Posts Tagged ‘United States’

Release courtesy of the NMSU News Center

Top national and state economists will unveil their economic forecasts for 2012 at the inaugural Economic Outlook Conference sponsored by the College of Business at New Mexico State University and Wells Fargo Bank. The free conference takes place from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at the Corbett Center Student Union on the NMSU campus.

“Wells Fargo’s decision to co-host its economic forecast conference in Las Cruces reflects the growing importance this region has on the overall state economy,” said Garrey Carruthers, dean of the NMSU College of Business and vice president for economic development.

“Wells Fargo is proud to partner with NMSU to present this inaugural economic outlook event,” said Lisa Riley, regional president for Wells Fargo New Mexico. “The purpose of this event is to deliver the very latest information concerning the United States and New Mexico economies. Recent history, current state and future paths of each of these economies will provide the business owner or executive with the best information available to plan for the coming year.”

Delivering the national economic forecast for Wells Fargo will be Eugenio Alemán, a senior economist and vice president for the company. Alemán will discuss the country’s strengthening economy as job creation rises and the housing market stabilizes. He also will discuss the challenges still facing the nation’s economy, particularly the risk posed by a potential collapse of the euro.

At Wells Fargo, Alemán forecasts national, regional and international economic trends. His primary focus is the United States, including interest rates and the economies of Texas and Arizona. He also is an expert on the economies of Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Within that area, his specialties include the economies of border towns that trade with Mexico and the maquiladora-manufacturing sector along the U.S.-Mexico border. He is based in Charlotte, N.C.

After Alemán’s presentation, NMSU economist Jim Peach will provide the state’s economic forecast. Peach will explain how the national economy affects New Mexico and also will focus on economic growth prospects for the state.  “Three sectors of the state economy – government, energy and construction – will be key factors in both the short- and long-run recovery in New Mexico,” Peach said.

To register for the event, contact Judy Wetzel at 575-521-6849 or at judith.a.wetzel@wellsfargo.com.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Todd G. Dickson

State Higher Education Secretary Jose Garcia and Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera say they intend to make the public schools and higher education work together to provide a better trained work force.

Speaking before the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA) Tuesday, Jan. 3, Garcia and Skandera said they also will make the educational system more accountable. Their appearance in Las Cruces was followed up by Gov. Susana Martinez meeting with a large group of regents, governing board members and post-secondary institution presidents in Socorro to discuss the state’s new higher education funding formula.

The new formula will reward New Mexico’s higher learning institutions based on outcome measures that reflect student achievement and preparedness for New Mexico’s work force, as opposed to basing the allocation of funding on measurements like the size (square footage) of each institution. Also, the current formula funds colleges and universities based on courses and degree programs started. The new formula would be based on courses and degree programs completed.

Garcia said this is about more than making better use of the state’s support of higher education. The idea is to put the money into where there are gaps, especially in skill sets needed in high-tech professions.

At the MVEDA luncheon, Garcia noted that Intel decided to expand its Arizona operations, but not its plant in Rio Rancho. Yet, New Mexico spends more per graduate than Arizona, he said. Garcia said he took it as signal that New Mexico is not producing the kind of work force that is needed for the United States to be competitive globally.

“The central goal of New Mexico’s higher education institutions should be to graduate the students New Mexico’s economy will depend on for decades,” Martinez said. “In an increasingly competitive global economy, this formula will help us deliver the graduates we need for the jobs of tomorrow, and it serves to intently focus our attention on the achievement of our students.”

Under the formula, institutions would receive funding for graduating students in “STEHM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Health Care and Mathematics) fields. A recent study disclosed that New Mexico’s economy will require nearly 50,000 employees with STEHM degrees by 2018 and nearly 95 percent of those jobs will require post-secondary education. “For the first time in the history of New Mexico, the younger generation is less educated than the generations before,” Garcia said. “This new formula is our opportunity to make sure today’s students are tomorrow’s successful employees.”

Meanwhile, Skandera said the schools will be changing, too, with a focus on making graduates better prepared for the work force or higher education once they complete school. Skandera said the schools will be more realistically assessed than the guaranteed failure rates offered by No Child Left Behind standards, which she said has only resulted in schools putting resources into helping borderline students rather than helping struggling students.

