The Conservation Fund Freshwater Institute (TCFFI; Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA) has a history of leading edge research in the area of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) dating back to the 1980s, thanks to funding support from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS). Over the years, TCFFI has supported the growing RAS aquaculture industry through targeted research projects, open access scientific publications, consultation services, conference presentations, private, state, tribal, and federal outreach, and educational courses, among other things. Our current 5-year USDA-ARS research plan includes projects focused on RAS water quality optimization, preventing early maturation in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, Atlantic salmon and steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss strain evaluation for superior performance in RAS, converting RAS waste to sellable products, and assessing and developing precision agriculture technologies applied to RAS. Future research directions will continue to include significant waste-to-value and precision aquaculture R&D, along with focus on stakeholder-identified issues to support the developing RAS industry. Additionally, expansion into alternative (i.e., non-salmonid) fish species and brackish water RAS research will likely be on the horizon for TCFFI.