Creating an industrial park dedicated to composite materials — as a new study by the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition recommends — could be an economic development boon for Wichita and the region. Such a park could help Wichita become a global Center of Excellence for advanced materials, which could strengthen our existing aircraft companies, attract new companies and help diversify our economy, as composite products could be used in other industries. As GWEDC president Patrick French said, “It’s a tremendous opportunity.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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45 Comments
Yes it is! :)
Absolutely true. And where is our local University on this? I’m afraid that, as usual, they are far behind the curve.
Please tell me the last time government successfully (and GWEDC is govt) picked the right industry and how to succeed in an industry.
Let the marketplace and private investors decide what makes sense and what doesn’t.
The local Uni involvement? If anything it should be listed in http://www.niar.wichita.edu/
Yes, NIAR is the place. And I hope they can step up to the plate. Also the much-vaunted Jabara training center needs to make sure it is looking forward not backwards in their technologies.
YES, NIAR IS THE PLACE AND THEY ARE DOING IT. SEE:
http://www.aintv.com/home.asp?CATEGORY_ID=6&ID=12&FMT=WM
I hope their substance lives up to their public relations.
I understand that they are going to build a multi million dollar test facility to do DO-160 testing.
I’m with Smiley. Let the experts and the market choose. I just see my taxes going into a hole in the ground. It’s time for another Tea Party. I’ll be the one in the Indian outfit.
Composites rock! (pun)
They can take recycled materials and make things stronger than even the best steel and iron. And weigh up to 70% less.
Viva le Compositif ! (Made this up)
If you become an expert at something, people will beat a path to your door. So, why not Wichita?
I say go for it.
I too think this is a fine idea. It’s important for Wichita to find a niche and if government can help for a change, well all the better.
I have been hoping that Kansas would become a leader in wind and solar technology and I am working on something to that end. :)
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!
My thought is that it comes about five to ten years too late. Composite technology was being trumpted as tne “next great thing” at least a decade ago. Does anyone else remember the Starship? That was the time to begin to get agressive with composites, IMHO.
Yeah, I remember it.a flying lightening rod wasn’t it?
I defenitely think that growing the composites industry is a good idea, but you’ll also need to have the trained personnel in place to do the job as well. Opportunity without the ability to fill it is wasted energy.
This is not a new idea being promulgated by the GWEDC. Prior to Visioneering, the Chamber did some long-term strategic planning during the formation of the GWEDC. The composite/aviation industrial park was identified as a goal. Ala the Research Triangle in the Raleigh-Durham area. The reality is that NIAR could do more and needs to do more, but as usual, it is a control issue. NIAR will only become what WSU wants it to be because of the research dollars coming into the university. Hopefully, WSU will learn to become a “team” member within the community. There is tremendous potential in this industry sector.
I should also note that the market potential for composites use goes waaaaaay beyond the avaiation industry.
One problem claimed with wind energy is intereference caused by the rotating (metal) blades. Composites might eliminate this.
Raph, I agree that the potential for composites extends beyond aviation. The issue, in my mind, is if as you say the Chamber had this as a long term goal, why were steps not taken earlier to begin implementation? My “conspiracy theory du jour” is that at that time, the aviation industry had not begun to utilize composites in a significant manner, and the Chamber didn’t see the potential in other industrial areas. It is my fear that this initiative will be another example of “too little, too late”. With that said, I hope to be proven incorrect.
Hey Ben, you manage to put 2 and 2 together pretty well, for a geologist. :)
Suffice it to say that Kansas is going to play a big part in the furture of our Nation and the world! :)
V.L.R.B!!
Well, it was and is a control issue. NIAR for the most part is funded by the local aviation industry. The board that oversees NIAR’s operation is mostly aviation industry reps. It’s not really a conspiracy so much as turf control and a lack of common vision for the community. With most things in this community, we lack a sense of long term direction and vision. Because of that, you are correct in that it may be another example of too little, too late. There are countless examples. Why do we, as a community, have to be the last ones to build a downtown arena? the last to build a casino? the last to have a research and industrial park? the last to redeveop downtown?
Ralph,
I for one don’t want a casino because they don’t provide good paying jobs and they leave much social devastation in their wake. The only viable ancilliary businesses that casinos create are bottom feeding pawn-shops! Just say NEIN to casinos!
V.L.R.B!!
Very good points – especially about WSU and ‘control’. Way back in 1994 when I ran for legislature my primary issue was the need to bring together WSU, Vo-Tech, and the four area JCs into a system. That is still needed today – the Jabara venture should have been done by that ’system’. Also R&D needs to be expanded and needs to be ahead rather than behind the curve.