“Education is about setting up our kids for success,” Skandera said. “Let’s honor the successes we see and work on the areas we need to.”

At the MVEDA luncheon, a local success story was also highlighted. The Arrowhead Park Early College High School (APECHS) on the New Mexico State University campus will get a boost from a $345,090 W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant for the public-private workforce development advocate. The school, created by a school-business partnership called the Bridge of Southern New Mexico gives students the chance to learn in a higher education environment and earn college credits.

APECHS can tout that none of its students have dropped out, said Tracey Bryan, president and CEO of The Bridge. She said the cooperative efforts between the public schools, higher education and the business community is what spurred Kellogg to give the significant grant.

Distribution of the grant money includes $45,000 to NMSU’s Enlace Program that helps minority students succeed in higher education, $45,000 to NMSU and the University of New Mexico education research centers, $37,090 to the Arrowhead Center where the school is housed and $10,000 to the Service Learning Program at the NMSU College of Education. But the bulk of the Kellogg grant will be used to increase the student capacity at APECHS and to begin work on setting up four more early college high schools in Doña Ana County, according to the grant announcement.

Bryan said the Kellogg grant is a significant award, but The Bridge also has been getting grants from other private foundations and local businesses to help the APECHS effort. Through APECHS and other efforts, Las Cruces Public Schools is seeing good progress on reducing its dropout rate overall, Bryan said, “and the sky’s the limit” for future progress.

Skandera touted APECHS as an example of how to improve schools. “We didn’t point fingers in Las Cruces,” she said. “We sat down and said how do we get there, and we partnered.”

Release courtesy of NMSU News Center

WRITER: Janet Perez, 575-646-4120, perezjm@nmsu.edu

CONTACT: Steve Hottman, 575-646-9202, shottman@psl.nmsu.edu

New Mexico State University is building a stellar international reputation for its work on unmanned aircraft systems, a fact reflected in the continually growing success of its annual UAS TAAC (Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technical Analysis and Applications Center) Conference.

Entering its 13th year, the UAS TAAC Conference is hosted by NMSU’s Physical Science Laboratory and takes place Dec. 6-8 at the Tamaya Hyatt Regency in Santa Ana Pueblo. The Arrowhead Center, NMSU’s economic development hub, also plays a key role in the conference.

“The significance of a UAS conference in New Mexico continues to grow as we see development of the industry in the state,” said Steve Hottman, associate dean and deputy director for research at PSL. “Our conference efforts have not only attracted the interest and support of industry and government leaders, but also have acted as a great platform for drawing business to the state, as with the recent Vulture project PSL is working on with DARPA.”

On Sept. 30, NMSU announced that PSL had entered a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to assist in the development and lead the flight-testing of the Vulture unmanned aerial vehicle, the prime contractor of which is Boeing. The Vulture II will have a 400-foot wingspan and weigh between 5,000 and 7,000 pounds.

The idea for the Vulture, and NMSU’s involvement in the project, began a few years ago at a UAS TAAC Conference.

“This conference is one of the most respected networking venues in the UAS industry,” Hottman said. “It allows attendees access to leaders they would likely never get otherwise.”

When the first conference was held in 1998, it was one of only a handful in the nation that primarily focused on the civil use of unmanned aircraft systems. Since then, the conference has become a must-attend event for industry and government leaders. This year, representative s from the Department of Defense, NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration, among others, will be on hand. Representatives from aviation user groups, universities and private industry also are expected to attend.

Topics for the conference include airspace access; the use of UAS by law enforcement, homeland security and the military; the availability of spectrum and bandwidth; and the challenges and opportunities facing unmanned aircraft systems. On Dec. 8, a session will be held at a classified location.

“In its 13th year, the TAAC Conference has proven itself to be recession proof,” Hottman said. “In fact, registration for the conference is now closed because we have reached maximum capacity.”

