Lawmakers Envision South Dakota Research Triangle

South Dakota’s university campuses have the talent to do world-class research if legislators will agree with Gov. Mike Rounds’ proposal to pay for competitive projects, a Mitchell legislator says.

By:
Terry Woster
Sioux Falls Argus Leader

http://www.nasvf.org/web/allpress.nsf/pages/8185

Republican Sen. Ed Olson said he thinks the governor’s research proposal, coupled with his anticipated request for $10 million for the Homestake neutrino laboratory initiative, will be a critical policy discussion in the 2004 Legislature, which opens Tuesday.

"You can’t tell me we don’t have the brainpower in our university system so that, if we start buying them more research time, we won’t get ideas that are practical, have utility and are commercially adaptable," Olson said. "Some research the feds fund, we laugh at. It’s the butt of jokes. Where’s the utility? But if we set our focus on applications for humankind, to better do business, to better offer health care, to better provide education, to better do anything, we can have success."

South Dakota and research haven’t always been mentioned in the same sentence. Forces now at work in the state could change that, in-cluding the closing of the storied Homestake Gold Mine and the interest by legislators and state officials in programs to promote math, science and technology.

The 35-day legislative session could be the proving ground.

When Rounds explained his 2010 Initiative last fall, he noted that the National Science Foundation ranked South Dakota behind every other state, Puerto Rico and Guam when it decided funding for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. He set a goal of moving to at least 30th in NSF funding. And, like Gov. Bill Janklow before him, he committed to securing an underground research laboratory for the empty Homestake mine.

He’s asking legislators for $3.7 million to spur research at the university level.

The money would pay for faculty research time, graduate assistants and equipment. He’ll also ask legislators for $10 million in state money to couple with a federal grant of the same amount to show South Dakota’s commitment to the underground lab. He is preparing legislation to protect the current Homestake mine owner, Barrick Gold Corp. of Toronto, from liability once the property transfers to state control.

Legislators are likely to support the Homestake request if they think the national science community also approves, said state Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown.

"I haven’t heard any reluctance on the part of legislators to vote for the Homestake deal," he said. "There’s a lot of skepticism about whether the NSF will ever come up with the cash to do the deal, and some concern that we not buy the indemnification deal unless we know that the NSF is in. … If we don’t have to spend the $10 million unless the NSF is in, then I think this goes very smoothly."

Jim Hansen of Pierre, a member of the state Board of Regents, said the "high-powered physicists” the Homestake lab would bring to the state would focus attention on South Dakota’s potential for other research.

"I’m a little disappointed we’re waiting so long to get that job done," Hansen said.

"It would be a huge research opportunity."

So would research at the state universities, said Rep. Orv Smidt, R-Brookings, who has actively promoted math, science and technology. He sees the research proposals as a logical next step and thinks the state can gain national credibility for research. That could lead to a research triangle with points at South Dakota State University in Brookings, the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City.

"We have a ton of talent that we don’t market enough. There are faculty who can do anything," Smidt said.

Rounds envisions groups of professors from several campuses joining to compete for research money, rather than having faculty from one school competing against those from another school. That makes sense, and it’s going to make for lively competition for limited cash, Hansen said.

"Oh, it will be fierce, no doubt about that," he said. "I think we’re going to have to be very selective, because we won’t have a lot of money to start. And we have to realize some of these things won’t occur in one year’s time. We’re talking five to 10 years activity before we see real effects. That’s going to be one of hardest things for the public to swallow."

The program also will take cooperation between the universities and the business community, Hansen said.

Rounds wants research focused on concepts with commercial application that helps the state. Such ideas would attract venture capital, Olson said.

"There’s potential risk, but this is a new economy, and the rewards are great," Olson said. "With a venture capital scheme that’s well thought out, all you have to do is hit one out of 10 and you’ll take whatever seed money is in there and grow it exponentially. You have to start somewhere."