University and Natick Labs leaders plan to announce the partnership at an event also featuring Lt. Gov Timothy Murray and U.S. Rep Niki Tsongas, D-3rd.

Ram Nagarajan, who will run the program for UMass Lowell, said Natick Labs and the university have worked together for a long time, "but there has not been a big presence of Natick Labs employees on campus," Nagarajan said.

Under the new partnership, Nagarajan said he expects around 10 workers from Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center to spend about two days each week on campus working with faculty and postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students.

"The students get exposure to real problems," Nagarajan said. "Army challenges are quite unusual for them to work on. It gives them hands-on, real-world problem-solving (skills)."

The partnership will initially include five projects dealing with topics such as solar power and food packaging. A couple students will work on each project and Nagarajan said he expects more projects to be added.

Natick scientists and engineers will also have a dedicated space on the Lowell campus to work, he said.

Lynne Samuelson, chief scientist at Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, said she is grateful to UMass Lowell for providing a home for them to collaborate with the university's faculty and students.

"This partnership is a unique and powerful opportunity that will allow us to combine the best of both our organizations (people, facilities and expertise) to find creative and effective solutions to improve the safety, agility and sustainability of our Soldiers," Samuelson said in a statement.

Tsongas, who has worked with the Natick base to ensure it has funding for research on topics such as body armor, praised the new partnership.

"For years, Massachusetts has been investing in and marshaling some of the best technological minds and resources in the world, leveraging the highly skilled workforce, military tradition and world-renowned companies and educational institutions that are unique to this region," Tsongas said in a statement. "Bringing together the pioneering defense innovations from Natick Soldier Systems Center with the cutting-edge research and development capabilities at UML, will help ensure America’s servicemen and women have equipment that is not only strong and safe, but maximizes their efficiency and mobility in the field."

Samuelson said in her statement, "I am thrilled to be able to help lead this exciting initiative and look forward to seeing what new Soldier innovations this collaboration can help us solve."