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Show 4 Wednesday, December 10,2008 USTAR ON CAMPUS www.doilyutahchroniclexom. USTAR budget cuts slow hiring process Apr. 0 8 : U and Department of Facilities and Construction Management decided on four-building master plan June 0 8 : U signed letter ofT commitment for remaining infrastructure costs Dec. 2 0 0 8 : Planning sustainable design for new building to be gold LEED certified A u g . 0 8 : Architect and, engineering firm selected for design Sept. 0 8 : U selects Layton Construction as general contractor Infrastructure/site utility construction begins Mar. 2 0 0 9 : Schematic design complete June 2009: U begins developing design Oct. 2009: Building Jan. 2009:50% of schematic design complete 1 Utah Chronicle during the summer that if the U wants to hire enough people to keep up with projections, it will need additional funds. Recruiters have already begun talking to researchers about coming to the U and working for one of the four new research teams. USTAR also encompasses a Tech Outreach program that brings businesses from around Utah to work with new teams on possible research'. Patel said they have plans to bring in more experts for Tech Outreach, but might not do that immediately. For now, USTAR is preparing the budget and working on plans for the new research building. "We're focusing our efforts onj being ready to work with the Governor's office and legislators in the: upcoming session," O'Malley said.-'-1 lgroves@chronicle.utah.edu Oct.2011:USTAR1,th^ first of four buildings, substantially complete May 2009: Oct. 0 8 : U announced j j James L. Sorenson as } p lead donor for Molecular j * , \& Biotechnology Building 1 USTAR donations, legislative bonds and money USTAR has allocated for construction. The U will receive $28.5 million from USTAR for the first building and USU will receive $19 million. Michael O'Malley, head of USTAR marketing and communications, said they are considering various scenarios of budget cuts and how to handle the situation. "We're just waiting to see what might be in store in the January legislative session," O'Malley said. "We're being prudent in our planning and at the same time being hopeful." He said they expect to handle any option and not decrease the number of projected faculty. However, Jack Brittain, head of Technology Venture Development at the U and dean of the David Eccles School of Business, told The Daily "It's not going t<* impact what's going on today," Patel said. "Because the university is attracting such topnotch researchers, we hope they will bring in extra money." Tom Parks, the U's vice president for research, said he hopes USTAR could be awarded $10 million during the spring legislative session, which is part of the original $25 million that was set aside for the new program. "Hopefully the Legislature will approve additional funding," Parks said. "(The Legislature) gave us $15 million, which is split between the University of Utah and Utah State." Funding for the new James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building, which will be part of the USTAR complex constructed on the north side of the U's golf course, will not be affected by any budget cuts. The building is paid for by private governing authority. However, if any more cuts hit USTAR in 2009 , they will have to The Utah Science Technology and stop hiring as many researchers. For the past three years, USTAR Research Initiative that has brought researchers from across the nation has been allocating funds to the U to the U will have to cut back on hir- and Utah State University to hire ing researchers if state budget cuts well-known researchers who acre leaders in their fields. The U has increase in the 2009 session. When the USTAR program, which hired 13 researchers since 2005 to was initiated by the Utah Legislature work on eight different teams, inin 2005 to stimulate economic devel- cluding fossil energy, regenerative opment through research, was faced medicine and nanotechnology. with the initial statewide across-theThe Legislature approved four board 4 percent budget cut in Octo- new teams in May and USTAR has ber, they were able to pass through been looking at hiring an additional without cutting any programs be- 25 researchers to complement the cause of a surplus from the first initial eight teams and to add to the year. new ones. "The first year we were slow in Patel said if cuts become more getting going and had remaining sur- severe, USTAR would have to slow plus that wasn't allocated yet," said down the hiring process instead of Dinesh Patel, chairman of USTAR's hiring two to three new researchers. Lana Groves ASST, NEWS EDITOR construction starts Y - V jt V Target dates for design anckonstrnction CONSTRUCTION PRELIMINARY TIMELINE USTAR spurs growth of Utah businesses 4 new initiatives in the works Niccolo Barber STAFF WRITER Adobe, Pixar and WordPerfect software companies all have one thing in common: They began in Utah only to hightail it to Silicon Valley. With the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative, the Utah State Legislature hopes to keep profitable businesses in the state. USTAR has been successful in its early stages. Thomas Parks, the U's vice president of research, who was initially worried that the program was a bit too ambitious, said USTAR is ahead of schedule in terms of money, grants, startups and members brought into the initiative. Three of the faculty members USTAR hired have started or brought companies to Utah. These achievements have helped USTAR spread its wings. The Legislature has appropriated $28.5 million to the initiative for the new James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology building, a new research building that is scheduled to be finished October 2011. USTAR is also introducing four new research initiatives and has begun interviewing 25 potential faculty recruits. These new research projects include work in complicated areas such as digital media, nanoscale and biomedical photonics, and micro