UDRI Chosen for New $450 Million Project in Utah

Within the next three months, the University of Dayton Research Institute will open a satellite office in Ogden, Utah, to carry out projects in a new five-year, $450 million program to increase defense readiness and reduce the operations and maintenance costs of Air Force systems.

Mike Drake, UDRI research engineer, will manage UDRI's portion of the design and engineering support program, a task-order contract that will grant funds for new projects through 2005, with two additional years to complete the contracts.

The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base, and it will focus on many of the technologies UDRI specializes in, such as vibration damping, nondestructive evaluation, composite materials engineering, and environmental evaluation and protection. UDRI will develop more effective but less expensive ways to, for example, maintain aircraft and other capital, manage information, train technicians, prevent pollution and process hazardous materials.

Drake said UDRI was selected not only for the depth and breadth of knowledge on the six member team of companies and researchers assembled for the project -- Computer Sciences Corp., Innovative Logistics Techniques Inc., Mission Research Corp., Earth Tech, Aerospace Engineering Spectrum and Peer Consultants -- but also for UDRI's successes in cost-saving endeavors.

"We have a good track record in that area," Drake says. "We've had projects where for every dollar we spent, we saved them $100. We have a very good return on investment in projects like this. In one project with a jet engine, we spent $1 million developing a solution to a cracking problem, and over the life cycle of engine, it saved over $200 million."

The Ogden office will function in a similar capacity to UDRI's office in Warner Robins, GA. Some UDRI staff may relocate to Ogden after the office is established, Drake said, while others may work there on short-term contracts for several months and return to Dayton.

February 3, 2000