Federal funding for state projects clears panel

By Journal staff

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., announced Wednesday that funding he included as part of the Defense Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2010 has passed the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Johnson included more than $43 million in funding for South Dakota priorities.

"The funding I included in this bill will help modernize our defense equipment and allow our universities to stay on the cutting edge of research and technology," Johnson said in a written release. "Our men and women in uniform are facing many challenges, and they deserve the best equipment we can provide. I hope the full Senate acts quickly to pass this funding measure in the days ahead."

The South Dakota projects include:

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology

• Multi-Utility Materials for the Future Combat Systems - $9 million. This project will develop strong and lightweight vehicles made with multi-utility materials. The university is partnering with Iowa State University and Florida A&M on this project.
• Life Extension of Weapon Systems Through Advanced Materials Processing - $2.5 million. This program will identify candidate components from specific high sustainment cost items in the Navy inventory and match them with repair technologies being developed at the university.
• Smart Integrated Systems: Materials, Manufacturing Methods, and Structures - $1 million. This School of Mines project will help make it possible for the military to acquire energy-efficient, intelligent structures with multifunctional materials that can be manufactured at affordable prices.
• Energy Efficiency, Recovery and Generation - $1 million. This project will attempt to develop bioconversion technologies of biodiesel, green diesel, and biohydrogen generation from lignocellulosic biomass which will help the Air Force achieve their target of 18 percent biofuel production of current fuel consumption. The School of Mines is partnering with South Dakota State University and two other South Dakota-based companies on this project.

South Dakota State University

• Alternative Power Technology for Missile Defense - $4 million. SDSU works with Radiance Technologies to develop and demonstrate alternative power technology for missile defense.
• South Dakota State University - Accelerated Materials Development for Army Cannon Systems - $3 million. The univeristy is working with the U.S. Army to help develop a fatigue testing system to test and predict the life and the reliability of cannon system parts.
• Renewable Jet Fuel from Lignocellulosic Feedstocks - $3 million. This project will develop affordable alternative sources and production technologies that can achieve high conversion efficiency (by energy content) biofuel for military aviation applications.

University of South Dakota

• The Center for Engineered Biomedical Devices - $360,000. The center, based out of Sioux Falls, develops materials and devices that improve quality of life after loss of functionality in tissues or limbs due to disease or trauma. The range of research includes biomaterials, scaffolding and prosthetic devices, and intelligent drug delivery.