and nanosystem integration. Parks said once the faculty positions in these research areas are filled, the economic impact of the programs will begin. These projects are designed to generate new companies and jobs, depending on the focus area. Engineering research that develops a device or diagnostic product could begin producing jobs in a matter of a few years. Medical research, which tends to develop medicine, usually has longerranging economic Impacts, sometimes not producing jobs or business for 10 years. Parks said projections show there will be an increasing number of new companies and jobs as a result of these four research initiatives. In its few years of existence, USTAR has succeeded in producing new jobs in Utah. The Legislature implemented USTAR as an economic development project. As Utah's average wage continues to drop below the national average, local politicians and businesses are hoping to create more high-wage jobs. To do this, the Legislature appropriated money to USTAR to hire established scientists and engineers whose work lends itself to commercialization, Parks said. The USTAR initiative was initially pushed by the Chamber of Commerce and other in-state business associations that felt the program was essential to keep Utah from falling behind other states in technology fields. "USTAR is an interesting example of how business, government and universities can all work together for common goals," Parks said. Since its inception in 2005, USTAR has hired 13 nationally renowned faculty members who have brought their research programs to the U. One such faculty member is Brian McPherson, who is working with USTAR to research carbon sequestration- His technologies capture carbon dioxide from coal fire power plants before it enters the atmosphere and inject the gas back into the ground, greatly reducing carbon admissions. McPherson said USTAR has been helpful in his business and research activities. The program provided bridge funding for his project so he could hire and pay employees until he raised enough money to support them on his own. He is working on a business agreement ^ith a large local corporation which could potentially invest a significant amount of money in his research and business endeavors. If the agreement goes through, McPherson's new business will start with ro employees and grow from there. "The idea is to build up technologies in research universities," Parks said. "Those technologies then get spun off into companies that create high-wage jobs for Utah." n.barber@chronicle.utah.edu LENNIE MAHLER/Tht Daily Utah (hrcnidt Brigham Sikora sinks a putt as John Balzotti watches on the green of the fifth hole of the University Golf Course. The course has a long history but isgoing to be removed to make a place for new buildings on campus. GOLF continued from Page J Bohlig, director of campus recreation, said there are ideas to create a "golf learning center" on the east side of golf course, near the Eccles Broadcast Center. The center could include a practice area, a scaled-down driving range and other services that would allow for camps and clinics to still be held on the U campus. "We'll sit down and evaluate the funding to see if it's something that's going to be worthwhile or not," Bohlig said. But for a round of golf, local golfers are going to have to go elsewhere beginning in late spring, the tentative date for the groundbreaking of the new James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building. The new building will house research done under the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative, a program created by the Utah Legislature to promote world-class research and facilities in a plan to increase the innovation of the sciences throughout the state. "This is a very complex project," said Michael O'Malley, marketing and communications director for USTAR. "There are a lot of dependencies that could change the schedule. We are hopeful that the groundbreaking can happen in late spring of next year." The building will be the first of four that will make up an "interdisciplinary quadrangle" that will be constructed on the land that the golf course now occupies. Administrators and USTAR officials are confident that the building will be an Important addition to the U campus, both for researchers and students. U students will be given the opportunity to work along with the researchers, offering unique experiences not found anywhere else. "We anticipate that the building will also serve as an industry magnet, attracting industry-sponsored projects," O'Malley said. "Students will be able to work side by side with industry experts, which will provide them with real business experience that they can take outside the university when they pursue their careers." The $130 million project is being funded by the Legislature, a $15 million donation from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation and other private donations. The new complex will serve as a link between the different sections of the U campus. "I've heard people on campus, professors and leading researchers describe the building as having the potential to be a literal and figurative bridge between the upper and lower campus," O'Malley said. USTAR is committed to not only bringing a valuable research aspect to the U, but also to developing a precedent for the advancement of future researchers. "Besides pursuing their own proj-^ ects, the USTAR researchers are also interested in training the nexG generation of researchers and inno-; vators," O'Malley said. "I think it's; going to be a terrific opportunity for students to experience a collabora* tive environment in the life sciences; The building has a dual purpose: innovative research and contributing to the development of Utah's future; workforce." The project, in addition to the buildings, will also include various athletic fields and tracks to be usedi directly by students, which will sub-i stantially bump up the U's 25 acres of : fields already being utilized. 3 chronicle.utah.edu 1 |
