Astronomer J. Allen Hynek established the Center for UFO Studies in Evanston, Illinois during the post–Project Blue Book vacuum. Hynek headed the group until his death in 1986, after which astrophysicist Mark Rodeghier assumed scientific direction and moved operations to Chicago. The board has included historian Jerome Clark, physicist Michael Swords, and folklorist Thomas Bullard.12
Research methodology
CUFOS screens raw sighting reports, assigns scientific consultants, and merges vetted cases into the proprietary UFOCAT catalogue. Statistical routines quantify temporal, geographic, and phenomenological variables, enabling comparative work with historical air-safety and atmospheric datasets. Field investigators follow a standardized protocol adapted from Project Blue Book but expanded for photographic, radar, and physiological evidence.1
Publications and data assets
Between 1976 and 2012 the Center issued the International UFO Reporter, a bimonthly research digest. Academic analyses appear in the Journal of UFO Studies, while technical monographs cover radar anomalies, electromagnetic interference, and close-encounter trace materials. Public databases host digitized NICAP files, Project Blue Book declassifications, and a curated timeline of sightings from 812 CE to the present.1
Archives and partnerships
The Hynek Library in Chicago preserves books, case files, correspondence, and instrument logs, with overflow collections deposited at Northwestern University's McCormick Library. CUFOS collaborates with the Society for Scientific Exploration and maintains reciprocal data-sharing agreements with the National UFO Reporting Center and the Mutual UFO Network.234
Present focus
Current projects model spatial clustering of military UAP reports, reassess historical radar-visual incidents using modern signal-processing, and digitize analogue photographic plates for machine-vision analysis. Volunteer programmers are migrating legacy databases to an open-source PostgreSQL schema with an API for external researchers.1