NASA is working with The University of California, Santa Cruz, and Foothill-De Anza Community College to build a green research campus in Silicon Valley.
This plan calls for an integrated community featuring state-of-the-art
research and teaching laboratories, shared classrooms, housing,
accommodations for industrial partners, and modern infrastructure.
Joint academic initiatives are planned in science, engineering, and
management.
UCSC and Foothill-De Anza have formed a nonprofit entity called University Associates – Silicon Valley LLC, which signed a lease with NASA in December for 75 acres of land in NASA’s Research Park at Moffett Field.
Carnegie Mellon University, Santa Clara University, and San Jose State
University have also been involved in the planning and may eventually
join the partnership, said Joseph Miller, UCSC’s vice provost for
Silicon Valley Initiatives.
"Our vision is to seed innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability through the creative reuse of an important public asset for regional benefit. We aim to establish world-class programs and facilities dedicated to preparing the workforce of the future and to conducting research at the forefront of science and technology," UCSC chancellor George Blumenthal said.
The community will be designed to have a minimal carbon footprint and
will serve as a model site to deploy and validate new renewable-energy
and resource-conservation systems.
Martha Kanter, chancellor of Foothill-De Anza, said, "It opens up exciting possibilities for preparing our students to enter Silicon Valley’s clean-tech green-tech workforce or pursue advanced study in science, technology, engineering, and emerging career fields."
NASA’s goal is to establish the NASA Research Park (NRP) as a shared-use R&D and education campus for collaborations among government, industry, academia, and nonprofit organizations. More than 50 industry, university and nonprofit organizations are already located in the NRP.
Development of the site will be undertaken through a public-private partnership. University Associates plans to select and oversee a "master developer," who would attract the external capital investment required to complete the project, which is expected to cost more than $1 billion. The property will remain in federal ownership, with University Associates and the master developer responsible for managing and developing the site.
Work on the site could begin as early as 2013, with initial occupancy as early as 2015.
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