After several years of discussions and controversy, a new contract has been negotiated between the Navy and the University of Hawai'i for a university-affiliated research center.

The agreement, which still is subject to Board of Regents approval, sets up an Applied Research Laboratory that would provide UH scientists' expertise in areas including astronomy, oceanography, advanced electro-optics systems, lasers, remote sensing detection systems and communications.

The laboratory would be funded for three years, with an option for renewal for an additional two years. It's estimated that a maximum of $10 million per year in unclassified "task orders" by the Navy and other federal entities would be funded, according to the university.

UH system Vice President for Research Jim Gaines said the contract probably will be placed on the Sept. 27-28 Board of Regents agenda for final approval. The regents will meet in Hilo.

Critics are concerned about weapons research and a shift away from core values, while proponents argue that a university-affiliated research center would bring millions in research funding and prestige to the university.

Johns Hopkins University does about $300 million a year as a Navy university-affiliated research center, or UARC, Gaines said. He added his hope is that UH could reach the level of the University of Washington, which does $50 million to $70 million annually in Navy research.

"It is something that could be a major expansion (at UH) in the future," Gaines said, adding that the research would train students to be part of a high-tech workforce.

But Kyle Kajihiro, program director for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-affiliated social justice and peace organization, said the UH administration is "thumbing its nose at all the constituencies of the university that came out and opposed the UARC" previously.

That included a 2005 sit-in by protesters at UH President David McClain's office, and recommendations against going ahead with the UARC by the Manoa Faculty Senate and an undergraduate student association.

UH-Manoa Interim Chancellor Denise Konan also recommended against proceeding with the UARC, saying it was not supported by the campus.

In February 2006, McClain recommended that the Applied Research Laboratory be established at the UH system level, rather than at UH-Manoa, and that the laboratory not perform any classified task orders during the first three years of its establishment.

Should a task order become classified after being issued, UH would retain the option of terminating the work, the university said.

Joel Fischer, a professor at UH for 38 years who teaches research in the school of social work, said the latest contract "is almost the same as the contract that was analyzed and dissected by those of us in the coalition opposed to the UARC."

Fischer said the latest version allows the Navy to make its task orders secret.

"So getting rid of the classified research provision does not eliminate the possibility that the Navy can declare any piece of a task order as sensitive and therefore subject to all the restrictions that classified research has," Fischer said.

UH already does "many millions" in defense-related research annually, Gaines said.

But Fischer said there is a "huge difference" with a UARC. UH would be the fifth Navy UARC. There are also Army and other service-affiliated UARCs, Gaines said.

Currently, faculty members respond to a defense request for a proposal and compete for grants, Fischer said. Fischer said he does not believe that work involves weapons systems research.

"The UARC is creating an institutional relationship between the Navy and the university where the university aids and abets the Navy in developing weapons systems," Fischer said. "And that is dramatically different from the current situation."

The contract and other information about the Applied Research Laboratory are at www.hawaii.edu/arl.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.