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Grant Aids Tech Work on Homeland Security
MARLENA HARTZ
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Story last updated at 1:46 a.m. Thursday, September 13, 2007 A U.S. Department of Defense grant worth millions of dollars will fuel counterterrorism research at a Texas Tech institute, officials announced Wednesday. The $4.1 million grant will allow 60 scientists at Tech's Institute of Environmental and Human Health to continue researching ways to combat biological and chemical terrorism. A day after the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said this is a pressing quest in which the 10-year-old institute has already made strides. "9/11 - the shock that someone could do that to our country - I think, was a wake-up call," said Randy Neugebauer, a congressman and Tech alumus who helped obtain the federal grant. "This is a dangerous world. ... Keeping America safe is important." One institute scientist, Seshadri Ramkumar, an immigrant from India known as Ram among friends and colleagues, is developing an arsenal with broad applications in "homeland security and the industrial market," he said. He's already created a leather bulletproof vest and a cotton-based fabric that can be used to make comfortable and durable uniforms for soldiers. Add to that list a dry wipe that can be used to mop up toxic chemicals, such as nitrate acid and pesticides, and a related skin decontamination lotion. The wipe and lotion were ranked as the best among 30 decontamination systems tested by a laboratory for use by the Department of Homeland Security, according to information provided by the institute. The $4.1 million grant will help Ramkumar and a league of scientists continue their work, Institute Director Ronald Kendall said. "This doesn't just support one scientist. It supports many who have said, 'We can write the book,' " said Kendall, who paused Wednesday to ponder how much the world has changed since 9/11. Kendall said his 13-year-old son has grown used to standing in long security lines at airports and even baseball fields. "I think he'll live with this for the rest of his life. This is not going away. This is going to be a long war (on terror)," he said. The institute, situated at the edge of Lubbock at the Reese Technology Center, is poised to make a difference in that war, he said. "I think our next decade is going to be a blockbuster." At A GLANCE The Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas Tech: • Is the anchor tenant at the Reese Technology Center, formerly Reese Air Force Base, in Lubbock. • Studies the toxic effects of chemicals on the environment and the health of people. • Employs 200 people. • Occupies six buildings and more than 150,000 square feet at the Reese Center. |
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766-8706 This story first appeared on LubbockOnline.com at 5:09 p.m. Wednesday.
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