Nearly $2 million in grants will make its way to Penn State to possibly make Penn State a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) research center and to increase the technological capabilities of small Centre County businesses.
Last Monday, Centre County state legislators announced that the university would be receiving two grants equal to $1.8 million from the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority (BFTDA).
"These are Ben Franklin Technology grants. They are comprised of grant programs that allot money for worthy projects," said Donald Houser, spokesman for Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte.
The BFTDA is a branch of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. BFTDA awarded Penn State a $1.2 million grant to help the university win federal funding to become a homeland security research center.
Rep. Lynn Herman, R-Centre, said there are four Ben Franklin Technology Centers in Pennsylvania, and Penn State is one of them.
"Ben Franklin is a particular program created by state legislators as a comprehensive economic development that brings Pennsylvania vast resources," Herman said.
Kelly Wylam, technical investment specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said Penn State is a member of the Keystone Alliance. The alliance is a group of research universities and colleges in the commonwealth that have come together to see how they could assist in needs for the DHS. "Any federal agency soliciting for homeland security will receive immediate action resources from the Keystone Alliance," Wylam said.
DHS will create six to eight homeland security research centers. The centers will receive funding between $2 million to $5 million per year.
"The grants are leverage for the federal government to choose Pennsylvania as a DHS research center. The [government is] looking for a response center of excellence, hopefully [the government] says Pennsylvania provides this center of excellence," Wylam said.
Herman said the organization and the grants create a cooperative effort between government and education research.
"All U.S. citizens home and abroad will definitely benefit from the project. Pennsylvania should encourage and fund the research," Houser said.
The second grant, accounting for $595,000 of the allotted $1.8 million, will fund an E-Business Technical Assistance Program (e-TAP). It provides technology assistance to small businesses in order to increase its electronic business capabilities.
Jeannine Marttila, special assistant for Technology Initiative and program manager of e-TAP, said this is the third and final year of funding. The state has 10 regions and representatives in each of those regions do a variety of things with small- to medium-size businesses to get the business ready for e-business.
