|
Senator Robert C. Jubelirer
Materials Science Building
Announcement
May 18, 2005
In case anyone was wondering
what I am doing here, I can assure you I did not take the wrong exit off the
Interstate, I am not really early for the Penn State football season, and I am
not scoping out the territory for a land grab in the next redistricting.
This event is about uncommon
cooperation, to advance innovation, and to construct a brighter future. This is
an exciting day, with a justifiable sense of expectation for educational value,
economic impact, and immense regional benefit. In these competitive times, we
must cash in on opportunities for economic leadership, and it is quite a
cornerstone we lay today.
Penn State is again
demonstrating leadership and vision, as they notably did with the Information
Sciences and Technology program and structure. Materials science involves an
interesting formula –- we have a large university harnessing the smallest
molecules for a big economic return. With the current emphasis on research and
development to spur manufacturing revival, nanotechnology is the name of the
game. Some are calling it the next industrial revolution, and Pennsylvania must
be fully invested.
In the modern age, as we
explore frontiers of science beyond imagination, it takes the right facility,
with the right equipment, and the right instructors, to open the doors to grand
discoveries.
In conducting cutting-edge
research, in translating academic investigation into industrial production, in
making that eureka moment in the lab into a viable commercial venture,
Pennsylvania has established leadership at both ends of the state, and here we
assure the continuing leadership ability of the middle. This is not state
government playing job creator; it is state government creating the educational
and research foundation for the people and the products that then drive private
sector job creation.
It is difficult to do 21st
Century research in a building where Einstein would have been comfortable.
These facilities are not readily available elsewhere, to merge and to move. So
both the University and the state are putting in substantial sums for a
five-star research facility.
This is a cornerstone effort in
the development of the I-99 Innovation Corridor. The ideas, processes, and
products generated here will mean businesses and jobs, but not just in the
shadow of the university. The spin-off ventures are going to be looking for
sites, up and down the corridor, meaning progress is coming to Blair County, and
Bedford County, and Huntingdon County.
Every time a traditional
industry struggles, whenever a plant is shut down or jobs are shed, people ask
what state government is doing to promote a turnaround and reverse the brain
drain. This building will enable the university to attract and keep top talent
in the field. Build it, and they will set up shop.
Oftentimes, this kind of
project is a long time in the making, in terms of achieving priority and
securing funding. This one moved at warp speed. Materials science is a subject
on which Governor Rendell, Secretary Yablonsky, and the rest of the
administration team never hesitated and never flinched. They listened, they
understood, and they acted. It fits perfectly with the economic priorities they
are pursuing statewide.
Much is made of the
disagreements we have over policies and spending. But we find a lot of common
ground when it comes to increasing jobs and creating opportunity. We advocated
aggressively, and Governor Rendell responded quickly and substantially. The
story within the story is that, at this critical economic juncture, leaders from
different places, with different political philosophies, came together for the
betterment of Pennsylvania.
With this backdrop, Governor
Ed Rendell will do the honors in detailing the good news for Penn State, for the
Innovation Corridor, and for our Commonwealth.
5/18/05 - Sen. Robert Jubelirer and Sen. Jake
Corman present a check for $40 million in state funding for the construction of a
new Materials Research Building at Penn State's University Park Campus.
Jubelirer
Corman
# # #
|
