Saturday, October 22, 2011

Universities chase stimulus cash for shovel-ready projects - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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The tens of millions of dollarxs in grant proposals are targeting funding streams flowingg down through the American Recovery andReinvestment Act’s shovel-readt initiatives. Universities faced with consecutive years of fundinf cuts are angling to usethe shovel-ready cash to catchn up on much-needed facility upgrades, build classrooms to handlre the influx of students in need of re-training or tackled big capital projects aimed at bolstering academiczs and research. The approach is twofold at , whichj has seen its student population surgwe by 12 percent in the past two due in part torising unemployment.
The college is seeking $45 millionm to build additional classroom capacityh on its three main campuses as well as to enhancd vocational training facilitiesin high-demand according to Ellyn Drotzer, director of the offices of grants development. The college wants the among other projects, to buil out its and the Marooned Automotive Program in Miramar to emphasizw curriculum on maintaining and repairing emerging green energy and hybrid systemse in boatsand cars.
It also wants to expancd classrooms foraviation training, including a facilityu to train a new generation of air traffidc controllers, which are expectee to be in high demands in a few years to replacre a wave of retiring controllers, Drotzer “These are all shovel ready,” she said. “We have a historyh of training in technical trades an now we are lookingv to be responsive to providingt curriculum in this new emergin industry ofgreen technology.” The ’s 18-membee stimulus working group meets regularly to discuss opportunitiesz and set a course to capture as much of the federaol cash as possible.
So far, the school has more than 400 proposala seeking in excessof $350 million in “We saw this as a very significant opportunituy for the university and to do something for the said Richard Bookman, vice provost of researchh at UM. Among the projects on the school’s shovel-ready wish list is a new $45 seawater researchn center at UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marinse and Atmospheric Science onVirginia Key, he The university is seeking $15 millionh from the and $15 million from the to help builxd the center, which will study sea creatureds as well as the physics of waves on UM is also is submitting proposals for a $15 milliob to $20 million addition to a scienc e building at its Coral Gabless campus and a multi-story research building at its medicalk school.
has science, green technology and culinarhy training onits shovel-ready submission The school is requestinyg help funding a $22.7u million hospitality management centetr to house a culinary arts school as well as $40 milliob for an extensive renovation and upgradse to decades-old facilities at its north campus and $1.2 millio for an and Technology. But by most accounts competitioj for stimulus funds willbe fierce. And specifif funding priorities from federal and state allocatorzbeyond short-term projects that would create jobs quickly remains said Camille Coley, assistant VP and interim director of sponsored researcj at . “They are not tellinb us what they are looking she said.
But FAU is seeking $4.5 million to help buil out water reuse infrastructure at itsnewl opened, gold level Leadership in Energyu and and platinum level engineering building, slated to open in 2010. The university also is seeking federal stimulus fundsz to create a road connector systemj at its main campus off Glades Road in Boca Rato n andadditional parking. It also wants funding to put a greejn roof on itsadministration building. While the applicationh process is infull swing, UM’w Bookman doesn’t expect the winning projectes to be announced untikl the fall.

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