BISMARCK Two UND projects put forward for North Dakota Centers of Excellence grants won funding from commissioners at a meeting here Friday.
Commissioners granted $2.5 million to a project put forward by the UND School of Engineering and Mines.
UND's aerospace school also won $1.5 million to expand its existing Center of Excellence in unmanned aerial vehicle technology.
Twelve projects competed for this year's $10 million pot, with requests totaling about $30 million. Only half of those projects won funding Friday, and all but one of them at a reduced amount.
The commission will distribute another $10 million in legislatively directed funds next year.
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This year's proposals still must win approval from a series of groups, including the State Board of Higher Education and a collection of legislators. Commissioners also may tie funding to the projects meeting certain benchmarks.
UND projects
The engineering project is a partnership between UND's engineering school and a manufacturer to develop and commercialize biomedical devices, beginning with a device that destroys blood clots in the limbs.
The project's initial phase will include building a manufacturing plant in Minot.
The project also will allow UND to begin offering a biomedical engineering major in cooperation with UND's medical school and North Dakota State University's engineering school.
Engineering officials initially requested $3.25 million for the project.
UND's aerospace request involves cordoning off a section of airspace where researchers can design technology allowing unmanned aerial systems, or drones, to fly in the national airspace monitored only by radar.
Aerospace officials initially requested $3.5 million for the project.
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Other UND proposals
UND researchers submitted a total of five centers of excellence proposals. The school's three other proposals were:
-- A Northern Great Plains for People and the Environment project to partner with a private company to launch satellites that would greatly expand the nation's weather monitoring capacity.
-- A bio-energy project sponsored by the Energy and Environmental Research Center.
-- Another bio-energy research project sponsored by Sunrise Renewables, a company connected with the school's chemical engineering department.
Commissioners criticized the Sunrise and EERC proposals for being too similar to come from the same institution. Commissioners suggested researchers for the two projects should have cooperated on a single proposal.
Commissioners also said they thought the EERC and Northern Great Plains proposals were too closely tied to a single building project.
Other funding choices
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Commissioners praised projects that had reliable matching money from the private sector, were likely to create jobs outside the university system and were likely to be sustainable after state money stops arriving.
Other projects commissioners chose for funding were:
-- $2.1 million for a data storage center at Minot State University.
-- $1.5 million for an agriculture biotech project at NDSU.
-- $2 million for a NDSU surface protection project.
-- $400,000 for a Lake Region State College project in technology optimized agriculture.
Marks covers higher education for the Herald. Reach him at (701) 780-1105; (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or jmarks@gfherald.com .
