Rep. Burgess announces $3.1 million for Center for Advanced Research and Technology

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (center) visits with UNT President Norval Pohl (left), UNT System Regent Gayle Strange and UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson after announcing funding for UNT’s new Center for Advanced Research and Technology.

The first phase of a new state-of-the-art Center for Advanced Research and Technology (known as CART) at UNT was launched Nov. 10 with U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess' announcement of a $3.1 million appropriation in the 2004 Defense Appropriations Bill. Beginning in January, the UNT Research Park will be the home of the new UNT College of Engineering and CART.

Burgess, who championed the appropriation for UNT in the House of Representatives while Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison carried the measure in the U.S. Senate, commended UNT for its foresight in investing in nanotechnology and for taking the first steps to serve as one of the North Texas region's research arms in this rapidly evolving new science.

Nanotechnology involves exploratory engineering at atomic and molecular levels, where the nanometer is a standard unit for measuring length.

UNT President Norval Pohl says the university's goals for CART are to acquire and develop specialized measuring equipment so that UNT scientists can characterize materials and devices at the atomic level.

"CART will add a critical service for helping transform academic research to the assembly of actual products at laboratories in the region, around the state and throughout the Southwest," Pohl says.

After the formal program Nov. 10, UNT hosted tours of the research park to showcase renovations made since the purchase of the 550,000-square-foot facility from Texas Instruments in 2001. The university is investing $25 million in planning, designing and renovating the property over the next five years.

The university's plans call for moving the College of Engineering offices, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Department of Engineering Technology to the UNT Research Park for the 2004 spring semester.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering will begin moving to renovated space late in the spring term.

BY RODDY WOLPER rwolper@unt.edu

Other web references

• College of Engineering web site

Other featured articles in this issue

• Latest UNT IDs serve as debit and ATM cards
• E-trans offers many benefits
• Holiday giving continues on campus
• Winter weather brings possibility for closures
• UNT creates Center for Psychosocial Health
• Council focuses on daycare
• Women’s Studies Program sponsors new book club
• UNT Moot Court teams take first, second place at statewide tournament
• TAMS students honored in science competition

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