life Sciences, one of the world's largest clinical research organizations, opened its global headquarters here in a 93,000 sq ft building in 2023. The intentional design of the campus — placing grant-funded academic researchers physically adjacent to for-profit companies — is central to how it accelerates commercialization.

For life scientists, bioinformaticians, and biotech professionals, HudsonAlpha is a compelling reason to consider Huntsville that has nothing to do with defense or aerospace.

Working in the Park

There is no central CRP hiring process. Each company hires independently through their own career pages, LinkedIn, and job boards like ClearanceJobs.com and Indeed. The park doesn't post positions or facilitate hiring — it's a real estate and management entity, not an employer.

Security clearances are required for most senior positions in the defense and aerospace sector. A significant share of entry and mid-level positions require at minimum a Secret clearance, and TS/SCI is common for senior technical roles. Many companies will sponsor clearances for strong candidates — look for postings that say "ability to obtain" rather than "active clearance required." See the clearance guide for full details.

Career fairs and networking events happen regularly through the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, which manages CRP. The ReLaunch Job Fair and other hiring events draw employers from across the park. UAH also runs career fairs that attract CRP employers heavily.

Intern and co-op pipelines are strong. UAH's proximity creates structured internship relationships between the university and many park employers. Blue Origin, Leidos, SAIC, and others run formal summer intern programs. If you're relocating with a student, CRP employment opportunities for engineering students are genuinely excellent.

Living Near Cummings Research Park

The neighborhoods immediately surrounding CRP have some of the most practical commutes in the metro. Research Park Boulevard runs through the park's core and connects easily to I-565 and US-72.

Inside the park: The Seleno at Bridge Street (240 luxury apartments, opened 2019) and newer apartment development by Middleburg Communities (290 units under construction in CRP West) make it literally possible to live inside the park. Bridge Street Town Centre — a major retail, dining, and entertainment complex inside CRP West — means residents can meet most daily needs without leaving the campus.

Adjacent neighborhoods: The Research Park corridor running west along US-72 has numerous apartment complexes popular with park employees. Boardwalk at Research Park, Emerald Ridge, and several other communities within 5 minutes of the park are well-regarded options at competitive rents. Madison (10–15 minutes west) and the Jones Valley area offer family-friendly suburban options within easy commuting distance. Hampton Cove is often mentioned alongside them, but it sits on the far east side of the metro — a reasonable Redstone Arsenal commute via Gate 7, and a considerably longer one to CRP in the northwest.

For full rental pricing and neighborhood breakdowns, see the apartments guide.

The largest research parks in the US — and where CRP ranks

Cummings Research Park is the second largest research park in the United States and the fourth largest in the world. Only Research Triangle Park in North Carolina is bigger, and after those two there is a steep drop to everything else — the third largest US park on this list is barely a third of CRP's size.

Each park publishes its own figures and they are not all measured the same way — some count contractors, some count only leaseholders, and several publish no employment number at all. Acreage is the one column that is comparable across all five.

What second place actually means

The ranking is by land area, and on that measure it is not close: 3,843 acres to Research Triangle's 7,000, with NC State's Centennial Campus a distant third at 1,334. Stanford Research Park, which effectively invented the model and launched Silicon Valley, is 700 acres — under a fifth of CRP.

On employment, Research Triangle is further ahead than the acreage suggests: roughly 65,000 workers to CRP's 26,000. Part of that is age and part is density — CRP is built around separated campuses and surface parking rather than clustered development, so it uses its land less intensively than its northern counterpart.

Worth knowing: no outside body ranks research parks by size, so the figures in the table are each park's own. On acreage they are consistent enough to compare, and CRP's second place holds up against every US park that publishes numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Cummings Research Park?

Cummings Research Park is the second largest research park in the United States and the fourth largest in the world, covering 3,843 acres in Huntsville, Alabama. Only Research Triangle Park in North Carolina is larger. Its directory lists 247 tenant organizations — the widely quoted "300+ companies" is the park's own marketing figure — and reported employment is about 26,000. Major tenants include Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin, SAIC, ADTRAN, HudsonAlpha, Leidos/Dynetics, Teledyne Brown Engineering, and UAH.

What companies are in Cummings Research Park Huntsville AL?

Anchor tenants include UAH, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, ADTRAN, Leidos/Dynetics, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Blue Origin, Redstone Federal Credit Union, and Calhoun Community College. Additional major tenants include Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Raytheon, Anduril, BAE Systems, CACI, IBM and a cluster of genomics startups around HudsonAlpha on the HudsonAlpha campus.

How do I get a job at Cummings Research Park?

Search directly on individual company career pages — there is no central CRP hiring. ClearanceJobs.com is the best resource for cleared defense positions. LinkedIn is strong for most sectors. USAJobs.gov covers federal civilian roles. The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber hosts career fairs that draw CRP employers.

How big is Cummings Research Park?

Cummings Research Park covers 3,843 acres across two sections — CRP East, the original 1962 park, and CRP West, expanded in 1982. Total built-out space exceeds 9 million square feet. It is the second largest research park in the US by land area, behind Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

Do you need a security clearance to work in Cummings Research Park?

Not for all positions — ADTRAN, HudsonAlpha, UAH, and many biotech companies hire without clearance requirements. But the majority of defense and aerospace positions in the park require at minimum a Secret clearance, and many senior technical roles require TS/SCI.

How many companies are in Cummings Research Park?

The park's own tenant directory lists 247 organizations as of its July 2026 update. The figure quoted in most articles and on the park's own summary pages is "300+," which the directory does not currently support. Both numbers include non-companies — two schools, a college campus, an IRS office, a National Weather Service station, four hotels and an amphitheater are all listed tenants.

Is Boeing in Cummings Research Park?

No. Boeing's Huntsville operations are at 499 Boeing Blvd SW, near the airport in southwest Huntsville, several miles from the park. Torch Technologies (4090 Memorial Parkway SW), Davidson Technologies and Aerojet Rocketdyne are also outside CRP, as is Huntsville Hospital. This matters when you are choosing a neighborhood — a short CRP commute is not necessarily a short commute to those employers.

What companies are headquartered in Huntsville?

ADTRAN runs its global headquarters from CRP West, and Redstone Federal Credit Union is headquartered in the park. Teledyne Brown Engineering has been Huntsville-based since 1962. Radiance Technologies, COLSA, Intuitive Research and Technology, PeopleTec, Sentar, CFD Research, Avion Solutions and Trideum are all Huntsville-born and Huntsville-run, as are genomics firms including Serina Therapeutics, iRepertoire and Kailos Genetics. Nearly every Huntsville-headquartered company in the park is either defense engineering or genomics.

What are the largest research parks in the US?

Research Triangle Park in North Carolina is the largest at 7,000 acres, followed by Cummings Research Park in Huntsville at 3,843. NC State's Centennial Campus is a distant third at 1,334 acres, then Purdue Research Park at 725 and Stanford Research Park at 700. Research Triangle also leads on employment, with roughly 65,000 workers to CRP's 26,000. No outside body ranks research parks by size, so each figure is the park's own published number.