The center was renamed as the Albany Research Center in 1977, and in 1985 it was listed by the American Society for Metals as a historical landmark. During the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, the center worked with the Oregon Department of Transportation on preventing corrosion on bridges exposed to salt water. In 1996, the United States Congress eliminated the Bureau of Mines, with the Albany facility then transferred to the U.S. Department of Energy. At first it reported directly to the department's Office of Fossil Energy, but in 2005 it was realigned under the National Energy Technology Laboratory with the name changing to NETL-Albany. At that time the research center had a staff of 85 people and an annual budget of $10 million. Though the research center began additional upgrades in 2009 to add on two new modular office complexes to the facility and bringing to total staff up to 120 people. During that same year the center received an R&D 100 Award from "R&D Magazine".