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Automotive supplier announces expansion, jobs
Diamond Electric’s Manufacturing Corp. announced a $21 million expansion of its ignition coil plant that will provide as many as 40 new jobs.
The expansion will accommodate new business: the production of ignition coils for DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Co. and the new Global Engine Alliance Co.
The company also has been a Toyota Motor Manufacturing Corp. supplier since its West Virginia plant started production more than six years ago. In 2002, Diamond expanded the facility so it could start direct delivery of ignition coils to Toyota’s West Virginia engine plant in nearby Buffalo.
Diamond Electric has made coils at the Eleanor plant for DaimlerChrysler since it opened.
The latest expansion project will allow the company to produce coils for the 5.7-liter and 6.1-liter car and truck engines that DaimlerChrysler builds.
Toyota recognizes supplier for excellence
Diamond Electric Manufacturing Corp. received an award of excellence from Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc., for delivery of ignition coils in 2003.
The awards acknowledge suppliers who have met Toyota’s highest standards in quality, delivery and value improvement for parts, materials and transportation.
Companies win joint R&D project from NASA
ProLogic Inc. and the Institute for Scientific Research Inc. (ISR) won Phase II of a NASA R&D project.
“LIDAR (LIght Detection and Ranging) data has been traditionally hard to process using commercial geographic information systems (GIS) technologies,” said Chetan Desai, ProLogic’s principal investigator. “Our approach allows us to break the intensive computing processing up into smaller portions and spread those portions across multiple computers while still providing the ability to visualize the data on a PC bought from Dell or at Circuit City, for example. This opens the door to providing valuable data to thousands of users who wouldn’t have had access to it in the past.”
ProLogic Inc. is an information technology business specializing in GIS, data visualization, knowledge management, system integration and business process re-engineering.
The Institute for Scientific Research Inc. (ISR) specializes in advanced R&D, and provides multidisciplinary solutions to the leading-edge technology problems of its government, military and commercial clients.
Tech transfer benefits border security
The National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) played a pivotal role in furthering the development of a threat detection and tracking system that will monitor the millions of cargo containers coming into the United States each day.
Once fully developed, the system will retrofit existing overseas shipping containers with Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking, an intrusion detection device and internal sensors to scan the containers’ interiors.
The NTTC helped the technology’s creators establish contacts with officials at the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to gain support for the research phases of the project and identified existing NASA technologies that could be incorporated into the final product.
Based in Wheeling, W.Va., the NTTC helps federal agencies identify commercially promising discoveries, market them to industry and build partnerships that turn inventions into products.
MU research team advances homeland security
A research team at Marshall University’s Forensic Science Center, led by Angela Zimmerman, DNA analyst senior, recently accomplished a major advance in homeland security.
The team determined that DNA can still be detected on envelopes irradiated with e-beam radiation by the United States Postal Service to protect the handlers against anthrax and other contaminants.
The team also included Dr. Terry Fenger, center director; Kelly Beatty; and Dr. Jamie Downs, a Savannah, Ga., medical examiner. The findings were published in the Journal of Forensic Science.
The center is the nation’s first and only university-affiliated CODIS laboratory. The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is the nationwide searchable database, coordinated by the FBI, that contains DNA profiles of convicted felons and case evidence. The Marshall center analyzes and compiles the DNA of convicted offenders in West Virginia into a searchable database.
New biometrics website launched
The Department of Defense Biometrics Management Office in Washington, D.C., and the Biometrics Fusion Center in Harrison County unveiled a new biometrics website, www.biometrics.dod.mil.
The site provides information on how the groups work with the private biometric industry, academia; evaluations of industry products; history of policies, mandates and legislation; and seeks feedback from users.
State computing grid gets boost from award
The Institute for Scientific Research, West Virginia University, Fairmont State College and Alderson-Broaddus College will cooperate to begin development of the West Virginia Cluster Computing Grid, aided by a $354,000 National Science Foundation award to the institute.
Researchers and educators in the state will benefit from a computer grid through access to computing resources that will link colleges, universities and research institutions using the best available technology.
High-technology consortium to aid Air Force
The West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation won a $19 million contract to deliver analysis, assessment and compliance products that address Air Force Enterprise interoperability capabilities and requirements, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The products include tools, test suites, test harnesses, use cases, conformance processes and technical reports and evaluations.
