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Show Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010 Page 5 AggieLif• Utah State University • Logan, Utah • wwwutahstatesman.com A home away from home THE NEWEST BUILDING currently being constructed on Innovation Campus, left.The campus currently has 45 acres of land occupied by businesses. Below, Ryan Beus, junior in mechanical engineering and an employee at TMT (Thermal Management Technologies), inspects one of the technologies TMT has created.TMT is one of the 40 companies currently located on the Innovation Campus. BRECK BYINGTON photos By JESSICA BLACK staff writer Students with an idea, business proposition or surefire money-maker, have a way to make those dreams come true with Utah State University's growing and expanding Innovation Campus. The Innovation Campus started in 1986 when the first multi-tenant facility was completed. It was originally called the Research Park, but changed its name to Utah State's Innovation Campus in 2001. According to the Innovation Campus website, it is "a place where university research is used to create a growing business atmosphere." Jacoba Mendelkow, Innovation Campus' public relations representative, said USU realized home-based business would eventually outgrow the garage and therefore created a place where business owners could have a place that would help and provide them with access to the resources they needed. "University research stays at the university and that's not what we want," Mendelkow said. "We want researchers to branch out, create jobs, build the local economy and in order to do that, you have to do it at a place." Mendelkow said those are exactly the things Innovation Campus is all about. The campus currently has 40 companies renting out locations within the complex, which currently employs 800 USU students. They have businesses occupying 45 acres of their land, and still have 105 acres with which to expand. "It's a place where research can go to be developed, grow into a company, or commercialize in something, or develop in some other aspect of the research process," Mendelkow said. Some of the businesses are university spin-offs, meaning the research has been done on campus, been commercialized and used to create a business, while others are local businesses who come looking for a place to rent so their business can grow. The businesses do not have to be affiliated with USU at all, but once they become a part of the Innovation Campus, the rent they pay for their building or office space includes numerous benefits, such as the use of the Merrill-Cazier Library, discounts on services through Qwest and USU data with a onegigabit connection. The Innovation Campus is home to companies such as Convergys, Information Alliance, InTech Collegiate High School and the Space Dynamics Lab. InTech Collegiate High School was an initiative from then-Governor Michael Leavitt to begin the Early College High Schools program at the Universities. It is a public charter school that teaches with an emphasis on math, science and engineering that was started in 2006. It had originally only had two grades, freshmen and sophomores. It now has grown into a four-year high school. Their mission statement states they strive to give every student the opportunity of completing high school and two years of college while still allowing the students to meet all the necessary state graduation requirements. According to Jason Stranger, principal and CEO of InTech Collegiate High School, the Innovation campus is helpful in helping the staff meet the goals that they have for their stu- I See CAMPUS, page 7 America's water crisis discussed at USU By TAYLOR ADAMS guest writer AUTHOR ROBERT GLENNON will offer his approach to water conservation Friday, Sept. 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the TSC auditorium. Glennon is a water code consultant for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and has been a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "The Diane Rehm Show." photo courtesy TAYLOR ADAMS Robert Glennon will explain America's water woes and offer a new approach to water conservation during his lecture, "Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About it", Friday, Sept. 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the TSC auditorium. His lecture explores water problems across America. From Las Vegas casinos to agricultural crop production, Glennon will discuss signs that the nation's water supply is in danger of drying up. Glennon is the author of "Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters," which was published by Island Press in 2002. His new book, on which his lecture is based and with which it shares a title, was published in April 2009. He has been a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," The Diane Rehm Show," C-SPAN2's Book TV, and National Public Radio shows in New York City, Chicago and Phoenix. Glennon is also an occasional blogger for the Huffington Post and has published articles in the Washington Post and Arizona Republic. Glennon is a Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, water policy adviser to Pima County, Ariz. and water code consultant for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Associate Dean of he College of Agriculture Janet Anderson said she has previously attended one of Glennon's lectures and is excited to announce his visit to USU. "As a water attorney, Robert Glennon is wellversed about water issues and water ownership in the West," she said. "He provocatively portrays the ongoing problem and grasps the audience's attention from start to finish." In his lecture, Glennon will attempt to dispel common myths about the water crisis and use what he calls "surreal and real solutions" to give real-life examples of how America is trying to solve the problem. Examples of surreal solutions, according to his book, are cloud seeding and importing water from water-short to water-rich areas. One of the most important real solutions is conservation, Glennon says. "Los Angeles gets barely three inches of rain a year more than Tucson," he said. "Yet millions of southern Californians have lush, water-intensive landscapes. Surely the state can do better than that." He offers a variety of solutions to those who attend his lecture, ranging from encouraging conservation through the use of price signals to re-examining the role of toilets in our society. "Approximately one-third of indoor domestic water use is to flush toilets," he said. "That's six billion gallons per day, or two trillion gallons per year. Toilets waste water, energy and money, harm the environment, and threaten human health." Tiffany Maughan, a horticulture major, said she will be attending the lecture to learn more about water conservation. "I've always been interested in water conservation," Maughan said. "As a horticulture student, everything I do involves water and since it is a limited resource, I have the responsibility to use it wisely." Glennon's lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session and is open to the entire USU community, free of charge. The lecture is funded by The USU College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension and Sustainability Council. To learn more about Robert Glennon, visit his website at http://www.rglennon.com . |