Funding Requested for Building 3
Funding Requested for Southern Maryland Academic & Research Bldg. at the SMHEC
University System of Maryland (USM) and Southern Maryland Higher Education Center (SMHEC) representatives met with the Southern Maryland Delegation early in February to appeal for funding for the new USM Southern Maryland Academic & Research Building, Building 3, to locate at the SMHEC campus.
The Southern Maryland Delegation is comprised of the Maryland senators and delegates representing Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties in the Maryland General Assembly currently in session.
The delegation requested $3.85 million in the State’s FY16 Capital budget to design and engineer the 77,000 sq. ft. facility. Although $2.5 million was appropriated for design and appears in the Governor’s budget, the balance of the funding is not slated until FY18 meaning that construction of Building 3 is unlikely to occur any sooner than FY20.
“The demand signal is now,” said Commissioner Tom Jarboe. Investment in a research facility accessible to private industry and academia is critical to the economic diversification and technical growth of Southern Maryland, he explained.
The USM research building will include classrooms, offices and lecture halls originally envisioned by the Board of Governors but will also include research labs, simulators and other equipment to enhance opportunities for academic graduate and undergraduate courses, research and private industry opportunities focused on unmanned systems providing access to facilities “outside of the gate” that otherwise can only be found on base.
Joe Anderson, Chair of the SMHEC board of governors reported Del. Tony O’Donnell “gave the project the Delegation’s unequivocal support and pledged that they would do everything they could to get the $3.85 million needed for A&E into the State’s FY16 capital construction budget, either by a supplemental budget or a legislative add.”
A USM research facility at the SMHEC, coupled with the University of Maryland UAS Test Site at the St. Mary’s County Regional Airport, would create the State’s first and only campus for RD&TE for unmanned systems. This would make St. Mary’s County a leader in the unmanned and autonomous systems’ industry nationwide.
Returning funding for the 3rd Building to the FY16 budget now will compete with capital project requests from around the State.
Source: Business Development e-Newsletter February 13, 2015
