Transportation grant boosts YSU research

We aren't sure about the $333 million figure that Dr. Allen D. Hunter, a Youngstown State University professor, mentioned recently as an annual target for research and development grants from the federal and state governments. But Hunter is absolutely right when he says such grants can transform the Mahoning Valley. One need only look at Akron, Cleveland or Columbus to understand what R & amp;D investment does to local economies.
As we have pointed out in this space before, the region lost out when former Gov. Richard Celeste created the Edison program and, with state dollars, located research and development facilities in various cities. Akron, for example, has become a global leader in polymer research because of the Edison program.
Thus, when Hunter, chemistry professor at YSU, talks about areas of the country that are growing with new products funded by tax write-offs or government grants, he is conveying a message that all business, political and community leaders in this region should heed: We're losing out.
Track record
Because of the absence of a concerted effort to secure federal and state grants, many Valley companies are paying for their own R & amp;D, which takes money away from other aspects of the business. The Canadian-born Hunter, who is about to become a U.S. citizen, has a track record of grant writing in the Chemistry Department, which is why his vision is deserving of attention.
Our uncertainty about the $333 million he says should be coming into the region -- the amount is based on the Valley's population -- stems from the fact that it is so large. It also seems like pie-in-the-sky. In addition, the professor notes that the region is attracting about $100,000 a year in grants for business research and development. With such a huge difference between the reality and the goal, our skepticism is heightened. But we certainly would not mind being proved wrong.
That said, we are optimistic that Hunter's initiative will bear fruit. That's because he is building a coalition of business leaders to go after the R & amp;D dollars from Washington and Columbus. There were 25 executives who attended a recent presentation by him, and initial reactions from some of them give encouragement.
Indeed, the coalition intends to meet a June 21 application deadline for two grants totaling $36 million from the Third Frontier Project that Gov. Bob Taft launched in February 2002. Last November, Ohio voters authorized state government to issue up to $2 billion in bonds to finance road and highway construction, provide seed money for high-tech businesses and assist local governments in developing sites for industry and business.
This newspaper strongly supported Taft's Third Frontier Program and has argued that the commission overseeing the distribution of funds must assist the region in making the economic transformation from manufacturing to high-tech by giving preference to Mahoning Valley projects .
he city's South Side had the federal designation.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The lower portion of the city's North Side, at and near Youngstown State University, is receiving an $875,000 grant from the federal Weed and Seed Project, Mayor Jay Williams said.
An official announcement is scheduled for today from Williams and Greg White, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, at Tabernacle Baptist Church on Arlington Street.
The federal urban renewal program is aimed at helping cities reduce crime and increase the quality of life in targeted sections.
The designated area includes Wick Park, YSU, the St. Elizabeth Health Center area, portions of Brier Hill and the area near Mahoning County's Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center.
The city's South Side was designated as a Weed and Seed area in 1999. That grant expired at the end of last year.
"We've had some positive effects on the South Side [from Weed and Seed], but we now need to focus on long-term sustainability there," Williams said. "I'm certainly pleased to have another designation from the program."
The designation funds a variety of crime prevention and social services to the targeted area, such as drug-reduction efforts, after-school programs and services to the elderly.
"This will provide additional resources for saturated police patrols and allow the city to provide money for neighborhood projects," the mayor added.
Ricky George, associate director of the YSU Center for Human Services Development, along with Heidi Hallas, a research associate at the center, began working with city officials, other government entities, community organizations, businesses, religious leaders and residents more than a year ago on this project.
YSU will serve as the grant's fiscal agent.
Projected use
The money will be spent over a five-year period beginning in January 2007.
"The purpose of the project is to weed out crime and seed in social programs and to get the community working together," George said. "This won't solve all of the problems, but it will help."
In November 2005, a group of about 25 East Side residents attended a council meeting to express disappointment that an application wasn't submitted for that side of town.
They also pointed out that the city could have applied for two grants: one each for the North and East sides.