NMSU’s UAS TAAC program has risen to the top of the UAS field through its testing of various UAS platforms. It also has produced a certification roadmap that is serving as a framework for UAS certification. This work has been accomplished largely through the fact that NMSU is the only FAA-authorized UAS Flight Test Center in the United States, which allows UAS operations in the National Airspace System or civilian airspace. Under the FAA agreement, the Flight Test Center can operate flights across more than 15,000 square miles of airspace in southwestern New Mexico. The center’s facilities include a 15,000-square-foot hangar at the Las Cruces International Airport that is dedicated exclusively to UAS operations, as well as offices and technical support on the NMSU campus.

On the economic development front, the Arrowhead Center is creating opportunities for aerospace businesses in southern New Mexico and beyond, partly in tandem with Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences.

For more information on the conference, log onto http://taac.psl.nmsu.edu.

Release courtesy of NMSU News Center

WRITER: Mark Cramer, 575-646-1957, mwcramer@nmsu.edu

CONTACT: Steve Hottman, 575-646-9202, shottman@psl.nmsu.edu

New Mexico State University on Sept. 30 announced that its Physical Science Laboratory is partnering with the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in developing and testing DARPA’s Vulture unmanned aerial vehicle program.

The Vulture II Program, a joint venture between DARPA and Boeing, is centered around a new type of UAV with a 400-foot wingspan, weighing just 5,000 pounds. The objective of the Vulture program is to develop and demonstrate the technology to enable an airborne payload to remain on-station, uninterrupted for more than five years, performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and communication missions. A mixture of solar cells and solid oxide fuel cells will power the vehicle. The system has potential in numerous roles: operation as a single platform, as a formation of multiple aircraft, or as a constellation providing infrastructure augmentation or recovery.

“This is really exciting,” said retired Air Force Col. T. Bear Larson, who is NMSU’s point of contact with DARPA. “We think this is a great opportunity for you guys to see some of our technology and maybe help us out in areas that you are strong in. We love the facilities out here. Everything about this is exciting to me. This technology intrigues me.”

The program technology enables a re-taskable, persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package. It combines the key benefits of an aircraft – flexibility and responsiveness, sensor resolution, reduced transmit/receive power and affordability – with the benefits of space assets, such as on-station persistence, no logistics tail, energy independence, fleet size and absence of an in-country footprint.

“It’s quite an extraordinary accomplishment that’s going to bring plenty of attention to New Mexico State University and possibly similar agreements in the future,” NMSU President Barbara Couture said. “The initial contract is for about $2.5 million, and we expect, if this is successful, for more contracts to be down the road. This is a truly experimental aircraft. It’s going to be a very exciting, unusual mission here right in our back yard in Las Cruces.”

NMSU’s PSL will be involved in addressing a variety of technology challenges for the massive UAV, including developing energy management and reliability technologies capable of allowing the aircraft to operate continuously for five years. The Vulture program will conduct full-scale technology maturation and demonstration activities to prove out critical technologies. Its intent is to advance technology and break the mindset that aircraft are defined by launch, recovery and maintenance cycles. Program success would allow a continuous operating airborne platform to remain on-station for multiple years and would greatly increase capabilities of the Department of Defense. In addition, NMSU/PSL will apply their airworthiness assessment, risk analysis and excellent safety record with unmanned aircraft in developing a safe operation to minimize impact to other airspace users.

NMSU is the only FAA Authorized Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Test Center in the United States, allowing for UAS operations in the National Airspace System or civilian airspace.

The NMSU/PSL portion of the project will continue through the conclusion of flight testing, which is expected to last into the third quarter of fiscal year 2014. DARPA determined that NMSU/PSL was the only entity capable of meeting the unique facilities, airspace and technical expertise required to oversee and conduct the flight testing of the Vulture while also meeting airspace, available frequency spectrum and takeoff and landing requirements.

“We’re going to have a building ready in early 2013 and start assembling the vehicle out here,” Larson said. “Our intent is to fly sorties of less than three hours to understand the airframe, and then start climbing up in altitude, with the culmination a 30-day flight test to demonstrate it can fly. Then we’ll bring it back down and do a forensic analysis on all the components. We’re really looking forward to this.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has given NMSU/PSL permission to build the airport for the Vulture testing on its land at the Jornada Experimental Range, northeast of Las Cruces. The vehicle will require a 3,000-foot diameter circle for level takeoffs. USDA also partners with NMSU/PSL for its UAS program. They use a small UAS for their remote sensing program for ecological applications, including access to airspace, image acquisition, terrain extraction, orthorectification, mosaicking, vegetation classification, geometric and classification accuracies and operational workflows.

