Research Charter

Mission

The Applied AI Systems & Reliability Lab, LLC exists to advance safe, reliable, and cost-conscious AI system design for small and regulated organizations. We conduct applied research, document our methods and findings, and maintain a strict structural separation between research and commercial production.

Scope

• In scope: Evaluation frameworks, reliability testing methodologies, governance and safety considerations, and deployment constraints for resource-limited and compliance-heavy environments. Mentorship of early-career researchers in applied systems research.
• Out of scope: Operating production systems, providing client services, or substituting for commercial engineering. The Lab creates knowledge; commercial entities create products.

Principles

1. Research-first — All Lab activity is structured as research with documented outputs. We do not perform unpaid R&D for commercial entities.
2. Firewall — Fellows and staff do not access client environments, commercial production systems, or proprietary commercial datasets in violation of the Firewall Policy.
3. Publish-first, license optionally — We aim to publish findings and methods. The Lab may license IP to third parties under formal agreements; fellows are not involved in commercial licensing or integration.
4. Integrity — We do not market the Lab or Fellowship as immigration or visa protection. OPT alignment is a byproduct of structured research; fellows must confirm eligibility with their DSO.

Outputs

The Lab produces:

• Documented research (reports, notes, methodology documents)
• Code and artifacts in Lab-controlled repositories
• Structured fellowship experiences with clear expectations and deliverables

Outputs are owned by the Lab LLC and governed by the Publication Policy and IP Assignment Agreement.

Governance

This Charter is Version 1.0. Amendments require formal governance review. The founding document is the source of strategic and structural decisions; this Charter operationalizes the research mission.