UM wants to build new NASA research center on campus

The University of Montana is hoping to cash in on the exploration of space technologies with a new campus research center funded by NASA.

By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian

To move forward with the venture – called the Northern Rockies Center for Space Privatization – UM is seeking formal approval from the Montana Board of Regents at their Billings meeting next week.

UM is expecting this week to receive a $1.78 million NASA contract to fund the center, and another $1.5 million from NASA early next year, said Wes Snyder, assistant vice president for research and development.

The bulk of the center’s research will be conducted in an established laboratory facility on Reserve Street, which the program will rent for a nominal fee, Snyder said.

"The idea of the program is really about the commercialization of NASA technologies, and to use some of the innovations in the private sector," Snyder said.

If UM moves forward with the project, it is highly likely that the center would become a line item in NASA’s budget, and would therefore be funded annually, Snyder said.

UM’s President George Dennison and Daniel Dwyer, UM’s vice president for research and development, were unavailable for comment about the proposal Tuesday, but the regent’s agenda item describes the proposal as such:

"NRCSP will coordinate activities exploring science and commercial applications of space flight technologies, joint research and development projects and related educational activities."

Partners in the center include the Inland Northwest Space Alliance, the Ames Research Center, the Girvan Institute and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

A number of collaborative research and development projects will be coordinated through the center. Some of the projects include a feasibility analysis of a wireless network in the Northern Rockies to advance medical and environmental monitoring technologies.

Another project would combine a multi-prong research effort to study the upper temperature limits of life by studying extremophiles in Yellowstone National Park.

A third project would focus on nano-science and nanotechnology, and manipulating matter on the nano-length scale.

In the agenda item, UM said it hopes that significant discoveries will be made through the research and that those discoveries will be commercially exploited by the university and spark spinoff entrepreneurial companies in Montana.

The center will have a strong educational component that will incorporate undergraduate and graduate student training, postdoctoral training, a visiting scholar program and a seminar series.

"Creation of the NRCSP will allow university faculty and students to engage in a long-term research program and for the University of Montana to participate in the establishment of a world class research center, which focuses on using space as a commercial laboratory," the agenda item states.

"This is a very big deal for Montana," Snyder said. "There is tremendous potential for this project and we are anxious to get it going."

While at the regents meeting, UM will also seek to formalize a licensing agreement with Bee Alert Technology for intellectual property developed by handful of UM researchers and employees.

The technology uses conditioned honey bees to detect land mines and explosives and to custom pollinate specific crops.

Both the bees and the technology developed to condition their behavior and track their whereabouts have proven to be very effective, said Colin Henderson, one of the UM researchers involved with the research.

Henderson believes the technology has the potential to become a multimillion-dollar business in the private sector that helps map and track mine removal efforts around the world.

"Technically, the system is up and running now, but we are still in a research transition mode," Henderson said. "We think within in a year we will have significant returns on it."

As part of the formal agreement with Bee Alert, UM will not interfere with any contractual obligations, but will provide a business opportunity for Bee Alert. UM will receive from 4 percent to 8 percent of adjusted gross revenues generated by Bee Alert.

"In a large part," Henderson said, "this formal agreement is about the University of Montana fulfilling its mandate to support the state’s economy, intellectual pursuits and research to benefit Montana."

Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at [email protected]

http://missoulian.com/articles/2003/09/17/news/local/news05.txt