At that meeting, Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, who represents much of the North Side, said the location of the Weed and Seed area is based on Youngstown police crime statistics over the past five years.
Other council members at the time were skeptical of the crime statistics and unsuccessfully tried to include two East Side census tracts near the North Side in the application.
Williams said he also wants to talk to White today about crime-fighting strategies and if the federal government has a program similar to the Gun Reduction Interdiction Project.
The GRIP program in Youngstown ran between late June and early September of 2003 with an increased local and federal law enforcement presence in the city. The initiative resulted in nearly 400 arrests.
"The program changed at the national level, but I want to see if there's another federal program we can use to reduce crime," Williams said. "The city would help with some of the cost. I want to implement a program like it."
skolnick@vindy.com
-Ron Cole, mgr. of news and information services. (w) 330-941-3285. (c) 330-717-4531.
applied for ryan and voinovich getting it together
total value is in $2 million
tim ryan back in september he announced the 2 million...first intallment...
materials management programin engineering, does research and development of various mateirals related to transportation...for roadways in other any transportation
each received grants, they were alittle perplexed consoritum....
How did the grant originate? Competitive application? How will funding be used? zWill four universities work together? To hire staff, to purchase materials? Who exactly will be doing research?Part of a larger picture of how YSU has expended its research role. Do you have quantitative figures for researchspanning a certain period of time?
Is deveping more of a research focus part of the university's overall mission?
faculty
and students
Over the last several years from outside funding has tripled...
mission of the university will always be primarily...with good teaching comes good research...all works together....
we have some very highly respected internationally repsected and who are very thought of well...
we have a professor in physics carroll jeff he's working with the air force received grants on isotopes....pretty well thought of traveled world to do and share that research......
we have continuing work of center ofor working class studies
alan hunter for reserach cyber technology....
grant for the new weed and seed it was spearheaded by our center for human services development..... will be the fiscal agent...
has it..
Cynthia Hertzel, college 941 -3009
School of Engineering and Technology....
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Youngstown State University has secured a $430,000 federal grant to launch a University Transportation Center program through its Rayen College of Engineering and Technology.
Expanded materials engineering research will be the goal of the funding announced by U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, Wednesday. It will be renewable at that same level for three additional years.
Four Ohio universities have been designated by the federal government as the site of University Transportation Centers to research various aspects of transportation. YSU will work in collaboration with the University of Akron, Cleveland State University and the University of Toledo, Voinovich said, adding that he was able to secure the funding through the highway reauthorization bill.
Dr. Cynthia S. Hirtzel, dean of YSU's College of Engineering, said the money will enable the college to expand its focus on materials research, particularly in the area of road building materials. It's a boost that will push the university's materials program, she said.
Others' projects
The University of Akron received federal funding of $500,000 a year, renewable three additional years, for its work in the project, which will include research and education on transportation mobility and asset management issues such as traffic safety, system control, pavement and highway materials testing and foundation stability of highway infrastructure.
Cleveland State has been funded at $440,000 a year for four years. Its focus will be on work-zone safety.
The University of Toledo is being funded at $430,000 a year for four years and will focus on developing improved supply-chain systems using more than one means of transportation and alternative transportation methods such as hybrid-electric, fuel cell and bio-diesel technologies.
Voinovich said that it is critical to improve transportation systems in light of current energy crises. Funding Ohio universities for the effort not only furthers higher-education institutions, but also promises to produce new technology and innovation in transportation that will benefit all Ohioans, he said.
The University Transportation Center program is managed by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
gwin@vindy.com
Transportations center grant was earmarked and appropriated funds.
Applied for some $31 million in grants compared to $20 to$24 million in recenty ears...
We had about $4 million in '06, "05
Ed Orona, director of the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs coordinated pre-grant applications provides support for those seeking research grants and tracks expenditures for those grants...
YSU is not known as a research intensive university such as Ohio State. remains primarily a teachingu niuversity as its fundamental mission...could
Establishment of Presidential Academic Centers for Excellence in Research...to assist various departments in research grants... about 160 different grants were applied for last year...