Congressman Visclosky wins award from Science Coalition

Pete Visclosky
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The Science Coalition, a 63-member organization composed of American research universities, selected Visclosky for the Champion of Science Award based on a nomination from Purdue. The university presented the award to Visclosky at the Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana in Merrillville.

"This is a fitting location to honor Pete Visclosky because he was responsible for securing the $6.9 million in federal funding to build this state-of-the-art, high-tech business incubator," Jischke said. "His work on the Northwest Indiana Computer Grid is further testament to his dedication to honor American innovation and discovery and keep it in right here in Indiana."

Previous Champion of Science Award winners have included Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va.; and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.

Visclosky was born in Gary, owns a home in Merrillville and is a lifelong resident of northwest Indiana. He represents Indiana's 1st Congressional District, which includes Lake, Porter, Jasper, Newton and Benton counties.

With Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Visclosky led an effort to build the high-performance computer grid in northwest Indiana that will provide high-speed, high-bandwidth fiberoptic connections. Grid computing allows the computation of scientific data to occur across many computers at different institutions and also allows researchers to gain access to resources at other institutions on the grid, such as massive data storage and scientific visualization tools.

The grid connects Purdue's West Lafayette campus, Purdue Calumet in Hammond and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend. The grid also will connect to U.S. government research facilities, including Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, and eventually will be a gateway to other high-performance supercomputer grids throughout the country. Businesses also will be able to tap into this resource through industrial partnerships.

The Northwest Indiana Computational Grid just received an additional $5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to complete the facilities needed to begin operation. This brings the total award for the grid to $6.5 million.

Research already has begun in areas involving:

• The improvement of current electrical grids.

• A database of biometric signatures that includes fingerprint processing, face and iris recognition, and infrared imaging.

• A scientific simulation of the crash of a commercial airliner into the World Trade Center North Tower, allowing engineers to understand how the building's core structure responded to the impact.

• A more detailed analysis of the climatology of severe weather and drought.

Visclosky also secured $1 million for Purdue to develop technologies for a sustainable hydrogen-based energy economy.

"I would like to thank the Science Coalition for this award and extend my deepest gratitude to Purdue University and to President Jischke for their commitment to using science and technology as a driving force for economic prosperity in Indiana," Visclosky said. "This Purdue Technology Center is just one example of how the public sector, academic institutions and cutting-edge private businesses can work together to lead the way into the next generation and create the jobs of the future right here in northwest Indiana."

Purdue Research Foundation and Holladay Properties developed the business and technology park in Merrillville. The center received designation as a state Certified Technology Park through the Indiana Economic Development Corp. in February.

The center, which opened with seven client firms in January 2005, now serves 15 technology-based tenants, four additional tenants and two technology-based affiliate companies. Companies with offices inside the center employ 77 workers, including researchers with advanced degrees, software developers, recent college graduates and interns.

"We have companies in our technology centers throughout Indiana that could have chosen headquarters in nearby states, but they tell us that the proximity to Purdue and the caliber of services they can access helped them decide to come here," said Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and chief operating officer of Purdue Research Foundation. "The stunning growth of the center here in Merrillville is further proof that our model is working, and we're pleased to recognize the congressman for his part in our success."

Purdue Research Foundation also runs the award-winning Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, which was named top research park in the country in 2004 by its peers in the Association of University Research Parks. The Purdue Research Park is home to more than 100 high-tech companies, representing the largest concentration of these ventures in the state.

Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu

Sources: Martin C. Jischke, (765) 494-9708

Pete Visclosky, (202) 225-2461

Joseph Hornett, (765) 496-1658, jbhornett@prf.org

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:
Rep. Pete Visclosky speaks at a ceremony where Purdue University President Martin C. Jischke (rear) presented him with the Champion of Science award from the Science Coalition for his continued support of federal funding for basic science research. The event took place at Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana Thursday (Nov. 2). (Purdue News photo/David Umberger)

A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2006/viscklosky-sciaward.jpg