The Grand Forks Herald, ND
Posted on Tue, Jul. 22, 2003

NORTH DAKOTA: Schools reap research success
Dorgan, UND leaders laud funding dividends -- say more is coming
By David Dodds
Herald Staff Writer

North Dakota universities, such as UND, are staking a bigger claim of federal funding available for research, according
to U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan-D-N.D., thanks in large part to an initiative he began championing two years ago.

The so-called "Red River Valley Research Corridor" idea uses the state's two largest universities - UND and North
Dakota State University in Fargo - as anchors to lure federal funding, as well as public and private sector partners to
North Dakota, bolstering economic development. Dorgan says he was tired of seeing the bulk of federal funding go to
Texas, California, Massachusetts and New York.

Efforts have paid off, he said, as evidenced by developments at both schools in recent days. NDSU was chosen as a new
site for California-based Alien Technology, a major player in the nanotechnology field. More research funding and
hundreds of new jobs are expected to follow as a result.

Dorgan was in Grand Forks on Monday to tout successes at UND that include the renewal of the school's helicopter
training program, which trains cadets from the U.S. Military Academy (N.Y.) to fly. He said $2 million is moving
through Congress to fund the program next year.

This summer, UND is training 27 West Point cadets who are considering a military career in the aviation branch.

"What we are hoping is to have a lengthy relationship with West Point," Dorgan said.

Dorgan paid a similar visit to NDSU on Monday.

At UND, flanked by nine West Point cadets, the senator lauded officials from the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace
Sciences not only for its helicopter training program, but also for its recent partnership with NASA to launch "Ag Cam"
on a future space shuttle mission. The ultrasensitive camera is designed to supply in-depth information to farmers and
other users interested in crop and soil information.

"We don't just teach aviation," said Bruce Smith, dean of the Odegard School. "We have a lot of other things going on
here in regards to research."

Dorgan also commended UND's Energy and Environmental Research Center, saying that the partnerships the center has made
with the private and public sector in the areas of fossil energy development, clean coal research, water management and
industrial emissions.

EERC Director Gerald Groenewold said that his center currently has nearly 250 contracts in place and 82 percent of
those are with the private sector.

"We don't think that anything that is worth doing should be done without a corporate partner," Groenewold said.

Federal windfalls

Groenewold said that with continued federal support and private partnerships, the center hopes to continue its
explorations into fuel-cell research and develop a new kind of armor that could benefit the military. The center also
has plans to create environment monitors for homeland defense.

UND's School of Medicine and Health Sciences is using the federal windfall it's received in recent years to make
strides in neurological research of disease such as Parkinson's, said medical school dean Dr. H. David Wilson.

Wilson said the medical school is in position to compete for a prestigious designation as one of the nation's elite
center's of excellence in Parkinson's research.

"There's not many of them around the country," he said.

Recent federal funding has enabled to the medical school to build eight new ultramodern medical laboratories on campus,
attract star faculty and researchers from across the nation and purchase about $6 million in high-tech equipment,
Wilson said.

1 much of it going to the development of NDSU Tech Park and the military-beneficial research it cradles.

"I have not asked for any more money than the federal government would have spent anyway," Dorgan said. "I was just
tired of seeing our young men and women get an education here and then go elsewhere to do their research."

Reach Dodds at 780-1110, (800) 477-6572, ext. 110, or at [log in to unmask]

SOURCE: The Grand Forks Herald, ND
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/6354987.htm

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