Weber State unveils facility focused on researching national defense matters
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- Weber State University students, staff, faculty and community members gathered with leaders from around Utah for the opening of the Miller Advanced Research and Solutions Center near Hill Air Force Base on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. The photo comes from the event.
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- Weber State University President Brad Mortensen, left, speaks with Gail Miller at the opening of the Miller Advanced Research and Solutions Center near Hill Air Force Base on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. A foundation run by Miller’s family will help fund the MARS Center.
CLEARFIELD — Weber State University has formally opened a new facility meant to increase educational opportunities for students and, via the research completed within its walls, bolster U.S. defense.
The Miller Advanced Research and Solutions Center, or MARS Center, occupies what used to be the state-run Utah Science, Technology and Research building, or USTAR, just outside Hill Air Force Base’s west gate in Clearfield. Now owned by Weber State, the MARS Center — inaugurated last week — will bring students, academics, U.S. Department of Defense reps and other industry partners together “to find high-tech solutions to some of the toughest challenges our government is facing,” said Brad Mortensen, the university president.
As a big focus of the MARS Center will be on national defense matters, officials were vague on specific potential areas of research. But they envision the new Weber State facility as playing a noteworthy role in U.S. security and, parallel to that, serving as an economic engine via the innovations researchers, students and others develop.
The facility, affiliated with Weber State’s College of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology, was made possible thanks to a $3.5 million donation from the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation. That money will be used to create an endowment to fund research projects and recruit staff, including “a high-caliber professional who can lead out on these efforts,” according to Weber State spokesperson Bryan Magaña.
“What we’re doing here is not only putting future employers, employees together with academics, we’re actually protecting our national security,” said Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, one of the inauguration speakers.
Kristen Baldwin, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for science, technology and engineering, also spoke, noting the broad implications of U.S. defense efforts and tying the MARS Center to those.
“For our national defense strategy, we are seeking to maintain competitive advantage over our peer foreign nations who seek to achieve global dominance over the United States of America,” she said. “This is a national security initiative but it is also a national economic initiative.”
Gail Miller, namesake of the foundation that provided the $3.5 million for the new center, noted the innovative role of the facility. Those involved will collaborate on ideas “we haven’t even yet imagined.”
Added David Ferro, dean of Weber State’s College of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology: “I think we’re on the verge of something great.”