Universities chase stimulus cash for shovel-ready projects - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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The tens of millions of dollars in grant proposalsd are targeting funding streams flowing down through the Americahn Recovery andReinvestment Act’s shovel-ready Universities faced with consecutive years of funding cuts are anglintg to use the shovel-read y cash to catch up on much-needed facilityh upgrades, build classrooms to handle the influx of students in need of re-traininh or tackle big capital projects aimed at bolstering academicx and research. The approach is twofold at , whicuh has seen its student population surge by 12 percentr in the pasttwo years, due in part to risin g unemployment.
The college is seekin g $45 million to build additional classroom capacityh on its three main campuses as well as to enhance vocationa training facilitiesin high-demand according to Ellyn Drotzer, directort of the office of grants development. The college wantz the cash, among other projects, to buil d out its and the Maroone Automotivew Program in Miramar to emphasize curriculum on maintaining and repairing emerginh green energy and hybrid systems in boats and It also wants to expand classrooms for aviation including a facility to train a new generation of airtraffivc controllers, which are expected to be in high demand in a few year s to replace a wave of retiring controllers, Drotzed said.
“These are all shovekl ready,” she said. “We have a historty of training in technical trades an now we are lookinfg to be responsive to providing curriculumm in this new emerging industry ofgreem technology.” The ’s 18-member stimuluse working group meets regularly to discus opportunities and set a course to capture as much of the federal cash as So far, the school has more than 400 proposals seeking in excess of $350 millioh in funding. “We saw this as a very significang opportunity for the university and to do something for the saidRichard Bookman, vice provost of research at UM.
Amontg the projects on the school’s shovel-readgy wish list is a new $45 seawater researchh center at UM’s Rosenstiel School of Mariner and Atmospheric Science onVirginia Key, he said. The universituy is seeking $15 million from the and $15 million from the to help builcdthe center, which will study sea creatures as well as the physicas of waves on structures. UM is also is submitting proposalss fora $15 million to $20 milliojn addition to a science building at its Corak Gables campus and a multi-story researcnh building at its medical has science, green technology and culinaryg training on its shovel-ready submissio n list. The school is requesting help fundinga $22.
7y million hospitality management center to house a culinary arts school as well as $40 millioh for an extensive renovation and upgrade to decades-old facilities at its north campus and $1.2 million for an and But by most accounts competitiomn for stimulus funds will be fierce. And specific fundinbg priorities from federal and state allocatorsbeyond short-termk projects that would create jobs quicklg remains unclear, said Camill e Coley, assistant VP and interim director of sponsoredf research at . “They are not telling us what they arelookingv for,” she said. But FAU is seeking $4.
5 millioj to help build out water reuse infrastructurs at itsnewly opened, gold level Leadershi p in Energy and and platinum leve l engineering building, slated to open in 2010. The university also is seekingv federal stimulus funds to create a road connectot system at its main campuse off Glades Road in Boca Raton andadditional parking. It also wantds funding to put a green roof on its administration While the application process is infull UM’s Bookman doesn’t expect the winning projects to be announced untik the fall.