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By Jody Snider HAMPTON -- For 84 years, NASA Langley has been developing valuable aerospace research that takes from three months to a year to become a commercial property for public use. Now, NASA is venturing into bold new territory by asking major universities and not-for-profit organizations to submit proposals on how they would spin off a new research institute that would create technology that could be developed and commercialized at a faster pace for the aerospace industry. The new institute would be fully operational by Jan. 2, 2003. Charles Harris, project director for the institute, said NASA plans to get the National Institute of Aerospace at Langley Research Center off the ground with $400 million in funding, or about $20 million a year for 20 years. Although NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., hasn't finalized the funding of such an institute, Harris said after some tweaking of plans he recently presented to NASA officials, he expects to hear soon that NASA has signed off on the money. The institute could triple its annual funding in later years when state and private agencies add to the pot. Harris said the not-for-profit institute would cover a technical scope that includes research in aerospace systems, structures and materials, airborne systems, atmospheric sciences and sensor system technologies, aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics and acoustics and planetary capture and entry technologies. "In creating this institute, we're not interested in cloning Langley outside its gates," Harris said. "This institute will create new knowledge, new materials and a new way of doing things for technology. "This is going to be the kind of thing the community here is going to treasure. The institute will be an asset because of the kinds of people who will be drawn here to live and work. The potential of the institute is almost unlimited because of all the great minds working in one place." In fact, Harris said about 250 staff, scientists and engineers would work from a 100,000-square-foot building near NASA Langley. Although two federal sites have been identified near Langley, Harris said other sites could be considered for the project. Federal funding cannot be used to construct the building, he said, so that money would have to come from another source. "The type of building that will house the institute is very important because it will create a permanent presence, which is the key to success in realizing the institute's full potential. We're looking for a bold and compelling building." Harris said the institute would be a magnet for attracting the best and the brightest in academics. As a result, a number of distinguished professorships will be established and a national search will be conducted to fill these professorships. "There are no specific numbers associated with this," Harris said. "We want the professors to tell us their plan. Each new professor will establish a new research program in an emerging area of importance to the institute. "These people, because of their high level of expertise, will attract additional funding, along with additional intellectual properties that spin off from new business opportunities." Jimmy Eason, president and CEO of Hampton Roads Partnership, agreed the institute would draw new companies to Hampton Roads, but, he cautions, "it's not a done deal, yet." "I'm excited about the concept, but we're still in the preliminary stages at this point," Eason said. Eason said an independent institute like the one being proposed is very important to Hampton Roads. For the region to grow in technology, it needs either a major research university or institute to lead the way. |