ASU - Jonesboro:  $12 million
Department of Defense contract awarded

       Arkansas State University in Jonesboro received the news yesterday that the 2005 Department of Defense appropriations bill which included $12 million in contracts for ASU scientists was signed by President George W. Bush.

      The $12 million contract was secured thanks to the efforts of the entire Arkansas Congressional delegation, according to ASU officials.

      The contract includes two projects which will be conducted by scientists in the College of Sciences and Mathematics to determine weapons of mass destruction.  Using their expertise, the scientists at ASU will work with two other universities in the United States to research and create remote detection techniques for minute levels of nuclear, chemical and biological substances.

      “We are grateful to the entire Arkansas Delegation for making this possible for ASU.  Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor both worked tirelessly on the Conference Committee to secure this for us. We are grateful to President Bush for signing the appropriations bill. We especially appreciate the encouragement and tremendous support of Congressman Marion Berry who worked to pass this through the Appropriations Committee,” said ASU President Dr. Les Wyatt.

      One of the programs, SHADES (Standoff Hazardous Agent Detection Equipment System) will be used to detect nuclear and chemical particles for the location of weapons of mass destruction. SHADES is funded at $1.5 million for ASU in conjunction with Radiance Technologies of Huntsville, Ala.

      The other program, SSRID (Standoff Sensor for Radionuclide Identification) will detect molecules to determine contamination levels from such weapons. SSRID is funded at $10.5 million and will be equally shared with the University of Hawaii and Florida A & M.

      “This is exciting news for ASU and only serves to validate the expertise of our scientists. ASU will be conducting research which will be used by the U.S. Army. I applaud the work of all of our scientists who worked on this proposal and who will continue the research,” said Dr. Susan D. Allen, vice chancellor of Research and Academic Affairs.

      In addition to Dr. Allen, the other scientists who will work on SSRID are: Dr. Bruce Johnson, physics; Dr. William Burns, chemistry; Dr. Scott Reeve, chemistry; and Dr. Sergey Kudryshov, physics. Dr. Robyn Hannigan, in geochemistry, will develop the SHADES program.

      Congressman Berry congratulated ASU for this achievement and said, "Every time rural America is recognized at this level, the entire community benefits. I congratulate ASU, I thank the rest of the Arkansas Congressional delegation for their efforts, and I look forward to hearing about the further success of the university, the community and the district. This cutting-edge research has been awarded to a great institution and I join ASU's administration in congratulating the scientists who have earned the solid reputation making this award possible."

      The Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005 passed the House of Representatives in late June and the Congress in late July. In addition to the funding for ASU to detect weapons of mass destruction, the bill included funding for all branches of the military.

       The new budget year for the Federal Government begins October 1. 

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