The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), located in Howard County, Maryland, near Laurel and Columbia, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 5,300 people. APL is primarily a defense contractor. It serves as a technical resource for the Department of Defense, NASA, and other government agencies. The Lab is a research and development organization rather than an academic division of Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins’ Whiting School of Engineering offers part-time graduate programs through its Engineering for Professionals program.