ATK wins contract for anti-armor missile system
ATK has won a $13 million contract from the Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture team to manufacture composite launch tube assemblies for the Javelin anti-armor weapon system.
The Javelin launch tube assembly is manufactured at ATK Tactical Systems, Rocket Center, W.Va. ATK will deliver the composite launch tube assemblies in support of U.S. and foreign military sales (FMS). The majority of this award is intended to support FMS sales.
Production will begin in April 2004 and continue through September 2005.
Javelin, the world’s premier shoulder-fired anti-armor system, was developed for the U.S. Army by the Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Joint Venture. It is designed to defeat enemy armor targets by utilizing a top-attack profile to strike where the armor is weakest.
West Virginia enhances tax credit package
West Virginia added a powerful new tax credit and enhanced its existing R&D credit.
The High-Growth Business Investment Tax Credit encourages investment in startup and emerging high-growth R&D business in the state.
The credit may offset business franchise, corporate net income or personal income taxes.
An investor or investor group may obtain up to $50,000 of credit in a business certified by the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue as eligible for the Strategic Research & Development Tax Credit.
Unused credit may be carried forward but expires the fourth year after the initial investment.
West Virginia’s Strategic Research & Development Tax Credit is now refundable, an attribute that helps startup and emerging R&D companies, which do not always incur tax liability in their early stages of development.
College-going rate equals national levels
West Virginia high school students are entering college at the same rate as those in the rest of the nation, a study by the Higher Education Policy Commission concludes.
High school graduates are enrolling in post-secondary education at a 56.5 percent rate, up from about 46 percent in 1996, according to the commission’s 2003 higher education report card.
Higher Education Chancellor J. Michael Mullen labeled the improvement “a solid achievement.”
He said he’s confident the state can soon reach the commission’s goal of seven in 10 high-schoolers attending some form of college.
West Virginia tops in education reform survey
West Virginia’s cumulative grade in areas such as accountability and standards, teacher quality and school climate leads the nation, according to Quality Counts 2004, a report compiled by Education Week.
Quality Counts 2004 examines the complexities of bringing all children, including those with disabilities, to high performance levels of state testing. Education Week is a weekly education publication distributed nationwide.
Arts/education official receives national award
West Virginia Secretary of Education and the Arts Kay Goodwin won a 2004 National Public Service Awards from the American Society of Public Administration, an organization of public employees and administrators; and the National Academy of Public Administration, a nonprofit chartered by Congress to give policymakers advice about governance.
The awards are designed to honor excellence in public service, according to the organizations.
The organizations say Goodwin guided the merit-based Promise scholarship and “guided the state to a position of national leadership as it implemented the ‘No Child Left Behind’ law,’ ” among other accomplishments.
State honored for policies, programs on reading
As one of two states to receive the Five Star Policy Award from the International Reading Association, West Virginia has demonstrated that it guarantees quality education and student achievement by implementing excellent reading policies, programs and initiatives.
The IRA advocates that all children have a right to excellent reading instruction.
Making sure students receive this instruction requires a combination of factors, including state-level commitment, the group says.
‘The Woods’ best neighborhood for retirees
In its March/April edition, Where to Retire features The Woods in Hedgesville, West Virginia, among the best neighborhoods for retirees.
The Woods, an 1,800-acre resort with nearly 1,000 vacation, retirement and primary homes, also includes deluxe accommodations, an outstanding restaurant, year-round recreation, a conference center for groups of up to 100 and 36 holes of golf.
Where to Retire has more than 500,000 readers each issue.
Lewisburg on list of nation's top destinations
Historic Lewisburg (pop. 3,600) has received a prestigious honor: one of America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations, an annual list of unique and lovingly preserved communities determined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the country’s largest private, nonprofit preservation organization.
The trust notes: Civil War history, arts, folklore and natural splendor are plentiful in historic Lewisburg, where visitors can soak up small-town charm while enjoying interesting architecture, sophisticated shops and galleries and a wide range of outdoor adventures.
“It is encouraging to see communities so committed to the preservation of their historic landmarks, the revitalization of their downtown areas, and the protection of their unique heritage,” said National Trust President Richard Moe. “These twelve communities represent a truly distinctive slice of America and are exciting alternatives to the homogenization of many other vacation spots.”
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