Applications for composites are many. Consider light-weight materials for automobiles and their impact of fuel efficiency. Pipelines, storage tanks, etc …
City leaders have known of this need for many years. However, they don’t seem to have placed much emphasis on it.
I completely understand about the casino, but the point is that if we, as a community, decide do a casino, it’s way late in the ball game!
I’m not a big fan of the government controlling anything; however, the city should look at ways to provide incentives to ehance the industry. Problem is that anytime the city wants to contribute dollars, they want to control how the dollars are spent. As if the city knows anyting about running a business………
I think building a composite industrial cluster is a smart idea. There will be opportunities to make a cornucopia of products, whose scope is only limited by imagination and ambitiom, including automotive…biomedical… energy generation…sporting goods…
The question is, will Wichita’s leaders have the insight to take a very long view, and create at WSU a cutting-edge research chemistry institute. When you talk about polymers, metallorganic hybrids, ceramics et al., that’s chemistry. It isn’t an accident that California introduced modern composites to aviation starting with the stealth program, and eventuating with Burt Rutan’s Starship I, the first civilian craft to reach space. California’s extraordinary chemistry research infrastructure was absolutely crucial. These composites are molecules.
This doesn’t mean inciting a “turf war” with NIAR, it means giving NIAR enormous growth potential through innovation and collaboration with chemists, each synergistically contributing to the other’s work.
We don’t need to have a chemistry institute to support composite manufacturing, but we do need one to create a world-class center of excellence, developing new, high-value products before others do. Suppose you have a product that is good, but warrants improvement. Being able to perform molecular modifications extends your capabilities enormously. It changes the way you think about the products you design. It enables you to think about doing new things that would otherwise elude you.
I also want to point out that this new initiative should cause a revisitation of the ill-fated math-and-science charter academy proposal. The city will need to bring in more materials scientists and engineers. Their kids will have science talent that needs to be cultivated well. You don’t want to lose the opportunity to recruit top-flight industry-growth contributors because they look at the school options here for their children and find them inadequate.
Bottom line, for a new high-tech industry to thrive here, you have to view it comprehensively, and that includes science education and research infrastructure development.
heartlander – I suspect that the chemistry part would best be done in collaboration with KU and KSU. They have a good setup already, particularly in nanotechnology.
What we also need is the venture capital to provide the financial backing for the research.
Heart, I’m thinking that the Science magnet program at Northeast Magnet High School is a good place to start in providing that type of education program. Fairness in blogging requires me to disclose my association with said High School as a member of its Site Council since 1994.
With that said, why doesn’t the State look at creating a Math and Science residential high school much as Illinois and Texas have (there are likely others, I’m ignorant of them)?The entire state needs this kind of educational opportunity, not just Wichita.
VT, an 11th-12th grade residential academy is on the drawing board. Unfortunately for Wichita, if the admissions are strictly academic-merit based, rather than split into geographic feeder zones, Johnson County will hog the lion’s share of admissions slots, with smaller numbers coming from Lawrence and Manhattan, and probably only a handful from Wichita, at best.
Heart, good to know. I have a feeling that to be able to sell the 11-12 grade residential academy to the good people of Kansas, it will need to have geographic based feeder patterns, rather than academic merit-based admission criteria. With that said, my preference is for academic merit-based admissions, which, hopefully, will spur the local BOE into imposing real academic requirements on High Schools.
Personal note: the Magnet program at NEMHS I have referenced has a higher level Math performance than the general, comprehensive high school in this town, as the lowest level of Math offered is Algebra I. There are several students over the years (including my elder daughter) who came into NEMHS at a higher level, who finished out their Math by taking Calc II and III, and in some cases even higher-level courses, at WSU, which, given its location relative to NEMHS, allows easier pursuit of these kind of courses. Regrettably, the onus is on the parents to pay the freight, but there is college credit given, after all.
VT, that’s inspiring to hear about your daughter. What did she go on to do after hs?
Heart, thanks for asking. The elder, after graduation, attended Carleton College, Northfield, MN, where she graduated magna with a major in Math, and a concentration in Biochemistry. After taking a year off, started the PhD program at Minnesota in Biomedical Engineering. Alas, the funding for the research project upon which she was working was totally cut this year, and so she is taking a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering and a Master’s in Education, as she didn’t want to start over and still be working on the doctorate at age 30. Her ultimate goal is to teach at the small college level.
I have neglected the younger, also a daughter, who attended NEMHS as well. She attended WSU as well, in French, as she was not as mathematically adroit as her sister. Currently, she is a Junior at Colby College, Waterville, ME, majoring in American Studies with a concerntration in Government, and a minor in Women’s and Gender Sexuatlity Studies (or something like that).
Proud papa; you bet (proud mama, too, but she doesn’t post on blogs).
