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SCRA, S.C. State to partner on research, funding projects
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
South Carolina State University’s Board of Trustees has voted to form a committee of trustees and staff members to work with a team from the South Carolina Research Authority.
The committee will look at the existing research and economic development opportunities at the university and will recommend ways to get more funding, specifically for research and development projects.
The vote came after a presentation by Jim Stritzinger, executive vice president and general manager of the SCRA’s Public Interest Research department.
Stritzinger noted that SCRA’s connections could help the university get research grants from the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, as well as from other agencies.
“The board moved unanimously to engage with us on a planning exercise to figure out how to work together to expand research activities,” said Bill Mahoney, the SCRA’s chief executive officer.
The vote likely will be ratified at SCSU’s February board meeting.
“The National Science Foundation funding for black colleges shows (S.C. State) at No. 20 out of 95 schools that they track,” Mahoney said, referring to the data presented by Stritzinger. “It doesn’t take much more to get into the top 10. Now, seven of the top 10 universities have medical schools, and while this university
doesn’t, it would still be a huge achievement to get into the top 10. There’s about $5 to $6 million out there to capture, so we can aim for the lion’s share of the remaining three of the top 10.”
One of the issues discussed at the meeting was working out an employee outsourcing agreement between the two entities.
“We do outsourcing of this type with a lot of our consortia,” said Mahoney.
For instance, Mahoney pointed out, the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center for the Southeast Region is housed in the SCRA’s facilities in Charleston, and that center’s director is also the director of the SCRA’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Solutions Group.
“There have been no contractual agreements (with S.C. State) at this point,” said Mahoney. “Whether we help them find employees or we provide personnel on an outsource basis or both, all that has to get resolved.
“For now, the biggest thing to figure out is how to meet the curriculum and development goals, particularly for engineering and R&D.”
The SCRA is already at work assisting with funding, having recently helped the university submit a proposal for funds for the James E. Clyburn Transportation Research and Conference Center.
The Clyburn Center is part of another collaborative effort with the South Carolina World Trade Center. The $70 million, 475,550-square-foot Clyburn Center was proposed to be built on the site of the SCWTC’s World Trade Park and Education Research Center. The WT-PERC is being touted as the logistics version of the public-private-education partnership between Clemson University and BMW at the
CU-ICAR facility.
According the SCWTC, the university’s role in the project will include conducting research in areas such as supply-chain management, use of technology for distribution and efficiency and testing new products distributed from foreign countries.
In addition, SCWTC officials say SCSU’s participation in the project would position SCSU as a premier institution for world trade preparation and training and would create funding streams through land acquisition for lease and/or eventual sale, as well as through royalties resulting from research efforts.
All of which underscores the importance of the project and its continued funding, which SCSU Trustee Board Chairman Maurice Washington called “critical to the survival of the transportation center.”
Washington said the board is excited about partnering with the SCRA.
“The SCRA is a fine organization, and we have a lot of respect for their accomplishments and the energy they bring to the economic growth, vitality and development of the state,” he said.
Washington said the SCRA can help SCSU improve its ranking among peer universities.
“Those niches where we’ve not been able to cultivate relationships, we think the SCRA might be able to help,” he said. “Research goes hand in hand with economic development, and therefore we have also asked them to assist with the development of the research foundation board, identifying highly skilled individuals across the state for the board’s consideration and to help with the infrastructure there to hopefully build a very strong research foundation board.”
Washington said he hopes the SCRA will also play a role in assisting with a national search for positions in the transportation center and other roles at the university.
“We’re quite excited about this partnership, and we anticipate great things in working with the SCRA,” Washington said.
The assistance would come at no cost to the university.
Mahoney said the collaborative efforts may be viewed as innovative for now, but they will soon be more of a business-as-usual undertaking for the SCRA.
“We’re speaking to an overall trend that would have been foreign a year ago, because the university presidents are just now learning about us,” said Mahoney. “We have a lot of capabilities, and we’re here to help. We have a mission with the Innovation Centers legislation. Our mandate is to collaborate and help, and we’re on a path to do just that.”
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