Formed though a partnership between the Federal Aviation Administration and NMSU, the UAS Flight Test Center supports the integration of unmanned systems into the National Airspace System and operates the only FAA approved UAS FTC in the U.S. With more than 13 years of experience and expertise in UAS integration, operations and research and development, it collects data during unmanned flights in public, non-restricted airspace to assist the FAA in the development of standards and regulations for UAS operators.

The UAS FTC’s agreement with the FAA allows it to operate flights in more than 15,000 square miles of airspace in southwestern New Mexico. Facilities include a 15,000-square-foot hangar at the Las Cruces International Airport dedicated exclusively to UAS operations, and office facilities and technical support are available on the NMSU campus.

Article courtesy of El Paso Times

By Vic Kolenc

SANTA TERESA – With a stroke of a pen, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on Tuesday started the wheels rolling for a proposed $400 million Union Pacific rail facility in Santa Teresa.

Martinez, appearing in a Santa Teresa warehouse filled with politicians and area business people, signed recently passed state legislation exempting Union Pacific from paying locomotive fuel tax so the railroad company will develop the new facility.

The locomotive fueling station and intermodal freight yard are expected to create 3,000 jobs during four years of construction and to bring 600 permanent jobs, Union Pacific officials have said.

Martinez also signed two other pieces of recently passed legislation: one creating a zone around Santa Teresa and Columbus, N.M., for overweight cargo trucks, which economic developers say should attract more industrial distribution centers, and another to create a border infrastructure fund to make it easier for the New Mexico Border Authority to attract private and public funds for international port of entry improvements.

“As activity increases, Santa Teresa will reap benefits for new commercial and industrial development,” Martinez said. “Today, with the signing of these bills, New Mexico has the opportunity to expand on the possibility of growth.”

Former El Paso Mayor Joe Wardy, vice president of strategic development for Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution, an El Paso trucking and warehousing company, said the Union Pacific complex should help the entire area because Union Pacific’s facilities in El Paso are at capacity. “This helps us as a logistics center,” Wardy said.

Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator in Santa Teresa, said, “We’re talking about a project that will change the face of our region and make this the logistical hub of the border.”

Zoe Richmond, director of public affairs for Union Pacific’s Phoenix office, which oversees this area, said the railroad plans to keep its El Paso facilities, including a small intermodal freight yard. But some of its 400 El Paso jobs will eventually be shifted to Santa Teresa, she said. “We had no room to grow. We are land locked in El Paso,” Richmond said.

Union Pacific hopes to begin construction on the 2,200-acre Santa Teresa facility this summer, Richmond said. The company has already begun talking to area educational institutions about work-force development, she said.

This is the third time bills have passed the New Mexico Legislature to bring the Union Pacific facility to Santa Teresa. The project never took off in 2006 because Union Pacific had trouble securing all the land it needed, Richmond said. The project was again ready to be launched in 2008, but the recession killed it, she said.

Everything looks good this time for construction to start this summer, she said. Union Pacific hopes to have the facility open by 2015, Richmond said.

James Robinson III, president of J.H. Rose Logistics, which operates a 65,000-square-foot distribution center in Santa Teresa, said the rail facility should bring more freight traffic into the area. And the overweight truck zone will allow more cargo from Mexico to come into Santa Teresa warehouses, which should help his company and other distribution centers bring in more business, he said.

Pacheco said the overweight truck zone allows trucks to cross from Mexico to Santa Teresa warehouses without heavy loads having to be broken up into several loads as is done today. This can be done at the Santa Teresa port of entry because it has no bridges, which are sensitive to heavy loads, as do other El Paso-area ports, Pacheco said.

Loads of cement or scrap metals that need to be returned from Mexico manufacturing operations to be processed in the United States, are some of the heavy loads that could be processed at Santa Teresa, he said. More finished manufactured goods also could go into the overweight truck zone, he said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; (915)546-6421.