With potential budget cuts on the horizon, many state universities and their internal departments are wondering where their next dollar will come from. But at least one University entity thinks it can attract $34.5 million in the first three years of its existence.
They also think they’ve found just the man to lead it.
The Transformational Technology and Cyber Research Center hopes to be a hub for major federal and commercial research projects in STEM-related fields.
Jeff Moulton, the center’s first director, has experience in raising research dollars. He served previously as the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s principal research associate.
Under Moulton, the Institute gained over $300 million in annual research and development contracts.
Moulton’s job will be to attract research entities from all over the country in applied science fields like cyber security and nanotechnology.
Gov. Bobby Jindal and LSU President F. King Alexander announced the formation of the TTCRC in August, and the Board of Supervisors conditionally approved the measure and Moulton’s hiring at their January meeting.
But the center did not wait until then to get started. Moulton said the center has two funded contracts and is working on adding many others.
“We’re working on cybersecurity related research,” Moulton said. “One is an evaluation of a training tool that we’re using to train military responders, and the second is a look at how we actually secure critical infrastructure components.”
Moulton said each project has its own deadline, and the two they are currently working on are one-year projects.
The center is set apart from other research happening at the University because it’s “applied research,” Moulton said.
This is because it’s outside the classroom or laboratory setting and beyond trying to prove or disprove a hypothesis.
“Where we do our work is where it counts, and that’s where we use research,” Moulton said. “So in the user’s environment how does this actually work on a real network and not a pristine environment like a laboratory?”
The center will be funded in part by the state and the University. For every $10 earned in research funding, the state will provide $1 and the University will provide 50 cents.
Along with other divisions of University research, The TTCRC will collaborate with and be housed in the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute.
The broad goals of SDMI are “to save the lives of people and animals by continuously improving disaster management through leadership in applied research and executive education,” according to its website.
SDMI is a member of the Stephenson National Center for Security Research and Training, and is currently working on projects related to cyber security.