Boston Magazine Northeastern inks $20.4 million research deal with U.S. Army Northeastern University has secured an agreement with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, providing up to $20.4 million in expedited funding for defense research over the next three years. The agreement will make use of Northeastern’s 70,000-square-foot Kostas Research Institute in Burlington, including its NanoOPS, a nanoscale printing system used for flexible electronics, medicine, and energy storage.