future projects

with new pact

By Philip S. Moore,

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Inside Tucson Business

Initially offering little more than an agreement to consult with each other, but with an eye to future grant-funded collaborative research projects, the University of Arizona is joining with eight other public universities along the U.S.-Mexican border to establish a new Southwest Border Security Consortium.

Announced during the ComDef Tucson conference, Nov. 13, the alliance participants said they are making the move to establish a single source for development of scientific and policy solutions for issues affecting the southern border region.

Joining with the University of Arizona will be Arizona State University, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech and the University of New Mexico, as well as San Diego State University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Texas at El Paso and San Antonio.

“We believe this is a very powerful group of universities applying their knowledge to resolving the conflict between free movement of people, ideas and good and the need for security,” said Bruce Wright, UA’s associate vice president for economic development. “We expect them to take a leadership role in finding solutions through their shared vision and collective capabilities for technological innovation.”

The consortium combines existing programs at each of the member schools, “to create a one-stop shopping capability for government agency work,” said Bob Welty, director for homeland security projects for San Diego State. “For four years, we’ve been working on these issues separately, but together our goal is to become a national resource.”

Already benefiting from ongoing relationships with defense and advanced technology companies, as well as colleges in Mexico, the combined impact will be even greater, said Lt. Gen Lawson Magruder (USA-Ret.), executive director of the Institute for the Protection of American Communities at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“All along the border, each university has connections in Mexico and the rest of Latin America they can bring to bear,” he said. “That gives us trans-boundary potential, that would be very natural and very easy, and is one of the reasons this consortium may be important, going forward.”

As state land-grant universities there’s a special reason to join forces, said Elyse Golub, director of UA’s Office of Economic and Policy Analysis. “We all have had a deep commitment for nearly a century to promote and focus on those issues that benefit the border region.”

Among the proposed cooperative ventures will be degree programs, as well as research and development project, said Bill Stockton, Texas A&M’s executive director of the university’s Texas Transportation Institute. “We’ll also be able to offer opinions, as well as research, explaining the implications of policy decisions.”

Eric Frost, director San Diego State’s homeland security master’s degree program said, “This is a first step. We’ll be taking some time to see where we’re at, and then we’ll decide where to go from here.”

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Philip S. Moore at pmoore@azbiz.com or at (520) 295-4238.