CMU, Bombardier Launch Smart Infrastructure Incubator
Carnegie Mellon University and transportation giant Bombardier will open a new multidisciplinary $2.2 million research center this fall to explore joint research in a variety of critical technology areas to enable more efficient and sustainable civil infrastructure and transit operations.
Bombardier
is one of the primary founding partners of the new Pennsylvania Smart
Infrastructure Incubator (PSII), and will be joined by other
partners from a
variety of industries in the near future. The Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania is
also providing a significant economic development grant through the
Redevelopment Assistant Capital Program (RACP) to help establish the
incubator.
"This
is a wonderful opportunity for both industry and the state as we move
forward
to highlight this region as a hotbed for advanced infrastructure
technology and
the jobs these technologies will create," said State Senator Jay Costa,
(D-43rd
District) a primary sponsor of the
RACP grant.
Matthew
Sanfilippo, executive director of the PSII, said: "Tomorrow's
infrastructure
will blend traditional concrete-and-steel physical infrastructure
systems with
cyber-infrastructure systems such as computers, networks and sensors in
ways
that are just emerging. Pennsylvania has a wealth of companies,
universities
and institutions that are inventing many of these emerging technologies
that
will build or re-build the world's infrastructure. We intend to bring
these
organizations together to leverage and highlight this new resource to
help make
Pennsylvania a visible leader in these critical emerging technologies."
A
key component of the PSII will be the new Bombardier Collaborative
Center that
will be housed at the university's Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering (ECE) where it will bring together international
industry, economic
development organizations, government and academic players in smart
infrastructure to make western Pennsylvania a major hub for this
infrastructure
revolution.
"The
development of Smart Infrastructure is an example of how, today,
application
domains cut across disciplinary boundaries. At Carnegie Mellon
University, we
have always embraced this approach to advancing technology and we look
forward
to working with our partners to put Pennsylvania at the forefront of
Smart
Infrastructure research, development and education," said Ed
Schlesinger, head
of ECE.
The
PSII also will include a soon-to-be-announced corporate sponsored
smarter
infrastructure analytics laboratory in the Department
of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, as well as projects and resources in
several other
research departments and locations.
"Creation
of the Bombardier Collaboration Center at Carnegie Mellon will enable
joint
research in fields such as smart guidance systems, rail control
solutions,
sensing robotics and so much more," said Romuald Ponte, vice president
of
engineering at Bombardier's Systems Division and the Centre of
Competence. "We
will also work with the university to explore creation of a master's
level
degree program in transportation systems," said Ponte, who pointed out
that the
new collaboration will enable Bombardier's global workforce to feed
real-time
information to researchers about operating conditions and performance
dynamics
from various parts of the world.
A
world-leading manufacturer of innovative transportation solutions from
commercial aircraft and business jets to rail transportation systems and
equipment, this new collaboration with Carnegie Mellon also will help us
to
provide a path for students to enter the rail industry with skill sets
and
collaborative experience geared toward the future, according to Ponte.
The
world's trillion-dollar network of rails, roads, bridges, water
distribution
systems and power networks have varying amounts of automated management
and
monitoring, but the new Carnegie Mellon/Bombardier collaboration will
improve
these critical emerging technologies and train a new generation of
employees to
design and operate them.