ASU is teaming up with political and aerospace leaders to create an aerospace research and development institute at the Polytechnic campus.
A 19-member advisory board, chaired by former Honeywell Chairman Robert Johnson, has been developing the Arizona Aerospace Institute, aiming to strengthen Arizona’s aerospace industry, create new jobs and attract aviation companies.
“It’s still an idea that is being developed and, in some ways, kind of an obvious idea when you think about how Arizona has been a historically important state for aerospace,” said Bill Harris, chief executive of Science Foundation Arizona.
In the next six months, the board hopes to create a report on stages of the development, the cost of it and how it will be funded.
The exact location of the institute has not yet been determined. However, board members said the Mesa Proving Grounds near the Polytechnic campus will most likely be the location because of the engineering and science aerospace programs at the Polytechnic campus, as well as the software simulation in the nearby former Air Force laboratory.
Harris said the institute will benefit from the close cooperation with ASU and the school’s aerospace research at the Polytechnic campus. He said he believes that the institute will also benefit students.
“The students ultimately benefit, because they’ll create a large spectrum of new and interesting jobs and careers [in the aviation field],” Harris said.
Miguel Estrella, a mechanical engineering technology sophomore at the Polytechnic campus, said he is interested in the institute because of his own studies in aeronautics.
“There are so many parts of space that we have yet to understand,” Estrella said in an e-mail. “The more we learn, the more improvements that we can make not only in the aerospace department but other subjects as well.”
ASU became involved with the institute about a year ago when President Michael Crow met with House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Ariz., and Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, Harris said.
Karrin Kunasek Taylor, vice president of DMB Associates, an Arizona-based real estate company, said the purpose of the institute is to keep the aerospace industry competitive in Arizona.
“There is significant pressure from other states to relocate some of the [aerospace] businesses that are already here,” Taylor said. “So if we as a state plan to keep them here, we have to get serious about keeping them here.”
She said creating the institute will not only help Arizona keep the aerospace companies it already has, but also help them expand.
Taylor said Mesa is an attractive location not only because of the Polytechnic campus, but also because Mesa is “an emerging aerospace cluster that is second to none in the nation.”
Mesa was named one of the top five locations in the nation for aerospace last year by Expansion Solutions magazine, a site selection magazine for corporate real-estate executives.
In addition, Arizona is ranked fourth in the nation for the number of people employed in aerospace-related jobs and generates $3.8 billion in wages, according to a study called “An Initial Assessment: Creating an Arizona Aerospace Institute,” developed by the ANGLE Technology Group last year.
Gateway Area project manager Scot Rigby said the educational factor from ASU will help develop the next stage of aviation by identifying new technology and research programs, like the study done by ASU researchers using algae to create jet fuel.
He said companies are looking for the best employees, and the institute will be able to funnel talented students to meet their needs.
Rigby said the institute brings key partners together to figure out how to keep the existing aerospace and aviation brain trust in Mesa.
“We want to figure out how we can make sure that we remain competitive for future expansion of existing aviation companies and how we can attract their suppliers to the Gateway area,” Rigby said.
Reach the reporter at griselda.nevarez@asu.edu.
