Davis Awards $300M to Three New Science and Technology Centers
Gov. Gray Davis (D) yesterday awarded $300 million in tax dollars to create three University of California institutes that will investigate new "frontiers" in science and technology, the Los Angeles Times reports. With the help of a blue-ribbon panel of experts, Davis selected the three winners from six finalists (Weiss, Los Angeles Times, 12/8). University of California-San Francisco, UC-Berkeley and UC-Santa Cruz will collaborate on the California Institute for Bioengineering, Biotechnology and Quantitative Biomedicine (Markoff, New York Times, 12/8). That institute will develop new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent disease through a combination of engineering, physics, medicine and other disciplines. Davis also awarded money to a proposal from UC-San Diego and UC-Irvine to develop a "wireless" Internet and another from UCLA and UC-Santa Barbara to investigate nanotechnology, or the "art of building tiny structures an atom at a time" (Los Angeles Times, 12/8). Davis had proposed the project last January during his State of the State addresss. During a press conference yesterday, Davis said, "I wanted to create not one, but three world class research and innovation centers with a single mission: to invent the future. Now, thanks to the support of the Legislature and the hard work of so many from both the private sector and the UC community, the future is here." California has pledged $75 million per year for four years to establish the centers. Each center will receive $25 million in state funds annually but must leverage the money by obtaining a two-to-one match of non-state funds for every $1 of state money (Office of the Governor release, 12/8).
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