Representatives of Lockheed Martin and the University of Maryland, College Park announced a research partnership on Friday, June 4, 2010 in front of an audience at the university’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, according to the university’s website.
Lockheed will give the university $1 million per year for three years in order to collaborate on research and pursue joint academic and business opportunities, the university’s press release said.
This is an initial agreement that is “expected to grow,” the press release said.
The university has had a longstanding relationship with the Bethesda-based defense contractor, said Kenneth S. Gertz, associate vice president for research development at the university. Members of the two organizations have cooperated on an ad hoc basis in the past, Gertz said.
The new agreement formalizes the relationship between the university and Lockheed. Contract templates and standardized non-disclosure agreements have been created to ease cooperation, Gertz said.
The breadth of the agreement is unique for Lockheed, Gertz said. Lockheed has a research partnership with Rice University in the area of nanotechnology, Gertz said as an example.
But Lockheed’s agreement with the University of Maryland is not limited to a single area of research.
Although specific projects have not yet been identified, research areas may include food safety, climate modeling, and cybersecurity, Gertz said.
There is potential for students of all levels to benefit from the university’s partnership with Lockheed, Gertz said. Undergraduates could work in on-campus research centers created by the partnership, graduate fellowships may be funded, or co-ops for students could be established in Lockheed’s offices across the country, Gertz said.
A steering committee of university faculty and administrators and Lockheed employees will be created to determine what research to pursue and how to allocate funds, Gertz said.
There are no restrictions in the agreement on the money’s use but the steering committee could institute restrictions in the future, Gertz said.
The partnership will allow the university and Lockheed to increase efficiency in Department of Defense contracting and applying for federal and non-governmental funds, Gertz said.
The research funded by the partnership will not be classified, Gertz said. Concerns about the university’s partnership with Lockheed have not been raised by students, Gertz said.
Glenn L. Martin, the founder of a Maryland-based aircraft company that was one of the building blocks of Lockheed Martin, donated approximately $2.5 million dollars to the University of Maryland in the mid-1940s. A few years later the university named a wind tunnel building, an engineering lab, and a physics facility after Martin.
Read the press releases here:
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=2171
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2010/0604hq-univ-md.html
Watch the announcement:
http://ms-websvr.ad.eng.umd.edu/DETSMediasite5/Viewer/?peid=4524f1e8763f46ab93dd200e6579384c