Ben, on doing composite-supporting chemistry research, I think that if KU and/or KSU were involved, they’d have to set up a satellite research institute here, somewhat analogous to KU’s satellite med school. In this era of interdisciplinary research, it is invaluable for colleagues to have frequent face-to-face interactions, attend afternoon seminars, socialize after-hours, in some cases cross-share grad students and so forth. I don’t know of any top-tier engineering schools that don’t have strong basic science departments on campus.
In terms of funding, if we can raise $200+ million for an arena’s construction, the sales tax can be extended to build a world-class research center; then when top-grade faculty are recruited, they will bring in federal research dollars to pay for operations. Sales taxes could also be used to fund world-class vo-tech training facilites.
If Wichitans can do these things, combining top-grade research, training and academic-industrial enterprise investment, this will enable Wichita to enjoy a thriving 21st century economy.
Congrats Vaught – Carleton is a good college.
heart – agreed on a satellite. My concern would be dilution with too many facilities in this small state.
VT no wonder you’re proud of your girls!
I would have no opposition to an additional sales tax to fund the type of program heartlander describes. My concern is, of course, waiting for the arena funds to be gathered; can we afford that much delay? Yes, I am suggesting we start now.
Thanks, Ben and heart.
I think Ben makes a valid point on dilution; however, should the Wichita thing be a true goer, the institution with the satellite facility here surely would gain additional faculty and grad students in the appropriate disciplines which could temper that possible problem.
Fortunately Wichita and Lawrence are not too far apart.
As I recall there was a lot of collaboration between Michigan State (ELansing) and Wayne State back when I was there.
Ben, yes, except that Wichita is Kansas’s largest city, and for a technology-based future, it needs a research infrastructure. I attended a Visioneering meeting where it was lamented that KU and KSU get “all the research money”.
Why should Wichita be held down? Colorado is a fairly small state (in 1970 it had fewer people than Kansas). In 2000, KU and KSU combined had $100 million in federal science and engineering expenditures. U New Mexico alone received $100 M, and NM State ca. $30M. U Utah received $126 M, and Utah State ca $40M. These two states, smaller than Kansas, got a lot more research money. Neither of them, BTW, has a share of a 1.8 M population MSA–i.e. a major American city (KC).
Iowa, barely more populous than Kansas, got $141 M at U Iowa alone, and more than $50 M. U Nebraska got $60 M, but on a per-capita-population basis, that state had higher federal science and engineering research expenditures than Kansas. Colorado got over $400 M–four times as much money as Kansas–despite being less than twice as populous. Colorado State U, Colorado’s SECOND-RANKED research university, got more federal research funding, $101 M, than KU and KSU combined in 2000. Research is an investment that pays big dividends.
Correction for Iowa: more than $50 M at Iowa State U.
Well, looks like Tankerlass Todd isn’t helping us very much.
heart, I have often lamented the fact that KU (my alma mater) didn’t receive more research money; one reason, according to the elder, is that it has been late to the game in the interdisciplinary programs you have discussed. Not to be too unkind, but WSU has not seemed to me to be interested in any “pure research” in the time since I became old enough to notice. As for KSU, its historical mission is similar to ISU, which, by your figures, receives substanital research money, and perhaps it has the market cornered in this part of the U.S.
Why Colorado and Nebraska do so well is beyond me, although when I was an undergrad, the research programs at CU were well known to the science types.
Years ago when I was studying Chemistry at MIT and then UCLA KU was a well-known and respected institution. I don’t know how well they have maintained that edge; I think pretty well. KSU was considered a good “second-tier” institution. WSU … ? I’m afraid they really have not found their niche.
Kansans have made anti-intellectual decisions. After WWII KU Chancellor Dean Malott urged the legislature to modernize it by developing a strong science research focus. The politicos turned a deaf ear. So Dr. Malott gave up and took the helm at Cornell. His successor Franklin Murphy took up the cause. He too got nowhere. So he went out west to an institution that originated as the Los Angeles Normal School, and transformed that sleepy university into a world-renowned research institution–UCLA.
There were reasons why KU was held back. KU had always been resented by the less-educated rural contingent–which among other things had long undermined KU by forcing it to admit any hs grad who applied, no matter whether or not he had a college-preparatory education. These folks backed KSU, but KSU wasn’t making a big-time-research bid, so KU was held back.
So many people thought, after the devastation of the Great Depression, “Our economy is the best it’s ever been, and it didn’t require research (actually it did, but as it was done elsewhere, and the benefits trickled down, it wasn’t appreciated), so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The research proposals weren’t “fixes” they were an attempt to lay down a long-term future for Kansas. Kansans don’t have a lot of long-horizon visual acuity.
This being said, it’s never too late to make a commitment to research. Past opportunity lapses have cost Kansas, but you can always lay a foundation for the future.